U& 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1884. 



ever, the idea has been so well thought out by the inventor 

 that, except in a few trifling minor details, the machine is 

 perfect, and is a thoroughly reliable and efficient self-feed- 

 ing and discharging tea-drying machine. There is hardly any 

 possibility of burning the tea, although the temperature 

 used is high. The air used is drawn fresh in from the atmo- 

 sphere to replace the air saturated with moisture, which 

 is at mice discharged from the machine, thus avoiding any 

 stewing of the tea. The space occupied by the machine 

 is less than that of any other turning out the same a- 

 nmunt. The labor is very much less, being only two men 

 .111,1 a boy lor a machine turning out 25 to 30 maun Is of 

 pukka tea in ten hours. * And please note that this mach- 

 ine is " not going to" do this amount of work, but is 

 doini/ it at tliis present moment. 



The reader might suppose that the large amount ot 

 tea put into the feeding hopper at one time might go oil 

 fermenting. This however, is not the case. It is found 

 that fermentation does not go on in the hopper. This is 

 probably owing to the hopper being placed in the coolest 

 part of 'the machine, and also to the fact that thero is 

 always a slight current of cold air playing about the 

 hopper. 



Now as to results. Fermentation is arrested at one) in 

 the machine, and the value of this is well-known to every 

 tea-maker. The drying by pure unsaturated hot air and 

 the quick arrest of the fermentation give the tea that fine 

 crisp malty flavour so much desired in the market, and the 

 consequence is, that the. Ciiinamara teas dried by this 

 machine have been tasted by all the experts m Calcutta 

 and reported very highly on ; in fact, I may state that a 

 difference in favour of the Jackson's of two annas has been 

 given in the tasters' reports, as compared with another 

 machine in the same factory by a different maker. 



As compared with tray machines, the advantage is at 

 once apparent. No removing the trays to turn the tea, 

 with the necessary labor and cooling of the tea while being 

 turned, as the tea is automatically turned in the machine. 



In fact, to summarise the whole description, this dryiug- 

 mncliine fulfils, as I predicted, every essential of a good tea- 

 drier. I quote from mv former description : " The tea is 

 dried by pure hot air, the temperature of which in any part 

 of the machine can be regulated. It requires little attend- 

 ance. A boy to feed, another to remove the dried tea, and 

 a man to fire and watch the temperature of the air, will be 

 all the attendance needed. It is bound to be economical 

 in its consumption of fuel, as no more air will be used 

 than necessary ; and as the flues and drying chamber will 

 be surrounded bv non-conducting material, the loss of heat 

 by radiation will be reduced to a minimum ; and being 

 of large size, it will he able to turn out a large amount 

 of pukka tea." All these conditions have been fulfilled, 

 and there can be no doubt that it is incomparably the 

 best tea-drying machine yet invented, and I have great 

 difficulty in thinking that there can possibly be any ad- 

 vance on it, for, as I said above, it fulfils every essential 

 of a good tea-drier. 



And now for the verv important question ot the cost 

 of the machine. An idea has got abroad that this machine 

 will be costly as compared with others. This is not the 

 case. It is impossible just yet that the future prices 

 can be given, but the inventors will be content with a 

 moderate profit, and intend to put into the market, 

 ready for next season's working a machine which will 

 turn out at least 15 per cent more pukka tea in the same 

 time than other machines costing the same, besides the 

 great advantages of economy of fuel and saving of labor. 

 The machine will be made in three sizes to suit various 

 requirements. . , 



Then follow valuations of tea made in Jackson s 

 drier, giving an averag- of 1/jOJ pel lb., agaiust 1/tlj 

 for tea prepared in another drier. 



*■ 



FRUIT CULTURE: 



THE MABOLO OF THF PHILIPPINES, ONE OF THE SO-CALLED 



"VELVET PLUMS" OF CEYI.ON, THE KAKI, PERSIMMON 



AND EUROPEAN nATE PLUM. 



With reference to Mr. Flamer Caldera's letter (page. 349) 

 asking for information on what he calls the " Velvet Plum," 

 our botanical correspondent, having been applied to for in - 



* ajHin to 2.4UU lb.— En. 



formation respecting the plant producing this fruit on 

 several occasions during the last twenty years or so, thinks 

 it well to exhaust the subject for the benefit of the 

 readers of the Tropical Agriculturist, and to enable us 

 to refer all future correspondents on such " netV products 

 to this final notice, if need be, of this exotic tree and its 

 fruits— the Mabolo : — 



Sept. 18th, 1884. 

 This so-called "Velvet Plum" in Ceylon is the well- 

 known Mabolo, a native of the Philippines and Malaya, 

 and introduced to various parts of India and Mauritius, 

 many years ago. But when introduced to Ceylon I do not 

 know as there is no record o'f its introduction ; but I have 

 known the tree and its fruit for the last 20 or 30 years, 

 and, as the finest and oldest I am acquainted with are 

 growing at Elie House, it is likely the tree was introduced 

 by the late Mr. Anstruther, through the late Dr. Wallich, 

 from the Calcutta Botanic Gardens. Trees bearing the 

 peculiar, globular, russet-colored, velvety fruits of this 

 plant are not uncommon in various parts of Colombo and 

 elsewhere in Ceylon, and one of two trees in Stewart 

 Street, Slave Island, is now in fruit, indicating that Sept- 

 ember is likely to be one of its fruiting seasons. 



The tree belongs to Ebenacse, the family to which the 

 famous Ebony and Calamander woods and the Kaki and 

 Persimmon fruits belong, and our o wn closely-allied Timbiri, 

 Sin., Diospyros glutirtosa] the fruits of which are so well- 

 known to the Sinhalese fishermen, who use them for pay- 

 ing the bottoms of their fishing-canoes and for tanning 

 their nets with. 



There is another fruit in Ceylon called the "Velvet 

 Plum" in Colombo. It is the Ketambilla, Sin, the Aberia 

 Gardneri, Clos, and Jtoamca hebcearpa, Gardner, native of 

 Ceylon only, at Kundasale, Maturate, &c, but it belongs to 

 the Bixiueas or Aruotta family and cannot be confounded 

 with the one now referred to, though it has a veletty 

 edible fruit. The Velvet Plum, or Mabolo, is well-known to 

 botanists, and has been named, and more or less fully de- 

 scribed or referred to, by the following botanists : — Diospyros 

 discolor, Willd. Sp. PI. 4, p. 1108, in 1S05; Diospyros 

 Mabolo, Rox. Hort. Beng. ; p. 4. Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1139 ; 

 Don. Card. Die. 4, p. 10 (with full description); Diospyms 

 m.elanida,SieheTi uonPoir ; It. embryopteris^ Bojer Hort. Maut. 

 20i '.uon Persoon ; Embryopteris discolor, Don. Gard.Dict. 4, p| 

 41 ; Cavaniltea I'hilippensis, Desrousa in Lam .Diet. 3, p. 663' 

 Ca do nittea Mabolo, Lam. Illus. t. 454; De Candolle Trod' 

 8, p. 235 ; Flora of Mauritius and Seychelles, Baker, 199 • 

 Flora Brit. Ind. 3, p. 569, in notes on Diospyros argcnteai 

 Griff. The tree is a handsome one of a pyramidal form, 

 with erect densely pilose branches, and covered with 

 oblong leaves 6 to 8 inches long, silky white beneath, 

 with a densely pilose fruit 2 or 3 inches in diameter, 

 of a russet brown color. To my taste the fruit is 

 very insipid, and in Ceylon it is not worth cultivating 

 except as an ornamental tree, but which, like the Gniilha 

 robusta, and some other dense shady trees where birds 

 can roost safely, is very liable to be infested with species 

 of Loranthus. The following account of the Mabolo is 

 from the Dictionary of Economic Hants, by John Smith, 

 A.L.s., p. 254 : — 



Mabolo [Diospyros Mabolo), now described as D. .discolor, 

 a tree of the Ebony family (Ebenaces), native' of the 

 Philippine Islands, and commonly cultivated in many islands 

 of the East. It has also been introduced into the West 

 Indies. It is a middle-sized tree, having large, firm, cori- 

 acious leaves of a light colour underneath. The fruit is 

 like a large quince, and in some places is called Mangosteeu. 

 Its flavour is agreeable. 



Another very closely-allied plant to this one, and 

 the indigenous Timbiri, Sin., the Diospyros Kaki. a 

 native of China and Japan seems to have borne 

 abundant fruit in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, 

 this season for the first time since it was introduced. 

 These fruits, one of the date plums of China, and keg figs 

 of Japan, are dried and sent to Europe. A large cluster of 

 thesj fruits from the Peradeniya Gardens about the size of 

 a small apple looked very tempting, but tasted as insipid 

 as those of the Mabolo. John Smith has the following 

 notice of it : — 



Date Plum, Chinese (.Diospyros Kaki), a tree, native of 

 China and Japan, where, as well as in India, it is cultivated 



