November i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



421 



in the hot air room. I need not describe the "bat- 

 tery" of pipes and the furnace playing on same, 

 nor need I describe the merrily spinning fans at the 

 other end, We had the fans at work, as I have 

 shown in the cold air room. Now, light the furnace 

 and go in when the temperature is 160° Fahr. You 

 will have a practical idea how far Clerihew ia superior 

 to Cameron. Squat on your haunches, then stand 

 up straight. The heat is greater the higher you 

 rise. Walk straight up to the hole where the Hue 

 enters the room and try and look down. You will 

 get a blast more effective than Mark Twain'B pipe. 

 Stoop under the opening, and the temperature is not 

 very severe. Well, suppose we agree to put the 

 opening towards the fans at the top. We will then 

 assist nature to do what she is bound to do by her- 

 self ; i. e. , to let the hot air rise and escape at the 

 top. That would result, as " J. B." so well expresses 

 it " in the current of the hot air from the hottest 

 part of the Hue taking the easiest course to the fan." 

 And where is the material to be dried ? According 

 to Clerihew heaped largely on the floor; according 

 to cacao-planters, spread very thinly on the floor, 

 each cacao bean having a certain space to itself ; ac- 

 cording to Cameron, hung all over the shop on trays 

 "moveable or otherwise." 1 am prepared to main- 

 tain most decidedly, that, if Cameron raised his 

 temperature, say to 1G0°, his material would be most 

 irregularly dried, whether he got rid of the air at 

 the top or bottom. If he stuck to the suction at 

 the top, the layer at the foot would be injured by 

 want of heat, and the highest layer would also be 

 injured by extreme heat. When I speak of raising 

 the temperature to 160°, I mean raising the temper- 

 ature of a given point in the room, say five feet from 

 the floor at the " fan " end of the room. This ought 

 to give a fair idea of average heat employed in the 

 room. Now, I do not consider that material can be 

 fairly dried by a system of trays. You must have 

 separate floors with their own special openings to the 

 flues, and the fans then will draw the fresh hot dry air 

 across the spread-out material and out below the matting. 



Increase your fan-power, and the drying power will 

 be increased at less cost of fuel. 



I see " W. P. L." says much the same thiug, but 

 is silent on the point of the necessity of shelves or 

 trays. No doubt it seems to be a great economy to 

 choke your room full of trays, and save area by so 

 doing ; but the results will be so irregular and un- 

 satisfactory, that it would be necessary to shift the 

 trays by rotation to get an even sample. Cameron 

 will find it very easy to go "with the stream"; but 

 the difficulty is not to let the hot air pass up by 

 natural pressure through the wet material, but to 

 subject this material to a dry-hot current of air over 

 the surface and thence out underneath. That is the 

 only way to effect what " W. F. L." calls " exhaust- 

 ing the room every two minutes." It would be utterly 

 futile to attempt this in any other way. If we wanted 

 hot air for a propagating house, or for the purposes 

 of heating a room to make it bearable t<> an audience 

 in a northern clime, then Cameron's "drier" would 

 be calltd a " heater," and thus cea?e to he a mis- 

 nomer. But we have a material to be diicd. It is 

 laid down wet, and we want to take it up dry. Where 

 does the moisture go to ? It must be carried off 

 sharp, because some materials would v>ry speedily [sic : 

 absorb it? — Ed.] such as cacao for example. But, 

 if the fresh dry-hot air gets encouragement to follow its 

 natural bent, the moist air is handicapped, and damage 

 as well as waste of fuel occurs. It seems to mc that 

 Mr. Camerou's i'deas of a drier would be more useful iu 

 a hot-house where steamy heat as a stimulant to veget- 

 ation is needed rather than in the curing establish- 

 ment of a cacao-planter. 



ABERDONENSIS. 



PAPA.W JUICE. 



Loudon, 2Gth Sept. 1SSJ. 



Dear Sir, — I see that you refer to me in regard 

 to papaw juice both in this paper and iu the Tropical 

 Agriculturist. I have made a study of this drug, and 

 I am aware it is coming into use under the form 

 of papains, and I hope shortly to be able to send 

 you a pamphlet, the result of some good work done in 

 Germany, but the papaiue that has been used there 

 surpasses any that we have hitherto known of for 

 strength, and it does not chaDge by being left in an 

 ordinary corked bottle. I would therefore strongly 

 recommend that no expense bo incurred until these 

 fact9 are known. 



In drugs of the Btrength of papaine, it is very im- 

 portant to work with standard strengths. We have 

 at the present time three different strengths of papait e, 

 and all three differ from one another in appearance 

 r.nd colour. — Yours truly, 

 THOS. CHRISTY, f. l. s. 



TEA PREPARING MACHINERY. 



Bangalore, 29th Sept. 1SS4. 



Dear Sir, — In the Tropical Agriculturist of the 1st 

 January 1884, page 474, reference is made to a simple 

 and inexpensive tea roller. Such a machine, it is 

 there stated, has been invented by Mr. Kerr and 

 will soon be offered for sale-. I shall be much ob- 

 liged if you will kindly give mo information on the 

 following points either by letter or through your 

 journal : — 



1st. — Is the machine now for sale? and its price ? 



2nd. — If so, has it been found by experience fully 

 to answer as an efficient tea roller ? 



3rd. — Is there any other hand tea roller procurable ? 

 and, if so, please give any information you may have 

 regarding its qualities, price and the maker's address. 

 —Yours faithfully, JAMES ROSS. 



[This enquiry will show the need for the patentees 

 or agents of new tea or other agiicultural machinery 

 advertising the same in the Tropical Agriculturist, 

 which is becoming the recognized representative 

 journal of planters in so many places outside of Cey- 

 lon. Mr. Kerr will no doubt communicate at once 

 with Mr. Ross, in reference to the questions asked 

 about his tea-roller. — Ed] 



TRANSMISSION OF CEYLON TEA SEED TO TL1E 

 WEST INDIES. 



Dear SIR, — I have been asked by a friend to get a 

 small quantity of Ceylon tea seed for a West Indian 

 sugar planter. The seed would have to bo scut to 

 England and from thence to its final destination. 

 Would you or any experienced tea planter inform me 

 as to the best way for packing tea seed, to be kept 

 out of ground nearly, if not quite, two months after 

 picking ? It would be very disappointing to all con- 

 cerned if the tea seed failed to germinate on arrival 

 after being carefully gathered and selected, and would 

 most likely stop all chance of large orders later on. 



When there is no louger any demand for our seed 

 in the immediate neighbourhood, we may more than 

 make up for it by orders from the West, Indie. , as the 

 sugar planters there will, it is more than likely, be 

 one and all looking out for m w /</•" lucts to take the 

 pi ice of sugar. In order that the seed which I hope to 

 send may not damage the fame of Ceylon tea in any 

 way, I shall feel obliged if anyone more experienced 

 in such matters will help mo with their advice. — Yours 

 faithfully, ENQUIRER. 



MARAGOGIPE COFFEE. 



Henaratgoda, 2nd October I SSI. 

 Sir, — It appears that the shell of the Maragogipe 

 coffee bean is of a more delicate nature than the 

 other varieties of eolice. Tho seeds require carei'u 



1 



