490 



TTTE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1884. 



Besides the qualities thus indicated, the claims are : — 

 To the owners of small gardens, as a rule unable to 

 afford the costly and cumbersome machines in present use, 

 the American offers unqualified inducements from the ex- 

 treme lowness of its price, which places it within reach of 

 all, in one size or other. 



To large concerns, its many excellent qualities, aside 

 from cost, find appreciation particularly in the -value of 

 the American as a preserver of aroma and pungency, for 

 by the Inclined Flue Evaporating Trunk, which our patents 

 especially protect, we have most effectually overcome those 

 highly objectionable features which depreciate the market 

 value of all products especially tea, when subjected to a 

 drying process where the steam or vapor from the lower 

 trays necessarily comes in contact with the ones previously 

 entered. 



However excellent they may hitherto have appeared, the 

 fact remains that in all that class of driers having a series 

 of trays one above the other, the direct tendency and 

 practical result effectually combine to extract and dissipate 

 the flavor and strength almost as effectually as the same 

 would be accomplished in drawing or steeping the leaf in 

 hot water. 



The aroma in tea is due to the volatile essential oil 

 contained therein, which is easily expelled, especially under 

 so favorable a combination of circumstances heretofore un- 

 wittingly employed, leaving a preponderance of Tannin 

 (Tannic Acid) with diminished flavor and increased acerbity. 

 In the green leaf manipulation this defective old proces is 

 alike disastrous and destructive of the very elements that 

 enter as factors in flavor, pungency, or strength and which 

 result in low prices, lessened profits and consequent meagre 

 dividends. 



By the mechanical devices, and the galvanized wire gauze 

 cloth employed in the American Evaporator, we have re- 

 duced to a minimum all risks of discoloration of tips or 

 leaf which arise from the chemical action of the Tannic 

 Acid on the iron. This burning turns leaf blackish and 

 tea bluish. Retention of flavour and enhanced pungency 

 are secured by our system of direct action of dry heat which 

 combines brisk or high firing with absence of all scorching 

 or burning and the stoppage of undue fermentation is 

 hereby insured as effectually as panning would do it. 

 Ordinary coolies and workmen can, it is said, erect the 

 machine, and one cooly of average intelligence can 

 work one or even two ! It will not only prepare tea, 

 but also 



Coffee cinchona, sago, beetlenut, spices, fish, prawns, 

 bumlow muchee, curry-stuffs &c. 



So far about tea, but, when coffee is reached, Mr. 

 Hoiliugsworth or somebody else gets ont of his depth 

 and writes great nonseDse about drying in the pulp 

 being so much better than pulping, while the di-coveries 

 are made that coffee is indigenous to Ceylon, India 

 and Brazil »nd that a good substitute for Mocha 

 coffee is obtained by gatheriug the small berries from 

 the tips of branches ! But we must quote what is 

 said of coffee Knd its curing: — 



The value of a universal economic and scientific process 

 in the manipulation of the succulent coffee bean, by the 

 de-hydrating process, instead of the ruinous pulping 

 method now practiced, can scarcely be correctly estimated 

 without apparent extravagance of statement. 



In this vast industry, especially pertinent (owing to 

 climatic condition') to India and Brazil, the monetary 

 value of a better process canuot be over estimated. It 

 contemplates and secures for the raw bean a marked and 

 radical improvement in its relative analytic constitution ; j 

 in cellulose and Coffeuine and by the process of ripen- I 

 ing and absorption, the valuable properties of the succulent, 

 pulp the marked development of aromatic oil, Ooffeone 

 which arc Ihe prime factors of commercial value in ail 

 coffee, are greatly enhanced. These qualities are at once 

 apparent in the roasted article, from the bean prepared 

 by this method, and impart to the beverage that b'and, 

 mellow, aroma now almost foreign to the best article as 

 prepared by present methods, unless partially secured at 

 prohibitory expense and loss, by several years aging of 

 the raw bean. In brief, tils advantage noted constitute 

 one of the greatest of economic and sanitary problems of 

 the present day. 



Our process, as embodied in the American Evaporator, 

 and which has soeffectually and satisfactorily revolutionized 

 former methods of dissicating fruits and vegetables of all 

 kinds, and has proven so eminently satisfactory in tea 

 ami coffee, that we confidently present its merits and 

 utilization in said industries generallv, with assurance that 

 it will in the near future furnish the line of demarkatiou 

 between erroneous and correct methods in both. 



The hardy, robust aud prolific Liberian coffee tree, 

 adapted to |low altitudes, is proving a formidable and suc- 

 cessful rival to the species which heretofore claimed 

 almost exclusive attention. This is particularly applic- 

 able to the many situations uusuited to the Arabian. 



The coffees indigenous to Ceylon, Iudia and Brazil 

 are highly aromatic and finely flavored, and arc 

 susceptible of rivaling Mocha, and from said sources, 

 but> under an assumed name, practically srjeakimr, our 

 acquaintance with so called Mocha is obtained. The careful 

 grading and assorting of the small berries obtained from 

 the tips of Brazilian and Indian plantations furnish the 

 world with all the Mocha the trade demands; while in 

 truth, the annual production of Arabian Mocha would 

 not furnish the Rio de Janeiro market with an average 

 daily sale. Starting with so promising a product, we 

 desire to urge upon planters the importance of supply- 

 ing the favorable conditions in the curing that give to 

 the Mocha of Arabia by reason of its dry raiuless season, 

 its peculiar merit and commercial value. 

 After all is said and done, we suppose coffee dried in 

 the cherry really retains additional flavour, but the 

 difficulty and expeuse of subsequent cleaning are 

 prohibitory. 



In conclusion, we can but repeat that w? hope soon 

 to see a practical trial of the American Fruit Evaporator 

 as a Tea Drier, 



TEA IN CEYLON. 



(Home and Colonial Mail, Oct. 24th.) 

 The rapid development of tea cultivation in Ceylon is 

 creating both attention and surprise at home. The ener- 

 getic way in which planters who, having suffered losses 

 in connection with coffee, have adopted a new enterprise, 

 is appreciated by all who admire perseverance and pluck. 

 They might, had they been content to accept the situ- 

 ation without an endeavour to retrieve it, have seen ruin 

 staring them in the face. Indeed, too many of them un- 

 able from want of funds to make a new departure, liad 

 to accept the inevitable. Others have but failed in one 

 direction to attempt success in another. Undoubtedly 

 Ceylon is likely to prove a formidable rival to India as 

 a tea-producing country. The island is in many respects 

 admirably suited to the growth of tea. and it has advantages 

 in the way of transport facilities, which are not possessed 

 in India. A Ceylon planter, now in London, has given us 

 a few particulars of his experience in the Maskeliya Valley 

 ami other districts. Our informant, who was formerly a 

 coffee planter, until he was nearly ruined by the adverse 

 influences which came upon the island, has transferred his 

 affections and the balance of his capital to tea. He may 

 be over sanguine, but his views are borne out by others 

 whose previous experiences have taught them moderation. 

 The gentleman to whom we refer has 480 acres under 

 tea, being about two-thirds of the acreage of two coffee 

 estates, the produce of which he can "lay down" in London 

 at fid. per lb., although lie has hut crude arrangements 

 as yet for manufacture. With suitable plant and machinery 

 he thinks he can place his tea on the London market at 

 a cost of 7d. per lb. The return per acre ranks of course 

 according to soi 1 and situation, but we were told of tea 

 estates which were estimated to yield from 2001b. to 1,0001b. 

 per acre, \i;<.. 2ni>!h. per acre from three-year-old trees, 

 and 1,0001b. per acre from six-year-old trees, the latter 

 being a return so remarkable that we can only hope our 

 informant's anticipations and his figures are bleu.]- d 

 judiciously. A return equal to 7001b. per acre has. our 

 informant tells us, been already realized. Soil already 

 used for coffee and by many regarded as uusuited to tea 

 appears to answer admirably, and thus some planters who 

 have a portion of an estate in coffee are able to plant the 

 remainder in tea. Under these circumstances it is evident 



