January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



569 



♦ 



To the Editor of the "Ceylon Observer" 

 PRESERVING VITALITY IN TEA SEED. 

 Overdale, Dunblane, Perthshire, 1st Dec. 1SS4. . 



Sir— In your issue of the 13th October, Enquirer 

 asks "the best way for packing tea seetl, to be kept 

 out of the ground nearly two months after packing ?" 



About three years ago, 1 recollect the same question 

 beiDg put in this part of the world without for a 

 time eliciting anything more satisfactory than is to 

 be found in Colonel Money's book. At length in the 

 columns of the Glasgow Herald of 24th September 

 1881, a letter to the Editor appeared headed "Suc- 

 cessful Experiments in Tea Planting," and signed 

 " Stuart Cranston." Mr. Cranston is a tea dealer there, 

 ami it appeared that a friend of his, Mr. K. D. 

 Cruickshauk, a returned Assam tea planter of ten years' 

 experience, had made the discovery in India that tea 

 and other similar delicate seeds can be kept sound 

 and vital for a considerable length of time if packed 

 in air tight boxes amidst perfectly dry mould. He 

 recommended the use of strong, loamy soil which 

 had been thoroughly dried in the sun, afterwards 

 broken small, then passed through a tine sieve ; and 

 it was stated in the letter that tea seed had been 

 kept sweet and in life for fourteen months by that 

 simple plan, germinating readily and without appre- 

 ciable loss at the end of the period. As a visible 

 proof of the honesty of the assertion it was further 

 mentioned that before leaving India, Mr. Cruickshank 

 hud gathered some tea seed on the 1st November 

 187'J, preserved it in dry earth hermetically sealed 

 tins, and had it planted near Glasgow in one of the 

 Garseube hot houses on the 20th June 1880. Every 

 seed germinated, although the removal from tropical 

 Assam to temperate 1 Lanarkshire, and an interval of 

 neaily eight months, must have proved a crucial ex- 

 periment. Some of the resulting plants, then about a 

 yard in height, were afterwards exhibited in the 

 windows of Mr. Cranston's shop, No. 76, Argyll St., 

 Glasgow, and had been seen, examined, and admired 

 by thou amis of the citizens before the H era Id letter 

 above alluded to appeared. 



On observing the inquiry in the Ceylon Observer of 

 13th October, I wrote to both genth meu and I am 

 informed that the dry earth system of preservation bus 

 been well-tested since : that tea seeds have through 

 its agency retained their vitality for two years, and 

 have yielded when planted, eighty per cent of seedlings. 

 — I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM COCHRAN. 



[This plan for preserving seed— dry earth — has been 

 hi ssfully adopted by some of the large dealeis 

 in delicate foreigu seeds in London, with satipfactory 

 results. — Ed.] 



TEA MACHINERY: KINMOND'S TEA ROLLER 



29th Dec. 1884. 



Dear Sir, — In your issue of the 27th you publish a 

 correspondent's condemnation of Kinmond's tea rolling 

 machine. Tliis machine, I believe, bears a good reput- 

 ation in India, and I have heard it well spoken of in 

 Ceylon, presenting as it does to tl e ordinary mind 

 advantages over various other rollers. Your corre- 

 spondent would therefore confer a benefit on the un- 

 iuitiatedby explaining the defects that become apparent 

 after continuous working. 



It would be of immense benelit to the tea industry in 

 its preseut stage if the merits and demerits of machin- 

 ery were openly and impartially discussed. I would 

 therefore propose that managers and superintendent:! 

 now having practical experience record their opinions 



72 



of the various machinery in use. Jackson's roller 

 seems to carry the palm, but we have heard great things 

 claimed for the "challenge," the " brush action," the 

 " Kinmond," &c. What are the results of experience ? 

 Firing and drying and sifting machinery and other tea- 

 house appliances might also be publicly criticized with 

 advantage to the tea industry and the must deserving 

 makers.— Yours truly, NEUTRAL. 



INDIGENOUS TEA PLANTS. 



December 19th, 18S4. 



Dear Sir, — Will you kindly allow me, through your 

 columns, to ask of those of your corresponnents who 

 have already gainfd Ceylon experience with indigenous 

 tea plants, the following two questions, viz. : — 



1st. What is the most suitable distance to put out 

 indigenous plants for seed-bearing purposes '( 



2nd. Is it advisable to put them out as supplies 

 amongst hybrids? — hybrids of course being all cutback 

 for leaf. 



I have referred to Money's work, also to 1st volume 

 of T. A, for possible replies to these questions ; but 

 unfortuuately hard times prevent me from further 

 access to the latter work. — Yours respectfully, 



HARD TIMES. 



Manures for Sugar Planters. — I would direct the at- 

 tention of sugar planters, to whom the improvement of 

 their crops is now of such vital consequence, to the export 

 price list of superphosphates and concentrated manures 

 issued by Messrs. E. Packard & Oo., of Ipswich. All their 

 superphosphates and special manures of every description 

 are sold by analysis, and will be based upon the analysis 

 of each consignment; and the chemist, Mr. Packard state, 

 may be selected by the buyer from any of the well-known 

 public analysts of London. The demand for phosphoric 

 acid of great purity, and in a form easily soluble in water, 

 has been created by the Bernard-Ehrmann process in the 

 manufacture of sugar, and, at the suggestion of Mons. 

 Erhmann, Messrs. Packard have commenced the manu- 

 facture of a substance which they call Erhmannite, con- 

 taining ' fifty-five per cent of phosphoric acid, all soluble 

 in water, and non-deliquescent." [See Advt. elsewhere.] 



Tea. — The efforts of Russia to establish tea cultivation 

 in the Trans-Caucasus are brought to notice with some 

 emphasis by Mr. J. H. Elwes, our representative at the 

 Botanical Exhibition and Congress held last summer at 

 St. Petersburg. Mr. Elwea was not able to visit the scene 

 of the industry himself as he wished to do, but what 

 he heard was enough to make it evident that a vigorous 

 endeavour will be made, with every assistance from the 

 Government, to monopolize the supplying of the Central 

 Asian markets. There is nothing of course that is sur- 

 prizing in this, nor is the Indian trade likely to surfer 

 vitally if the attempt is successful. The only curious 

 thing, most people will thiuk, is that the Russian Govern- 

 ment should bother about planting in Caucasus at all, 

 seeing what her expectations are of coming into so much 

 better a property in Himalayas. — Pioneer. 



Novel Application op Indiarubber. — In a recent num- 

 ber of the French journal La Nature, we have an account 

 of a new, curious, and original application of Indiarubber. 

 The inventor manages to give to various household objects 

 in earthenware, porcelain, glass, &c, a remarkable adher- 

 ence to the body supporting them. This result is obtained 

 by the simple expedient of forming a swallow-tail groove 

 in the bottom of such objects, and fixing therein a pro- 

 jecting band of vulcanised Indiarubber, forming a kind of 

 circular cushion. Objects thus furnished are almost incap- 

 able of falling from their places. It is said that they may 

 be placed on a wooden table, and the table inclined to an 

 angle of 45 or 50 degrees without their being upset. It 

 is evidently in the supply of table services for use on board 

 ship that this invention can be most directly utilized. It 

 will also be found advantageous for nursery tables, and for 

 invalids taking their meals in bed, &c. — Indiarubber tmd 

 Guttapercha Journal, 



