Gi8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February 2, 1885, 



quantity of water required appears to be about 400 gallons 

 per bour for one machine, but the water can be used twice 

 or thrice ever. 



Taking the data obtained at the trials as a guide tha 

 out-turn of Khea fibre from one (Death & Euwood'6) 

 machine would be about 60 lbs. for a day of 10 hours. This 

 assumes a percentage of 3 - 75 of fibre from 1 ,609 lbs, of 

 green stalks. The operators were imported and to some 

 extent trained hands, having worked similar machines in 

 Madras where they were accustomed to mauipulate Sam- 

 sevitra Zeylanica. Still they did not seem quite at home 

 with the Khea stalks, and some allowance might reason- 

 ably be made on this account. At the outside an increase 

 of one-third would, in our opinion, represent an average 

 day's work with dexterous and diligent workmen and stalks 

 in good condition. It was noted that the- stalks Supplied 

 to the machine were not uniform; they were of lengths 

 varying from 2| to 5 feet ; and in withdrawing the fibre 

 of the longer stalks from the machine more waste was 

 beaten out of them than from the smaller stems ranging 

 up to 4 feet. The reason is simple enough : the longer 

 stems were rather too old for the yield of fibre, and had 

 branched owing to the crop from which the stems wire 

 cut having been grown rather openly. The addition there- 

 fore of one-third would be equal to the work per diem of 

 2,2H0 lb. of green stalks, per machine. This quantity might 

 be expected to give at 3 per cent, an out-turn of 6Clb. 

 of good clean fibre. The value of this out-turn, at £50 per 

 ton, would be about 30 shillings. 



It should be mentioned that owing to the late date of 

 the trials with this machine, it was not found possibla 

 to procure suitable jute stems, as the local crops had 

 already been cut. Home stems, however, which were over 

 from the trials of the other machines and had been lying 

 for about ten days on the ground were tried. The 

 machine cleaued them with ease ; but as the stems 

 bad been lying exposed to the sun, the fibre ob- 

 tained was somewhat stained. It is necessary, for the 

 efficient treatment of exogenous plants especially, that the 

 steins should be operated upon as soon as possible after 

 they arc cut. The cutting also should take place before 

 tlio plant reaches full maturity, and the proprietors^ of 

 Death and Ellwood's machine rightly claims that juices 

 which contain the various gums and colouring matters in 

 solution are then more readily removed by means of the 

 ■water used. The trials certainly bear this out, for the 

 wild bhiiuli, or bondheras, which are fully matured and 

 to some extent hardened plants, cut the day previous, 

 gave the hardest fibre. 



It remains to be settled whether the machine can be 

 worked with profit. To solve this question completely 

 aud conclusively, detailed enquiries iu various directions and 

 much time would be needed ; and we would have to wait 

 for a valuation of the fibre by experts in Europe. It 

 does not seem to us to delay with this object either this 

 report, or the recommendation we have to make, for 

 tho following reasons : — 



ll). Although detailed statistical proofs are wauting, 

 we have by rough calculation reason to believe that the 

 machine can be worked with profit iu this country, 

 especially on jute, rhea, bondheras or wild bheudi, agave, 

 sauseviera aud pine-apple. 



fS). The machine is already at werk in Mexico, in 

 .Tamaica, and several other countries including Southern 

 India, and yields a profit. 



(3) At gardens, in factories where steam is already avail- 

 able, a few machines could be introduced at the minimum 

 of outlay, as the cost of the machine alone would Ijl- in- 

 curred. 



(4) Where water power is available, a turbine can be used, 

 iustead of the steam engine. When one machine is worked 

 singly, patent safety bullock gear supplied by the General 

 Fibre Company can be used. 



(5) When natives have gained experience in the feeding 

 and working of the machine, they will probably be able to 

 produce a larger quautity of fibre than at first. 



The three last reasons form important considerations in 

 reckoning the prospects which may be anticipated in this 

 country. And as several firms in Calcutta have already 

 made enquiries with a view to making use of the machine 

 and they seem satisfied with what they have learnt, it does 

 not seem necessary for us to delay our report. We are 



satisfied that as an extractor of fibres Messrs. Death 

 Ellwood's machine is a distinct advance in mechanism of 

 this class, that it extracts fibres iu their natural colour 

 and in good merchantable condition, that it operates on all 

 plants with the same facility, and that it is suited to the 

 requirements of this country, and is likely to prove of 

 great service to its fibre industry. On these grounds we 

 recommend that the full amount available for the Govern- 

 ment prize may be awarded to the Geueral Fibre 

 Company of London. 



NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



TEA CULTIVATION IN JAVA. 



(Translated from Java Newspapers for the " Straits 



Times.") 



By last advices from Java, the wet season had 

 fairly set iu, the rainfall judging from observations 

 being always heaviest in the western por'ion of that 

 island, thereby making the climate moist enough for 

 successfully growiug tea aud cinchona, the drier climate 

 of East Java being better suited for sugar and coffee. 

 The prospects of tea cultivation iu the former are 

 thus set forth by a corresponded iu the Java Bode 

 of the 15th December : — 



The tea planters here have never yet had such 

 a heavy crop as the present one, and they deserve 

 to have another good year, spite of the fall in the 

 price of tea within the last few years, and the havoc 

 wrought by the tea-bug or Helopeltis. They have spared 

 neither pains nor expense in importing tea seeds from 

 Assam and securing the most approved machinery 

 so as not to be behind their rivals in India and Cey- 

 lon. It is well-known l»w small have been the pro- 

 tits yielded of late years by even the best managed 

 Java tea eBtates, yet their owners do not shrink from 

 laying out very considerable amounts in buying Assam 

 tea seeds and the newest mechanical appliances. 

 Their energy will probably be abundantly rewarded, 

 for several invoices of tea prepared from the leaves 

 of Assam tea trees planted here have already realized 

 high prices, and, rrfbreover, the growth of this 

 tea variety here leaves nothing to be desired. 

 The greit increase of the yield of Assam tea 

 both in India and Ceylon, with a prospect of still 

 greater increase ere long, will undoubtedly again bring 

 prices down, but, luckily, there is every chance of 

 the Java planters being able to hold their own against 

 the Ceylou and Indian ones. A planter from that 

 quarter who not long ago visited Java, where he 

 was hospitably received on many tea plantations, was 

 quite astonished at seeing the number of As»am tea 

 shrubs already put out here, and at the choice kinds 

 under cultivation, for tea, like cinchona, hybridizes 

 very easily. One of the characteristics of good kinds 

 is length of lea', aud in that resptot there is no 

 reason for complaint here, as leaves mqie than nine 

 inches long are by no means uncommon. Machinery 

 ton has had a share in bringing about the prosperity 

 which tea planters are now perhaps to experience 

 after years of adversity, Tho first rolling machines 

 wuie brought into use years ago. Now they 

 are fuund everywhere, while drying machines 

 too are highly appreciated. For machines doing the 

 work of hundreds of natives, we are indebted to 

 liritish planters, whose practical minds soon be- 

 came aware of their desirableness and necessity so 

 as lo admit of manual labour being substituted by 

 machines on productive estates, hence, among tin in, 

 inventors arose like Jackson and Kiumond, who 

 found out, machinery which may with confidence be 

 r.mk d among those most ingeniously put together 

 in our time. In other respects too, they are leading 

 tho way for us, such as in discovering a chemical 

 process for giving prepared tea leaves the flavour aud 

 strength determining their value. It is my opiuion 



