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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, i88;> 



to be ventilated, say by entering near the floor and de- 

 parting near the ceiling, or vice versa, as the case may be, 

 carrying with it all the objectionable matter to be removed. 

 The supply of air need not even if a portion of it be 

 brought through the crevices about doors and windows, 

 cause any unpleasant draught. 



It should not be forgotten that air like other fluids, 

 tends to move in the direction in which it meets with 

 the least resistance, and that if a door or window be 

 open near, it is vain to expect air to pass through distant 

 and contracted apertures. 



Direction of Currents.— As » rule, ascending currents 

 are effective and free from objection; the Blackman Air 

 Propeller, however, can be used to produce currents _ in 

 any desired direction, ascending, descending, or otherwise. 

 In many cases where a maximum effect is not a prim- 

 ary object it may be found preferable that the Pro- 

 peller, should force air into the building, placing the 

 exits in either the top or the bottom storey, or wherever 

 there is any vapour, odour, dust, or other impurity which 

 it is desirable to isolate and expel. 



With this arrangement there need not be any sensible 

 draught in any apartment, the whole building ventilated 

 being merely a vessel full of air running over at such a 

 rate as will renew its contents any desired number of 

 times per hour. 



In buildings already erected, wherever a flue or air shaft 

 can be found, and the required power be best applied, 

 whether in garret or cellar, the Blackman Air Propeller 

 can be placed, and satisfactory results obtained. 

 Examples are given of the removal of moisture from 

 paper manufactories especially, and we could not 

 help thinking of tea withering and manufacturing 

 houses when we read :— " The propeller has effect- 

 ually removed the vapour-laden atmosphere and sup- 

 plied a pure, dry refreshing air." Anyone entering 

 a tea-factory where tea is being rolled, fermented 

 and roasted cannot but be struck with the strong 

 general resemblance of the vapours to those of a 

 brewery, and, therefore, we quote what is said in 

 regard to the use of the machine in brewing estab- 

 lishmeuts : — 



Steam or damp air remaining iu the tun room tends 

 to rot, or set up fermentation iu, the wood, which, in a 

 still atmosphere, finds its way to the beer, and affects its 

 keeping qualities. By using the Blackman Air Propeller 

 this tendency is reduced to a minimum. 



It removes carbonic acid fermenting cellars as it is 

 generated, the temperature of the room is under control 

 in all states of the weather, and bacterial germs are kept 

 inactive. 



Flies, amongst other pests, can bo removed by the 

 creation of a current of fresh air, and we are told 

 that 



Jiaw material or product of any kind can be cheaply 

 and conveniently dried by using the Propeller, either in 

 combination with heating apparatus or otherwise, and on 

 this point the following facts are submitted : — 



1. Substances are dried by either moisture being taken 

 up bv the surrounding air. 



■>. A. large quantity of cool air will absorb more moist- 

 ure than a small quantity of hot air. 



3. With air of the same temperature the larger the 

 volume of air coming in contact with the substance to be 

 dried, the quicker the drying process. 



Hence, if'a simple means call be provided tor moving 

 large volumes of air quickly and cheaply, it will be of 

 the greatest ute in drying processes. 



The Blackman Air Propeller meets this wants. 

 The pamphlet contains ample drawings Mid directions, 

 and the machinery which would suffice for eacao 

 or tea curing nou.es would not cos", much money. 

 Mr. Ro.-s would pro'iably give further information 

 of Irs , xperieuee, and tbe London address is "The 

 Blaskman Air 1'ropeller Ventilating Company, Lim- 

 ited, 57, Foro Street, Lmdon, E. C." The copy of 

 pamphlet from which we quote can be seen at the 

 Observer Office. On Mipitiakande we found Mr. 

 Morrsiu securing ventilation by means of open un- 

 gbzed windows, simply with eaves over them: but 



| this would scarcely answer in large establishments 

 and in a different climate. We may mention that the 

 fine tea on this estate, which is noted for the good 

 prices it fetches in the London market, is provided 

 as yet with only Kerr's hand-roller, which did very 

 satisfactory work. At a subsequent period, a gentle- 

 man largely interested in tea said he would desire 

 nothing better in his factories than Kerr's rollers. 

 We saw the inventor in his home on Kinrara (a 

 different estate to what we remember it in its glory 

 in 1856, but evidently capable of regaining prosperity 

 as a tea estate), aid Mr. Keir seemed determiutd 

 to resist Mr. Jackson's threat of legal proceedings 

 for invasion of patent. Where invasion of patent or 

 principle begins or ends it, is difficult to say. Any- 

 one looking at the new appliances added to Davidson's 

 sirocco, must see that the idea of the horizontal arrange- 

 ment is borrowed from the American Evaporator which 

 we were, we believe, the first in Ceylon to notice as prob- 

 ably suited for tea drying. We did not thenjthink of 

 cacao curing, to which Mr. Fraser of Wariapolla is adopt- 

 ing one of the American fruit driers. It is right that 

 bona-fide inventors should be protected while giving 

 the public the benefit of their ingenuity in combining 

 and applying the principles of mechanics and engineer- 

 ing. Our business is to give the best and most cor- 

 rect information possible regarding useful machines 

 and their performances. Except on the lowcountry 

 estates, the expense of steam engines or of anything 

 beyond good water-wheels for motive power ought 

 to be seldom necessary iu Ceylon. Apart from the 

 cost and danger of workiug, the conveyance of steam 

 engines to estates is often a terrible business. In 

 passing up the Kelani Valley, although it was not 

 our privilege to visit, we yet saw, as no traveller 

 can help seeing, Sernbawatte tea estate with its con- 

 spicuous precipitous slope. Some years ago, in wel- 

 coming a new superintendent to an estate in Dimbula, 

 we told him he must be prepared for differences of 

 level. He replied he had been accustomed on Semba« 

 watte daily to vary the air he breathed by a dif- 

 ference of 2,000 feet elevation, so that our altitudes 

 were child's play to him. Although one of the steepest 

 and one of the wettest tea estates in Ceylon, Sernba- 

 watte grows fine tea and plenty of it. The report 

 we heard was S00 lb. per diem being made. An en- 

 gine being required, 150 coolies proved unequal to 

 the conveyance of the boiler and an elephant had 

 ultimately to be put in requisition. A good main 

 road through a district is a grand convenience, and 

 so is a navigable river, but ' easily traversed 

 roads or paths to and through estates, any dis- 

 tance from the main line of communication, are 

 of essential importance and must be pro- 

 vided at as early a date as possible. The really 

 tine road which runs through the Kelani Valley and not 

 far from the course of that noble river, was, 1 recollect 

 the one great work of the kind during Sir George 

 Anderson's rulo, poor Ralph Tatham being iu charge. 

 It was little anticipated that the road would prove 

 bo great a help as it has done to the rapidly pro- 

 gressing and most promising iei enterprize of Ceylon. 

 The Kelani is navigable, more or less for light craft, 

 from Mutwal, Colombo, to Yatiyantota, and when 

 cotlee was in its prime a good deal of it went down, 

 while rice came up by this route. The story of the 

 gentleman who is universally known and esteemed 

 iu Ceylon as "Logic" was revive,! as we passed 

 (not crossed) the well-known lota or ferry. In 

 order to test the performances of the cart drivers, 

 he is said to have assumed the character, for a trip, 

 of a cart driver himself, report aiding that he 

 traversed the distance bare-footed. 



Yatiyantota is likely again to become an important 

 point, for water transit has advantages over all Otter 

 iu the matter of cheapness. There are countervailing 



