June i, 1885,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



897 



t&on'cspotulcmco. 



To the Editor of the " Ceylon Observer. " 

 A NEW WAY OF WITHERING TEA. 



Calcutta, 7th April 1S85. 



DeAii Sin,— At present I am down in Calcutta as 

 Ceylon folks would call it " on the spree," but such 

 is not my inteution. I have made a most wonderful 

 discovery in tea picking and tea withering. The tea- 

 picking machine is a secret I retain, but the wither- 

 ing I give to the world. I have found that on 

 common " zunnah " or coconut matting leaves of 

 salhi tea withers not only remarkably quickly but 

 superlatively well when placed on a dry surface in the 

 sun. What is called in Bengal Crouton tea actually 

 improves in bouquet and also liquor when dried in 

 the sun on coconut matting more than when it is wither- 

 ed in npucea oven or house. If the coconut matting is 

 elevated on rods or Jmhtros and not allowed to touch 

 the ground, the tea is infinitely stronger and more 

 valuable. I am at my garden placing coconut matting 

 about 39 inches off the ground on props or bulstros in 

 sizes or lengths of one hundred yards, and intend to 

 dry as much by the sun as in the withering-house. 

 Grey gauze must in Bengal be spread about six 

 iuches above the tea to prevent the puggah-fly (a 

 small and mischief-making gnat) from depositing her 

 eggs on the tea to wither. I have always rcceivod so 

 much information from your Observer that I have 

 been induced to sendyo'u this —I remain, yours truly, 

 GEORGE FENTON LOCK WOOD, 

 of the Backarala Tea Estate, Darjeeliug. 

 [We give the above as it has reached us, but we 

 should like to hear what the quality and value of tea 

 withered wholly in the sun is. Such a process was 

 common enough in India, when it paid to make 

 green tea ; but wears not satisfied that it will answer 

 for blaok.— Ed.] 



BEAVIK8T COFFEE CROP SET ON YOUNG 

 COFFEE. 

 Badulla (or thereabouts), 19th April 1885. 



Dear Sir, — I repeat my question : What is the 

 greatest amount of crop known to have set on one year 

 to 15 months old coffee? and in what district? 

 Mr. Irvine's letter is interesting, but he does not, I 

 think, come to the point. He gives a crop from 2 

 years and 2 months old coffee ; a crop from 2 years 

 and 3 years old coffee. 



The 8 ewt. per acre in Pusscllawa is from coffee 

 plauted in the S. W., and, if the crop that was picked 

 as a maiden was an autumn crop, this coffee was 2 

 years and 6 months old. The "Hangranoya W. 

 King's " seems rather vague. Then the crop which 

 Mr. Irvine "stood in the field and saw" seems a 

 ' bumper ' with a vengeance, but is it any bigger than 

 was picked on a certain estate not very far from 

 Elkaduwa ? 



I know all about the concluding paragraph, and 

 that is just the point : how much per acre has been 

 known to set ? The trees must have been small, and 

 the berries could have been counted even if they 

 were like very small peas. Never mind about the 

 dropping off Five to six cwt. on trees 15 months 

 old not uncommon in TJva some years ago ! Now, 

 is this a joke of Mr. Irvine's? A stump platitel, 

 say under most favourable circumstances, in Oetober- 

 November would scarcely have a spring blossom, ie. , 

 in the following March — would it? It blossomed 

 " therefore in the autumn to the extent of Soro'cwt., 

 i.e., when it was less than a year old. It is wonder- 

 ful indeed, but at any rate thr; is the precedent of 

 Aaron'B rod. — I remain, yours faithfully, 



THE ENQUIRES. 

 113 



TEA-DRYING: No. 3 SIROCCOS. 



Colombo, 22ud April 18S5. 



Dear Sib.3,— That the Sirocco No. 3 will do and 

 does the full amount of work claimed for it by 

 Messrs. Davidson & Co. is evident from the enclosed 

 extract from a lett r dated the 20th inst. from 

 Mr. Jas. Wight, Kandaloya, Nawalapitiya. — Yours 

 faithfully, W. II. DAV1ES & Co. 



(Extract.) 



I am now much pleased with the No 3's. One 

 is sunk 7 foot, and the other is on a level with 

 the floor, but both seem to work equally well. 

 They were timed a short time ago in the middle of 

 the firing and gave a result of 80 lb. dried lea for 

 one hour. 



CURING~AND PACKING TEA IN 

 COLOMBO. 



22nd April 1885. 



Dear Sir, — Permit me to point out a few mistakes 

 Mr. C. W. Horsfall in your issue of 20th instant 

 makes in replying to my letter of 13th in re tea 

 bulking and packing in Colombo. First, with re- 

 ference to weight of empty shooks, it is impossible 

 with unsorte 1 tea to put more than 45 lb. in a full 

 chest unless the tea is pressed into the chest, and 

 this would mean a considerable percentage of inferior 

 tea broken so that it would in sorting be mixed mith 

 the smaller and liner qualities to the detriment of the 

 latter. If then a chest into which 90 lb. of sorted 

 tea can be packod holds only 45 lb. of unsorted, it 

 stands to reason double the number of chests 

 will be necessary to convey the crop to Colombo. 

 In the case of a crop of 9,000 lb. tea, the oariiage 

 on 200 chests from Colombo to estate would fall to 

 be paid instead of on 100 chest9 where sorting and 

 packing is done on the estate. There would also be 

 additional carriage to Colombo from ths fact that, 

 whether by cooly, cart or rail, only 45 lb. of tea can 

 be carried in a chest weighing 23 lb. 



I attempted in my letter of 13th to show that the 

 only apparent Having was about half a cent per lb. 

 in sorting, and refrained from going into detuls of 

 the extra cost of carriage as explained above and 

 Colombo charges for sorting, retiring and packing, which 

 woukl include interest on machinery and buildings, 

 supervision of mills and iu all probability the same 

 number of men as would be required for the same 

 work on the eBtate. How many men, might I ask 

 Mr. Horsfall, would he set free from a factory in 

 which an Ausell's sifter is at work doing from 

 four to six maunds tea per hour? This as well as the 

 saviug on the probable cost of a portion of (he dry- 

 ing apparatus might with advantage he left out of 

 the discussion. Monday being an off-day with the 

 drying machinery, all final firing and packiug is best 

 done on that day. I quite admit that sorting and 

 packing could be as effectually accomplished — the 

 latter process perhaps better— in Colombo as on 

 the estate, but only at an enhanced cost to the pro- 

 ducer. S. 



FIBRE PLANTS AND MACHINES. 



Sir, — Last year there were several trials at the 

 Zoological Gardens at Calcutta by the Revenue and 

 Agricultural Department, in the extraction of fibres. 

 The object of the trials was to test the fibre- 

 extracting machines, and to make known some of the 

 many fibre-yielding plants which arc little recognized 

 in commerce. Can any of your numerous roadors tell 

 me the result of the trials and tho outcome of the 

 attempt to make known new fibre-yielding plants iu 

 India ?— Y r ours truly, CULTIVATOR. 



[We quoted the result of the trials, showing that 

 Death & Elwood's machine, though not perfeot, was 



