June i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL "AGBTCT7LTURIST. 



89$ 



vantage of a rapid change of air. Some machines 

 effect this by a fan, some by a chimney, either way 

 may be good. The No 3 i= lacking in cither. The 

 height of the funnel, that gives current to its heated 

 air is only about eight feet. That, of course, will 

 not give a rapid curreut, and this has to be reduced 

 to a fourth as the area of the mouth where the air 

 passes through the tea is four times the. area of the 

 funnel. There are ouly two series of trays for the 

 air to pass through, compared with four and more 

 iu other cases, but it seems likely that a greater 

 speed of current would be an advantage'. 



This could easily be got by using a fan to drive 

 the air in at tbo bottom of the machine. Au air- 

 tight chamber of galvanized iron round the vent holes 

 at the bottom, with which a fan communicated would 

 effect the whole thing without interfering in the least 

 with the worsiug of it, as it at present stands, and 

 all experience points to good results from such au 

 arrangement. A fan, of course, needs driving power, 

 and the wSterwheel is not always working the roller 

 while the drier is iu operation ; some other driver 

 must be at hand for the continuous working of the fan. 



Mr. Cameron of Ythanside, who has favoured the 

 planters, through the Dimbula Association, with so 

 many ingenious devices, has the plan of a turbine at 

 once cheap, effective and not liable to damage or 

 getting out of order, which would do well for such 

 a purpose. For a few rupees and with the spilt water 

 from the sluice, this improvement on No. 3 might 

 be effected. The new Jackson's drier with revolving 

 bands I have not seen. The idea seems a good one, 

 however. Perhaps* it too might be improved by a 

 Cameron's turbine and fan. When I kuow more I '11 

 tell you * MORE. 



PROPORTION OF LEAD FOR TEA CHESTS. 



24th April 1885. 

 Dear Sir,— You asked recently— or one of your 

 correspondents did— how many lb. of lead lining 

 went to a chest, and you answered the questiot 

 yourself stating that about 6 lb. went to the chesn. 

 I find that by using chests 24 20 x IS instead of 

 24 19 x 19 I cau do with very little °ver the 5 1b. of 

 lead per chest using Johnson's 5 oz. lead 84" x 22". 

 24x20 18 = 5 cubic f-et exactly, whereas a small 

 fraction is involved in 24 x 19 x 19 Similarly for half- 

 chests 18 x 10 x 15 = 2 50 cubic feet exactly, and suits 

 the lead better than 16J x 16| x 1 6J.— Yours, C W. H. 



PREPARATION OF TEA IN COLOMBO. 



April 25th, 1SS5. 



Dear Sir,— As " S." aud I are at one on the two 

 main points under dieenss-ion, viz. — 1, that tea sorting 

 and paekiog might be done as well if not better in 

 Colombo than on the estate, and 2, that it could only 

 be doue at an enhanced cost 6o the producer, matters 

 of detail iu which we may seem to differ are of 

 secondary importance. 



If, however, mistakes have been made on either side 

 on matters of detail if worth while to ii 



how far they affect th main result. 



If tea is to besorted in Colombo, " S, is quite correct 

 in insisting on the mcessity of transporting it from 

 the estate is such a manner that the liner qualities 

 shall not be injured by the admixture of in 

 leaf through breakage of the latter en rouli 

 prevent this he would pack only )."i lb. in a 90 Hx 

 chest. I venture how • '■ sn I tat as 



inn h if nnt mire breakage may occur b; 

 being acked too Ion •' 



tigh ly ; ' 



iouruey I wouiil preier to ii»ve from GO lb. to I 



of unsorted tea packed in an ordinary 'JO lb. chest. 

 At this rate ouly 150 chests, aud not 200, instead 

 of 100 would bo required to bring down the crop 

 of 900 lb. wni'h " S'" takes as au example, 

 would then bo rail fare up aud down on 50 ■ 

 above the number on which it is now paid. A 

 weighs let us say, 23 lb., or, with lining say 23 lb. 

 The weight of 50 chests would therefore he 12.'. 

 cwt. Now at 2nd class rates the rail fare to Talawa- 

 kelie up aud dowu is R26'39 per ton: on 12.', 

 cwt. this would he RIG'49 each way, or in all R32 , 98. 

 " S." calculates the saving ou sorting by doing it in 

 Colombo at J cent per lb. which ou 9,0'JO lb. = 11 15. 

 If the railway would take return shocks at 3rd 

 class rates the carriage ou 'extra packages would 

 amount to ouly R25'5G. 



My contention was that the saving in sorting 

 would more than cover the carriage on extra packages ; 

 and this I think is shewn by the above figures to 

 be the case — provided as much as GO lb. of unsorted 

 tea cau be packed iu a chest measuring 24 x 20x18 or 

 5 'cubic feet giving an inside capacity of 4 :;ij cubic feet. 



The few mistakes therefore seem to be limited to 

 this one, if it be a mistake at all, that I have as- 

 sumed that more than 45 lb. can bo put into a 

 90 lb. ch st. 



" S." asks how many men would bo sot free from a 

 factory iu which an Ansell's sifter is at work. I 

 Will suppose, merely for the sake of argument, that 

 only one man would be set free ; and the unit will 

 be convenient to work with : but what does this 

 mean? In the case of Abbotsford for instance it 

 might mean the value of 20 lb. leaf pi r day or moro 

 —say 5 lb. of made tea worth at least 50c. per lb. 

 or K2-5J. I observe that Mr. Scovell stated the 

 cost of rolling, firing, sifting (in which I presi me 

 sorting is included), and packing, including boxes aud 

 teadiouse snndiies, on Stratheliie at 547 cents per 

 lb. It would be interesting to hear from him what 

 the cost of each of these operations was teparately. 

 I presume that 5 - 47 is the bare cost without counting 

 " interest on machinery and buildings or super- 

 vision," items to which "S." calls attention in his lett. r 

 of the 22nd instant. 



Iu a former letter I alluded to the possible employ- 

 ment of some kind of airt'ght and watrrprm f hag "or 

 double bag for the transport from estates of tea mi 

 tended to be finally dealt with iu Colombo. If 

 this description of hag could be devised, I am 

 aware that there would el ill be the objection of the 

 liabity of uusorted tea conveyed therein to breakage. 

 This objection would however disappear, or be greatly 

 minimized, in the case of sorted tea which was merely 

 intended to be packed in Colombo. 



I qui'e acknowledge the competency of"S."to discuss 

 this matter and the general accuracy of bis state- 

 ments, saving only that one in which he says I made 

 "—Yours faithfully, C. W. H. 



; a few mistakes. 



PSON'S CHALLENGE ROLLERS. 

 The Ceylon Purchase Hire Company, 

 Colombo, let May : 

 Dear Sir.,- Our attention has been called ;. 

 following paragraph in your Senior Editor's a 

 "Seeing the lea Grow," in your issue of the 

 April: — "I may say that I saw in thecourse 

 travels a Thomi sol Hollei that 1 



: . . nothing m favour of its • moBl 



unfcor of the m 

 II 

 ing facts. • 



' ' ■ 



CnaJ.eujio Roller topped in .>. with . is average oi 



