August i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



79 



BOWEN's EEVOLVISO tea toaster — EE-PIRIVO TEA — 



fCLTivATloN IN Japan— A novel proposal— tea 



PANS. 



In connection with the above, we may notice an 

 article headed " Japan Tea and Bowen's Eevolving 

 Tea Toaster." Mr. Bowen's account of the culture 

 and manufacture of tea in Japan is almost entirelj' 

 borrowed from Mr. Gribble's paper, but ho ia more 

 detailed in his notice of the final firino: in the foreign 

 factorirs. The introduction of some disgnsting and 

 very improbable details of children carried by their 

 mothers becoming sick amidst the tea, looks asif •* 

 was done to further Mr. Bowen's design of giving 

 employment in America to a tea-toaster be has in- 

 vented. As our readers are aware, no degree of he.at 

 to which tea can be safely exposed will succeed in 

 dispelling all the moisture. About 5 per cent re- 

 mains in the best fired teas, and to tea packed in 

 hermetically closed boxes this percentage can do no 

 harm. The harm is done, if people in America or 

 Europe open the boxes and leave them open, so that 

 the tea should imbibe further moisture and get spoiled 

 . or even mouldy The teas imperfectly tired in Japanese 

 houses or huts, however, contain an appreciable 

 quantity of moisture, which is expelled in the final 

 firing. Mr. Bowen's contention is thit a revolution 

 ousht to take place in the tea _ trade of Japan, in 

 order that employment rnay be given to a tea toaster 

 which he has invented. He holds that the teas as fired 

 by the Chinese middlemen, conld Sitfely bear the com- 

 paratively short voyage to America via San Francisco, 

 :ind could, after arrival, be kept in the original pack- 

 ages, until t:iken out to be toasted as coflfee i.", when re- 

 quired The quality of the tea, he believes, would 

 thus be superior. An engineering authority, to whom 

 we submitted the number of the Indian Mercury in 

 which the article occurs, gave his opinion thu.-* : — 

 I have read the article carefully, and am inclined to be 

 very sceptical: (1) because the writer is cracking up his own 

 machine and (2) because of the nonsense he writes in 

 the paragraphs I have marked. 



We suspect this will be the general feeling amongst 

 experts. No doubt it mioht seem desirable to friends 

 in America and Europe, that the final firing or toast- 

 ing of tea should be relegated to them, but pro- 

 ducers cannot he expected to see it, or to give up 

 their belief that the very p-rfect'ou of t 'a manufacture 

 is that the leaf wh"n pucka baltied, as they say in 

 India, and fimlly tired, as people say where ''the 

 English she is spoken," should be packed and soldered 

 up when dry and hot. But we shall allow the in- 

 genious American speak for himself. We ought tu 

 say that the hiiliriu Mercury quotes Mr. Bowen's 

 article from the Grocer. Mr. Howen states that the 

 mode of planting adopted resembles that pu.suuJ 

 in Californian vineyards and that thi- siparatt: oiroles 

 of plants are better than the hedge system, inasmuch 

 as an opportunity i« thin given to more thoroughly 

 fertilize and cultivate, which is consoicntiou.sly done. 

 He states : — 



In the third year of its growth the plant bears leaves 

 ready for picking, and from its fifth to tenth year is con- 

 sidered at its best, although with proper cultivation from 

 this time on it deteriorate-! but little. The hlirub, for 

 convenience of picking and for the .strength and develop- 

 ment of the new shoots, is kept trimmed to a height ot 

 three or four feet. 



.Mr. Bowen repeats M' (Jriljble's sta'ement as to girl" 

 e-itriering 3,4 lb. per <l.m, Sut • th.' t-nd. r leaves" 

 follow, and that they gither a gr ater wei^dit as the 

 leaves develop in size The wag-^ for a day s w-rk 

 is -aid to be \2k emits oi ,\mioi.-:Tn mon'-y, which 

 would be about 25 cen's of a rupee. Twenty-live 

 cenia per diem for less than of a eq'dvalent of a hi. 

 9f dried tea could never pay ; so we suep.-ct Mr. Bowon. 



copied Mr. Gribble, and that the latter referred to lb. 

 of dried tea. Mr. Bowen ta.ks of a first crop in April 

 or May ; a second in June or July ; and sometimes, 

 with a favourable season and high prices, another 

 crop is gathered still later on. It is clear that 

 plucking flush is generally confined to the period ex- 

 t nding from April to July. Bowen s.ays distinctly 

 that the Jirst proci'ss after pluckiug is steaming. And 

 now for Mr. Bowen's proposal : — 



Before following the tea into the godown or warehouse 

 of European exporter, I desire to call the reader's atten- 

 tion to the liaii.i of the writer's idea in shipping thoroughly 

 cured tea, and freshly firing or toasting (I use the word 

 toast as being, perhaps, more generally expressive) it in 

 America as soon preceding its actual consumption as 

 possible. 



The position, I assume, is that it is possible and practical 

 to ship to America properly cured tea, direct from the 

 plantation, free from all coloring matter, and in its natural 

 state, and toa.st it as it is consumed. 



In all my experiments I have met with only one ex- 

 pression of doubt, and that is that the " tea won't keep " 

 but when showing samples that have been in stock 

 tiyht-tai months, and perfectly sound and sweet, the regul- 

 ation reply has been, " I did not, think it ]]ossible." 



The climate of America is noted for its tea-keeping 

 (lualities, and witli the ocean voyage.s reduced to fifteen or 

 eighteen days, the risk is much less than when shipments 

 were made by the Cape or Horn. 



Unfortunately the manipulation of tea, unlike itsactive 

 competitor, cotfee, is but little known, but for the purpose 

 of an illustration, I may compare them. Every child knows 

 that cotfee comes to America in what is commonly called 

 the " green "state, and that before it can be used it must 

 be toasted, or roasted ; but how many children, or, for that 

 matter, how many adults generally speaking, ever heard of 

 tea being toasted ? 



Not one, I will venture, in a hundred ! and yet, every 

 pound of tea, that is or ever has been exported, has 

 undergone this final toasting process before leaving tlieso 

 shores. It is acknowledged by all coffee drinkers that 

 cotfee, when used immediately after toasting, is better than 

 it ever will be by subsequent keeping. This is identically 

 so with tea. 



But I am asked, what is the use of toasting tea? The 

 best reply to that is by asking, what is the use of toasting 

 coffee y 



Whatever the chemical action of heat upon the combined 

 or individual properties of tea or cotfee may be, one fact 

 remains fixed, and that is for centuries no other treatment 

 has been devised that will develop the body, bouquet and 

 flavor as the toast does. 



Naturally, then, if our tea is treated one day or one 

 week before using, it will possess more flavor, aroma and 

 " snap " than if bought as it is now, with the toast from 

 six months to three years old. 



To carefully toast tea by what is known as the ba.sket 

 system, without having skilled labor, is the problem the 

 writer after three years of experimenting in Japan claims 

 to have deciphered in the coni|)letion of what is known as 

 "Bowen's Patent Automatic Tea Kirer." This machine 

 consists of a cast iron bo.\, diviiling into thri-e equal sized 

 compartments, over aii.J partially in which on suitable 

 journals, revolve three nickel-plated wire baskets. The 

 baskets are revolved by an endless screw, which is pro- 

 pelled by a small ingenious water wheel of recent design. 

 On one end of e.xch hasket is fastened another screw of 

 corresponding thread, which meshes into the driving screw, 

 and this is connected l.y alight running rublier belt to the 

 driving wheel of the water motors. These mol.ors are very 

 simple, and screw on to the same sized nut as an ordin- 

 ary garden hose, anil therefore do not recpurc any o.\pens- 

 ive pipe connections. Jiy the aiTaiigernent of the screw, 

 the baskets work entirely independent of each other, thus 

 enabling a person to to.ist at one time three separate gratles 

 of tea. Under each basket is placed a pan of live char- 

 coal uf tir the smoke and gas li.avu been burnt oft'. This 

 furnishes the neces.sary peculi.ar steady heat, which in 

 about twenty minutes will give the tea a most even and 

 thorough, quick toast. At this moment your tea is at it 



