July i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



mauud of tea perfectly dried. The out-turu, when a steady 

 temperature aud speed are kept uii, will bo about two 

 mauuds per hour of dry tea. 



And then follows the price, in the case of machiuo 

 E, £270, with " packing for shipment and delivery 

 to London or Liverpool extra." We presume the 

 price in rnpees, laid down in Colombo, can be ascert- 

 ained from the Ceylon agents, Messrs. John Walker 

 & Co. of Colombo, whose fame in connection with 

 coffee machinery is worldwide. The chain alluded 

 to in the description of the machine is worthy of 

 special notice. It is an American patented invention 

 and ought to be useful for a vast variety of purposes. 

 It is composed of a series of solid but separate 

 links, BO that, combined with extreme strength, there 

 is the convenience of being able, at any moment and 

 at any portion of the chain, to abstract or supply 

 any number of links deemed necessary. In our 

 popular description we have spoken of three drying 

 webs, but in reality the web is endless, the leaf 

 being tipped from one portion to another as it 

 travels until the dry tea is discharged at the base. 

 The speed at which the tea-laden perforated webs 

 travel through the heated air can be slowed or 

 expedited as the condition and appearance of the tea 

 leaf may seem to demand, while a regulating apparatus 

 spreads the tea over the webs at a uniform thickness. 

 Readers acquainted with the eSfect of iron on tea 

 when the two come in contact will understand the 

 reason why the webs and all other portions of the 

 machine which the leaf touches are coated with lead. 

 The final test of the merits of this as of all other 

 machines of the kind is, of course, the quality of the 

 tea it turns out, and to meet this test efifectually 

 (apart from the judgment of planters and others pre- 

 sent at the trials), two separate invoices are to be 

 sent simultaneously, from Carolina for sale in the 

 London market — one of tea dried on the Sirocco and 

 one of leaf prepared by Jackson's machine. The re- 

 sults will, of course, be published and will guide planters 

 who have not satisfied themselves by the results of 

 the trials still going on. In the description of the 

 travelling web, it is said to be composed of iron 

 plates which fold over each other somewhat after the 

 fashion of a Venetian blind. And this brings us to 

 the fact that Mr. Jackson has invented a Venetian 

 Drier, the cost of which is only £100. It does not 

 seem to have been introduced into Ceylon, and, there- 

 fore, we cannot speak of its performances or merits. 

 What Mr. Jackson claims for it is thus stated : — 



This machine embodies a couvcuicnt aud handy arrange- 

 ment for turning over and passing the tea leaves down 

 from one drying surfnce to another, without haviug to take 

 such leaves out of the drj-ing chamber till the operation is 

 completed. The di-ying surfaces are composed of a series of 

 perforated lead-coated iron strips or flaps, which are ar- 

 ranged together somewhat after the stjde of the laths, of 

 what are known as •' Venetian " bliuds. Every Hap is 

 provided at each end with a pivot or bearing, on which it 

 can turn in suitable supports in the sides of the drying 

 chamber, and the flaps are placed side by side, so that when 

 all are in a horizontal position, they will overlap each other 

 a little, aud form an unbroken drying surface. Each flap 

 is also provided with a crank, which projects outside the 

 casing, and all the cranks of each series of flaps constitut- 

 ing one drying surface, are coupled together by a connect- 

 ing rod or bar, which, on being pulled the one way or 

 the other, either opens or shuts all the flaps. On the top, 

 or feeding surface, which can be withdrawn from the dry- 

 ing chamber, is spread the leaf to bo dried, and when 

 pushed back in position the connecting rod or bar is 

 pulled, and the whole of the flaps are turned, so that t)ie 

 leaf is caused to fall therefrom on to the next lower sur- 

 face. The top surface is then withdrawn, re-charged and 

 inserted. The connecting rod of the next lower surface 

 is now pulled, wliich projects the leaf down a surface further, 

 and soon, down from surface to surface, until each charge 

 ultimately arrives upon the lowest, from which it is dis- 



' charged in a proper dry condition into a suitable receiver. 

 Tlie quick tilting of the flaps turn.s over the tea in a 

 perfect manner, and obviates breakage of the fine leaves, 

 and injury to the bloom, that must accrue from to.ssiug 

 and turning the tea by hand on wire mesh trays. This 

 change, therefore, from the use of hand mesh wire trays 

 will be admitted and received as a very desirable one. 



Labor will be saved in working, and as the tea is not 

 withdrawn at all from the machine till the process is com- 

 pleted, not only is much time saved, but the leaf will 

 give out a more brisk and malty liquor on infusion. An 

 Exhaust Fan, of very simple construction, provided at the 

 top, to draw oflt the moist air, which is followed up by 

 a continuous supply of pure hot air from the multitubular 

 air heater below. 



AVood, grass, coal or other fuel may be used. 

 The drying appliances in this case, it will be observed, 

 are not automatic. An exhaust fan carries up the 

 hot-air, but a series of crank» must be adjusted, 

 so as to give the tea layers in succession the benefit 

 of the heat. With reference to the Venetian 

 principle, we may mention that Mr. Fleming of 

 Messrs. John Walker & Co., Kandy, who wa» 

 our fellow-traveller from Wstawala downwards, 

 pressed on U9, as he had done on others, tha 

 adaptability of the principle of the well-known Venetian 

 to the process of tea withering, the laths being, 

 of course, cut to the proper width. The appliances 

 at present in use, next to the surfaces of floors and 

 lofts, are trays of Hessian or other cloth, narrow and 

 wooden-framed. A series of knots on a rope hanging 

 from above, sustains a considerable number of these 

 trays superimposed. When the leaf spread on these 

 trays is sufficiently withered, it is either gathered up, 

 or the rope is withdrawn and all the trays fall from 

 the horizontal to the perpendicular, depositing their 

 loads in long rows on the floor. Mr. Fleming pointed 

 out, that, if Venetian platforms were adopted, they 

 could be of any length desired. When the leaf spread 

 on them was withered, a spring at one end could be let 

 go, and then the Venetian would be retracted to the 

 opposite end, folding from above downwards over 

 a roller and depositing its charge of leaf in a heap on 

 the floor or in a box below. We cannot doubt that our 

 ingenious and enterprizing planters will give practical 

 efl'ect to this idea, and we should be glad to be able 

 to report the result. Aud while on the topic of new 

 ideas, we may, say that, instead of teak wood (liable 

 to wear) for the table and iron for the top of his roller, 

 Mr. Jackson is meditating the employment of marble 

 (in sections) for the former and granite (in mass) 

 for tlio latter. Of many inventions under the sun 

 there is thus no end, and those who devote ingenuity 

 aud skill, industry and perseverance to providing sub- 

 stitutes for human toil and additions to the comfort, 

 well-being, power and prosperity of their fellow-men 

 are justly entitled to due reward, which we trust Mr. 

 Jackson will receive for his unremitting and useful 

 efforts to facilitate the operations of that industry to 

 which humanity owes its moat innocent, beneficial 

 and cheering beverage. 



Visitors to Carolina Factory cannot help noticing, 

 (any more than they can help observing the rush of 

 the waterfall, unhappily hidden from the railway 

 traveller,) the fact that tea is here being cultivated on a 

 typical specimen of the numerous estates on which coffee 

 has been grown for a third of a century or so aud which 

 the tropic sun and rains have deprived of humus 

 aud top surface. It is clear that on such places 

 tea will absolutely require manuring, and the 

 proprietors of Carolina are evidently alive to the fact. 

 A portion to which cattle manure has been applied 

 has responded wonderfully, so that we wore not sur- 

 prized to hear of a 50-aci-e grass-field and increased 

 cattle establishments being meditated. Coconut poonao 

 in addition to cattle manure, good fertilizers, applied 

 JO good jAt (indigenous) tea, growing on good soil 



