September i, 1885.] TI:E TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



185 



TEA-PREPARING MACRINEKY. 



Mr. Frater, of Messrs. Waiker & Greig, Badulla, 

 has very nearly perfected and patented two tea- 

 rolling machines which, if all accounts that reach us 

 be correct, are likely to attract a good deal of attention 

 from Ceylon planters in the future. Mr. Prater's 

 first patent — the Colonial Tea Roller — has alr<acly been 

 the sub]\ct of some comment in the press. Since 

 then, he has been haul at work on a tmaller machine 

 which he calls ihe " Eureka." It will be adapted 

 for handpower and will not occupy more space than 

 3i by 2J feet. It can be made of different sizes, 

 however, the smaller being estimated to roll 50 or 601b. 

 of withered leaf .TpprcNiinately per hour : the larj,er, 

 which can have gear to conn^ ct witb a steam or 

 water motor, to roll 80 lb. per hour. In this machine 

 there is, we under.-taud, a piinciple iutroduced with 

 reference to the ci arging of the leaf, quite novel 

 and which is expected to prove a great success from 

 its convenience. Mr. Fra'.er is coufid'nt this machine 

 will be very suitable for young gardens just com- 

 mencing to muke tra. and he hopei to price the 

 " Enrekas" at from K300 to I;500 each, the machines 

 being found very compact, easy to drive, access- 

 ible in every way, durable (tlie framen'ork being 

 all cast-iron). These qualities are true, also, of the 

 large " Colonial" roller, which is lo be made in six 

 sizes, capable of rolling fiom 50 to 200 lb. of withered 

 leaf — the latter iuvcilviug two rolls per hour. 

 The middle No. 3 sze of the "Colonial" is 3 by 4 

 feet : several samples of the tea rolled by it have 

 been approvingly reported on by experts, and a 

 MaduUima plantation will be the first on which a 

 " Colonial " roller will be erected. We shall look 

 with much interest for the results of the working 

 of this purely local invention, and we wish Mr. 

 Frater all success in his inventions. Mr. Maclnnes 

 of the same firm (Messrs. Walker & Greig) is, as we 

 mentioned the other day, engaged in perfecting a 

 tea-drier, from which a good deal is expected by 

 those who have' learned something of the desii.n. The 

 sample of Haputale tea we reported on the other 

 day was treated in Mr. Mai'Innes's drier. The 

 use of these new machines is not likely to be 

 copfined to the Uva district, although the want of 

 railway communication and the heavy cost of trans- 

 port are drawbacks to their convenient introduction 

 into our older tea districts. 



A New Gutta-Pekcha Tree. — Instigated by the 

 threatened deanh of the gutta-percha tre=! (hownidra 

 gutta), M. Heckel has sought a tuhstitute and claims 

 to have found it in the BirlyroKperrnum Parkii 

 (Kotschy) of Equatorial Africa, and ahuodant in lat- 

 itudes between Upper .Senegil and the Nile ; esppcially 

 in the forest' of the Niger and Nile regions. It 

 affects the argillaceous and ferruginous soils of Bam'- 

 larras Boure and Fonoa-Djalon, where the Africans 

 gather its fruit which vields a greesa called kartle. 

 The jui-e or milk is obtained by iucision from the 

 bark, and on evaporation resembles gutta-perohi. M. 

 Heckel states that he has sont seeds to various French 

 colonies, and al-o to England, in the hope that the 

 latter country will try the ex; erimcnt of int'-oducing 

 the tree into her vast tropic^d possessions. M. Heckel 

 also calls the attention of Kngli h liotauistn and 

 chemists to the divers India Bas.'.ins, as he ii led by 

 analogy to infer that they miaht furuish mi ky pro- 

 ducts Similar to the Baaia Farkii. — South nf Iml'm 

 Observer. 



24 



LETTERS FROM JAMAICA.— No. 7. 



BAIN AT LAST — EFFECT OF THE HEOUGHT — A VISIT TO 

 " BELtEVUE '■ — TEOPICAL PEODUCTS — FKUIT GKOWINGAND 

 CACAO CULTIVATION PBOFITAULE IN\-ESTMENTS — A EE- 

 CIPKOCITr TEEATY WITH CANADA — LAW IN .JAMAICA— A 

 CBEOLE "BDLL." 



Blue Mount.un Di.strict, 3rd June ISS.'j. 

 Dear Sir, — The much-prayed-for "seasons " or May 

 rains have come; they were much needed especiallv 

 in the centre of the island. I have heard of "ptua " 

 where a large number of cattle weie dying daily 

 from want of water, and of the owner of the estate 

 having to send ten miles tor water for household 

 purposes. Even close here in Ihe valley of the 

 "Yallahs" the drought has been very severe, and I 

 fear the settlers will have very short and I'ght crops, 

 as W'as the case last year. This tlry weather is good 

 for the Blue Mountain, as it causes the trees to throw 

 out a good bloosom. In wet Tears crops are very un- 

 certain, as the tops of the hills seem to be in con- 

 tinual showers and mist. 



On my return from Kingston last week, whither 1 

 had been to be present at the Queen's Birthday Ball 

 — a good old custom kept up here .as well as in oi her 

 colonies, but, strange to fay, there is no lev^e — 1 took 

 the opportunity of accepting Mr. John Davidson's kind 

 invitation to pay his property a visit. "Bellevue" 

 is situated a few miles out of Kingston on the first 

 rise of what are termed the "Red Hills." The soil 

 I fancy to be similar to what is met in certain parts 

 of Devonshire. The house ia some 1,500 feet above 

 the sea-level, so it is a sharp pull as soon as one 

 leaves the "Lignanea" plain, and the road is not well 

 kept, and does not reflect creditably upon the Com- 

 missioners of St. Andrew's Parish. 'Ihe "great house" 

 is built on an eminence overlooking the plain, and 

 commanding a g'and sea view in fr'Uit, and at 

 the left of the Port Royal and B'ue Mouutain 

 ranges ; it is a very large mansion built in the old 

 slave days when money was plentiful and labour cheap ; 

 it is quite fit for a viceregal r sidence, and might 

 easily he the Governor's country-hou.'e, for there is 

 always a breeze, and it is never very hot there : 

 fancy walla 18 feet high to the ceiling, and a noble, 

 enclosed verandah or " piazza," 00 to 80 feet long 

 and 20 feet wide. The property was originally planted 

 with pimento trees, some of which are now old and 

 of a large S'ze ; there are also other fine park-like 

 trees round the residence, which mado Sir Anthony 

 Musgrave observe, when he visited Mr. Davidion, that 

 for the first time since he had left England, he felt 

 once more as if in England. Besides pimento and 

 some anatto trees, there is coffee on "Bellevue," 

 but the products to which the proprietor has of late 

 years directed his attention are bananas, oranges and 

 cacao, these are all thriving very promis'ngly, the 

 cacao (the dwarf species evidently) already yielding 

 returns which, of course, will increase yearly as the 

 trees grow older and the cultivation is extended, 

 the bananas also bearing largely, and the orange 

 trees commencing to give fruit ; consequently this fine 

 property must year by year increaie in value. Mr. 

 iJavidson deserves very great credit for the enter- 

 prise that made him try the growth of cacao so near 

 to Kingston, and at such an elevation. I noticed al.'-o 

 some cardamoms doi.rg very well along a little 

 swampy ravine : such planes suit them best. I believe 

 Mr. ^■ant of " Langley " has been most successful 

 in the cultivation of carflamnm.s on the north side 

 at an elevation of about 2,000 feet aliove the sea. 

 The more I see and hear of Jamaica the moie I 

 am convinced, that, for a young man who has 

 suflicieut capital and who has first ac(|uiied the 

 necessary experience, fruit growing and cacao cnliv- 



