Dec. I, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



397 



To ihe Editor of the " Ceijlon Obsa-vcr." 



THE JAVA PLANTEKS ANXIOUS TO GET 

 INFORMATION .VBOUT CINCHONA CULTIV- 

 ATION IN CEYLON. 

 Baudoeti},' (Java), 20th September 1885. 



Dkak Sir, — Kcquestcd to acquire as much know- 

 leilge as possible relati\e to the cultivation of cin- 

 chona. I take tlie liberty of requesting you to 

 enlighten me as to the following questions ; — 



a. How large is the plantation at Ceylon ? and 

 from what year does it date ? 



h. What rates are on the products directly or 

 indirectly, such as emphyteutic rent, ground tax, 

 license patents, Ac? 



c. In what way is it cultivated ? how is it 

 gathered, dried, packed and transported ? 



d. To how much do those costs amount ? 



e. How much must be paid for warehouse dues, 

 shipping, iusurance, landing, expenses in Europe, 

 commission fees, ttc. c^'c? 



_/■. How and for what price may analyses be had ? 



(/. What machines are used in gathering and 

 drying the bark ? 



h. What is the average quality of the bark? 



Any further information as to expenses, kind of 

 cinchona that has being planted, &e., will be 

 gratefully accepted, as I shall be happy to give 

 you any details acquired also from foreign lands. — 

 i have" the honour to remain, respectfully yours, 



W. TOUSSAINT, 



Secretary of the Planters' Association at Bamloeiig. 



[The above is of interest as showing how our 

 neighbours in Java concern themselves about our Cin- 

 chona planting industry. We shall send Mr. 

 Tonssaint our publications with the needful inform- 

 ation, as far as it is available : as for " emphyteutic" 

 (improving) leases, such are unknown in Ceylon. — Bd.] 



BE WATEE-WHEELS. 

 The Scottish Trust & Loan Company of Ceylon, Ltd., 

 London. 10th Oct. 1885. 

 Dejir Sir, — When a proprietor has two water- 

 wheels on his estate or group of estates, let him 

 place one behind the other, tandem fashion, the 

 one uphill running free, but connected with the 

 one below driving the machinery, by a wire rope, 

 and my conviction is, good power will be obtained. 

 I mean to see it tried on my Knuckles properties. 

 —Yours truly, THOMAS DICKSON. 



[A very good idea. Our own was to have a 

 separate shaft for the extra wheel, with belting con- 

 necting it with the shaft by which the machinery 

 was moved. We suppose Mr. Dickson means 

 that the wire rope should go over and under each 

 other wheel in a gioove on the rim of the wheels. 

 -Ep.] 



" WATEE-WHEELS AND TBA-BOLLERS. 

 Colombo, 16th Oct. 1885. 



De.ui Sib,— Eefcrring to your senior's article 

 " From the Hills " in last night's Observer giving 

 the performance of the "Excelsior" worked by 

 a 16'fcet water-wheel, will you permit us to 

 say that a 12.fect water-wheel has reeently been 

 erected by Messrs. J. Walker it Co. on Blackstone 

 estate, and is now working the No, 3 Challenge 

 roller with a small supply of water ? The pioprietor 

 of the estate infonns us that the machine now 

 turns out with the greatest ease 80 lb. of withered 

 leaf every quarter of an hour, or 3,200 lb. per day 

 of 10 hours, against about 2,000 lb. obtained j 

 bv hand-power. This is not so bad for a begin- 

 BJjiS.— I'vurs faithfullj-, W, H, DAVIES & Co. j 



TEA LAND IN THE LOWCOUNTEY. 



Sir, — Referring to Mr. Dc Soysa's lands in the 

 Western and Southern Provinces you state that 

 some of these vuidulating lands would rouse the 

 envy of .\; ..111 planters. Now, I do not mean to 

 depreciate Mr. I'o Soysa's or anybody's land, for there 

 av. oxceptions ; but as a rule, when diligently hunt- 

 ing in the loweountry districts favored with a good 

 rainfall, in rnmihinii witit an Assam pianlcr, wo 

 found such lands, as a rule, very poor and the 

 hilly and high lands near or adjoining nuicli 

 superior. I can only account for it by the system 

 of •' chenaing" in vogue in ancient times. Only 

 20 miles from Colombo in the neighbourhood of 

 Labugama could bo found flats suitable for tea 

 but of poor soil and not of a lastinn character, 

 while a few miles off, in the hilly track round 

 the reservoir, are plots very desirable for a product 

 like tea, but unfortunately the preservation of those 

 forests is necessary for the Colombo water-supply ! 

 and they are most properly reserved, save a few 

 hundred acres which Government are likely to sell. 

 The lands referred to by you are well suited tor 

 other products, as well as tea, and Mr. De Soysa 

 should be " a pioneer" as respects these. Without 

 disrespect to that gentleman, I think it absurd to 

 call him " a pioneer" of an enterprise which has 

 made its stand three years ago and when this 

 gentleman, like others of his nationality, would . 

 not have dropped one cent in it. R. 



'Our correspondent should have seen by our 

 second paragraph tliat Mr. De Soysa began plant- 

 ing tea three years ago, and is therefore, decidedly, 

 a pioneer in the neighbourhood to which we referred. 

 —Ed.] 



ANOTHER TEA-ROLLER: THE INVENTION 

 OF A LAWYER-PLANTER. 



Nawalapitiya, 23th Oct. 1885. 



" The cry is still ' They come.' ' — Shakcspcrc. " The 

 more the merrier." — Popular proverb. 



Snt, — As everything connected with the economy of 

 tea-machinery is of immediate public interest, I 

 venture to send you a few remarks on a new roller 

 which I saw at work yesterday. It is no secret 

 that the energetic proprietor of Blackstone, who 

 may be said to be in tea manufacture the senior 

 wrangler of the year, has been for some lime devoting 

 his natural acumen, doubtless considerably sharpened 

 by the study and prolonged practice of the law, to im- 

 provements in tea-rolling, and the result of his labors 

 is a machine which, combining quantity and quality 

 of outturn with economy of cost and molivc 

 power, bids fair, I think, to supply the great 

 practical want of the day. The machine, which is at 

 present driven by a 12 ft. water-wheel, or by six 

 coolies, turns out easily eighty ponnda of withered 

 leaf, thoroughly rolled in fifteen minutes, without 

 breakage of leaf or discoloration of tip : and the 

 great advantages it possesses are that little time 

 is wasted in loading or discharging and that it will turn 

 out any smaller quantity as well finished as the 

 maximum to which it can be worked. I am not 

 a sufficiently good mechanic to be able to describe 

 the roller to you, and it would be premature to do 

 so if 1 could, but I send you by this post samples 

 of the grades into which I saw a roll from this 

 machine sifted, which, I think you will agree with 

 me, leaves notliing to l)e desired, Mv. Barber ia 

 about to patent his invention, and, I believe, it will 

 be found at a grentely reduced exi>cnse of money and 

 motive power to compete favorably as regards out- 

 turn with any of the heavier and more costly 

 maehines now in vogue. — faithfully youis, 



J. L. SHAKD, 



