360 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Nov. 2, 1885, 



To C'OTT.EOT TirK Odob OF Flowehs.— Roses aud 

 flowers containing perfumed oils maybe itiiide to yield 

 their aroinatie qualities by steeping the petals in a 

 saucer ot water, and setting it in the sun. ^ The 

 water should bo soft, or rain water, aud a sufficient 

 quantity allowed for evaporation. lu a few days a 

 film will cover the water. This is the essentia! oil of 

 the (lower: every particle is impregnated with the 

 odor. It must be taken up carrfully and put iu tiny 

 vials, which should remain open till all the remain- 

 ing water is evaporated. A few drops of this will 

 perfume glove boxes, ajiparel, etc., aud will last a 

 long time. — Soiitlieni Planter. 



l'Roi.'rr.\ni.E Fruit Culture.— Mr, AVatkius, a 

 ))ractical fruit grower, in a paper read before the 

 members of the Herefordshire Chamber ot Agri- 

 culture, cited two successful cases of Apple growing 

 last season that came under his own notice. In one 

 case a small orchard of about three acres was recently 

 planted with standard Apijle trees ot good sorts for 

 table and kitchen use. The trees were properly 

 cared for and m.anured, and as some sorts wore foinid 

 to be growing too freely they were root-primed. 

 The result was a •vagnificent crop of fruit last seasou, 

 which realized about £16 per acre after payin? all 

 expenses. Tn an exposed situatiou plant rather thickly, 

 say 18 feet to :30 feet apart; but if you have a .sheltered 

 situation, with a good deep and generous soil, give 

 the trees jileuty of room — 30 feet or more. Apple 

 or Pear trees may be planted alternately with Plums ; 

 the I'lum tree is a much shoi-ter-livod tree than the 

 Apple or Tear, and ccnnes into bearing sooner, thus 

 bringing in a return till the other trees get fairly 

 growu. A strong grower and a small grower may be 

 placed alternately each way. Tet another plan is to 

 plant them in hexagonal form instead of scpiare: 

 that is, instead of the trees being exactly opposite 

 ea«h other iu adjoining rows, they are miilway, thus 

 giving more room to each individual tree without 

 increasing the distance between or in the row.s. In 

 filling up old orchards never plant in the old holes ; 

 it is better to get the trees planted irregularly than 

 to do this. Deep digging is essential iu planting; 

 but the trees should not be put iu too ileeply. The 

 want of care in picking and p,\cking the fruit is a 

 frequent cause of loss. Mr. A\'atkins prefers autumu 

 planting, except in cold wet soils, where he would 

 plant in spring, not later than JIarch.— (■'iic'c/icrs' 

 Clironieh. 



Cbvlon Tea at llion Altitudes.— "We have very 

 encouraging news of tea at high altitudes. "\Vc believe 

 the returns from Ahbotsford this year will be most satis- 

 factory as to (juantity, whilst the young places near 

 Nuwara Kliyaare giving returns far in excess of previous 

 expectations. As far as can be judged from the 

 evidence before us, we see no reason to suppose that 

 estates situated as high as, or higher than, 6,000 feet 

 will give a very much reduced return of leaf per 

 acre than those 'at sea level. Some time ago it^ was 

 thought that the lower estates would give quantity— 

 up to 700 lbs. per acre— but not the best quality, 

 whereas the very high estates might be expected to 

 yield a tea of surpas.sing flavor, though not in great 

 abundance. So far as we .arc able to argue from 

 actual facts before us, the superiority of highgrowii 

 tea has not as yet been very forcibly demonstrated 

 to us, though we are far from denying that it will 

 eventually establish its jn-e-eminence. But, as we gain 

 experience from the growt'i of the industry iu the 

 island, one thing is becoming more and more plain 

 every day, and that is that the small yiidds to be 

 expected from tea grown at very high altitudes are 

 (vrtain to he very much exceeded, aud that the tea 

 plant can be grown to pay handsomely at almost 

 any possible altituilft in the' island. Yields of KDO lb. 

 an acre at the elevation of Nuwara Eliya may, and 

 doubtless will, be events of rare occurence, but we 

 confidently look forward to .500 and .600 Hi, an 

 acre as wliat may be expected from carefully planted, 

 well shelteri'd. land, no matter what the altitude. 

 The slowness with which the extreme elasticity — if 

 we may use such .1 word in this connection— of the 



tea plant has been realized by planters iu Ceylon is 

 souK'rtrhat curious, as we have remarked before. Though 

 it was known to flourish ia the hot steamy plains 

 of Assam, on the bleak, almost frozeu, heights of the 

 Darjeeling hills under the very shadow of the ice- 

 clad Himalayas, yet we in Ceylou were some time iu 

 realizing that it could be sucessfully grown, and be 

 made to produce abundantly, at ani/ altitude iu the 

 island. The fact is only now beginning to d.awu upon 

 us, and men win are busy plantiug up colfee laiul at 

 from 5.000 to 6,000 feet with the more hardy tea 

 plant are not. now regarded as madmen, as they 

 were a short time ago. In the same way the suitability 

 of riva for the cultivation of tea, for a long time 

 denied, is now at last becoming accepted as an 

 incontrovertible fact, which time alone can effectually 

 prove. There are very few places iu IJva where ciuchonti 

 and coffee are now cultivated, which are not admirably 

 suited for tea; aud from rainfall returns now before 

 us, mauv have as well-distributed a fall as the majority 

 of estates on this side of Nuwara Kliya. — Local 

 ■' Times" 



OuAXfJE Flowers. — In a paper recently read beforts 

 the New York State Pharmaceutical Assnciatiou, Mr. 

 Lemberger stated that he had succeeded in tlistilling 

 from orange flowers gathered in Florida and salted down 

 a water comparing favourably with that imported from 

 the south of Europe. As orange trees are now grown 

 abundantly iu Florida the petals are conseiiueutly 

 plentiful, and he suggests that a new industry should 

 be started in that .State, in which low priced labour 

 might be utilized in gathering the blossoms, especially 

 of the wild or bitter orange. — Phuniuu'tnticat Jo/T' 

 mil. 



Tea: The Green Leaf SEPAEAroii and .Sii-riNf; 

 Mac'Hin'E, which has been patented by Messrs, J'air- 

 weather and Gilruth, of Sembawattie, has been named 

 the "Success,"' aud seems likely to justify its title. 

 The machine, in its first trial with rolled leaf, worked 

 moat satisfactorily, finishing ofl: one fill of Jackson's 

 large "Excelsior" roller in five minutes, dropping 

 the fine leaf iu the centre, aud the larger at the 

 sides. A large machine is now iu course of con- 

 struction iu . Colombo, capable of being driven by 

 steam-power, and others will he takeu iu hand for hand 

 or steam. iMr. Gilruth thus writes of the machine- — 

 The machine will be the means of reducing the 

 tea-house cooly staff by 4 to 5; on a larger 

 estate iu greater proportion. It will also be a great 

 saving of labor in this way: when the roll iu its 

 separated state is fired, it will not requiri- so much 

 sitting, and thi'refore accomplish at the sanur time 

 the aim and object of all planters, 1 v., preserving 

 as much as possible the bloom on the tea. It also 

 offers other advantages. The roll can bi' separated 

 into three different grades, and in siuh a marked 

 style. A tea-houso manager, with care aiul knowledge 

 of his work, will be able to accomplish with ease a 

 loug-wished for desire, i. e., to have each and every 

 leaf according to their class of the same uniform 

 outturn in the cup, from being able to ferment each 

 kind separately a long or short time according to 

 his fancy ; thus preventing the old inevitable com- 

 plaint being made every time a mistake happens in 

 the fermentation, which on many occasions is used 

 and also abused, namely: as follows: — "Oh, I tried 

 to get my course leaf as near an approach to my 

 Pekoe as I could, aud just waite.l a little too long. 

 That is the reason I have such a dull outturn." Aud 

 then again, on the other hand, it has a green out- 

 turn. Whys' "Oh, because I did uot want to sacrifice 

 my Pekoe for my Pekoe Souchong or Smichong. as 

 ihe case might be." Perhaps, if he was an under- 

 strapper, aud had no interest to make good tea, as 

 he might think, through uot getting a .'> per cetn 

 commission, he might try and maki- any of the above 

 excu.sus p;iss when the fault lay oujhis want of ju'^ge- 

 ment, or he is perhaps careless or too anxious to get 

 away from liis work. With the .system the "Success " 

 olfcrs this cannot be done, or it is proof positi\'e 

 that it i.s due to carelessness.— Local "Time«,'' 



