Nov, 2, 18S5.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



3<59 



TEA PLANTIXO ON THE HILLS OF CEYLON. 



EXPKRIMEKT AT WOKKISG AX EXCELSIOU BOLLEU WITH 

 A 1(>-FEET WAIEU-WIIKEL— 300 I.B 01' LEAl' ROLLED 

 IN- A\ UOrU— ll-:.i AT HUllI ELKVATIONS KEUIIUINO 

 MORE TIME TO BOLL THAN TUAT Ar LOWER ELEV- 

 ATIONS— TlIB TCltUlXE ON' CALSAY — THE " TEA rLANX- 

 ER's VAUE MECCM " — TEA AT HIGH ELEVATIONS IN' 

 CKVLON — IXCOBRECT i'. TRrE STATEMENTS^THOrSANDS 

 OF ACRES OF FOREST LAN"D SCrrABLE FOR TEA CULTIV- 

 ATION'. 



Upper Linucla, 13th Oct. 



The wpathor is simply glorious, and today we 

 were able to try our Excelsior roller with a feed 

 o( 300 lb. of well-withered tea leaf. Readers of 

 the Ohserrer may recollect our contention, that, 

 with the addition of a tiy-wheel, a Ki-feet water- 

 wheel (such as are so common on cofiee estates) 

 ought to supply motive power sutKcient to work 

 an Excelsior. We took upon ourselves the full 

 responsibility of the experiment, and the trial, 

 which occupied between 12 and 1 o'clock today, 

 gave at least satistaetorv piomise of success. The 

 addition of a fiy-wlieel does not, we are told by 

 engineering authoritv, add to the jjower of the 

 water-wheel, but it so regulates the power exerted 

 as to render it more effective. The result, today, 

 was, that the Excelsior roller, when loaded with 

 MOO lb. of withered tea leaf, was worked at a rate 

 rising from Jl revolutions per minute to 53. We 

 are told that 70 revolutions per minute can be 

 nttaineil, but the newness and consequent stiffness 

 of the niachinerv and gearing must be taken into 

 account in regard to today's trial, the result of 

 which was that the 300 11). of leaf were 

 thoroughly rolled in a few minutes short of the hour. 

 We feel prefectly certain, therefore, that, as machin- 

 en- and gearing get eased with use, we can accom- 

 phsh the thorough rolling of 300 lb. of leaf in i'> 

 minutes. That would he equivalent to 4,000 lb. of 

 withered leaf or fully 1,000 lb. of made tea per day 

 of ten hours. The volume of water which moved 

 the wheel was IJ inch in de])th by 2'2 inches wide. 

 As the 22-iBch wide pipe is (i inches in height, 

 it is just possible that greater How of water 

 might secure more jiower. Be that as it may, the 

 details of our experiment today are as follows: — 



About 7 minutes were occupied in i^ushing 180 lb. 

 ot leaf into the orifice of the roller. Not a pound 

 more could be crammed in, and so the water was 

 turned on and the roller commenced operating on 

 the leaf. 



Eight minutes further were required to add 120 lb. 

 moi-e of leaf, which found room as the leaf already 

 in was compressed by the rolling proccsss. An at- 

 tendant was constantly em])loyed not only in adding 

 the new leaf but in counteracting tlie tendency 

 of the rolled leaf to collect in the leftliand side of 

 the orilice and form solid masses.' This, I under- 

 stand, is an invariable effect in the earlier stage 

 of rolling, and of cour.^e the blocking-up hindered 

 considerably the revolutions of the roller. The leaf 

 had constantly to be pulled out ot the lefthand 

 side of the receiving orifice and pushed in at the right 

 side. In 15 minutes from commencing to fill the roller 

 and in 8 from the time of turning on the water, 

 the whole supply of 300 lb. of withered leaf was 

 fully under the influence of the rolling apparatus, 

 and in about 40 minutes more the leaf was turned 

 out beautifully finished, only a small proportion 

 of leaves having escaped the bruising and twisting 

 process. 



Of coarse 300 lb. taking one hour to finish 

 is different to 320 lb. in half-an-hour, to which the 

 Excelsior roller is uniVf to be equal; but, apart 

 47 



from the stiffness of new machinery an 1 gearing, 

 our leaf at tliis altitude (tea-house .lituated 5.800 

 feet above sea-level) sucms to require appreciably 

 more time to roll than that grown by our friends 

 lower down. If, as I feel perfectly certain, our 

 autioipatious are realized, and we get an average of 

 (iOO lb. rolled every three hours of a workiui^ day, 

 we shall be well sati-jtied. We inteml trying the 

 experiment of loading the Excelsior witli only 

 200 lb. ot leaf, putting 50 lb. into the Univei'sal, 

 and working both simultan,_-ously. In tli',\t way 

 we may get leaf rolled a', the rate of 250 lb. iu 

 half-an-hour, which would be 503 lb. per hour, or 

 5,000 lb. (equivalent to 1,250 lb. ot made tea) in 

 a day of ten hours. The results of further ex- 

 periments will be made known for the benefit of 

 other planters who, like ourselves h'lve Ki-feet-water- 

 wheels available, supplied by Messrs. .John Walker 

 ct Co. in tlu! da^ when the machwiery sought to 

 be moved consisted of only a coffee pulpur, and who 

 may be doubtful as to the power they can ,:^et out 

 of such a wheel. Ours was supplied with reference 

 to the tea factorv, but we believe it is identical, 

 in construction and power, with the otlier Ki-feet 

 wheel, which stands, (literally staiuls) 1,200 fe;t 

 lower down in the coffee store, and by means of 

 which (a tly-wheel supplied) we hope at no very 

 distant date to turn another Excelsior. 



The well-qualitied engineer gentleman from Messrs. 

 John Walker it Co., Mr. Malcolm, who erected our 

 Excelsior and added the fly-wheel to the motivi' 

 machinery, is now up at Calsay (the fields and 

 buildings of which are in full view in this lovely 

 weather) completing the more powerful motive 

 machinery of a turbine, and we and the rest of 

 the planting communitv will be glad to heie of 

 a full success in that quarter. We, at one time, 

 thought of a turbine for Abbotsford, but happily 

 our water-sujiply (judging by *.he minimum in 

 thirteen years) was considered insulKcient, and so 

 (at a saving o' probably £300 at least,) we have 

 tried what could be done with an existing KJ-feet 

 water-wheel with a fly-wheel added. 



Oct. 14th. 



In the recently published " Tea Planter's Vade 

 Meeum," at Calcutta, in which we find that the 

 compiler, Jfr. Wyman, adopts a characteristic 

 article by the (.'/-(/rrHH/ editor of the local "Times" 

 as truly representing "Tea Climates in Ceylon." 

 As we read the terms of this article \ce wonder 

 whether it is all a dream that our tea bushes 

 are basking in tinpical heat and yielding at the 

 rate ot nearer (iOO than 500 lb. per acre per 

 annum. For did not the writer utter his [dicta, 

 thus :— 



" A contemporary, who uiiii/tt to be an authority 

 on tea, has been writing in praise of high altitudes 

 for that cultivation, and bases his arguments in 

 their favour on tlie allegHti facts that certain estates 

 in Darjccling at 3.(MKI feet hnvt; done better than was 

 expected, though we are not told what constitutes 

 ' better,' and. the writer in question goes on to argue 

 that if tea will do well at 3,0(.M) feet in a latitude 

 of 27U from the equator | in , of couise, wrote 27°] 

 we may safely .go to (>,0(K) feci and over in Ceylon : 

 a theory from which we beg to dissent. In an island 

 like Ceylon, exposed to the full violence of the 

 south-west monsoon, very much dejiends on position 

 and exposure. Were we writing of the Uva side of 

 the counti")'. we should unhesitiLtingly adojit the 

 theory, but certainly not on tlie Kandy side of 

 Nuwara Kliy;i, where, a,s a conqjcnsation for the 

 heavy rainfitU, tlu^i'c niubt be heat, if paying flushes 

 arc to bo had. Will anyone venture to assert that 

 the upper portion of the Kamboda Pass, or the bleak, 

 exposed portion of Upper lauduhi, can ever beconie 

 profitable localities for tea '.' 'J'o talk of tha hcaltlii- 



