October i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



275 



a minute, is generally reckoneil a fair allonaiice for an 

 effective horse-power. Ses-enty-five per cent, rcriuiriLig 

 704 feet, falling 1 font a minnte, is about the highest 

 that has ever be-u spoken "f, and it is doiil)tful 

 whetliLT even more than 70 per cent has ever 

 been attaineil ; while with low falls and imperfectly 

 constructed wheels, it is often reckoned that a horse- 

 power requires nearly 1,(100 cubic feet a minute. 

 Even without the diagrams, we think the main 

 principles here enunciated, will be easily under- 

 stood by intelligent readers and will justify our 

 contention that the 16-feet coffee estates water- 

 wheel, so numerously scattered over the country, 

 either is ^ or can be easily altered into a motor 

 quite sufficiently powerful to work at least an ex- 

 celsior tea roller. The experiment will at any 

 rate be tried. Mr. Armstrong agrees that a coftee 

 store can be transformed into a good tea 

 factory, a fact of which we have entertained no 

 doubt since we saw the transformed store on 

 Oonouoogalla. 



But not only does the tea planter, even if he 

 dries his tea by means of siroccos, instead of 

 Jackson's motive machines, require more, more 

 complicated and more expensive machinery than 

 did the coffee planter, but the difference in addi- 

 tional cubic and especially in horizontal space, 

 necessitated by the exigencies of the new and 

 more delicate staple, is tremendous. A single 

 pound of green tea leaves, thinly spread so as 

 to enable the "withering" process to be properly 

 carried out, will occupy fi square feet of floor or 

 Heshi.i.n cloth shelf. .Supposing, therefore, that a 

 tea estaLe yields the quantity of leaf which Mr. 

 Armstrong estimates will give an Excelsior roller 

 employment for a day of 10 hours, viz., 8,000 lb., 

 the horizontal space required for the withermg 

 leaf alone would be 48,000 square feet, and as 

 passages must be left clear, the real space en- 

 closed must be about 60,000, counting floors and 

 superimposed shelves. But the time is coming 

 when at certain seasons of the year, the leaf 

 gathered on good sized estates will be not merely 

 8,000 lb. per diem, but fourfold that quantity. 

 For such a gathering 200,000 feet at least of 

 square horizontal surface would be required, and 

 the feeling of despair superinduced by the con- 

 templation of such a requirement, causes us to 

 turn with thankfulness to Jlr. Armstrong's assur- 

 ance that, after all he has said in favour of wither- 

 ing m a moist atmosphere, and a shade temperature 

 not exceeding 80°, drying in the sun's rays can, 

 in cold weather, be resorted to without damage 

 to the tea, or any chemical effect beyond a red 

 colour which the men of "the Lane" do not object 

 to. Now, although we are aware, that the exposed 

 thermometer is not altogether a safe guide, when 

 it indicates, say, lli0° in the sun against 80° 

 m the shade, yet *e know that between the subdued 

 temperature of a shaded space and that of a bare 

 spot, exposed to the fuU glare of the head and 

 light rays of the sun, is exceedingly great. While, 

 therefore, not disputing a statement which we feel 

 sure was well considered and the result ol sufficient 

 experience, and which had often previously seen 

 made m Indian publications, especially with refer- 

 ence to the preparation of green tea, we should 

 much like to be informed of the philosophy of 

 the matter. If withering in the sun answers so 

 well as iMr. Amistrong points out, why are plant- 

 ers generally so anxious to protect their gathered 

 leaf from the direct action of the sun, and why 

 do Mr. Armstrong and other experts press upon 

 them so emphatically the provision of enormous 

 shaded space for drying in a comparatively cool, 

 It moderately moist atmosphere ; the suggestion 

 being made that blankets should be placed over 



heated siroccos to secure the sine qua non of 

 warm- moisture. But surely all external moisture 

 and a good deal of internal must be rapidly dissip- 

 ated by the direct rays of the sun ? In truth 

 our mind is much exercised in regard to this 

 question of withering. Our inclination was to be- 

 lieve in cool, breezy, frequently changed air, and 

 so we strongly recommended the use of Blackman's 

 air propeller. We felt rather inclined to question 

 if harm instead of good was not done by the 

 warmth of the siroccos, but we feel bound to 

 accept Mr. Armstrong's testimony in favour of 

 warm moist air, exposure to which will give the 

 softness of fine silk to the leaf, without either 

 soddening or desiccating it. But we are still 

 considerably puzzled about withering in the sun. 

 Perhaps a good compromise would be, a very 

 short exposure to the outside sun and a finishing 

 off on shaded but not darkened floors and 

 shelves ? Boiling, thanks to Mr. .Jackson, is now 

 " rolling made easy," but when we come to 

 consider the fermenting process, its delicacy, diffic- 

 ulty and frequent uncertainty, owing to atmo- 

 spheric causes, we are deeply impressed with the 

 conviction that to be a good, efficient tea-planter, 

 a man must not only be' a competent engineer, 

 able to ajipreciate the principles of machines, and 

 when need arises to put them together and re- 

 pair them ; but have also a fair knoAvledge of 

 chemistry, and especially the doctrines of ferments. 

 The change which takes place in a soft moist 

 covered-up mass of tea leaves, the tissues of 

 which have been crushed, and the cells of which 

 have been broken by the action of the roUer, 

 cannot, with strict scientific accuracy be called 

 " fermentation," but rather oxygenation, because 

 neither opportunity nor time has been allowed for 

 the operations of the minute organisms on which 

 the setting up of fermentation depends. But Mr. 

 Armstrong significantly speaks of the danger of 

 delay until xii/iia of lii'rumposition appear. In such 

 a case, we suppose, true chemical fermentation 

 would speedily supervene, and the difficulty — the 

 great difficulty of the tea-maker seems to consist 

 in so using a kind of instinctive sense, the result 

 of long experience and careful observation, as to 

 draw the line where the oxygenizing should be 

 stojiped before it passes to the boundary where 

 the ordinary chemical fermentation process, de- 

 pendent on the presence of peculiar spores, is 

 ready to be set up. Withering, though it requires 

 care and attention, and all possible light and 

 fresh air, can be conducted in conditions so 

 varying as sun and shade. The worst effect of 

 severe rolling, appears to be the obliteration of 

 "tips," whether silver grey or golden yellow; 

 while the question of jiroperly firing the ferment- 

 ed " roll," seems to depend on long or short 

 exposure to a temperature, not much exceeding 

 2i;0°, so as to dessicate without burning. But, 

 with all the care and attention which the most 

 accomjilished tea-maker can bestow on the process 

 of so called " fermentation," the final result seems 

 so largely dependent on meteorological conditions 

 which cannot be controlled and only slightly 

 modified, by all the appliances of skill and science, 

 that the more we know and the more we read 

 of the tea enterprize, the more we feel the im- 

 portance of the factor of "weather" in the pro- 

 duction of first-class, or inferior " makes," for which 

 the superintendent sometimes gets more credit 

 than he merits, but much more frequently greater 

 blame than he deserves. A short time ago, we 

 asked the owner of an estate famous for its ex- 

 ceptionally high prices, what the secrets of his 

 success were. He replied: "Fine picking and 



