28o 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1885. 



clioiig,aDd which will t\iU through the tray as tea is spread, 

 which may be turned out into the trough at the hack 

 hy opening the lid. 



Sortiiuj. — As soou after firing as our tea gets cold, we 

 may begin to sorfc. Before beginning tliis operation it is 

 as well to taste the make from each sirocco to see if 

 all is right. It is as well to .-^ort and pack sepjirately all 

 inferior teas, if our garden is of any size ; as 

 inferior teas will only bring down the value of our best 

 makes, without projiortionately increasing their own 

 value. Do not tlierciore try to disguise inferior makes 

 by mixing them with your better teas. All being fouml 

 as it should be, on tasting, we will now proceed to turn 

 out all our receiving bins, and put the bulk into a 

 No. 8 sieve. Teas retained by No. 8 are souchong and red 

 leaf; this is put aside to have the red leaf picked out, 

 after which the souchong is broken through No. S, 

 broken tea and dust removed, and then niixtd with pekoe 

 souchong natural, made in a No. 10. Tcxs passing through 

 No. S are then put into No. 10 which retains pekoe sou- 

 chong natural ; pekoe, broken pekoe, broken tea and dust 

 passing through. These are then, according to make, 

 put into a No. 12 or a No. 14: if fine the Utter; if coarse 

 the former ; which retains pekoe ; broken pekoe is 

 then separated from the broken tea and dust, with the 

 shologoo (nrdioary rice winnower) and dust separated 

 from broken tea by No. 24. This will be pekoe dusfc. 

 In firing <juito 50 per cent of broken jiekoe, dust, 

 &C-, passes through the sirocco tray and is not of course 

 mixed again with the bulk, but sorted by itself and 

 then mixed with its class. In cleaning the souchong, 

 broken through No. 8. the dust taken from it is tea 

 dust. The broken tea is mixed with broken tea natural 

 taken fromthe broken pekoe. Souchong is best cleaned 

 through a No. 12, or if only a little of it, by the 

 fhologoo as wilh broken pekoe. If our plucking is at 

 all coarse, congou, a round knobby-looking make, will be 

 left in No. 8 after breaking souchong through; this may be 

 shipped as congou or broken by the machine and mixed 

 ■ with tilt; broken tea. So much for sifting by hand, result- 

 ing in broken pekoe, pekoe, jiekoe souchong, and broken 

 tea, or 4 classes. Wilh tea dust and pekoe dust which 

 need not be looked upon asaclass, and are unavoidable. 

 In sifting by machinery we have to choose from An.sell's, 

 Jackson's Eureka, and Gore's. The first is very good 

 although rather expensive ; the second also expensive, 

 £81-5-1.) at Colombo, is a most ingenious and clever sifter, 

 but the tea travels over too much ground to please me, 

 giving a grey make. In Gore's sifter we have a cheap 

 and very efficient little machine : its cost is K350 and i^,s 

 out-turn about 100 lb. teas per hour, of 4 classes as above. 

 A little hand work is necessary to clean the broken 

 pekoe out properly, which is also necessary with the 

 other machines. Gore's has one advantage over the others 

 in that it separates the broken tea from tlie broken 

 pekoe and the tea travels over very little ground. This 

 machine is for work by band, one couly turning it easily 

 whilst another feed.s. A larger and strorger sifter can 

 be made to order, to be driven by power, costing H450 

 to 11475, but I do not think it is yet determined 

 what work this will do per hour. I can strongly recom- 

 mend the purchase of Gore's hand sifter at H350. 

 A very good and cheup sifter can he made at 

 the factory necessitating the cleaning by hand of 

 the broken pekoe oidy, thus: — .sling three trays one 

 above the other, strongly joined together and about 

 18 in. apTrt. Kach tray is 8 ft.byoft. inside meas- 

 urement. These are slung inside a strong framework 

 or on to strong cross beams and worked with an 

 ordinary crank, 6 in. stroke fixed on to the bottom tray 

 all must be good work and strong. The top tray is 

 No. 8 mesh and receives the bulk, souchong passing 

 out in front. The -second tray is No. 10— the tea fall- 

 ing through No. 8 drops on to a sheet of galvanized 

 iron leading from the mouth-end of the top tray to 

 the feeding end of the second at a good slope, thus 

 delivering all teas that have passed through No. 8 to 

 one end of No. 10 : this passes out pekoe souchong 

 to the right end (of No. 10) by a littlo iron spout. 

 Teas passing through No. 10 are delivered by another 

 sloping sheet of galvanized iron to the head of the 

 bottom tray, which as explained in sifting by hand 



should be a No. 12 or 14 mesh acconling to circum- 

 stances ; this delivers pekoe to the left end of the 

 tray, by an iron spout sloping in the opposite diiection 

 to that delivering pekoe souchong above. Under No. 12 

 or 14 and at a good slope forwards should be fixed 

 No. 26 mesh,— on light reepers only. The broken pekoe 

 and broken tea falling on to this are dusted and fed 

 into a box in front of the sii'ter to be then separated 

 by shologoo as in hand sifting. A sifter like this I 

 made for myself, sorted GOO lb per hour as above, and 

 cost about 11300 — this cannot be driven by hand, bub 

 is a very efficiont and cheap machine. If wood has to be 

 purchased teak will be thn best, but it wid bring up the 

 price to Ky50 to U375 about. Unless then one's 

 garden is a very large one, it wid pay best and 

 give least trouble to buy a Gore's. 



I have spoken above of breaking souchong 

 and congou &c. We have a very eificient ma- 

 chine and perhaps the best in Jackson's re- 

 ently invented one, the Invincible Cutter, price 

 at Colombo £23-10-0, which may be seen at Messrs. 

 Walker's. A breaking machine is almost a necessity and 

 saves much labor. 1 have so far been usiug a Keid's 

 machine ; this is an excellent machine for making congou 

 or fanuinss into broken tea. but is not good for use 

 with souchong. Therefore, Jack.son's is the one to get 

 beyond all others. 



After sorting for the day is finished our teas are 

 packed away in bins. A skeleton framework 7' x 3' x G' 

 high inside measurement of wood -3" x 2^" lined 

 with zinc sheeting which costs about K20 per cwt., 8 

 to 9 sheets running the cwt., makes the neatest and best 

 bins. There may be a wooden partition in the middle, 

 of h inch planking, and the bottom should be of 1 inch 

 plank.s; there should be a sliding door of h inch plank 

 at the top throui:;h which tea is put into the bin, and 

 directly underneath it. at the bottom, another sliding 

 door by which the bin is emptied. So that one padlock 

 may suffice for both doors, the lower door may have 

 a handle reaching level with the top of the bin, the 

 staple is fixed on to this handle, the hasp on to the 

 top door, and ail can be made secure with one pad- 

 lock. A bin of the dimensions above will take 7 zinc 

 sheets to line it top and sides. Bins can be made of 

 any size to suit the factory, but should never be less 

 than 7 ft. long, and in larg-e faetoiios to save space 

 may be 8 ft. high. All bin.s should be raised off the 

 fioorsay G inches to allow of the floorunderueath being 

 swept. Stale lea lying about in corners or under bins 

 may be the cause of ruin to a break, or breaks by getting 

 mixed accidentally, during the packing or bulking. 



Packiiin and Ftna Firinef. — In an ordinary sized 

 garden say of 2n0acres, packing should be done every 

 Monday; or in the busy time it may be done twice a 

 week. The sooner tea is packeil the better. Monday 

 is a good day, as there is no manufacture to be done. 

 Final firing in siroccos .should be done at 200°. The 

 tea need only be turned once a tray takes fromtwoto 

 three minutes, and tea should bespread (|uite level wilh 

 the wooden edge of the tray. It is sufficiently fired 

 when the hand (not a horny haml about pruning time) 

 can just bear the heat, and v.dien held to the face 

 it does not feel steamy. Final firing requires as much 

 attention as any of the other operations, and our best 

 liring-men should be told off for this. Tea should be 

 packed hot, straight from the sirocco. I have a No. 24 

 mesh for firing broken pekoe and broken tea, or muslin 

 over an ordinary sirocco tray will do. liut the 

 No 24 mesh is preferable. In packing we have a 

 P;h1 of hessian to fit our chest and tea is presseil well 

 down by the coolies* feet, a coolv standing inside the 

 chest " marking time." I know of no better plan than 

 this. Half-chests may bold -1 to G oz. more than the 

 declared weight; chests to S oz. more. The size 

 of package entirely depends on the accessibility of 

 the garden. The chest is the cheai)est as we well 

 know, but if we have any carriage to the main road 

 tlie half-chest is infinitely preferable. ]\Ir. Deane has 

 well met our requirements in the way of chestr* 

 now. For gardens on the cart-road his No. 1 chests 

 at 83 cents will be found raost suitable. For gardens 

 further off the rond his No. 3 at Qlh cents will be 



