i0 



iiiii jLkUi-'iC/ii^ hi^KlL'aL'LUbiih'l, 



{i'tif, i, ibSti 



ing arrangements prr sc, but merely for simpliiic- 

 stious and economies of conBtruction, and accurflcj- 

 cf peiftii mance. ThcRC economies could bo carri(;d 

 jtiU fur'her whore only moderate lioat and dry air 

 are required. 



This machine lias answered admirably for drying 

 fibrous, lib'ht and porons products, such as cotton- 

 waste, wool, &c., but the reason I did not recom- 

 mend it to the planters was the linding, from care- 

 fully repeated experiments, that with wi*t and clotted 

 leaves (like tea from the roUiny mills), it was not 

 so good in its action as the cylinders ; the wet lumps 

 were not so effectually separated and where a few 

 leaves clung together, they did not get their fair 

 share of the drying action and afterwards formed a 

 spot of mould when the tea was stored. Moreover 

 the element of first cost is always an important con- 

 sideration, and machines on this principle to do as 

 much work as a cylinder cost nearly twice as much 

 to construct. This, however, would not be the case 

 with a set of bands in a chamber for withering pur- 

 poses 0/1^1/. 



The whole philosophy of rapid economical and 

 thorough drying may, I think, be summed up in 

 thesi! three points: — 



1. That the tea should be kept in gentle but effect- 

 ual movement, so as to separate every leaf from 

 evci-y other leaf and allow the dry air to get at 

 both sides. 



^. The application of as much air as can be intro- 

 duced without blowiug the charge out of the machine. 

 o. The skilful adjustment of the temperature of 

 that air so as to obtain the highest drying power 

 without injury to the product. 



As an instance of the utility of attending to all 

 these three points f may mention that 1 lb. of wool, 

 when saturated with water until it weighs o^ lb. can 

 ha^■e the whole of that water expelled in 5i minutes 

 withuut the slijihtest h '•■'■y to the fabric, whereas in 

 the " Itema'^kable Discovery" of theJ7>wf7?/ Ti^UcfVuph 

 it took twenty-eight minutes to perform that wonder- 

 ful feat. In othir words, by the scientiBo combin- 

 ation of movement, volume and temjierature, the 

 process can be aeeomplished in one-fourth of the time; 

 or-, what is still more important, four times the yield 

 can be jirodueed in the time needed by the marvel- 

 lous plan of the " Remarkable Discovery." Of course 

 where the product (like timber) cannot be moved there 

 is nothing for it but to pile it up in a chamber 

 and pump in 0,000 cubic feet per minute of cool dry 

 air tor nine day.s (or ninety, as the case may be) ; 

 but j\ist consider what a few tons of rolletl tea would 

 look like it placed in drying-house of this kind for 

 nine days or even for nine hours! No: " Divide and 

 Itule " used to be the old motto, divide and dry is 

 quite as good a one in this case. You cannot break 

 a whole quiverful whilst the arrows hold together, 

 neither can you dry clotted lumps whilst they stick 

 together ; the surfaces get over dry and their centres 

 remain damp. "Movement" is the secret of .success 

 in this as in so many other things. The old system 

 of kiln-drying is now universally admitti d to be slow 

 and imperfect, and you will see by the enclosures 

 that my wheat-drying' cylinders are gradually super- 

 seding tbem in all p.irts of the kingdom. W'hcre- 

 evec a damp ]irodnct is spread upon a floor or on 

 shelves, if the dry power is from below, the lowest 

 utratuin gets acorched and the upper gets scalded; 

 if the hot air is diffused from the sides or from 

 above, the upper slratinn .gets oV(!r-drv before the 

 lonor is dry enough ; iueqiiality of drying, or waste 

 or lieat, .vioncess of produetioti, and a necessity for 

 lai-ge buildings, and much niauunl labour in spread- 

 ing, turning and collecting are inevitable, whilst yw/' 

 contra, with machinery, perfect uinformity, economy ^ 

 of fuel, rapid and regular delivery, compactness of , 

 building, and saving of labour are the proved and 

 acknowledged advantages. 



If your correspondent jirtemus. or any of your 

 reailers. woidd care to pay me a visit to see illus- 

 trations of the two systems carried out in various 

 nioilels, or to arrange for experirnetdal investigationF 



as to further pr.ictical improvements, it will give 

 me great pleasure to make appointments with them, 

 and thus to assist to the best of my abilitv in the 

 "Scientific Manuf.aeture of Tea."— W.v. A." Gujbs. 



DROUGHTS IN JAMAICA. 



Mr D. iVlorris, formerly of Ceylon, in treating of 

 this subject stated; — 



The prevalence of comparative drought throughout 

 the island during the last five years, the consequent 

 arid condition of the country, the failure of springs 

 and streams, the loss of cattle, .and the diminution 

 in the yield of crops, are factors in our local 

 circumstances which certainly deserve thoughtful 

 attention: and no subject could more worthily or 

 more appropriately occupy the attention of a Society 

 having the Agricultural interests of the comitry at 

 heart than a careful consideration of circumstances 

 which may directly or indirectly have contributed to 

 the present state of things ; and the means Avhero- 

 hy they may he avoided in the futiure, or, at loast, 

 be greatly mitigated and relieved. It is generally 

 admitted and indeed proved by reliable returns, that 

 the rainfall in .Jamaica since 1879, has been of a 

 very partial and irregular character; and, on the 

 whole, it has shown a marked falling-off as compared 

 with returns of a similar period in former times. 

 According to Returns published by Mr. Maxwell 

 Hall, in the Jamaica Gazette, .January 22nd, 1885, 

 it would appear that, while the normal average 

 rainfall for the whole Island — taking dry and wet 

 districts together — is about 70 inches ^per annum, 

 during the last five years, 1880-84 inclusive, the 

 average rainfall has been only oG inches per annum. 

 This shows a falliug-ott' in the rainfall at the rate 

 of 14 inches per annum. The actual rainfall is as 

 follows:— 1880— 55 inches; 1881—09 inches; 1882—58 

 inches; 1883 — 48 inches; 1884 — 50 inches. From this 

 it v.ould appear that during the last five years the 

 rainfall has only once been near the average, while 

 during four years it has been very much below the 

 average. During the current year ( 1885) I regret 

 to say there would appear to be no improvement. 

 In .January the rainfall was oidy ouc-fourth of the 

 average ; in February it was only one-half the average, 

 and the effects of the drought were severely felt 

 over the greater part of the island ; in March the 

 rainfall was only one-third of the average and reports 

 from Trelawny and other parishes mention the 

 drought as being the severest on record, the [londs 

 being dry, and springs and wills failing. In April 

 the rainfall was one inch above the average, caused 

 by heavy rains in the AVest Central division ; in 

 other parts of the island, however, but little rain 

 fell and in consequence of the preceding drought 

 there was a great scarcity of water. In May the 

 usual " seasons " entirely failed ; the rainfall being 

 only one-half the average. 



A euliic foot of air heated to the normal temper- 

 ature of the plains of Jamaica, vi?,., 80* Fab. and 

 s.'iturated with moisture holds lO'Sl grains, Troy, in 

 weight of vapour.* This is more than twice the 

 quantity of vapour lield by air heated to ouly 50* 

 I'ah. which niiiy betaken as the normal temperature 

 of a northern country like England. Hence we have, 

 here, the key, not. only to the more rapid evaporation 

 and drying of the surface which takes place in a 

 trojiieal country, but also to the larger and more 

 copious precipitation which take* place, when the 

 air by expansion in the higher strata, yields it« 

 moisturi- in the form of rain. 



BECOKD OF tXOOOS .\.VD DBOUOU ' 



Besides these we have records of heavy rain^. such I in" 

 instance iis iu the storm of October 20th. 1711, 

 when there fell according to Loug, a •' gener:il quantity 

 equal to that which falls in Kngland hi a whole 



♦I might hero add that without vapour in the air 

 there would be no cloutls. no rain, no fop, no hail, 

 no lightning or thuniler, no blue sky and no rosy 



