494 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, i886. 



been offered recently as cubebs in the Loudoa mai'ko t, 

 and might serve as a warning to chemists to be on 

 the loolc out for adulteration whenever a drug goes 

 up in price. A very interestiug specimen of the 

 Chinese insect wax in .-titn on one of the plants, 

 FrtLviiius cliiitfiifti.'i, on which the insect feeds, hail 

 been received that day from the Director of Kew](rard- 

 ens. Also a specimen in fruit of another plant, Liiin^ii'^nn 

 liicidiim, upon which the same iusect feeds. — P/mnii- 

 nceiUical Journal. 



NEW TEA MACHINERY. 

 From intovmation supplied by Mr. Rutherford 

 to a local contemporary, it would appear that Messrs. 

 A. J. Main & Co. are in the field with " Dick's 

 patent mechanical tea packer." It is claimed for 

 tliis machine that it will compress into 800 boxes 

 a quantity of tea, which, by tlie usual methods 

 of packing, requires 1,000. There would be thus 

 not only a saving of 20 per cent on boxes, nails, 

 Ac, but a corresponding saving in land carriage 

 and sea freight. The cost of this wonderful com- 

 pressor is stated to be so high as £147 10s (note 

 the odd 10s) f.o.b. at Glasgow. This is a heavy 

 sum when charges to the estates are added, and 

 the whole converted into rupees, but it would doubt- 

 less pay large estates to use the machine, if, be- 

 sides compressing the tea, it fulfilled the further 

 claim made on its behalf, " without breaking the 

 tea, or other injury occurring." It seems to us 

 impossible that, with the pressure applied, the leaves 

 should not be broken, and more than this con- 

 verted into a solid mass. The tea, in fact, would 

 be compressed tea, such as some years ago was 

 widely advertised as especially convenient for 

 travellers. We tasted the compressed tea, and found 

 that the crushing process had developed tannin 

 at the expense of theine, and that the infusion 

 tasted strong and coarse. It was a modified brick 

 tea, in truth. Until, therefore, tlie owners of very 

 large estates, sucli gentlemen as Mr. Euthevford, 

 have adopted and reported on the work of this 

 automatic packer, we fancy tea factories in Ceylon 

 will continue to pack tea after the fashion now in 

 vogue, viz., that of a cooly treading on a clean 

 cloth spread over the tea in each box, half-chest, 

 or chest, until the package is full or contains the 

 regulated quantity in proportion to size. 



Mr. Rutherford, it seems, is about to give a trial 

 to another invention by the Messrs. Main, the im- 

 portance of which, if it achieves the success claimed 

 for it, cannot be overrated. The difference between 

 high quality and low quality outturn of tea de- 

 pi^nds largely on tlie proper withernig of the green 

 leaf. But the success of this process depends 

 largely, almost entirely, on the state of the pro- 

 verbially fickle atmosphere which surrounds our earth, 

 and which in a climate good for the culture of tea 

 is for a considerable portion of the year saturated 

 with moisture. Now one of our highest, if not the 

 highest authority on tea manufacture in Ceylon 

 desiderates a warm moist atmosidiere for the pro- 

 per withering of green tea leaves. If such an atmo- 

 sphere is necessary, then grave doubts must arise, 

 whether the principle of Main's appliances for 

 withering tea leaves is correct. It is thus de- i 

 scribed : — 



M<wsrs. A. & J.. Main & Co., after having made 

 careful and elaborate experiments for the last two 

 years, socm to be confident they have at hist solved 

 the problem, .-ind statetbey can effectually vvithcr green i 

 leaf in from 1 J to 2 hours, while all " stewing," " scorch- 



ing," or other deleterious effects are avoided. The 

 fundamental principle of their patented appliances is to 

 desiccate or dry the air before it is allowed to oper- 

 ate on the leaf. This is done by au absorbent, perfectly 

 innocuous, cheap at first cost, and which does not re- 

 quire renewal beyond the evaporation of the moisture 

 absorbed. The desiccated air is then applied to the 

 leaf in a simple, but effective, manner at the normal 

 temperature of the atmosphere, or about 86 ' to 90', 

 while light is freelv admitted. 



This sounds well, but the idea of the application 

 of desiccated air is certainly a new one, and our 

 fear would be that the leaves would be left, not 

 soft and satiny, but hard and crisp, semi-desiccated 

 themselves by the desiccated air, which, of course, 

 would keep absorbing moisture as long as any re- 

 mained in tlie soft vegetable substance with which 

 it was brought in contact. This is certainly not 

 the orthodox tea-house idea of withrriiifi. It is a 

 drying process, rather, in anticipation of the final 

 drying by fire heat. Either the experienced tea- 

 planter, Mr. Armstrong, is wrong in his philosophy, 

 or Messrs. Main & Co. in the principle of their 

 invention. But we may hope soon to learn the 

 result of a practical test. The same firm have in- 

 vented a drier, which is thus described :— 



The next invention is by the same makers, and is a 

 "Tea Firing Machine," for which they claim that it has 

 the power to " fire " at any desired temperature at the 

 option and under tue control of the operator ; and that 

 it will fire its charge at 200 " in 15 minutes. One size 

 of dryer takes 200 lb. at one charge, and the otber 80 

 lb. — or equivalent to about 800 lb. and 320 lb. per hour 

 respectively. We are not inlormed if this quantity refers 

 to green leaf, fermented leaf, or made tea. 

 Then Mr. Kinmond, Mr. Jackson's rival in rollers, 

 but unsuccessfully so in Ceylon, has, in conjunc- 

 tion with a Mr. Richardson, invented a new roller 

 which is thus described : — 



This machine is described as differing from all other 

 tea-rolling machines, in that, at each stroke or revol- 

 ution of the rolling surfaces, the tea leaf is presented 

 to the rolling surfaces at a different angle, and no two 

 points in the rolling surface give the .same rolling action 

 to the leaf , which is subjected to a multiple action, the 

 cousequeucs being a harder twisted leaf and a total 

 absence of flat leave*. 



The motive power required is 3 b. p., and it is stated 

 to be capable of rolling 9l30 lb. of green knif per liour. 

 The price in England is £100, and the makers are Messrs. 

 Kobey&Co., Globe Works, Lincoln. 



Seedling Fruit Trees.— Seedling Apples. Pears, 

 and possibly other fruits, may under the conditions 

 of the soil and climate, &c., of the districts in 

 which they have originated be found to be possessed of 

 quahties which they will not retain when transferred 

 to other localities where similar conditions do not 

 exist ; while on the other hand, varieties may have 

 been discarded on being found of little value in the 

 locality where they originated, but which might, under 

 the influences of other soil and climate, be found to 

 be possessed of desirable qualities.— C/(m/fn«\s' Chronicle. 



EuCALYprs. — At the Linnean Society on November 

 5, there was shown for the Haron von Mueller a 

 characteristic collection of .-.keleton leaves of species 

 of Eucalyptus prepared by Jlrs. LewcUin, of Melbourne. 

 These confirm liarou von Mueller's observations as to 

 definite layers and the relation of these to the .skele- 

 tonising process. The leaves in decai'ing produce no 

 bad odour. Mueller's observations do not support Mr. 

 Kiviere's statement that the bamboo is as good as 

 Eucalypts to subdue malaria; the former dry up, but 

 do not exhale the volatile oil, as do the latter, and 

 the JCncalypts, moreover, absorb moisture as (piickly 

 as Willows. Poplars, and Uttinboos.— (^n/'rfc/ifrs' t7(/»«- 

 ide. 



