56^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Feb, 1, 1886. 



CEYLON TEA AT THE EXHIBITION. 

 We liave been indirectly pressing the local 

 Executive Committee to let the world know a 

 little more of what they have been doing about tea &c. 

 Some corresiiondence with the Planters' Association 

 is to be sent to us for publication we learn. 

 Meantime we are indebted to the Chairman for a 

 telegram just received, which stupidly has come 

 by 2)u>:t from Bombay. This telegram ought to satisfy 

 our planting friends and the Association. We shall 

 now have a good Exhibition of products in the 

 Ceylon " Court" in addition to the Exhibition and 

 sale in the tea house — which tea house is close 

 to our Court and quite distinct and separate from 

 the Indian tea house— or that of any other 

 Colony: — 



From Secretary, Colonial Exhibition, London, to 

 Chairman, Exhibition Committee, Colombo. 



"On behalf of Mr. Birch no objection to tea being 

 exhibited in specimen cases in Ceylon Court, but 

 the arrangement of exhibiting tea in the special 

 department as reported in King's letter must be 

 adliered to. Ceylon Committee will therefore require 

 you to send duplicate quantities of specimen tea 

 for your Court and King's department. Send some 

 cocoa beans at once to Commissioner for manu- 

 facture, which has been arranged for refreshment 

 department." 

 The following has just reached us : — 



Executive Committee, Colombo, 31st Dec. 1885. 

 To the Secretary, Planters' Association, Kandy. 



Sib,— In acknowledging receipt of your letter of 

 the 15th, 17th, and ISth instant, 1 am desired by this 

 Committee to express its great concern at hearing that 

 it is possible you may not be able to take any part iu 

 the local Exhibition to be held on the 18th, 19th, and 

 20lh January. That Exhibition is intended to afford 

 the public, who have provided the funds iu which 

 your Association has participated, some conception of 

 the exhibits intended for despatch to Loudon ; and this 

 Committee is still hopeful that your Association may 

 be able to furnish by the loth proximo some portion 

 at least of the exhibits of estate products wliich will 

 form so important a i)art of the Ceylon exhibits, 

 and to which this Committee has made so large a 

 vote of public funds. 



With regard to the cases to which you refer, they 

 have not yet been commenced, nor cau they be until 

 you have signified to the Director of Public Works 

 your acceptance of the estimate (R800 and odd) and 

 furnished that officer with a cheque for the amount 

 to meet expenses. 



The resolutions accompanying your letter have re- 

 ceived the '^pp^oval of this Committee and copies of 

 them will go forward to Mr. Birch by this mail. It 

 is huwHver, matter for regret that Mr. Christie did 

 not attend the meeting yesterday, adjourned from 

 the previous week, as that gentleman was informed, 

 in order that he might be enabled to be present. 



The Committee entirely coincide in the opinion ex- 

 pressed in the resolution recived from you that ex- 

 hibits of tea anil coffee must be shown iu the Ocylon 

 Court ; and for your information 1 annex copy of a 

 resolution adopted by this Committee and forwarded 

 to Mr. Birch ; at the same time, in order to act up to 

 the spirit of its previous acceptance of the arrange- 

 ment with Messrs. King & Co., this Committee has 

 signified to the Commissioner its intention to forward 

 samples of tea for display by that firm iu glass bot- 

 tles in the Ceylon tea house separate from the teas 

 of India. 



With this Committee's letter before him, and assisted 

 by the gentlemen whom you have reocmuiended as 

 members of the Tea Oommiitee, and who have been 

 approved by this Committee, Jlr. Birob will, it is be- 



lieved, be in a position to bring this matter to a 

 satisfactory issue with the Secretary of the Eoyal 

 Commissioner. — I am, sir, (Signed) J. Capper, Secretary. 

 {Resolufioii refefred to.) 

 "That a copy of the resolution passed by the Plant- 

 ers Association he forwarded to Mr. Birch, and that 

 he be informed that the Executive Committee con- 

 curs in the view of the Planters' vV^sociation that 

 apart from the display and sale of Ceylon tea by 

 Messrs. King and Co., it is absolutely necessary that 

 exhibits of tea, coffee, and cocoa be shown in the 

 Ceylon Court with the other producess of the colony." 



Kandy, 7th January 1886. 



To the Secretary, Executive Committee, Colonial 

 and Indian Exhibition, Colombo. 



Sir,— I am directed by the Sub-Committee of the 

 Planters' Association to acknowledge the receipt of 

 your letter dated 31st ultimo, and in reply to point 

 out that it is not possible for the Planters' Associ- 

 ation to exhibit the estate collections at the local 

 Exhibition, chiefly for the reason that the main ex- 

 hibits are only now at this season harvested ; and 

 that even if they were ready in time they could not 

 in the case of suoh products as tea, cocoa, and carda- 

 moms be exhibited without certain injury. 



I am to express great regret that, owing to some 

 misunderstanding, the construction of the special ihow- 

 cases for the Planters' Association at the Government 

 Factory has been delayed, as they themselves would 

 have formed an interesting exhibit before despatch to 

 London. 



Such articles as the models of cacao-pods, photo- 

 graphs, and any other exhibits that can be ready in 

 time, the Sub-Committee of the Planters' Association 

 would propose to send to the local Exhibition.— I am, 

 sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) A. Philip. 



TEA PEEPAEATION. 



(From the Hilh. ) 

 It is difficult, sometimes, while observing the 

 brevity necessitated by the cost of telegrams, to 

 convey the meaning intended, and we fear that our 

 telegram from Nawalapitiya may have produced tlie 

 impression that we were contrasting the No. 1 

 Sirocco with the Victoria and Venetia Driers instead 

 of, as we intended, classifying it with them, as 

 desiccating tea without the substance being exposed 

 to the outer atmospheric air. There is a wide- 

 spread, but by no means universal, opinion, amongst 

 tea manufacturers, that this exposure is a detect 

 in the T Sirocco and in the No. 1 Drier to which 

 the horizontal apparatus has been applied. It would 

 seem that if raw, damp air is excluded from the 

 tea-house, while the roasting process is proceeding, 

 the effect of the internal atmosphere ought not to be 

 injurious to any great extent. There is, however, 

 a good deal «of handling required, and we feel 

 satistied that the less tea is manipulated by coolies 

 the better. The great merit of the Jackson, 

 Victoria and Venetia Driers is, that not only is 

 the tea not exposed to the outer atmosphere but 

 that as the air in the interior absorbs moisture 

 from the tea leaves, such air is incessantly drawn 

 away by the fanners. It was a surprise to us, 

 however, to hear that only 1001b. per hour was 

 tinished in the Victoria at Carolina Factory. Mr. 

 Megginson does not believe in working machinery 

 to its full capacity, and he remarked that a turbine 

 equal to 10 horse-power would do better work 

 when 10 horse-power only was exerted, than a 

 10 horse-power wheel worked to its full capacity 

 would accomplish. Such an opinion, founded on 

 experience, is worthy of respectful attention. Speak- 

 ing of Jackson's Excelsior roller, the superintendent 

 of Carolina Factory (where a third Excelsior is 

 speedily to be added to the two already at work) 

 remarked that where there was not power euoiixh to 



