Ami t, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



69? 



TEA MANUFACTUEE. 



•ro THE EDITOR OF TUE " HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL.'' 



Sir, — We, tea plauters, are indebted to you for 

 taking up the subject of tea raauufacture in your 

 columns, aud note with satisfaction tliat the " biy 

 wigs " at home have under consideration the ijuestion 

 how tea can be made to the best selling advantage on 

 the gardens. The fact is, Sir, w« planters who have 

 not the good fortune to he proprietors have become 

 rather tired of being preached to. To« much is e.'i- 

 pccted of us. AVe are told to make economy our 

 chief study, and in the pursuit of this we have not much 

 time for speculative chemistry. I, for one, feel (piite 

 certain th.it the chemistry of tea manufacture is im- 

 perfectly understood ; but just at present it is difficult 

 to arrive at any reliable data, and we go on blindly 

 as before. Kach London and Calcutta broker has 

 his theory as to the process of manufacture and our 

 owners have theirs, which do not always coincide with 

 the //nasi chemical suggestion of brokers' circulars. 

 Perhaps you can tell us what to do under these circum- 

 stances. l*araphrasing a well-known sentence in refer- 

 ence to the getting of money the advice given us by 

 garden owners is " make tea that will fetch a high price. 

 make it chemically if you can, but make it economically 

 whatever you do." If we fail to please the reniedy is 

 that wc receive notice to quit aud h.ive to commence 

 life again. By all means let the subject of method of 

 manufacture be threshed out by chemical experts, but 

 so long a.s proprietors feel that there is a divergence of 

 opinion as to the best means of making tea, let them 

 have some consideration for those who are doing their 

 best according to their lights. One of the curses of tea 

 planting hitherto has been the reckless way in which 

 " swopping " goes on for no other reason than an in- 

 ability on the part of a manager to calculate the weather, 

 or tell the condition of the London market six months 

 ahead. — Yoors, &c., An Assam Planter. 



CHINA GRASS. 



Mr. Sansone, Director of the School of Dyeing at 

 Manchester, writing on this subject, says: — In spite 

 of all the efforts made by the Government of India, 

 and of the many chemists, merchants, and manufact- 

 urers who have given attention to this question, the 

 industry of China grass or ramie is far from having 

 attaiue<l such development as many people imagine. 

 In fact, this indu.stry is still in its infancy, and much 

 remains to be done before it is brought to a proper 

 footing, or indeed before it can take its proper pi.tce 

 among the other textile industries. Although many 

 processes hav been recommended, and although it is 

 reported that the decorti.ating machines have proved 

 a success and allow the bringing of tht: fibre into a 

 marketable form, still I do not believe that the pro- 

 cess of separation of the fdjre from the woody part 

 of the stalks has reached as yet the point of per- 

 fection required to mike it capable of general ap- 

 plication. Several years ago my attention was called 

 to the fibrous material obtained from ramie, and I 

 induced a relation in South Italy to undertake the 

 experimental cultivation of this nettle. The results 

 were thoroughly satisfactory ns far as the facility of 

 cultivation and the amount of the crop obtained were 

 concerned. The planting was continued for two or 

 three years, and it was established beyond any doubt 

 that tho cultivation could be made profitable. How- 

 ever, it was found impossible at the time to dispose 

 of the product in the raw state, and as I knew at 

 the time, no effectual method of extracting the fibre 

 from the stiilks the matter dropped for some time. 

 Later on, in connection with my father, who tried 

 experiments on the spot in the neighbourhood of 

 Naples, wc succeeded by a chemical prc)cess in 

 extracting a beautifully silky and bright fibre which my 

 father had spun by hand and then woven into a 

 handkerchief; and even iu this primitive way a first- 

 class fabric was produced. 



I have a certain iffejudice againr,t a thoroughly 

 mechanical process for the extraction of the fibre 

 from the ramie or chca plants, aud iu my opiaion 

 88 



.1 '■hemical process is a nicessity either alone or iu 

 conneolion with tho mechanical methods. I m.1y 

 perhaps be wrong, but still this is my opinion, b.iscd 

 on the little experience I have had. That the fibre 

 can be easily bleached and dyed there is also not the 

 slightest doubt, as I proved to my satisfaction some 

 years ago, I even dyed with the greatest i-ase mixt- 

 ures of China grass aiul wool, which wore afterwards 

 spun into yarn and ised for the manufacture of car- 

 pets, with very good results. 



As I said before, the development of this industry 

 is far from having reached the point that many people 

 imagine. There is no doubt that a certain amount 

 of rhea and ramie is planted every year, and that 

 the fibrous product is spun and made iuto fabrics 

 alone or mixed with wool or silk. But still this 

 business is carried on a limited scale, and even car- 

 ried on with a certain amount of mystery. As it is, 

 it seems to me — indeed I know for a fact — that 

 there are abroad plenty of cvltivators who would 

 undertake the planting of the ramie or rhea if they 

 couhl be assured of being able to dispose of their 

 product, while plenty of manufacturers would be 

 willing to begin to spin the new fibre if they could 

 be assured that a constant supply would be forth- 

 coming. I think also that it would be desirable for 

 Manchester enterprise to give more attention to this 

 que.'^tion, aud I would suggest that all those gentle- 

 men interested in this matter should form a kind of 

 society with the object of studying the question 

 thoroughly by holding meetings once or twice a mouth 

 with the idea of collecting all reliable information 

 and communicating mutual experience. Experiments 

 might also he undertaken. As far as I am concerned 

 I shall be glad to bleach, dye, or print any material 

 that may be brought to me in our laboratory of tha 

 School of Dyeing, and I have no doubt that Mr. 

 Reynolds, the Secretary of the Manchester Technical 

 School, would be glad to put a room at tho disposal 

 of the proposed society for the development of the 

 China grass industry in Manchester for holding its 

 meetings. — Hoive and Colonial Jfail. 



GKEEN OYSTEES. 



Au interesting paper is before us, which has been 

 reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science. It is by Dr. Eay Lankester, aud has for 

 subject the nature and origin of the greon colouring 

 matter found iu the oysters of Jtarennes, a place 

 situated on the coast of Normandy. These oysters 

 have obtained ou the Continent a reputaiion for excel- 

 lence, and are consequently in demand, though, so 

 far as the author's experience goes, they are not 

 superior in flavour to those which are colourhjss. 

 The grLCn colour is confined to the gills and labial 

 tentacles, and is only acquired in certain "parks "or 

 reservoirs of salt water, iu which the oysters are 

 expressly placed for the purpose of fattening and 

 " greening." Tho colour gradually disappears if the 

 oysters are removed from these, so that in a month 

 no trace of colour will be left. So loug ago as 1820 a 

 French naturalist named C.aillon observed that the so- 

 called " parks " — which are tanks .ibout l ft. deep by 

 200 ft. long aud 50 ft. wide — were swarming with minute 

 diatoms, Navicula ostrearia, which, when seen in mass, 

 have also a green colour. It seemel to l)e a natural 

 conclusion that it was from these Kaviculw that the 

 pigment had been obtained. The hypothesis that it 

 was derived from the chlorophyll of green alg.i; had 

 to be rej(;cted, for two reasons, the suflicieut one 

 being that the oyster does not feed up(»n coarse 

 particles such as these green alg;e jjre'cnt. The 

 difficulty was to account for the way in which the 

 pigment of the diatoms was transferred to the gills 

 of the oyster. The fact of its being found in the 

 liver and intestine seemed to iiulicate that it was first 

 introduced iuto the alimentary canal ; but the muscles, 

 nerve, heart, reproductive organs, and blood were quite 

 free from colouring. In IBil M. Aaleucienneg made 

 a chemical examination of the colouring matter, and 

 fouud that it was ijuito iusoluble, except by lucjins 



