502 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



equivalent for the year July, 1911,' to June, 1912, 

 to 32 "3 good nuts per tree or 2,261 nuts per aere, 

 which gave less than one candy of copra. The 

 number of» immature nuts averaged for the same 

 period 37*2 nuts per tree, or 2,604 nuts per acre, 

 and it is expected that the effects of cultivation 

 will be to reduce this number of immature nuts 

 and so increase the yield per acre. The appear- 

 ance of new leaves and flowers we are told is 

 very irregular, but generally at much shorter 

 intervals in the latter half or wetter season of 

 the year than in the first half. The average 

 periods for the appearance of the leaves and 

 flowers from January to June and July to De- 

 cember was 25 and 25 days and 20 and 28 days 

 respectively, but there is a wide range of from 

 7 to 61 days, so that at present no conclusions 

 can be drawn. The nuts were stored for one 

 month after collection, and then husked and 

 weighed. A certain number from each plot were 

 then taken, the nuts broken, weighed and made 

 into copra, which was also weighed. The milk 

 was calculated from the difference between the 

 weight of the husked and broken nuts. The 

 weight of shells was calculated from the average 

 weight of 1,000 sheila of 273 lb., it being impos- 

 sible to estimate directly, the copra being dried 

 for twenty-four hours before the shelling could 

 take place. 



We have pointed out more than once that 

 Peradeniya is the wrong place for experiments 

 with coconut and are doubly gratified over the 

 decision to transfer the field of operations to 

 Chilaw, the richest coconut district in the 

 island. Local coconut planters have been too 

 long content to let well alone with the result 

 that there is danger of Ceylon copra being 

 altogether discredited in the London market, It 

 may be, as our correspondent '.' B" points out 

 in his interesting communication today, that 

 Ceylon white copra is sold in the London market 

 as Cochin but there is the evidence of Mr. N. J. 

 Martin to prove that very inferior stuff is also 

 exported from (Jeylon. There has also been a 

 marked deterioration of late in the quality of oil 

 exported and if Ceylon coconut planters want to 

 conserve the good name of the island in these 

 respects and look after their own substantial 

 interests at the same time they will have to take 

 immediate action to prevent the export of in- 

 ferior copra and oil, The number and variety 

 of the points on which the meeting of coconut 

 planters on Monday agreed to take action indi- 

 cates how neglectful they have been in the past 

 in regard to an industry which , on the authority 

 of the Director of Agriculture, is the greatest 

 planting industry in Ceylon, 



o*| STEAMING AND ROLLING TEA. 



Among the papers read before the late Eighth 

 International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 

 held recently in New York, was one by K Sawa- 

 mura, of the College of Agriculture, University 

 of Tokio, in which he reported on an investi- 

 gation on tea manufacture. 



Why, in the manufacture of green tea, is it 

 important to steam the leaves for a short time 

 only P The answer was found to be that a short 

 steaming was necessary to destroy an enzyme 

 which, if left alone, would attack the coloring 

 matter, and hence render it impossible to pro- 

 duce a green tea ; but the steaming period must 

 be short, to avoid killing othor enzymes which 

 produce the fine flavor. This is another example- 

 of how men learn to do things long before the 

 physiological chemist comes along with the 

 reason why. 



" What is the object of rolling the tea leaves 

 in the manufacture of green tea ? " was another 

 question tackled by the Japanese scientist. 

 Seme have thought that rolling was merely to 

 give the leaves a characteristic form and ap- 

 pearance. Others thought that rolling served 

 to press out the juice so as to accelerate the 

 drying, and still others thought it was necessary 

 to break up the cells and so promote the solu- 

 bility in the cup. To settle the matter, Prof. 

 Sawamura made a number of experiments which 

 showed that the chief effect of rolling was to in- 

 crease the solubility of the tea leaves, and also 

 that rolling, by pressing out the juice, hastened 

 the drying. 



The effect of retiring was also studied. Green 

 tea is improved by refiring at 70 degrees C for 

 one hour, but temperatures above 70 degrees C 

 spoil both color and flavour. The best tempera- 

 ture for firing black tea was found to be 80 

 degrees C. Here, again, an excess of heat was 

 found to be deleterious. Refiring decreases the 

 amount of both tannin and theine. — Tea and 

 Cojfee Trade Journal, for Nov. 



COPRA DUTY- FREE IN FINLAND. 



The Board of Trade are informed, through the 

 Foreigh Office, that a circular has recently been 

 issued by the Customs Department at Helsing- 

 fors, permitting the duty-free importation into 

 Finland (under No. 69 of the Customs Tariff) of 

 copra, being parts of coconut kernels, not pre- 

 pared or mixed with other materials. The cir- 

 cular defines copra, out of which oil is pressed, 

 as " the pulpy portion of coconut kernels cut 

 up into pieces and dried."— Board of Tradt 

 Journal, Nov, 28, 



