Fddble Products. 



[January, 1910. 



plants by way of pruning them. The 

 following: year they are ready to be 

 picked. Frequent picking without prun- 

 ing gives a fair yield and the Kachin is 

 satisfied. 



The tender leaves are first picked in 

 the month of April and they are ready 

 to be picked again every alternate 

 month up to August. The April pick- 

 ings are the best and later pickings 

 have not the same market value and 

 fall as much as one-half in price. What 

 is xjicked is either boiled or broiled 

 according as wet or dry tea is required. 

 What is boiled is squeezed with the 

 hand on cooling to release the water 

 and is packed in leaves in convenient 

 packets for sale. It is sometimes put 

 into big bamboos of one viss capacity 

 which are plugged at the open end 

 with bamboo leaves and buried two 

 feet under ground, This keeps as long 

 as two years- Wet tea sells at four 

 annas a viss (3"60 lbs.) at Mohnyiu on 

 the line of railway. 



The leaves that have been broiled are 

 kept over the fireplace in the house, 

 and when enough has been collected, 

 they are smashed with the hands and 

 rammed into green bamboo tubes about 

 18 inches long and 1J inches in diameter. 

 The green bamboo, in the operation of 

 filling, is placed over the fire or in 

 hot ash and what moisture is contained 

 is absorbed by the dried leaves which 

 in time form a hard cake in the bam- 

 boo. Such tubes contain from 25 to 40 

 ticals and sell at two annas and eight 

 annas each. Dry tea is also sold loose 

 at Rs. 4 a basket of four viss. 



A plant is said to attain a girth of 

 ten inches in ten years. There are 

 trees with two feet girth, said to be 

 25 and 30 years old. The average yield 

 of a plant is one viss of dry tea a year. 

 The big trees yield according to Kachin 

 methods as much as two viss. 



Insect pests are not unknown on the 

 Kachin Hills and their inability to guard 

 against them is a source of great anxiety 

 to the Kachins. 



The Kachins do not pluck tea syste- 

 matically or with a view to trade. 

 During such time as the women can spare 

 from taungya work and household 

 duties, they pick enough for home 

 consumption and perhaps a little extra 

 to buy salt and cotton yarn with. The 

 tender leaves only shoot forth in 

 taungya cutting time and the industry 

 cannot receive attention even as a second- 

 ary occupation. The men find more 

 pi ofi table employment with the timber 

 firms which pay them handsomely. 



Tea is brewed by Kachins in a small 

 bamboo which serves as kettle, tea-pot 

 and tea cup. Water is boiled in the 

 bamboo, caked tea is scraped into it, 

 and when the concoction has cooled a 

 little, it is sipped and passed round. 



Shans and Burmese who have acquired 

 a taste for Kachin tea prefer it to im- 

 ported brands. If taken up on a com- 

 mercial basis, the cultivation of tea on 

 the Kachin Hills would be profitable. 

 At present the markets of Myitkyina 

 and Katha districts could be confidently 

 counted on. At Kongra (square No. 33 K) 

 a man came to purchase bamboos of 

 dried tea which he took away to sell 

 at the Jade Mines in the Myitkyina 

 District. He brought at three bamboos 

 a rupee and expected to sell each at 

 eight annas to a rupee. 



There is some hope that the tea in- 

 dustry will be taken up in earnest by 

 the hillmen. It is asserted that before 

 the Kachins took to working for a 

 monthly wage much tea was exported 

 from the Kongra and Lamai tracts on 

 the Western Range, and that to this 

 day Kongra-Lamai tea is well known 

 in the plains. 



A MECHANICAL POLISHER FOR 

 CACAO. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII., 

 No. 190, August, 1909.) 



The following information respecting 

 a mechanical polisher for cacao, invent- 

 ed by Mr. George Barnard of St. Lucia, 

 and known as ' Barnard's Patent Cacao 

 Polisher,' has been received through the 

 Acting Agricultural Superintendent in 

 that island : — 



This cacao polisher consists of a hollow 

 cylinder, made of wood or iron, through 

 which runs a shaft on to which are 

 keyed a number of 'eccentrics.' Attach- 

 ed to the lower or under side of these 

 eccentrics are feet or ' pedals ' which are 

 jointed, like the human ankle, in order 

 to give a rocking motion as the eccen- 

 trics rise and fall. Hard rubber pads are 

 attached to the bottom of these pedals 

 which give under pressure to pi event 

 the beans from being crushed ; an addi- 

 tional safeguard against crushing is that 

 the pedals do not come within 2 inches 

 of the cylinder, and are spaced sufficient- 

 ly far apart on the shaft to allow the 

 cacao to stir about fretly and become 

 thoroughly mixed as the pedals rise and 

 fall alternately. 



