592 



The Supplement to the Tropical A griculturisi 



tea much pleasanter to handle and that it has 

 helped to increase his business. 



H. B. Marshall, manager of the Marshall Tea 

 Company, 191 King Street East, Hamilton, 

 Canada, is the designer of the tea-cleaning 

 machine shown in this connection. The machine 

 occupies a space in the rear of the Marshall Tea 

 Company's store. Into a hopper the tea is emp- 

 tied from the chest on the platform above. The 

 vibration of the running machine carries it down 

 into the cylinder. The inside of this revolving 

 cylinder is fitted with narrow shelves which 

 carries the tea up as the cylinder revolves. 

 As it drops from these shelves the dust is 

 thoroughly stirred up. The centre part of the 

 cylinder into which the feeding and suction pipes 

 are run does not revolve. The part of the cylinder 

 that revolves rests on four cogs. The electric 

 suction fan is connected with the machine by pipe 

 No. 2. Pipe No. 2 extendsinto the cylinder about 

 15 inches, and is cemented where the connection 

 takes place on the inside, so that no tea can be 

 sucked through the pipe. The upper side of the 

 pipe inside the cylinder is oval, but the under 

 side is flat and fitted with a wire sieve, through 

 which the dust rises. This sieve is sufficiently 

 fine to prevent all but the dirt and the very 

 finest particles of tea going through. The edges 

 extend about an inch below the sieve and flare 

 slightly, the idea of this being to throw the tea 

 oft' as it falls down over the pipe. It being 

 natural for the dust to riso, the suction does the 

 rest. The tea is emptied through the slide door 

 of the cylinder, after being cleaned, into a box 

 just below the hopper. Pipe No. 2entersthe fan, 

 and a pipe carries the dust from the fan to the 

 outside of the building. Mr. Marshall has per- 

 fected an arrangement to prevent the dust being 

 blown directly into the air. By this means he 

 is able to save the fine tea, and the rest finally 

 blows away. He does not claim that this machine 

 is perfect. He has found that the falling of the 

 tea from the shelves breaks it to a certain extent, 

 but does not grind it, as he at first feared it 

 would. The machine holds a chest of tea con- 

 veniently, and it usually takes about half-an- 

 hour to clean it. Mr. Marshall says that he has 

 found that cleaning the tea makes a very notice- 

 able difference. It is much pleasanter to handle 

 and it is practically free from any floating dust 

 or fibre. The amount of tea that is carried 

 through the sieve is very small. When suffi- 

 cient is collected, Mr. Marshall proposes to sell 

 it to manufacturing druggists. — Tea and, Coffee 

 Trade Journal for April. 



METHODS TO BE EMPLOYED AGAINST 

 TERMES GESTROI, THE RUBBER PEST 



The only chemical with which any degree 

 of success has been obtained in other parts 

 of the world [in dealing with Termes Gestroi] 

 is Carbon Bisulphide. This insecticide is, 

 however, most difficult to obtain in this 

 country, and its prohibitive cost excludts its 

 general use especially over any great area. At- 

 tention to remedial or rather preventative 

 measures should, therefore, be directed else- 

 where for the present. My own observations 

 made on young estates have firmly convinced 

 me that the only remunerative method to be 

 employed against the ravages of T. gestroi, is to 

 follow up their burrows and so ascertain the 

 position of the nests. These as heretofore 

 stated will be found either in or around buried 

 stumps, or contained within the fallen trees 

 lying on the surface of the ground. Such trees 

 must be destroyed. 



There are only a few native trees which 

 are attacked and acquaintance should be 

 made with these. The most important 

 are Kumpas, Merauti and Pulai. On freshly 

 felled land I would not advise the destruc- 

 tion of the Kumpas, Meranti, and Pulai 

 trees in the first instance as they subsequently 

 afford means of locating T. gestroi and should 

 then be completely destroyed together with the 

 ants. Trees lying on the ground are easily de- 

 tected if attacked, and before doing away with 

 these trees, the burrows leading away from them 

 must be followed up and disturbed. This me- 

 thod would not require more coolies than are at 

 present employed in making daily inspections 

 of the rubber trees,and would, as has been shown, 

 be far more effective, if not a final treatment. 



Young trees which are attacked by gestroi and 

 show no external signs of disease are often dis- 

 covered by following the burrows of 1\ gestroi 

 issuing from dead trees. Treating the former 

 trees at an early stage of the disease, combined 

 with destruction of the source of thoir infection 

 is sufficient to prevent further attacks (at all 

 events from the same source) and in all probab- 

 ility will save a considerable area becoming badly 

 infected. 



On the majority of estates in the F.M.&. a 

 certain number of coolies have their work con- 

 fined to repelling the attacks of Termes gestroi. 



These Goolies are, however, not aware that only 

 one kind of Termite attacks rubber, nor are 

 they acquainted with the burrows of this species, 



