THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1889. 
Whether Coorg seed is better, however, than our 
own is a moot question : some who have grown it say 
no ; but if a man does believe in it, he is always 
assured of the first three years of hope. Every 
new estate as we know lays that gift at the feet 
of its possessor, which is sometimes all it ever 
gives. Still to have that assured is something. 
Reading an old book published in 1848 : — " An Ac- 
count of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in 
China," by Samuel Ball, who was Tea Inspector to 
the Hon. the United East India Company, — I came 
upon two passages on the effect of manure on tea, 
which was one of the subjects in your late questions. 
It was the one which perhaps most who answered 
felt their ground least certain, especially in re- 
gard to its effects on flavour. It is of black tea, the 
writer is speaking and this is what he says : — 
"The Chinese universally affirm that manure is not 
employed for that tea, and is injurious to its fla- 
vour." In another place there is this passage : — 
" It will also be seen under the article ' Green 
Tea' 1 that an immense improvement was effected 
in that tea by transplanting it from the hills into 
the plains, and by cultivating it in garden soil 
fit for vegetables ; moreover by the use of manure. 
The black tea however is not manured" 
Those who don't get very high prices for their 
teas, spite of their best endeavours to produce 
good ones, may get a little comfort from the stand- 
point of the Chinaman on the question of quality. 
In Mr. Ball's work, he quotes the following from 
the testimony of a Spanish missionary to the Chinese, 
who had written an account of the tea plant: — 
" In the province of Fo-Kien there are many plan- 
tations, where the care and method of preparing 
tea are nearly the same, whilst the tea is very 
different, whether we consider the leaves, the flavour, 
or the effects it produces ; consequently the nature 
of the soil cannot be the same. The Chinese 
themselves sufficiently prove this, by their frequent 
declaration that the Ty Tu or soil occasions the 
principal difference in the quality of tea." Mr. Ball 
has a note to this passage which runs thus : — 
" This observation is confirmed by my own enquiries. 
Ask a Chinese what causes the difference of quality 
in tea, and his reply invariably is, the Ty Tu, i. e. 
the soil." 
There are I think few tea planters in Ceylon, 
limited as is their experience compared with John 
Chinaman, but have found out for themselves that 
the leaf from particular fields in their estates 
makes a better tea than from others ; nevertheless 
it is not unpleasant to have one's original obser- 
vations confirmed by such old world knowledge 
of the fragrant shrub, as is possessed by the 
celestial. 
TJie weather is now getting more favourable 
for flushing than it has been for some time lately. 
If we could be spared the worrying wind, we would 
be all more fully employed in our factories than 
we have been for some weeks past. 
♦ 
THE STRAWSONIZER : 
IMPORTANT TO COFFEE AND ALL OTHER PLANTERS 
TROUBLED WITH INSECT OR FUNGOID PESTS. 
We are indebted to the friend who has called 
our attention to the following paragraph in the 
Calcutta Asian. We would ask that one or other 
of our enterprising local firms, do kindly make 
enquiries about this machine pro bono publico, and 
if they see their way, import one which could 
be let out to travel in the planting districts after 
the fashion of reaping and threshing machines in 
agricultural districts in Britain ? Wo quote as 
follows :— 
The Strawsonizer is a machine which has added a 
new set of words to the English lauguage. As a mat- 
ter of course, the success of the invention has led to the 
formation of a Limited Liability Company, of which it 
is unnecessary to take notice in this place, except to ob- 
serve that the inventor, Mr. Strawson, gets £25,000 for 
his machine, with a royalty ot2§ per cent on sales. The 
great utility of the machine was immediately recog- 
nized by English agriculturists, and a public trial of it, 
on one of the Royal farms at Windsor, has given an 
opportunity to the world at large for becoming ac- 
quainted with it. It seems to be likely to be of con- 
siderable service in India, especially to indigo planters, 
and if the factories in Behar had been equipped with 
Strawsonizers a few months ago, the invasion of the 
caterpillar, which did so much injury to the young 
plant, would have been promptly checked. The follow- 
ing description of the machine is taken partly from a 
notice in one of our Loudon contemporaries : The 
Strawsonizer is a machine of light construction, resting 
upon two wheels, and easily drawn by one horse. By 
means of a multiplying gearing, the revolutions of the 
driving-wheels are communicated to a fan, which makes 
from 2,000 to 3,000 revolutions in a minute. The fan 
is axled within a tube, from the hinder end of which 
there issues a powerful blast of air ; and this blast, by 
catching the stream of 6olid or liquid material dis- 
charged from a hopper above, scatters such material in 
a fashion which has never before been seen. By a few 
slight alterations and adjustments, the same machine 
can be used for the distribution of liquids or solids. The 
machine was exhibited at Windsor as a distributor of 
paraffin oil, which is known as a powerful insecticide. 
The nozzles employed distributed the paraffin upon the 
ground, and at fifty yards distance the spray could be 
seen like a delicate mist, following the machine. Blades 
of grass and leaves were picked up, coated by a fine 
film of paraffin, the odour of which would repel any 
insect pest. The machine is equally effective as a dis- 
tributor of artificial fertilisers, such as nitrate of soda, 
or common salt, or with an insect-destroyer, such as 
powdered quicklime. It can be utilized for the sowing 
of seeds, and is applicable in a special form in hop gar- 
dens and vineyards. Finally it can be effectively ap- 
plied as a sanitary apparatus, and it is to be hoped that 
Sir H. Harrison and his colleagues will soon be able to 
Strawsonize certain parts of Calcutta which it would 
be invidious to mention. 
+ , 
MOEE ABOUT STRAWSON'S AIR.POWER 
DISTRIBUTOR. A VALUABLE 
INVENTION. 
(From the "North British Agriculturist,") 
Since Mr. Strawson's Air-Power Distributor was 
brought out last year too late for exhibition at the 
Royal Show, we have frequently referred to the 
immense value of this invention to farmers. By 
means of a powerful blast of air generated by gear- 
ing from the driving wheels, all kinds of grain and 
manure can be distributed in any degree of thickness 
over a given breadth of ground with mathematical 
precision. As a distributor of grain and manure the 
machine possesses many outstanding advantages, but 
its great value to farmers lies in the fact that it 
can distribute even the smallest possible amount of 
liquid or poisonous matter with unvarying regularity 
over any crop for protection against, or the de- 
struction of, insect pests. A gallon of paraffin can 
by means of it be spread over a whole acre of 
turnips so evenly that every plant will receive its 
due share, and the efftct of such a dressing is to 
effectually check the ravages of that dreaded pest 
—the turnip fly. By means of this machine, the 
farmer can effectually protect himself against those 
insect pests which attack his turnip plants, and fruit- 
growers can in the same way dispose of the pests, 
which attack their bushes and fruit trees. The merits 
of the machine were fully tested before a large 
gathering of pratctical agriculturists at the Royal farm 
at Windsor the other day, and aid its work to per- 
fection. We now learn that a company of influential 
