484 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [January i, 1890. 
that they should not suffer in gusta of wind. 
We reoently mentioned that the late Mr. John 
Armitage contemplated draining the great Mutu- 
rajawela swamp on the north side of Kelani river 
near Colombo, by means of wind mills. We do 
not know the reason why the design was not 
carried out, and we should like to know what 
engineering or other difficulty there may exist to 
prevent such operations on a large scale. In our 
previous article we mentioned the faot that the 
late Dr. C. Elliott superintended the construction 
of a windmill at Colombo, which was quite 
successful in raising sea-water for a swimming bath. 
Curiously enough the next we hear of a windmill in 
Ceylon in the British time is from our late friend's 
son, in his Administration Keport of the Southern 
Provinoe, inoluding the Galle Muncipality, for 1888. 
This time the windmill is on the ramparts not of 
Colombo but of Galle fort. Here is Mr. Edward 
Elliott's aocount of this "ingenious device" for 
raising salt-water to flush the drains of Galle : — 
Amongst the measures taken, an important one was 
the erection of a windmill on the ramparts for rais- 
ing salt-water to flush the drains of the Fort and water 
the streets. The military authorities allowed one of 
the old batteries to be converted into a reservoir 
capable of holding about 25,000 gallons, which is filled 
by the pump attached to the windmill.* For the 
present the distribution is carried out by carts at a 
cost of Rl per diem, as the cart is filled by gravita- 
tion direct from the reservoir. 2,500 gallons a day 
are thus distributed for flushing and watering. Under 
the old system, when the cart had to be taken out 
of the Fort and filled by hand, the cost was R4 per 
diem for four or five trips. The windmill pump and 
reservoir cost about R 1,000. and it is calculated will 
clear itself in between two and three years, while it 
admits of some four times the amount of flushing 
and watering being done, with great benefit to the 
health and comfort of the Fort residents during the 
hot weather. The intention is in time to provide 
flushing cisterns at various points, which can be ra- 
pidly emptied into the drains at regular intervals, 
and to connect them with the reservoir by piping. 
A length of a thousand feet of drainage pipes 
has been ordered from an Indian firm for experi- 
mental purposes. If found suitable they will permit 
the above intention to be carried out at a compara- 
tively small cost. 
It would appear from the details of this very inter- 
esting experiment that the best weather for the 
operations of the windmill is, when the movement 
of the air exceeds 7 miles an hour up to twice that 
rate. As 27 miles an hour means a gale, we are not 
surprised to learn that "sail had to be shortened " 
when the force of the wind was represented by 21 
miles an hour. We should be glad to hear the his- 
tory of the experiment up to date. In his diary Mr. 
Elliott refers to the windmill and pump thus :— 
Our windmill has been set up, and is found to an- 
swer. There is almost too much wind just now, but the 
crucial time will be in the hot weather next year. It 
seems, however, to require very little wind to work it, 
and with one.fourth of the canvass stretched the mill 
throws up 500 gallons of water per hour to a height of 
35 ft. into a reservoir. From this it will be removed 
by a large water-cart and the Fort drains flushed daily 
and reizularly at an outlay of about Re. 1J a day, against 
a very indifferent service previously costing twice that. 
* The following particulars of the working of the 
pump will probably be interesting: — The water is 
raised 34 ft. (26 ft. lift and 8 ft. force); but it is found 
the windmill will not work unless there is a breeze 
of at least 7 miles an hour blowing. This force will 
givo 1.000 revolutions an hour and pump up 400 
gallons an hour. A ten-mile breeze gives 1,240 re- 
volutions and 430 gallons. The maximum raised 
has been 530 gallons (with 1,450 revolutions) when 
the wind travelled 21 miles in the hour by the ane- 
mometer, and Bail had to be shortened for fear of 
accident. 
Supposing we worked two-thirds of the year, this gives 
a saving of R360 a year against an outlay of about 
R1,000. If time should confirm these experiences it is 
proposed to obtain a bigger pump and provide a larger 
reservoir, from which the water will in time be con- 
ducted by pipes to flushing reservoirs at the head of 
each main drain. Salt water is a splendid disinfectant 
and these frequent flushings will keep our drains free 
from foul eases, I believe. 
If the Galle experiment continues to be successful 
it might be well for the Colombo Municipality to 
utilize salt water after a similar fashion for watering 
roads as well for flushing and disiDfeoting drains. 
In Dr. Elliott's more modest experiment, the water 
was raised by the buokets of a " Persian wheel." 
It strikes us as just possible that the officers of 
the Forest Department might take a hint from the 
employment by the Dutch of wiad-power for saw- 
ing timber. Of oourse the agency of the steam 
engine, of which the Dutch of two centuries ago 
knew nothing (and so with the English) is now 
available. But we should think that windmills 
could be rigged up more speedily, shifted with 
greater facility and would be altogether more econo- 
mical than eteam engine 1 ?? 
CEYLON TEA AND* MR. B. E. PINEO 
IN AMERICA. 
(From the Tacoma Lodge.) 
R. B. Pineo, manager in America of the Ceylon 
Planters' American Tea Company, yesterday made in- 
quiry among the looal jobbers relative to the sale of 
Oeylon tea in this market. He was greatly encouraged, 
and will probably open a house in this city for the dis- 
tribution of Ceylon tea in the northwest. The local 
jobbers assured Mr. Pineo that they had no doubt but 
that the brands of tea which he proposed to furnish 
would sell freely in Washington and throughout the 
northwest. However, under the present shipping ar- 
rangements, they oould not undertake to handle the 
Ceylon tea direct from that country. They urged Mr. 
Pineo to establish warehouses in this city, from which 
they oould supply their demand. 
" I am considering the proposition to establish a 
branch tea house in this city," Mr. Pineo said, "and 
shall undoubtedly do se if some one of the local job- 
bers do not handle our tea. I am confident that the 
people of the northwest will prove heavy consumers of 
the Ceylon tea when once they become acquainted with 
its superior qualities." 
" The Ceylon tea would cost more — for various rea- 
sons best known to the trade — than the Japaa or China 
tea, but it is a far superior tea, and one pound of it 
will go as far in the kitchen as one and one-half pounds 
of any brand of tea that is imported from China or 
Japan. Then too, the Ceylon tea is much more whole- 
some than the China or Japan tea. It is not mixed with 
drugs in order to give it flavor, and it is free from all 
foreign and poisonous substances that are found by 
chemical analyses in the China and Japan brands." 
Mr. Pineo leaves by this morning's boat for Vancou- 
ver and Victoria, and will subsequently proceed to 
Chicago and New York. He says the Ceylon tea which 
will eventually reach the Tacoma market must come 
via Hongkong to either San Francisco or Vancouver. 
The establishment of the proposed steamship line be- 
tween Tacoma and Hongkong, he said, would encour- 
age the Ceylon and India tea business. Besides ths 
proposed line of steamers would be patronized exten- 
sively by the Oeylon and India tta merchants, which 
would in turn be an encouragement to the speedy estab- 
lishment of the new line. 
R. E. Pineo, of Colombo, Ceylon, accompanied by 
two native servants — a man and his wife — of that couu- 
try, arrived at The Tacoma last evening (Nov. 7th J 
after a pleasant overlaid! journey from San Frariciscu. 
Mr. Pineo's servants were attired in the picturesque 
attire of their native land, and attracted much atten- 
tion. The man wore a highly colored turban, and his 
wife's ears and nose sparkled with jeweled ornaments. 
Mr. Pineo was found in the lobby of the hotel during 
the evening and told a very interesting story regard- 
