4 8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1887 
by a special machine. Then follows the spilatura, or 
assortment into lengths, which is effected by placing 
on a table a small cylindrical tin case, open at both 
ends, and about eight inches in height, and eight 
inches in diameter, into which a loose bundle of the 
prepared straw is placed vertically. The operator 
sweeps his hand over the bundle, and draws up from 
it the longest straws which project above the rest. 
These he deposits in the first compartment of a table 
furnished with different divisions. He then draws from 
the bundle the next longest straws, and so on until 
he comes to the shortest. The straw is usually divided 
into five or six lengths for the finer kinds. The straw 
is of a better colour, more consistent and finer as it 
approaches the ear, the lower part, which is protected 
by an outer covering, being whiter and softer. Formerly 
this end was not used, but now it is employed for 
making all the articles that go under the name of pedal 
hats or pedal plaits. The sorted straw is next made 
up into small bundles, which are bound together in 
a large packet, the point or upper ends being placed 
upwards in two bundles, and downwards in the other 
two. The united packet is now laid under a cutter, 
and being divided through the centre yields four 
smaller packets, two of point and two of pedal straw, 
which are ready for the plaiter. The straw is given 
out to the plaiters either directly from the factory 
or through a factor, in bundles either sufficient to 
make a length of fifty yards of plait, or a hat as 
the case may be. Before being plaited, the straw is 
slightly wetted to render it more flexible. The hats 
are sewn either with waxed thread or with the 
fibre of a rush which grows on the marsh lands near 
Signa, and which is prepared for the purpose. On 
the plaits being returned to the factory, they are 
measured. The length being found correct, they are 
washed in potash water in order to whiten them, and 
occasionally they are cylindered to give them a polish. 
They are next wound upon a circular toothed frame 
of one yard in circumference, the teeth being to keep 
the strands of the plait evenly one over the other. 
They are then made up into packets of six or twelve 
pieces, or sometimes of twenty-four pieces, after which 
they are packed in cases for export. On the hats 
being brought to the factory, the loose straws are 
first cut from the brims, and any defects in the plait- 
ing are made good by insertion, after which they are 
piled up on one another, and placed in large troughs 
full of potash water, in which they are pressed down 
by planks. They are then dried in the sun when the 
weather is fine, or in hot rooms when it is wet. The 
hats are then ready to be moulded into shape, which 
is effected by their being placed in heavy zinc moulds, 
and forced into shape by hydraulic pressure. They 
are next powdered with sulphur and polished with a 
small wooden instrument, and packed in cardboard 
boxes in dozens, and subsequently in wooden cases 
ready) for export. According to the official trade 
returns, 1,000 cwt. of plaits and 3,399,000 straw hats 
were exported from Italy during the year 1885, chiefly 
to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, 
France, and North and South America. — Journal of the. 
Society of Arts. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
(From a Correspondent.) 
I send you a part o£ McCombie Murray's 
letter which he asks me to send on to you, and 
a specimen of his poetic advertisement. I also 
send you a paper with the letter regarding 
Ceylon Pure Tea and Coffee Company's teas &c. Pineo 
and Murray seem to be doing their level best and 
deserve encouragement : — 
Philadelphia, 11th May 1887. 
We are going ahead with Ceylon teas here as best 
we can with such a limited capital. The fine teas 
are much appreciated by some, but the souchongs 
are considered fit only to be thrown out. No one will 
drink them and we have to cater to tho class of people 
that ate willing to pay a good price for a really fine 
tea. We sent President Cleveland nomo tea the other 
day and had a very nice note of acknowledgmeu 
from him in which he says, "We have tasted the 
tea and coffee, and we think the flavour of both very 
geod." I send you by this mail the first evening 
paper of Philadelphia, which contains a letter re- 
garding our teas. This letter has done much to 
further the sale of our goods, and people are gettiDg 
interested slowly, but we hope surely. We have taken 
an office, and pack and sell in packets of 1 lb. and 
| lb. from the office. We have also some agents 
three in the city, one special agent in Tarrytown and 
one in Whitehall. 
The trade generally will not handle Ceylon tea at 
all. It doesn't pay them to do so in any way whatever, 
and if Ceylon tea is ever introduced into America it 
must be through such an agency as ourselves, who 
arc fighting for the one interest with the hopes of 
getting a monopoly until the tea becomes well enough 
known to force the general dealer to handle it. 
People who talk in Ceylon papers about introducing 
it through the regular trade talk absolute noii.ieiiae. 
If it had paid any New York firm to handle it, the 
Y'ankees are quite wide awake enough to grasp the 
great idea of introducing our teas through the regular 
trade. Strange that when Ceylon or Indian teas are 
put up in New York there is scarcely a bid for them, 
and that they are invariably sold at miserable prices. 
We have tried all the big houses of Philadelphia and 
they will scarcely give us a hearing. I wish some 
enterprizing correspondent would write to some 
American house on the subject, or better still, show 
how the thing can be done, by sending hi? tea here 
to some disinterested house on consignment! .bet it 
be a man who is not very careful about seeing 
his money again and doesn't mind seeing his tea. 
[It is in Chicago and the West, where tea firms are not 
so wedded to the China trade, that a trial should be 
made.— Ed.] 
■ ♦ 
The Peice of Coffee. — The price of coffee has 
risen very considerably of late in Madras- About 
a fortnight ago, excellent coffee could be pur- 
chased in the bazaars at the rate of one rupee 
and eight annas a viss, but the price has risen 
so rapidly that a viss of coffee cannot be pur- 
chased at the present time for less than two 
rupees and ten annas. The bazaar men declare 
that the price will continue to rise till it reaches 
one pagoda (E3J-) per viss, or E100 per maund ! 
This rise in the price is said to be due to the 
large exportation of coffee to Burma. — Madras 
Mail, 9th June. 
Ceylon Tea at Home — Having to stop an hour at 
Luton, yesterday afternoon, I strolled through the 
town and found a shop devoted solely to the sale of 
Ceylon tea, coffee and cocoa. 1 wondered whether 
your friends had any interest in the agency, other- 
wise than in the encouragement of Ceylon products, 
so I brought away some of their advertisements. 
I also bought quarter lb. of the tea which we 
have tried and found delicious, but I am not 
sufficient of a judge to say whether it is superior 
to China tea at the same price. I thought yon 
might be interested to hear of the affair. — Home 
Cor. 
Daeieeling. — This season has been rather one for 
flushes. We have had no lack of moisture, but so 
far there has been little heat. The winter was moist 
and cold, favourable for nurseries, young plants in ex- 
tensions, and ought to be for checking the Red Spider 
(were that pest not indestructible), but unfavourable 
for burning of charcoal and brick-making ; and at one 
time was so wet and cold as to delay the pruning. 
So far, the Spider shows less than io recent years 
but this is simply because we have had little of the 
weather needed to develope it,— bright hot sun, with 
showers. When the pest comes on late in the st^ason, 
it is worse than coming early. Hail has been very 
severe, and has done much damage on several Gardens 
widely apart throughout the district, many between 
and near having entirely escaped, or almost so. — Tnilinn 
Tea, Gazette. 
