45)6 
TRE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1888. 
by the road for fear of meeting bears, as the evening 
was on the wane ! Heaven help the planters, for 
neither the Police nor the ' diel ' will. Those un- 
fortunates who relied upon the equivocal 1 last straw ' 
— cinchona — to enable them to stem the overwhelming 
tide of misfortune, must now be in a very sore strait 
indeed, considering that at the present depressed 
state of the market, it hardly pays the expenses of 
harvesting. At the last Planters' Associaton meeting 
statistics were given as regards shaving C. Ledyeridna 
trees, and the result can. hardly be called satisfactory. 
It was found that after the second shaving 15 per 
cent of the trees died, to say nothing of the indifferent 
analyses of the bark thus taken from the trees, so 
that one can only come to the conclusion that the 
least bad variety of cinchona one should attempt to 
cultivate is the old. and much abused C. S'ucairubra. 
This will at least stand the abominable ballyragging 
of a Canarese cooly with a pruning knife in his hand, 
and at the same time it will pay its hard-worked 
owner for relieving it of its skin ' without dying to 
spite him ' even though it cannot at present bring him 
in a profit." — Madras Mail. 
« 
JAVA COFFEE CEOP. 
1 Amsterdam, Dec. 7th. — According to a private 
telegram from Batavia the Government's coffee 
crop for this year, which is now harvested, amounts 
to 257,000 bags while the next crop is estimated 
at 500,000 bags. Some new joint stock companies 
in connection with Netherlands India have been 
formed. The prospectus of the Botterdam-Siak- 
Kultuur Onderneming, of Eotterdam, has been 
published, from which it appears that the object 
of this company is the cultivation of produce on 
certain lands granted by the Sultan of Siak to 
the company, and on such other lands in Sumatra as 
may be obtained by the company hereafter. Further, 
the sale of its own produce or of produce purchased in 
Sumatra, or received in consignment, and to grant 
advance on such consignments. The capital has 
been fixed at fl. 600,000, divided into three series, 
each of 200 shares amounting each toil, 1,000. Pro- 
visionally but one series has been issued, which 
was promptly taken up ; and the remaining shares 
will be issued in five years from the date of the 
Boyal sanction to the statutes, viz., Sept. 14th, 1887. 
The Botterdam-Borneo Maatschappy has been 
established at Eotterdam for the purpose of working 
certain lands on the territory of the British North 
Borneo Company and the sale of the produce 
obtained therefrom, The capital is fl. 500,000, 
divided into 500 shares each of fl. 1,000, of which 
one series only has been issued and taken up. The 
remaining shares will be issued in five years.— L. <& 
C. Ezpess. 
IMPEOVED TEA-PEEPAEING MACHINEEY. 
The machines which Mr. Dalgarno (acting on 
behalf of Messrs. Jackson) has specially to bring 
to the notice of our tea-planters on the present 
occasion are an improved Tea Drier and a new 
improved and cheapened Tea Eoller. The latter 
is "Jackson's new Patent 'Rapid' Tea Eolling 
Machine," made in two sizes and styled the " 24 
inch Eapid Eoller " and the " 32 inch Eapid Eoller," 
the capacity of the first being 200 lb. leaf, of the 
second 400 lb. The prices, we understand, are not 
yet decided, but a reduction of about £10 on the 
previous machines of the same capacity is antici- 
pated. One of the new Boilers is;coniing by P. & O. 
steamer, and arrangements will, no doubt, be made 
for a trial in Colombo, soon after its arrival. 
This roller, of which a photograph is before us, 
is said to be much easier to drive through an 
improved action, the saving in motive power as 
compared with tho "Excelsior," being over 30 per 
cent or fully one horse-power. It is also said to do 
better work, more especially in giving a capital 
twist and finish to the leaf. Another comparative 
new Eoller is the "Eajah" introduced in 1886, of 
which 50 are now in use, 5 or 6 in Ceylon. We need 
say nothing of the substantial character of Jackson's 
rollers ; 700 are now in use and so strongly are 
they made that in no single case yet has a com- 
X^lete set of duplicates been called for. 
In the case of Jackson's Tea Driers, the great 
drawback at least to the "Venetian" was the 
difficult of getting at the flues, built as they were 
in masonry and below ground. This is entirely 
obviated in the new 32 and 42 inch self-delivery 
Venetian Driers for which no firepit is required. 
Its further advantages are described as follows : — 
The Machine, including the Stove, is now placed on 
the ground floor of the Tea House, no pit requiring 
excavation or building up being necessary, thus saving 
much labour and expensive brickwork, and at compara- 
tive little cost or inconvenience the Machine could be 
moved from one part of the Tea House to another, or 
changed from one Factory to another. Access to stove : 
This is now made very simple and easy. Any tube can 
be taken out and replaced in a few minutes, even when 
the fire is on, and without disturbing any part of the 
masonry or other part of the apparatus. Economy in 
fuel : An arch of refractory material has been intro- 
duced between the fire-grate surface and the tubes, 
which enables the combustion to be completed before 
reaching the tubes, and as a better circulation of the 
gases will result, a considerable saving in fuel will be 
effected, and the durability of the tubes prolonged. 
Self-delivery : The lower portion of the drying chamber 
is now constructed so that when the lowest drying 
surface is opened the dry tea thereon descends on a 
shoot which conveys it outside of the drying chamber 
altogether, and delivers it into a tea chest placed to 
receive it, thus dispensing with the Trolly hitherto 
used. Drying Chamber : This is now constructed of 
steel or wrought iron, which minimises the risk of 
breakage in transit, and reduces the freight. Erec- 
tion : This is simplified by an arrangement which en- 
ables all the iron work of the Stove and Drying 
Chamber to be fixed up together, and set in a line with 
the driving pulleys, and the brick-work built round it 
afterwards : Method of working The top feeding tray 
is drawn forward on rollers. A charge of fermented 
leaf is spread over it by hand, when it is returned to 
the drying chamber. The crank handles are then 
turned consecutively, beginning at the bottom, when 
each stratum of tea will be moved down from one tray 
to another, the lowest being delivered by the shoot 
direct into a tea chest outside the machine. The 
smaller Machine has a drying chamber 32 inches square, 
and is capable of putting out about 70 lb. dry tea per 
hour. The larger Machine has a drying chamber 42 
inches square, and is capable of putting out about 90 
lb. dry tea per hour. 
Prices of these and the other new Machines will 
be duly advertised, and it is evident that the Messrs. 
Jackson are determined to keep up . their high 
reputation as makers of tea-preparing Machinery 
in the Ceylon market. 
Coconuts in Fiji. — Says the Fiji Times of 
Nov. 9th: — An old "copra man" under fire of 
cross-examination, informs us that, in 1885, he 
manufactured on his estate, copra to the extent of 
50 tons ; in 1886 he secured but 20 tons, and in 
1887 the total result decreased to 12J tons. Next 
year, with a considerable increase of coconut area, 
he expects but to reach the output of 1885. He 
further states that most of the old trees, such as 
those from which the natives collect their taxes, 
are now in full-bearing, while trees of from 10 to 
12 years old have not nearly recovered from the 
effects of the blow. This will afford a pretty fair 
indication of the severity of the strain on coconut 
growers during the past two years. 
