THE 
\T ONTHLY 
Vol. VIII. 
COLOMBO, AUGUST ist, 1888. 
LNo. 2. 
TKA-MAKING IN COLOMBO. 
With reference to recent remark?, we may 
now refer to tho opportunity we had a few 
days ago of looking over one of our long estab- 
lished Colombo mills where, besides the preparing 
of coffee, cinchona, &c, we had the pleasure of 
seeing tea-making going on. 
Tea-making is, however, no new thing in Colombo ; 
and were it not for the difficulty in delivering the green 
leaf in an uninjured condition, much more might 
bo done than would seem possible at present. 
The leaf we saw being manipulated had been 
brought down the previous day by rail, and on 
our arrival on the scene it was passing through 
the rolling process. The well-known Jackson's 
' Double-action Holler' was at work, as also a Thomp- 
son's 'Challenge', and we learnt that a Law & 
Davidson's ' Simplex Roller ' would probably soon 
be erected. A Davidson's Sirocco Drier, a 
Gow's Sifter and other appliances for further 
manipulating and packing of the tea were at 
hand. We were also shown tea in the cup which 
afforded U3 an opportunity of judging as to the 
strength and quality of tea manufactured in our 
capital. 
Tea-making up to about 100 lb. made tea per 
day had, we were told, been carried on at these 
mills for the past month, but we did not gather 
thai it is necessarily the intention to continue it 
for any longth of time, the present object being 
merely to afford the mill hands an opportunity 
of acquiring practical knowledge in the manipula- 
tion of what is now the chief product of our 
island. 
OBYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT: 
FINE PLANTING MONSOON — TEA LEAF CARRIED LONG DIS- 
TANCES — COFFEE. 
25th June 1888. 
We are all pleased with the fine planting mon- 
BOOn wo are having, and plants are being rattled 
out while tho weather is favourable. It is perfectly 
astonishing what a number of supplies an estate 
wants, and how nurseries that were considered 
more than enough turn out to be a good deal 
less. These estimates which we make from time to j 
time, and which are falsified so often, do not dis- 
henrton us in any fresh efforts, we are always ready 
■gain to over-estimate our nurseries, and under- | 
estimate oar vacancies. This year the long drought 
did for everything in tho struggling way, and even 
many plants that were well established tallowed in 
the wake of their weaker brethren. Hence, per- 
haps, many of us are finding out that supplying ia 
a heavier task than wai anticipated, and our nur- 
series hardly so able to bear the drain as at first 
was fondly hoped. 
The despatch of green tea leaf for long distances 
is a common enough thing in China, but not quite 
so common here. We all aim at our own factory, 
but I question if it would not have paid us a good 
deal bettor if there had been more centralization 
and less individuality. Perhaps we may have to 
come to that yet, and then how to despatch Jeaf for 
the long distance, while at the same time to keep it 
sweet, will be one of the problems before us. As a 
possible solution towards this question, I have heard 
of leaf being partly withered, and then sent on, and 
as far as I know this has been a success. It has 
one advantage, — -that the afternoon's pluckings, which 
often leave an estate late, and arrive late at the 
factory, can be dispatched early in the morning, 
with the minimum of trouble to all concerned. 
There would be the difficulty of loss of weight if 
the central factory were independent of the estate; 
but that could be overcome if the usual outturn 
of made tea were accepted as the basis. Where 
different estates of the one proprietory were deliver- 
ing, there need be no diffioulty. 
Coffee, which has been looking well, and in some 
places with a morethrn usually fine crop on it, is evi- 
dently still to be afflicted, as both bug and leaf-disease 
are too visible. Thf former, the more to be feared, 
has been about for a little while, and is showing 
up more and mire every day. As to leaf- disease 
it seems as hearty as ever. That retiremf nt into 
its native jungle, which we were led to look for, 
is evidently not yet, for its attachment to the 
coffee tree is undying: when you see how it olings 
to a siokly struggling sucker, which some all-but- 
defunct stump has thrown out as a last effort, it is 
hard to believe it will ever leave it. 
Peppehcorn. 
PINE SAMPLE OF COTTON GROWN NEAR 
THE FORT OF COLOMBO. 
EGYPTIAN COTTON AND PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS. 
A Fort correspondent writes : — 
" Here is 11 sample of cotton grown under unfavour- 
able) conditions in what must be almost pure sea-sand 
and close to tbe harbour. It is not a bad sample 
notwithstanding, and goes to prove that tho staple 
can be well cultivated in the island." 
A merohant woll up in cotton, who has seen it, 
says: — "This is as beautiful a sample of cotton 
as you could wish, grown in tho Fort of Colombo ! 
