March i, 1889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
©miqcspondoncc. 
♦ 
To the Editor. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE IN DUTCH GUIANA, 
SOUTH AMERICA. 
Voorburg Estate, Surinam, Dutch Guiana, 
28th Dec. 1888. 
(To the Editors of the Tropical Agriculturist.) 
Guntj/Kmkn, — Being one of the subscribers of your 
valuable journal, 1 take the liberty of putting beforo 
you a few questions on Liberian colTee maohinery. 
At present wo are planting out on a very largo 
scale the said ooffee, which grows in the low 
impolderod lands of Surinam as luxurious as pos- 
sible ; samples of thip coffee grown here have been 
declared in Holland and Germany as being valuably 
surpassing in strength and aroma the said coffeo 
from other countries. 
You are well aware that the Liberian coffeo is 
much more difficult to cloan or to hull than the 
coffee Arabica, and wo are at present rather puzzled 
which machinery will answer the best to take off 
the fleshy part, and also the second or so-called 
parchment husk. In Semler's work we find recom- 
mended La Victoria and other machinery but Semler 
dooB not say if this kind of machinery will do the 
work for the Liberian coffee. 
1 1 1 am not mistaken you have Liberian coff ee 
also in Coylon, and kindly put before you the 
following questions : — 
J. What machinery is used in Ceylon to clean 
and to husk Liberian coffee ? 
2. Is Soulier's machine La Victoria which does 
all the work, cleaning husking, polishing, etc., in 
Ceylon, at work ? And will this machine do for the 
Liberian coffee ? 
B. What method of preparing is followed? the 
dry or the W. T. process for the Liberian ooffee ? or 
what is your advice in this matter? 
i. Is tho coffee dried artificially or naturally ? 
And how are the-drogery for the former constructed ? 
I know that Ceylon is advanced in coffee machi- 
nery perhaps more than any other country in the 
WOfld, and hope you will give me full information 
with your well-known energy and liberty on such 
an important a subject as this, and hoping I am 
not intruding on your kindiness and time. — I 
remain gentlemen, faithfully yours, 
F. C. GEFKEN. 
[Mr. <h>fken will lind our latest deliverance 
on Liberian Coffeo in a current T. A. We 
aro ashamed to say wo have never heard of 
Mcmler, but we know that Messrs. John Walker & 
Co. of Colombo and Kandy are the foremost 
manufacturers of coffee-cleaning maohinery in the 
world. On our referring this letter to them they 
writo as below. — Ed.] 
_ 13th Feb. 
Dear Sirs,— In reply to Mr. (iufken's lettor wo bavo 
pie I ion in handing you copy of our circular regarding 
"Liberian Ooffee Pulpera." Wo send a considerable 
number ..f these machines to the Strait* Settlements, 
*rb< ri! tbirt description of ooffee in cultivated to a largo 
extent. The ma bine most in demand it tho donblo 
disc with sieve al £'.'.0 st 0 '.; and wo intend sending Mr. 
Qdfkni a photograph ot th.. smne. It can bo worked 
either bj bend or power. There is very littlo Liberian 
eoffee grown in Oeylon now, but what it grown is 
onrcd by our machinery. We nevet hoard of tho •« La 
Victoria" uulper. A separate machine for peeling, or 
'• polishing " th.Toir.. 0 after it has been pulped, will 
bo rMUired, and propose to send your corre- 
spondent particulars of the most suitable peeler. 
Thaukiug you for drawiug our attention to this matter. 
Joii.s Walsh a. Co. 
The cultivation of Liberian coffee, both in Ceylon and 
othor Colonies, has led us to devote considerable time 
and expense in carrying out exhaustive experiments 
with a view to satisfy the want for a machine that will 
satisfactorily pulp this coffee. We are therefore 
desirous to bring to your notice the fact lhat we have 
succeeded in making a pulpcr which we confidently 
predict will do for Liberian coffee, what our other 
machines have so successfully dono for Arabian coffee. 
The following aro a few of the advantages secured by our 
Liberian coffee pulpers : — 
1st.— They are simple and all the working parts are easily 
got at. 
2nd.— They aro substantial ; and are not likely to pet 
out of order and can be driven either by hand or by 
power. 
:jrd. — They do their work thoroughly and without damage 
to good coffee. 
Theso pulpers are made in the following sizes to suit re- 
quirements : — 
1st. — Single machine to pulp about 10 bushels per hour. 
This pulper'is suitable for a young estate. Price .CIS sterling. 
2nd. — Double machine to be driven by hand or power, 
fitted with sieve. When driven by hand this pulper will 
do about 20 bushels per hour ; and by power about 30 bushels. 
Price £50 sterling. 
:ird. — Same as No. 2 machine but fitted in aldition with 
buckets for throwing back the skin from the service. Price 
£62-10sterling. 
4th.— Large machine for power only, to pulp from about HO 
to 80 bushels per hour. Price JEl-'iO sterling. 
THE TEA TRADE AND A LEAF FROM 
THE PAST. 
The Scottish Trust & Loan Company of Ceylon, Limited, 
Ingram House, 165, Fenchurch Street, 
London, 11th January 1889. 
Dear Sie, — I forward you a pamphlet on some 
suggested reforms in the tea trade, and you will perhaps 
look through it and give us the benefit of your opinion 
through your editorial remarks, and thus call forth 
the various opinioos of tho planters of Ceylon. 
It is a subject which the Ceylon Association in 
London may well tako in hand, and I shall bring it 
before them, and at tho same time the Planters' 
Association might give its views, as tho two institu- 
tions should work for one purpose. 
I beg to tender you my be»t wishes for the New 
Year. It is over forty years since I first wrote in the 
Observer in the days of my old friend and neighbour, tho 
late Dr. Elliott, then editor of the Observer, who shook 
his head at my venturing to commence estates in 
the Wilderness of the Peak, by opening up tho Dunbar 
estate and others, after holding for self aud others 
many thousand acres of what is now Dikoya at 5s to 
7s 6d an acre- 
Through those then pathless woods of Dimbula and 
Dikoya have I gone to hunt the elk on the great 
upland plains which lay beyond, with companion*, 
mighty hunters — gonetotheir rest — Criiwell, "Mookum" 
Rose, Colonel Hood, Andrew Hunter, and others ; 
and 1 killed my first elk, I think, in the stream 
near where Mr. Rollo has now his fine estate of 
Ohapi Hon.— I am, yours faithfully, 
THOMAS DICKSON- 
[Tb» pamphlet will receive our attention. Long may 
Mr. Dickson aud other pioneers flourish to recall the 
" Days of Old."— Ed/| 
CEYLON FIBRES WANTED. 
Tho Brantford Cordage Company, Limited, 
Brantford, Canada, 11th January 1889. 
Deak Slit, — In conversation with Mr. Biggar, 
publisher "Canadian Journal Fabrics" Montreal, 
Canada, ho mentioned the fact of a " new fibre" for 
cordage and twine purposes were being grown in 
your country, and if I wrote you, inquiring tho namo 
or names of thoso cultivating it, you would no 
doubt ho ahlo to supply them. Any information 
will bo thankfully receivod, or request samples sent 
to our address at our expense 
FRED. CHALCRAFT, Brantford, Canada. 
[Can Mr. Chalcrafl refer to ooir yarn '.' At any 
rato wo heat moot his wishes by publishing his 
letter, loaving somo onterprising trader to send 
on sample; of Coylon tibroa available — Ep.j 
