670 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April a. 1894. 
MR. BAMBER'S NEW "TEXT BOOK ON TEA. ' 
[We are indebted to Mr. Oochraafor the following 
epitome from the new book on tea, in reference 
to withering and rolling.] 
I had no idea that I had been favoured with 
possibly the only oopy of this book as yet in 
Oeylon ; otherwiae I should have hesitated to draw 
your atieucion to one or two of its defeois betore 
the undoubted merits of the book had been referred 
to in some detail. The following gives an epitome 
of the result of Mr. Bamber's observations and 
experiments on tne first of the manufacturing 
prooesses, viz., the Withering, the truth of which 
experienced manufiioturers will be able to appre- 
ciate : — 
WIIHERIKG. 
In the process of withering there is little chemi^*' 
change beyond tbe Iobs ot uiuitiiuc«, uulebj the le** 
gets bruaseil. Le&f plucked in wet weather ''sbou'd 
be rftthtr overwitbema to ouucentrate tbo sap" and 
eboald be subjecied to more prolonged roiling, wbile 
leaf gathertd la dry weatber reqaires lees witheriog 
the sap being more coiioentrateO, and it ulso requires 
less rolling, 
Aa a general rule the beat withering ie carried on 
till St) per cent of moieture is driven olf. Properly 
withered leaf shoula give out a freeh pleabaot aioua 
quite different from tbe ordinary vegetable smell uf 
badly witbered leaf. Artificial witQenog by drawing 
dry or heated air over tbe wet leaf is recommeaded 
eapecially for damp climates. Uuless ine leaf is ve y 
wet or only at the beginning of the process Mr. 
Bamber would not allow tbe temperaiure of tbe air 
that is drawn over tbe leaf to be at a higher tem- 
perature than 90° Fahr. In any case after the excess 
of exirdueoua moisture has been driven off at Siy 106° 
Fahr., the temperature should be reduced to or uuder 
90° Fahr. 
In India withering in tbe sun is little practised as 
the tea so treated is ounHdered to be tuferior. In 
Java however it is said that the sun is oeoeaaary to 
bring out the flavour. Xne great objection to over- 
withering, is that it coooeutrates the sap too much which 
should be avoided for the following reasons : —1, "Ihe 
contents of the cells of the leaf will have contracted 
so that the cell walls will tend to collapse instead 
of burst when the leaf is rolled." 
2. "A portion of the contents of the sap will have 
been deposited from solution owing to the concen- 
tration." 
3. ''There will not be eufiScient sap to be exuded over 
the whole surface of the rolled leaf, and tbe color 
obtaioed daring the oxidation process will be uneven. 
The liquor from tea that has been overwithered 
is liable lo be deficient lu pungency and strength. 
The objectiou to underwiinered leaf is that it 
breaks in the process ot 'lulling. " A large amount 
ot sap is expressed trom the coitrser Icat discolour- 
ing tip, and giving the liner teas wbeu sorted a dull 
apcatauce aua cuarae pun^eai flavour aud taste. 
It might be unfair xo lue autb^r to epitoonee 
further, f raotical men will find that the other subjects 
of the chapter which deals with the manufacture 
viz; tbe rolling, oxidaiioh or fermeutatiou and tbe 
drying or liciug will rep^y their stady. They will 
be specially interested to note how the flring suould 
be conducded to conserve tne volatile oil. Here 
science has been anticipatad by experience, as Mr. 
Bamber says that the uietbod " has been employed 
on many estates for some time, and it has altuost 
invariably been iound to produce a flavour; and 
vainat;le tea so that the analyses merely confirm and 
explain the benefit of sucb a process." 
X have ouly today referred to one chapter of tbe 
book; but the whole book will be found replete 
with interest both to tbe scientific nud tQ the ptao- 
tiftl reader. ' M. U. 
SELANGOR PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
Statistics of Acreage under Cultivation and Labour 
employed on the European Estates in Selangor : 
a 5 
Name of 
Estates. 
The Mount 
Tremelbye 
New Amherst 
Glen Marie 
Setapakdale 
Ward i burn 
Enterprise 
Ebor 
Beverlac 
AberscroBS 
Selangor 
Batu 
Elang Gates 
Kent 
Weld's HiU 
Batu Uaves 
Lincoln 
Hawthornden 
Represen- 
tatives. 
Number of Coohes 
Employed. 
8-? 
Mr. C Gordon, 
Glassford and 
„ C M Gum- 
ming 80 
„ T HMelbye 110 
E A Hurth 
P Stevenson 
E V Carey 
B Nissen 
C Meikle — 
145 
70 
25 
I. 35 
J O Gordon. 
Glassford 113 
H Hutten- 
bach 59 
E Bchwinnin- 
ger 100 
M A Stoner \ 
A B Lake / 
T H Hill / 
E B Skinner ) 
30 
61 
251 152 
110 52 
— 27 
80 
— 35 
5 
15 
28 
25 
-i a 
30 
til 
187 
52 
27 
80 
90 
15 
28 
39 
— 39 
10 — 12 22 
14 — 16 
30 
^Straits Budget. 
Total 
Information not yet 
received from these 
estates. 
The owners do not 
belong to the Associa- 
tion and have there- 
fore declined to give n 
the information ashed 
for 
, . 1089 405 48 88 601 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
It is a well-knowa fact that lightning strikes some 
kinds of trees more than otbers. Xnas in ouroouniry 
oaks, Bshea, white poplars, and elms are often struck, 
while beecQea and wa!nuts very seldom suffer. Vines, 
cotton plants, and palms are peculiarly susoeptiole 
to ligbtuing. There is also evidence lo show ihat 
varieties of tbe same tret growing in diffeieat coontries 
and climates differ in their immunity, probably 
owing to th« quality ot tbe wood ana sap ; «o 
that statietioi for one region may not be reliable 
for another, 
M. Dimitre has continued hia experiments on this 
subject by subjecting specimeus of living wood of 
equal dimensions ia ibu direction of tbeir fibres ui 
tbe spark from a Hultz electrical machine, and hods 
that oaC is easily peaetrated by it, wniie biaoK 
poplar, willow, and especially beech, are much more 
resietiog. In all these oases the heart wood is the 
least conductive, and behaves like laburnum. In 
fact, the starchy trcea poor in oil, sucb as oak, 
poplar, willow, maple, elm, aud asa offer moca less 
resistance to the spars tbau beeches, walnucs, birches, 
and liues, which are " fat " trees. Pines, which 
contain a good deal of oil in winter, buc have liilie 
oil iu summer, are much more resisting m one Beaa.>n 
than tbe other. In eummer time tne wuod it as 
easily pierced by the spark as oakwood, aau lu 
winter as diflicult to psueirate as beechwood. When 
the oil of beech and walnut wood is extracted by 
ether, tbe sparlc easily goes through. Tne dead wood 
of starcby trees is more easily pierced tnan ttie living 
wood, a laot which militates against tbe common idea 
that sap conducts the discharge. The bark aud 
foliage of trees are, according to iU. Dimicre, bad 
conductors. The above observations agree in a general 
way with statistics of ligutning strokes iu Europe. 
Thus, in tbe forests of ijippe, from 1879 to lSb5, 
and in 1890, there were 159 oaks, oij pines, il beeches, 
»n4 81 otbei kinde of ttees strHotc.— (j/o6«. . 
