6^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1894. 
CARRYING TEA-LEAD LONG DISTANCES: 
APPLICATION OF THE SILO SYSTEM. 
We direct the special attention of practical tea 
planters to the interesting letter which the Maneger 
of a large group of ludian tea plantations eends 
UB under the 7iom-de-phim,e of " Press " and 
which will be found given elsewhere. We 
should like to have the opinion of come of our 
experienced Cejlon Managers on this application 
of the " Silo ' system to the transport of tea 
leaf. Our correspondent alleges that he has 
proved his system by actual trials and has received 
good valuations for teas made from his " un- 
withered " leaf, and he is so ooufidont of success 
that he has taken out a patent for the " spring- 
chest " described in his letter It will be apparent, 
he adds in bis private communication, to any 
one who has studied the " Silo " system that 
heating or rapid fermentation is impossible in 
leaf subjected to sufiBcient preseure. Why not 
then apply this to the transport and preserving of 
tea leaf for a short time ? 
We fully rteognise the importance of the 
proposal and the idea of being able to dispense 
with " withering " altogether, is an entirely novel 
one and one well worthy of experiment. Our 
preconceived notions go quite sgainst the ex- 
perience of our correspondent in reference to 
making good tea from leaf pressed down and 
carriea a long distance. In Kelway-Bamber's new 
book on tea, we find one passage which may be 
quoted as bearing to some extent on the point 
at issue. He writes : — 
It i> almost ac impossibility to obtftin a aatistactory 
wither from leaf that has been allowed to turn red, 
either through beinfr pressed in the baskets, or from 
being carried in bulk for kng dietancea. Such leaf 
always beooueB more or leas bkckon withering, and 
portions of the leaves become crisp »nd brittle, which 
are broken iu the rolling process. It also rarely 
develops the aroma common to well-withered sound 
lesf, and mutt result io the production of a poorer 
class of te». There is appaieutly no remedy when 
once the damage is done, so that preventioo must be 
adopted as fires possible, by not allowing the leaf 
to be pressed down, or retained in the baskets for 
too loBg a period, and by hastening the means of 
transit, when the leaf has to be carried in bulk from 
out-gardens to a central factcry. 
But distrusting our own judgment in a matter 
which belongs so much to the actual work of 
tea planters, we sent a first copy of " Press "'s 
letter to an experienced Ceylon Manager who has 
had a good deal to do with manufacturing tea from 
leaf carried a considerable distance, by rail and 
otherwise to the factory. Here is how he writes 
in reply: — 
*' It is difiBoult to give an opinion on the ' Silo ' 
system for tea leaf advocated by ' Press,' with- 
out seeing his experiments carried out; but I would 
he inclined to doubt if the results would be so 
satisfactory as he says. I do not think it is 
possible to get 240 lb. of green tea leaf into a 
box 22" by 20" by 19" (the siza of an ordinary 
.tea chest) without expressing most of the juices 
of the leaf, which would then make a very poor 
quality of tea. Heating and fermentation would 
surely take place where there is moisture, and it 
would take considerably less than 17 hours to 
make the whole mass ted and sour, I have seen 
leaf turn greenish yellow after it has been 45 
minutes in a withering machine, and leaf treated 
in this vray gave a stewy tea, not at all desirable, 
"If ' Press ' pat pressure on the leaf BOfficient 
to insure that 'no fre^h air could get into it and 
to express any gases formed,' he must have ei- 
preseed (and loEt) the juices as well. I do not think bii 
; eyhtem is one that will ' replace the present exteneiva 
aod expensive appliances ueoessary for withering.' 
, "I do not know about tbe carriage of withered 
; leaf for long distances ; it has to be carried 
i green generally, owing to want of withering and 
making appliances, and for this I am afraid tha 
system would not answer, as the leaf would pro- 
bably get heated and red, and in any case it would 
be so bruised that it would blacken when placed 
on the withering tats. The only succeseful way 
of transporting leaf long distanceB is to spread 
it thinly on trays where the air can get to it 
freely, and that plan is too expensive to be of 
any practical use. I have had leaf hard pressed 
(from CBrelessnese) into baskets, and in the centre, 
t where the pressure would be greate8t, I have 
generally found it a mass of caked, red, vile-smelliuK 
(tufT, and I fear the ' Silo ' Bystem would giva 
similar results. Fodder preserved by tbe ' Silo' 
system is always supposed to ferment and get 
slightly acid." 
It will be seen that the experienced Ceylon Manager 
is inclined to criticise and to be sceptical : but we 
trust that he and other Superintendents with the 
needful opportunities will make some experiments 
in the line indicated by " Press" and will report 
on the same to us for the Tropical Agricu/turixt. 
It must be remembered that this monthly period- 
ical forma an admirable medium for recording 
the experience of both Indian and CVylon tea 
planters, and the time has now fully come when 
there ought to be an interchange of ideas, opinions 
and results gained by experiments, — perhaps, how- 
ever, under very varying circumstances, — between 
residents in the tea-growing districts of North and 
South India and those of Ceylon. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
We have been going a little further into the fignrea 
for tea export to America, both from Ceylon, and the 
United Kingdom, the American Consul (Mr. Morey) 
kindly giving us the benefit by his returns for 
the past four years so far as shipments to the 
United States are concerned. To these we have 
to make a separate adddition for the shipments 
from Colombo direct to the Canadian Dominion 
(including BriiiEh Columbia) and Newfoundland. 
Then the shipments direct from the United 
Kingdom we take from the repoit3 of Messrs. 
Gow, Wilson & Stanton. Here is the total result 
for the past four years : — 
Export oj Ceylon Tea to North America. 
1890 1891 1892 1893 
U. K. to lb. lb. lb. lb. 
United States , . 322,539 417,982 710,.305 705,567 
Canada, &c. .. 201,979 410,958 613,817 731,760 
Ccijlon to 
United States* .. 245,809 268,954 195,779 250,945 
Canada, &c.t .. 40,000 50,000 60,000 100,000 
Total . . 810,327 1,147,894 1,579,901 1,688,272 
These figures show a slow but steady advance : 
the export having more than doubled in four 
years ; but curiously enough 1893 showed less 
progress than any other year. 
* Figures got from American Consul, 
t Estimates only : pretty safe for 1893, but mera 
guesses for the other three years. 
