28 
THE  TRtmCAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
[July  i,  1892. 
becomes  contaminated  dnriDg  the  process  of  withering 
from  the  unsavoury  conditions  of  the  soil  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  a peasant,  residence.  The  succeeding 
operation  is  the  rolling  of  the  leaf  between  the  palms 
of  the  hands,  and  it  is  certainly  during  this  somewhat 
disagreeable  process  that  Chinese  prepared  tea  acquires 
most  of  the  deteriorating  qualities  which  experts  assert 
it  to  possess.  The  tea  is  next  dried  on  pans  over  a 
charcoal  fire,  and  is,  of  course,  often  exposed  to  the 
obnoxious  fumes  of  that  fuel.  With  the  further 
operations  of  packing  we  need  not  here  concern 
ourselves.  It  is  with  ihe  three  operations  described 
that  we  have  to  deal.  As  to  the  first  of  these,  the 
withering,  modern  mechanical  desigu  has  but  little 
to  do  beyond  ingenuity  shown  in  providing  withering 
rooms,  the  temperature  of  which  is  equably  maintained, 
the  air  being  of  the  same  time  kept  free  from  mois- 
ture by  euitably  designed  screens  for  ifs  inlet.  Several 
of  the  inventions  to  which  we  have  referred  have 
been  made  with  this  latter  object — no  unimportant 
one  to  the  final  quality  of  the  tea.  The  machines  for 
treating  the  leaf  in  this  withered  state,  by  rolling  it 
into  the  form  to  which  we  are  all  accustomed,  form 
perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  these  in  use.  At 
the  same  time  the  difficulties  aB  to  effectually 
superseding  the  use  of  the  human  hend,  with  its 
delicacy  of  touch  and  movement  acquired  by  long 
practice,  have  been  great.,  for  it  is  an  absolute 
requirement  that  the  leaf  should  be  rolled  only  just 
so  tightly  that  it  will  not  break  by  after-handling 
when  submitted  to  tbe  final  drying  process.  A 
great  number  of  comparative  failures  h;  d to  be 
faced  before  this  requirement  was  attended  to.  Any- 
one who  refleots  upon  the  diversity  of  movement 
which  oan  be  accomplished  by  one  palm  super- 
imposed upon  the  other  will  realise  hew  difficult  it 
must  have  been  to  select  that  one  among  that 
infinite  variety  which  would  yield  the  most-to-be- 
desired  result.  Differential  speed  movements  be- 
tween the  revolving  surfaces  employed  in,  we  be- 
lieve, all  the  inventions  patented  with  this  object 
were  tried,  ad  infinitum  almost ; but  even  when  the 
best  relative  speeds  were  apparently  settled  upon, 
these  were  found  not  to  te  equally  suited  to  all  condi- 
tions of  the  withered  leaf.  It  is  said  that  the  method 
now  largely  and  the  moat  successfully  em- 
ployed was,  as  has  to  often  been  the  case,  the 
result  of  an  accident.  The  top  plate  or  cover 
of  a certain  machine  became  loose,  and  owed 
its  propulsion  mainly  to  the  dragging  effect  of  the 
mass  of  leaf  moved  by  the  under-revolving  plate. 
The  speed  so  given  seemed  to  accommodate  itself 
naturally  to  the  requirements  of  the  charge  under 
treatment,  and  the  system  so  determined  seems  to  be 
almost  incapable  of  improvement. 
The  final  operation,  that  of  drying,  is  performed  by 
a wholly  different  olaes  of  machines  ; some  of  whioh 
we  have  on  previous  occasions  illustrated.  The  num- 
ber of  these  protected  by  patents  is  very  great,  and 
the  Law  Couits  of  India  and  Ceylon  witness  many 
disputations  over  their  infringement.  The  general 
principle  of  ail  of  them  is  the  same  almost  invariably  ; 
the  tea  is  exposed  to  a current  of  heated  air,  of  such  a 
temperature  that  it,  is  necessary  to  keep  the  leaves 
moving  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  burned,  or 
what  is  technically  known  as  “ over-fired.”  The 
diversity  of  the  methods  employed  to  secure  this 
immimity,  and  to  guarantee  the  equal  drying  of 
the  mass  of  leaf,  is  great,  and  we  do  not  here  pre- 
tend to  aseert  that  one  patent  has  in  any  respect 
advantages  over  another;  for  the  planters  both  of 
India  and  Ceylon  exhibit  a preference  for  machines 
of  very  diverse  design,  each  one  of  them  selecting 
that  which  his  experience  suggests  to  him  at  best. 
It  wi'l  readily  be  oonceived  from  what  we  have 
written  that  the  machinery  outfit  of  a large  tea 
factory  of  modern  character  is  by  no  means  inex- 
pensive. The  engine  power  required  to  give  it  move- 
ment is  also  considerable,  and  in  one  way  and  another 
the  introduction  of  preparing  tea  by  mechanical  agency 
hasdone  much  to  support  the  engineeringestablisbments 
of  this  country.  From  this  point  of  view  alone,  we 
should  recognise  the  benefit  this  new  form  of  an  old 
industry  has  conferred  upon  many  classes  among  ou 
own  countrymen.  But  to  these  this  has  not  been 
the  sole  gain.  Practically,  it  has  by  its  purify- 
ing methods  largely  added  to  the  healthy  qualities 
of  the  decoction,  the  consumption  of  which 
enters  so  largely  into  our  national  bill  of  fare,  while 
in  combmation  with  a more  extended  system  of 
culture,  it  has  enabled  all  of  us  to  now  obtain 
thoroughly  good  tea  at  from  Is.  6d.  to  2s.  6d.  per  pound, 
for  which  Dot  more  than  twenty  years  ago  we  should 
have  had  to  pay  from  4s,  to  6s.  a pound.  The  dif- 
ference thus  made  to  this  form  of  “ national  drink 
bill”  can  well  he  realised,  while  to  the  same  cause 
we  mainly  owe  it  that  instead  of  having  to  send 
many  millions  sterling  to  China  annually,  our  remit- 
tance is  made  to  our  own  fellow  subjects  of  the  Queen, 
a healthy  stimulus  being  afforded  thereby  to  the  suc- 
cess in  life  of  many  hundreds  of  our  sons,  to  find  an 
opening  career  for  whom  is  now  ooe  of  the  greatest 
among  the  many  social  difficulties  of  the  day. — Engineer. 
Liberian  Coffee  in  Java, — In  West  Java, 
Liberian  coffee  is  coming  into  greater  favour  for 
cultivation  than  the  Java  article,  owing  to  cli- 
matic conditions  giving  the  African  berry  the 
advantage,  provided  the  ground  be  not  too  high 
lying.  Liberian  coffee  now  readily  finds  buyers 
at  Amsterdam,  and  also  in  Amerioa.  Fair  Java, 
it  is  said,  brings  at  the  utmost  54  to  54J  guilder 
cents  per  picul,  while  Liberia  fetohes  56  cents  a 
picul. — Pinang  Gazette. 
Erythroxlyon  Coca. — As  there  is  still  some 
demand  for  this  plant  among  correspondents  in 
tropical  countries,  attention  may  be  called  to  the 
fact  that  fresh  seeds  of  it  may  be  sent  long  distances 
without  losing  the  power  to  germinate.  A quantity 
of  seeds  of  the  typical  plant,  with  broad-pointed 
leaves,  reoeived  at  Kew  from  Ceylon  on  January 
29th,  and  sown  at  once  in  a tropical  house,  have 
germinated  feely.  They  were  packed  in  a small  tin 
box  in  slightly  moist  soil  and  sent  from  Ceylen 
by  post.  Plants  of  Erxjtliroxylon  do  not  travel  well 
in  Wardian  cases. — Eexv  Bulletin. 
Pronunciation  of  Plant  Names, — Many  estimable 
persons,  and  well-educated  to  boot,  yet  show  them- 
selves capable  on  occasions  of  perpetrating  shocking 
atrocities.  Take,  for  instance,  that  very  popular 
plant — the  Dahlia.  It  was  called  Dahlia  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  a Swedish  botanist  and 
doctor  by  the  name  of  Dahl,  a pupil  of  the 
illustrious  Linnueus  ; yet  in  spite  of  this,  in  spite' 
of  the  spelling,  in  spite,  indeed,  of  every  good  reason, 
many  good  pedple  will  persist  in  misoaliing  a 
Dahlia  a Dalea.  Now  there  happens  to  be  a plant 
rightly  called,  as  it  is  also  spelled,  Dalea.  ThiB, 
however,  is  something  very  different  to  the  popular 
garden  flower,  the  Dahlia.  Dalea  was  so  called 
after  Dr.  Samuel  Dale,  an  English  botanist  of  the 
last  century,  and  it  belongs  to  the  natural  order 
Leguminoeie,  while  the  Dahlia  is  one  of  the  Com- 
posite!. In  miscalling  Dahlia  Dalea,  not  ODly  is 
a gross  error  in  pronunciation  made,  but  a slight 
is  offered  to  the  memory  of  a Swedish  botanist, 
and  a wrong  done  to  that  of  an  English  one.  [A 
foreigner  would  pronounce  Dalea  as  Dahl;a,  so  that 
the  balanoe  is  redressed. — Ed.]  There  may  be 
exouse  for  miscalling  Clematis  Clematis  and 
Wistaria  Wisteria,  but  none  for  making  Camellia 
Camilla.  Will  not  the  horticultural  press  make 
another  effort  to  establish  a pronunciation  of  at 
least  these  few  popular  plant  names  ? J.  E.  Exviixg. — 
Gardeners’  Chronicle,  May  7th.  [The  writer  might 
have  also  instanced  the  fuchsia,  named  after  Fuchs, 
a German  botanist,  but  invariably  pronounced 
fushia,’  and  often  misspelt  fuschia, — Ed,  T,  A,] 
