Nov,  x,  1892,] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
353 
MR  WILLIAM  JACKSON  AND  PIIS  TEA 
MACHINERY. 
What  Mr.  John  Walker  was  in  regard^  to  coffee 
machinery,  that  and  much  more  Mr.  William  Jaok- 
eon  ia  with  reference  to  the  appliances  required 
for  the  manufacture  of  tea.  We  say  “ much  more,” 
because  oofiee  machinery  went  little  beyond  a 
good  pulper,  while  tea  requires  withering,  rolling, 
fermenting,  drying,  sifting  and  sorting  and  cutting 
applianoes,  all  of  which  Mr.  Jackson  has  invented 
or  improved  and  provided  for  the  use  of  tea 
planters.  What  the  extent  of  the  benefit  thus 
conferred  on  his  brother  planters  by  Mr,  Jackson 
(he  began  life  as  a planter)  must  be,  we  can 
judge  from  one  fact  mentioned  in  an  article  whioh 
appeared  in  the  Calcutta  Englishman  last  year. 
The  writer  stated  that  the  3,000  of  Jackson’s 
rollers  sold  had  each  saved  the  labour  of  120  coolies  : 
that  is,  360,000  coolies  in  the  aggregate.  This, 
apart  from  putting  an  end  to  weary  night  work 
and  the  hard,  slow  and  objectionable  prooees 
of  hand  rolling.  Soarcely  less  are  the  merits 
of  Mr.  Jackson’s  driers,  culminating  in  the 
grand  “ Britannia”  capable  of  turning  out  300  to 
400  pounds  of  well  and  equally  dried  tea.  Com- 
pare this  with  the  process  of  tea  roasting,  as  so 
many  of  us  remember  it  in  pre-machinery  days 
and  as  thus  graphically  described  in  the  artiole 
to  whioh  we  have  referred : — 
After  rolling  the  leaf  it  had  to  be  dried,  and  in  the 
whole  of  the  British  colonies  not  a tea-drying  ma- 
chine of  any  kind  existed  in  1870.  The  leaf  was  dried 
on  the  old  Chinese  method  over  charcoal  fires,  one 
pound  of  charcoal  being  required  to  produce  one 
pound  of  dry  tea  ready  for  the  market,  and  allowing 
for  wastage,  it  required  eight  pounds  of  wood  to  make 
a single  pound  of  charcoal:  consequently  eight 
pounds  of  firewood  went  to  the  production  of  one 
pound  of  dry  tea.  . 
Here,  again,  by  this  primitive  method  of  drying  the 
quality  of  the  tea  often  suffered,  as  a bright  clear 
charcoal  fire  would  give  off  a much  greater  heat  than 
the  dull  one  newly  replenished  with  fresh  charcoal. 
No  even  temperature  could  be  relied  on  for  drying 
the  leaf  by  means  of  these  fires,  and  no  even  flavour 
could  be  produced  in  the  tea. 
With  hundreds  of  these  fires  spread  over  the  floors 
of  large  drying-houses,  the  effect  of  the  fumes  on  the 
health  of  all  who  were  engaged  in  the  work  may  be 
imagined.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  charcoal  had  to  be 
made  in  the  forests,  and  as  this  was  one  of  the  opera- 
tions which  planters  could  not  control,  it  was  a part 
of  the  system  of  tea-making  to  which  they  most 
strongly  objected. 
The  “ Britannia”  requires  only  three-fourths  of  a 
pound  ofjwood  fuel  to  dry  a pound  of  tea,  in  a ma- 
chine which,  aoting  automatically,  needs  only  the 
attendance  of  a few  ooolies  to  feed  it  and  remove 
the  perfectly  and  equally  dried  tea,— unhealthy 
charcoal  fumes  and  weary  and  depressing  night 
work  being  obviated.  Mr.  Jackson’s  fame  as  an 
inventor  and  gradual  perfecter  of  tea  machinery  is 
largely  founded  on  his  Excelsior  roller,  the  orank 
principle  of  which  is  said  to  be — has  been, 
indeed,  held  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  this 
island— to  be  unique.  But  Mr.  Jackson  is 
evidently  determined  to  gratify  his  honour- 
able ambition  of  being  a “ universal  pro- 
vider’’ of  tea  machinery  for  all  branches  of 
manufacture;  and  “ not  standing  on  the  order  of 
his  going”  he  has  just  euooeeded,  by  improving 
on  patents  for  whioh  he  honestly  paid,  in  providing 
a withering  maohino,  whioh  promises  to  be  as 
great  a boon  to  planters  as  those  by  which  the 
processes  of  rolling,  drying,  sifting  and  outting  have 
been  so  wonderfully  facilitated,  that  the  language 
used  by  the  Caloutta  journalist  is  really  not 
exaggerated,  when  the  results  of  Mr.  Jaokson’s 
useful  inventions  are  summed  up  thus ; — 
45 
It  is  undoubtedly  due  to  William  Jackson’s  de- 
termined efforts  in  inventing  and  adapting  his 
inventions  to  the  manipulation  of  tea  leaf  that  the 
British  possessions  of  Assam  and  Ceylon  have  been 
able  to  compete  so  successfully  and  profitably  with 
China  in  the  economical  production  of  tea,  and  are 
now  making  a good  profit  on  9d  per  lb.  It  is  also  in 
a great  measure  due  to  William  Jackson's  efforts 
that  the  British  public  have  now  the  boon  of  being 
able  to  get  a far  cleaner  and  better  tea  at  Is  2d  per  lb. 
than  could  be  obtained  for  3s  per  lb.  20  years  ago. 
Most  of  our  readers  are  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Jackson’s  rollers,  driers,  sifters  and  cutters ; but 
of  his  most  recent  achievement  they  may  be  glad 
to  have  details.  We  therefore  quote  from  a pam- 
phlet issued  by  Messrs.  Walker  Sons  & Co., 
Limited,  Colombo,  by  whom  the  witherers  are 
to  be  manufactured,  Mr.  Jaokson’s  description 
of  his  patented  adaptation  and  improvement  of 
Turton’s  Cyolone,  whioh  has  yielded  good  results 
in  India: — 
The  machine  will  be  made  in  one  size,  the  chamber 
of  which  will  be  6 feet  6 inches  square,  two  sets  of  rails 
inside  and  one  on  either  outer  side. 
The  framework  of  the  chamber  will  be  made  of 
teakwood,  and  the  lining  of  corrugated  iron,  and  a 
neat  English  section  of  rail  used. 
Sixteen  wrought  iron  trollies,  will  be  supplied,  with 
320  wire  mesh  trays  with  teakwood  frames,  each  3 ft. 
6 in.  by  3 ft.  square,  and  capable  of  taking  8001b.  of 
green  leaf  at  a charge. 
A 5 ft.  dia.  Blackman  fan  for  a speed  of  400  rev. 
per  min.  will  be  supplied  with  each  machine,  and  the 
whole  got  up  in  a very  neat  substantial  form. 
No  air-heating  stove  will  be  supplied  unless  specially 
ordered,  and  this  will  be  charged  for  extra. 
I made  a test  of  the  machine  on  the  Great  Weste-tu 
Estate  under  the  following  conditions : — 
Very  wet  day,  with  atmospheric  temperature  standing 
at  65°.  Leaf  came  in  from  the  garden  as  wet  as  it  could 
be  at  11  a.m.,  at  11-30  the  machine  was  charged 
with  8001b.  temperature  raised  to  85  degs.,  and  the 
machine  fan  started,  and  at  5-30  p.m.  the  leaf  was 
ready  for  rolling.  No  test  could  possibly  have  been 
made  under  more  adverse  circumstances,  and  if  the 
leaf  is  kept  over  night  before  being  treated,  the 
machine  will  do  a large  amount  of  work,  equal  to 
the  beat  system  of  natural  withering. 
The  apparatus  will  save  an  enormous  amount  of 
withering  space  and  buildings,  and  being  controll- 
able, the  Planter  can  manipulate  his  leaf  just  as 
suits  him  best.  Price  in  Colombo  R4,000. 
More  even  than  in  India,  we  believe,  have  Mr. 
Jaokson’s  excellent  and  substantial  maohines  been 
purchased ; and  he  has  determined  to  show  his 
gratitude  for  the  paBt  and  his  determination  to 
slaok  no  effort  to  secure  favour  in  the  future  by 
resolving  to  employ  Mr.  A.  P,  Oorrie,  a well- 
known  Ceylon  tea  planter,  to  itinerate  through  the 
tea  districts  at  his  (Mr.  Jaokson’s)  expense, 
For  the  special  purpose  of  chatting  over  the 
successful  and  unsuccessful  methods  of  operating  our 
machines,  and  helping  Planters  by  suggestions  and 
otherwise  to  get  into  the  best  system  of  manipulating 
the  leaf  by  our  appliances,  and  I much  trust  his 
services  may  be  useful  in  our  mutual  interests. 
Mr,  Corrie  will  be  fully  qualified  to  suggest  and 
advise,  for  Mr.  JaokBon  states  : — 
To  show  that  I retain  the  keenest  interest  in  my 
atent  machinery  after  it  has  reached  the  tea  houses, 
have  engaged  the  services  of  Mr.  A.  F.  Corrie,  a 
successful  Planter  and  user  of  our  machinery,  have 
sent  him  to  Messrs.  Marshall,  Sons  & Co.,  in  England, 
to  gain  all  the  latest  information  at  headquarters. 
From  the  “ Dote  by  Mr.  William  Jackson,”  in  whioh 
the  above  is  stated,  we  quote  further  : — 
I have  also  to  state  that  I have  purchased  from 
the  Patentees  in  Ceylon  their  patent  for  the  exclusive 
right  to  make  and  use  Brass  Battens  on  rolling 
surfaces,  and  although  these  Brass-mounted  Rollers 
are  a little  more  expensive  than  the  wooden 
ones,  this  extra  cost  insignificant,  when  com- 
pared with  the  great  improvement  effected  in  the 
