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THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  r,  1893. 
The  following  experiments  may  be  of  interest  : — 
Added  to  roil : 
Makes  the  outturn  and 
Chlorate  of 
Potash  ...dulls  the  tips, 
bright, 
the  liquor: 
pungent 
Carbonate  of 
Ammonia.. .improves 
dark  greet 
i,  soft 
Tannio  Acid...  „ 
» ) 
dirty, 
thin 
Carbonate  of 
Soda  ...dulls 
fair 
dark 
Hydrochlorio 
Acid  ...ordinary 
>> 
ordinary, 
weak 
Gum  Arabic. . ,, 
good, 
thick 
Hydroohloric 
Acid  and 
Gum  ...  ,, 
l» 
good, 
weak 
Nitrate  of 
Soda  ...  „ 
good, 
full 
Tincture  of 
Steel  ...dulls  the 
black. 
very  bad 
Nitrate  of 
Potash  ...ordinary 
good. 
cloudy 
the  taste  of  the  liquor  being  injured  in  every  instance. 
The  last  experiment  but  one  shows  how  necessary 
it  is  to  ensure  that  no  iron  comes  in  ccntaot  with  the 
inoiat  roll,  or  the  appearance  of  leaf,  color  of  outturn 
Qnd  the  liquor  will  be  prejudicially  affected. 
IN  DEFENCE  OF  ELWOOD  MAY  AND 
THE  AMERICAN  METHOD. 
gjf  ^Without  going  into  the  question  of  the  dis- 
pute between  Messrs.  Elwood  May  and  GrinlintoD, 
and  your  remarks  thereon,  which  latter  I do  not 
consider  justified,  I would  like  to  point  out  the  gieat 
difference  there  is  in  many  respects  between  English 
and  American  methods  of  conducting  business,  and 
that  which  might  strike  us  as  peouliar  or  even 
“ outrageous”  in  the  latter  would  certainly  not  be 
considered  60  in  America,  Unless  an  Englishman 
pas  been  to  America  it  is  simply  impossible  for  him 
to  properly  understand  the  difference  there  is. 
The  Ceylon  Planters’  Tea  Company  was  formed, 
and  the  money  entrusted  to  the  Ceylon  Com- 
missioner at  the  Ohioago  Exhibition  was  sub- 
scribed, with,  I take  it,  one  and  the  aame  object, 
viz.,  that  of  pushing  the  sale  of  Ceylon  teas  in 
Amerioa. 
The  Company,  in  pursuance  of  this  object,  has 
very  largely  advertised  our  teas,  has  established 
agencies  for  the  sale  of  these  teas,  under  certain 
brands,  in  most  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  States,  and 
within  the  last  few  months  were  getting  more  orders 
for  tea  than  could  be  supplied  with  the  limited  funds 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Company. 
And  I say  without  hesitation  that  if  the  Ceylon 
Court  at  Chicago  is  not  going  to  be  worked  in  co- 
operation with  the  Ceylon  Planters’  Tea  Company, 
the  former  will,  as  regards  the  objeot  for  which  the 
money  to  run  it  was  given,  be  a ghastly  failure, 
Mr.  Elwood  May — who  is  not  a shopkeeper,  as  you 
eneeriogly  term  him — has,  as  Managing  Director  of 
the  Company  in  Amerioa,  done  more  in  my  opinion 
to  make  oar  teas  known  in  America  than  any  other 
man  could  have  done,  and  this  in  spite  of  want  of 
funds,  little  or  nosupport  from  this  tide,  anddistrust, 
culminating,  in  some  instances,  in  virulent  abuse. 
If,  as  you  anticipate,  the  collapse  of  the  Company 
takes  place,  those  persons  in  Ceylon  who  will  be  largely 
responsible  for  bringing  it  to  that  end  are  not  (o  be 
congratulated. 
So  far  from  newspaper  proprietors  clamouring  to 
know  if  Mr.  Elwood  May’s  promises  will  receive  ful- 
filment, I saw,  when  in  New  York,  letters  intimating 
that  contracts  for  advertieements  of  the  Ceylon  Planters’ 
Tea  Company  were  drawing  to  a oloee,  and  offering 
to  renew  them  on  tae  same  terms,  viz  , by  payment  in 
shares  of  the  Company  ! 
I send  you  a copy  of  the  illustrated  paper  The  South, 
^hioh  you  have  doubtless  seen  before,  also  photo,  9$ 
a small  exhibit  of  Ceylon  teas  made  by  the  Company 
at  one  of  the  large  stores  in  New  York.  These  will 
give  yen  an  idea  of  two  different  ways  by  whioh  the 
Company  is  pushing  our  teas.  C.  O.  M. 
Colombo,  April  7th. — Local  “Times.’’ 
THE  DOWNDRAFT  SIROCCO. 
IMPORTANT  IMPBOVEMENTS  IN  THIS  YEAR’S  MACHINE. 
Messrs.  Davidson  & Co.  have  made  a small  but  very 
important  alteration  iu  these  machines  whereby  the 
quality  of  the  tea  turned  out  is  very  much  improved, 
and  the  drying  capacity  of  the  machine  considerably 
increased.  The  alteration  consists  in  the  insertion  of 
an  intermediate  tray  port  and  set  of  resting  pawls  in 
the  drying  box,  about  midway  between  the  inlet  doors 
for  the  trays  containing  wot  leaf  and  the  top  outlet 
for  the  dried  tea. 
The  advantage  of  this  is  that  the  trays  on  reaohing 
this  stage  of  the  drying  operation  can  be  taken  out, 
the  leaf  well  shaken  up  and  turned  over,  and  the  tray 
re-inserted.  If  an  increase  in  the  outturn  is  desired 
the  contents  of  two  of  the  trays  thns  treated  can  be 
pat  on  one,  as  the  leaf  after  bemg  shektn  up  will  allow 
the  air  to  pass  through  this  larger  quantity  perfectly 
satisfactorily.  This  will  make  room  for  the  insertion  of 
an  extra  tray  of  wet  leaf  at  the  lower  rnlet  door 
every  time  the  operation  is  performed.  The  shaking 
up  of  the  leaf  in  this  way  gives  it  a more  curly  appear- 
ance when  fully  dried,  and  we  are  convinced  that  the 
users  of  this  new  type  of  Sirocco  will  find  an  ap- 
preciable increase  in  the  market  value  of  their  tea. 
The  operation  is  very  simple,  and  does  not  necessitate 
any  increase  in  the  labour  employed.  The  machine 
can  also  be  worked  as  hitherto  if  so  desired.  A 
perforated  plate  has  also  been  inserted  in  these  new 
machines  at  the  top  of  the  drying  box  immediately 
above  the  trays  to  effect  an  even  distribution  of  the 
hot  air  on  all  sides  of  the  drying  chamber.  We  under- 
stand the  existirg  machines  can  be  altered  to  the  new 
style  at  a very  trifling  cost. 
4, 
A LONDON  COFFEE  MART. 
THE  WHOLE-BERRY  COFFEE  C0MTANY  (LIMITEB). 
For  years  past  it  has  been  a chronic  complaint  on  the 
part  of  successive  Chancellors  of  the  Exchequer  that 
the  consumption  of  coffee  either  decreases  or  that 
it  maintains  a character  of  dull  uniformity.  And, 
strange  to  relate,  we  are  in  the  United  Kingdom 
consuming  less  coffee  per  head  of  the  population  than 
we  did  forty  years  ago  ; in  addition  to  which  it  may 
be  said  that  we  use  less  than  any  other  civilised 
country  in  the  world.  We  intend  in  this  article  to 
show  the  “why  and  the  wherefore”  of  so  unsatisfactory 
a state  of  affairs,  which,  after  all,  is  not  creditable 
to  ns  as  a nation,  for  whilst  this  delightful  and 
refreshing  beverage  has  consistently  been  diminishing 
in  quantity— and  too  often  in  quality — the  consump- 
tion of  alcoholic  liquors  has  more  than  correspondingly 
increased.  Still,  one  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that 
the  coffee  trade  forms  one  of  the  great  staples  of 
British  commerce. 
The  honour  of  introducing  the  aromatic  berry 
into  European  civilisation  is  claimed  by  both  English 
and  Italians.  But  so  early  as  1652  we  find  that 
an  English  merchant  from  Turkey  brought  over  a 
Greek  servant  with  him  who  knew  how  to  roast 
coffee,  and  he  forthwith  opened  a coffee-house,  a 
record  of  which  has  been  preserved.  The  merchant 
in  question  issued  a handbill  drawing  attention  to 
“ The  virtue  of  the  coffee-drink,  first  pnbliquely  made 
and  sold  in  England  by  Pasqua  Rosee,  in  St.  Michael’s 
Alley.  Cornhili,  at  the  sign  of  his  own  head.”  Its  in- 
troduction was  not,  however,  reoeived  with  any  parti- 
cular amount  of  : avour , for  it  excited  antipathy  from 
a domestic  point  of  view,  and  incurred  the  odium 
of  the  medicos  of  that  day  and  generation.  An 
English  pamphlet  was  printed  at  Oxford  in  1659  on 
“ The  Nature  of  the  Drink  Kauhi  or  Coffee,”  and 
abpttf  that  time  Furch&s  wrote  respecting  ccSee, 
