AtTG. 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL 
selling; in London I would (10 years ago, remember) 
draw (free of charge) np to lOd per pound under 
my Letter of Credit ;igain«t Bill of Ladinjj. 
By shipping green teas, tlien riuile a new in- 
dustry, I could draw nothing on my American 
friends ; but all teas were sold at my ii.>k, and 
account sales and their result remitted in due 
course which meant at least liiree montlis. What 
present average prices for " greens " maybe in 
America, I cannot siy 
Mr. A. E. Wriglit could to a certain excent solve 
t'l ii iirohlem, "an' he wi)uld"indeed. IthinUit only 
due to the '• Tliirty Committee" who iiave paid him 
a handsome bouiis, that tiiey should ask iiim 
for his invoices for publication, and if the prices 
are better than m iny sceptics think, it is all the 
more reason he should continue to enioy his 
bonus as the fruit of his pioneering, but if the 
prices are very poor, though deplorable, it does 
not at allfolhiw that others may not obtain better 
ones. Indeed if he practises the exact method of 
.sorting as publisiied by him in his m;mo of 
manufacture to the "Thirty Committee," I feel 
sure better results could be obtained. Again, be 
it noted, it is impossible to make green teas and 
black teas together, without sacrificing the care 
needed in the manutacture of each class. I have 
yesterday written to your contemporary, the 
" Times of Ceylon ", fully, perhaps too 
fully, on the question of green tea manufacture, 
and asked him -to pass it over to you in case 
you are prepared to give up so much space in 
your paper. The most important point in 
that letter, and one which I hope, Sir, you 
will use your influence to bring about, is; 
that the " Thirty Commmittee " should not 
blindly hand over ten cents per pound on every 
invoice of green tea shipjied, but should appoint 
a paid green tea expert) 1 know of none 
better than Mr F. Street) to sample one package of 
each grade of each invoice on which royalty is paid. 
I should not, by this, mean in atiy way, that no 
lower grade teas were to get the royalty, far 
from it. But I most strongly hold the opinion, 
that, until more is kno\vn of the method of 
making " green teas ", much harm may be 
done by the shipment of an article, fondly im- 
agined by its exporter to be a true '' green tea," 
and yet something entirely different. To a certain 
extent this view is borne out by " J. B.'s " letter 
to the " Times of Caylon " of 2nd July, recom- 
mending Messrs. Davidson's "withering machine" 
tor the manufacture of green tea; also their l oller. 
Now the latter Siuggestion is quite sound and 
I have, some days before, written Messrs. David- 
son on the subject giving then: two suggestions, 
which, if they carry out, will probably make their 
roller the best green tea roller in the market, 
viz. 1. A movable screw weight that can be 
clipped to the sides of the machine, and removed 
at will, for pressing the steamed juice (or water 
and juice) out of the roller before commencing 
the roll. 2. Having holes drilled at bottom of roller 
to take away the said water and jnice rapidly. 
But of his ti I st suggestion to use their " wither- 
ing machine " he would by so doing completely 
prevent the making of " green tea',', the very 
essence of the manufacture of which is that 
there must be no oxidisation or fermentation of 
the leaf. If therefore, our friend "J. B.'s" advice 
were followed, the result would be an "'Oolong' 
and not a greoi ten. 
I am open to c i.rection on the following 
point at the ' moment, but am certain it 
was the case years ago, that ordinary " Oolongs" 
ArTRtGULTUMST. 10.3 
y 
were not in it with pure " greens;" in fact My 
opinion is that, as a rule, "greens" that '> 
accident had got more or less oxi'lized or fer- 
meiiled were shipi)ed as " Ool ongs." 
The Formosa Oolong is quite a dill'erent article, 
but I have never heard of tlieii- beirij: nsade 
successfully out of " Formosa ", and plenty of 
people have tried to n>y knowle lge wii li the best 
infoimation beiore them, which point to soil 
and climate being th« chief f iefor as legnils 
their rt ivour. A iiolouizlng fur thf length of I his 
yarn. — I am, sir, yours faithfuiiy, 
H. DRUMMOND DEANE. 
HOW TO MAKE GOOD GREEN TEAS. 
A VALUABr.K LETTER OF AOVICE. 
Dear Sir, — 1 am afraid I am taking up too much 
ofyourspace; but, after reading youi' re|)ort of 
Mr. Rutherfoid's views on the green-tea question, 
would ask your indulgencti once more, to put the 
following opinions before those who are starting 
green-tea manufacture. If these teas are to be a 
success fro li the first— and there is no reason why 
this should not lie the case with care- let me beg 
of those commencing to be in no frantic hurry to 
stare off with large breaks of tea before they have 
thoroughly mastered the details of manufacture. 
Like all new industries, there is a certain un- 
written law that can only be learnt by experi- 
ence, no matter how clear the rules for manu- 
facture are, as explained by myself. Mr. Wright 
or other pioneers; and it is piobable that there 
will be found several petty obstacles to be over- 
come. What suits one set of niaciii/iery will be 
slightly different with anot her, and so on. What 
I would suggest, at any rate for a month, s 
that not more than one roll of green-tea shoulid 
be made a day in each factory new to the work. 
This, though givitig a little trouble in washing 
the roller out and cleaning the tiring machine 
tray.s, can easily be done "if insisted on" in 
any reasonably well-equipped factory. If leaf 
was brought in, say, at 8 a.m. for a roll, it 
could be finished before noon and put away 
Witli these small lots of tea every two or three 
days, I would suggest careful sorting, and the 
pronortions being taken and samples sent to Mr. 
F Street or any other "green-tea" expert, 
for re|wrt as to liquor and make. By the end 
of a month the manufacturer will know exactly 
what is wanted, and what lie can do with the 
machinery at his disposal. By several men start- 
ing on these lines Ceylon green teas will be all 
of a class, and will command attention in 
America ; otherwise, if all the first experiments 
are made in large quantities and shipped, the 
results will be disastrous tc all concerned, and a 
bad name earned to start with. The following 
hints may prove of service ; — 
Plucking may be coarser without detriment, 
ju'ovided "hard," "bhanji" is stri^^tly eliminated 
from th-^ basket; whole ^^'o/ teas in nut Ik aimed 
at, and all fannings eliminated anii kept separate ; 
a good "broken pekoe" grade wov.ld be a had, 
almost unsaleable green-tea ; thf^ small strong 
fannings from broken pekoes and pekoes cui be 
kept separate and shippe<l a.s " Hyson " fannings ; 
the coarser fannings as "Twankay." These teas 
are made into cakes or brick-teas as tiiey are 
called. Now, in steaming, do not oversteam, or 
you will get a pulp; nor understeam, or your 
leaf will break in the roll ; in rolling the ' less 
