Aug. 1, 1900.1 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST, 
107 
NEW LONDON CUSTOMS RULES: 
TEA TARING IN LONDON. 
(General Order 42, 1900 Customs Souse, May SStJi 
190!).) 
Tea Taring.— Kegulations as to weighing with 
an aclfled half-pound weight, increase in number 
of "Tarers" for averaging, and separate taring 
of bulked tea. 
(1) The Board direct that, on and after the Ist 
June, 1900, in taring whether separately or for 
averaging purposes, any package of tea of whicli 
the gross landing weitjht was more than A» lo. 
the weight of the empty package be ascertained 
as follows:— 
When the scales have been carefully balanced, 
a lialf-nound weiglit is to be placed in, or attached 
to the wciglit scale. The weight of the imci^age 
mus' then be taken to the pound only, the weight 
scale preponderating according to the usual prac- 
tice in taring. Tiie half:pound weight placed in 
the scale is lo be ignored in recording the tare. 
(2) The Board further direct that, for average 
taring, tlie number of pacisages for " ^'ai-ers 
presCTibed by paragraph 61 of General Order, 
127/1«92, be increased as follows :— 
When in a chop or bed, the number of packages 
of the same size and description of tea is 
20 or less 3 tares to be taken and 
from 21 to 00 5 
„ 61 „ 120 7 
„ 121 „ 400 9 
„ 401 „ 700 11 
„ 701 and upwards 13 ,, ,, 
Two or inore beds in one chop may be tared 
together on tlie foregoing scale. 
(3) Every package of tea bulked in the United 
Kingdom shall be separately tared. 
General Order 102/1894, respecting taring of 
bulked teas, and the as yet suspended London 
Port Order 39/1899 are hereby cancelled.— By oraer 
of the Board, (Signed) John Courroux. 
A NEW TEA DISEASE. 
• Mr. A. Brown, of tlie Glenfruen Estate, Devala, 
brought before llie meeting of ehe Planters' As- 
sociation in 5)otacimr.nd on the 10th instant, tne 
coire^iion.lenoe that lias passed between himself 
and the District autliorities regarding the ravages 
of a new te.i ni-Jadv of a fungus character. It 
at-peared in May of this year in a nursery, and 
destroyed ro less than 75,000 seedlings. In 189S 
and 1899 Mr. Brov-n's seedlings perished, as !>e 
supposed, at: the time, from drought, but as he 
now suspects from tliis new disease. He ad.! : oc,,.d 
Dr Watt on the subject last jear ftnci forwai . e \ 
samples of the disease'! seedlings but these were 
not received in a coidition to admit ol exam ^ 
tion when Dr. Watt returned to Calcutta lr..m 
Bu-Pia and he therefore was not nble to accu- 
rately 'determine the disease. Dr. Wa( t sent some 
of tlie iceds to England, and received a reply in 
May la'i, Irom whicli he gathered tliat the seed- 
M'tas wc-o atTecled by eelworms. This malady, 
iie'said, was of a very alarming nature. For 
some years pifit it had been rapidly extending 
all over the worhl, and attacking every class of 
plant. Dr. V/att further informed Mr. Brown 
that 'his were ilie lir-t sample? of tea afTected by 
the disease that he had received, remarked that 
he had met with what appeaved to-be eelworms 
14 
in coffee during liis 
conchided by askin<j 
eased plants might 
suggestions as to tr 
innnicatioi! on this 
ded wai-hing (he p' 
repeatedly with 
consists of 50 galloi 
sulphate and 4 bs, 
Mail, July 12. 
late visit to the Wynaad, and 
; that fresh samples of tlie dis- 
be sent, ]iromising to offer 
eat meat. In an earlier com- 
suhjeei". Dr. Watt recominen- 
ots .■lii'ected thoroughly and 
Bordeaux mixture, wliich 
IS of water, Oibs. of coiiper 
of unslaked lime. —3Iadras 
AGRICULTURE IN THE WEST 
AND EAST. 
We caiiHot forego the jjleasiire of pub- 
lisliing the following' gratifying letter received 
by a recent mail from Dr. Morris, c M.G., 
Imperial Commissioner for Agriculture in 
the West Indies: — 
imperial Department of Agriculture for the 
Yv'est Indies, Barbados, 30th May, 1900. 
I am ill receipt of your letter of the 20th April, 
and I am greatly concerned to find tliat you have 
not received the publications of this Department. 
Your name was amongst the first to whom I 
had arranged to forward everj' thing published 
at this office. I cannot understand how it is that 
our send ings have t^oue wrong. 
I have pleasure in forwarding, by this mail, 
copies, of the "West Indian Bulletin" Nos. I 
and il, and a Pamphlet issued on " Moth Borer 
in Sugar Cane." The third Number of tlie 
"Bulletin" will be out in the course ofanotlier 
week and a copy will be sent to you in regular 
course. I assure you that ' I shall be happy at 
all times to be of service to you in tliis part of 
the world, as I entertain the warmest apprecia- 
tion of your kindness in resard to everything 
connected with tlie Ceylo^i Observer, and your 
numerous publications on planting subjects in 
the tropics. — With very kind wishes. Believe me, 
Very sincerely yours, D. Morris. 
IMPROVEMENT IN TEA MANUFACTURE. 
It is very satisfactory to know that " per- 
fection " has, by no means, been attained, in 
respect of the various processes observed, or 
in the final result as regards the preparation 
of the tea leaf for market and consump- 
tion. There is plenty of room in several 
directions for the exercise of the inventive 
faculties, of our planters, engineers, etc. And 
it is especially interesting to note that the 
latest alleged improvement— and patent 
ma,chine— comes from a gentleman who bears 
an historic name in the mercantile and 
pioneering annals of Ceylon. Mr. John 
Armitage, in the "forties ' and " fifties," was 
i)iie of the most prominently enterprising 
and successftd of our colonists : he had 
brought from South America a great deal 
of experience to turn to account itere ; and 
he rapidly became a leader among our mer- 
chants. The present inventor of an improve- 
ment in tea manufacture is his son, Mr. H. T. 
Armitage, and elsewhere we take from our 
evening contemporary, an interesting account 
of the process. We shall be glad to learn 
what other practical phtnters think of it. 
Already it has secured a special measure of 
success ; and we heartily trust it will do for 
many more estates, what it has realised for 
Dtmbar in raising the average value of its 
teas, some nine cents per lb. 
