120 
THE TROPICAL AC^EICULTURIST. [Aug I, 1900. 
The temperance, could be brouglit down to 
freezing point, but that there was no necessity to 
brint; it down i elow 45 degrees, at which point 
it has been found that fermentation ceases. The 
process does away with the water tanks, cold 
cloths, fans, etc. , which are at present in general 
)!se, and substitutes cold-rooms in iheir stead. 
This means, practically, bringiniir the Nuwara Eliya 
temperature right down into the low-country, 
when we saw the machine at work the tem- 
perature inside the cold-rooms was 50 deg., whilst 
the temperature in the factory at four o'clock 
on a rainy afternoon stood at 67 deg. Generally 
the temperature outside is about 7U deg. 
A NEAT MACHINE. 
The refrigerating machine is neat in appearance, 
and takes up very little room. It is named the 
"North Pole" and is of Danish manufacture, and 
turned out by Taxen, and Hammerich on Sclious' 
patent. Mr. Armitage's machine take.s about 2^ 
lior.se-power to drive it, the power being supplied 
by a water wheel ( ^n alternative to wliich is an 
oil engine), and has a cooling capacity of about 
3,800 cubic feet; that is to say, it would keep a 
room of 3,800 cubic feet in size at a temperature 
of 40 deg. It is capable of cooling about 250,000 
lb. of made tea per annum. 
ITS COST. 
Regarding the cost of the machine, Mr. 
Arniitage stated that there was very little to 
reckon with bey©nd the initial cost. " This 
machine," he said, 'delivered free on board at 
Copenhagen, cost about £280, including royalty. 
The next size machine requires 3f horse-power to 
drive it, and is, of course, more expensive and has 
a larger cooling capacity." 
There are, of course, a great many ice-making 
machines in Ceylon, but the one in Mr. Armita- 
ge's possession is the only one that has yet 
been applied to the manufacture of tea. It may 
be interesting to state how the idea occurred to Mr. 
Armitage. On a voyage home he noticed the cold- 
rooms on board, and the idea struck him that this 
process of cooling might be made suitable for fer- 
menting tea. He ultimately carried this idea into 
efl'ect with thesalisfactory resultsalrcadyindicated. 
ITS ADOPTION IN THE LOW-COUiiTRY. 
Speaking with regard to the adoption of the 
process in the low-country, Mr. Armitage stateil 
that there the machine would require a little 
more horse-power to work it, because of the 
higher temperature of the water. " We have 
tried s jme experiments with low-country as well 
as up-country leaf, which has been sent us by 
rail, and the results have turned out most satis- 
factorily," he said. Mr. Armitage's tea-maker 
tends the machine, and this would probably be 
the case on most other estates, as the attention 
required is not a serious matter. The Sole Agents 
for the machine in Ceylon are Messrs. Brown & 
Co., who lay themselves out to arrange lor the 
importation of the machine and, doubtless, could 
supply estimates for putting up the whole plant. 
THE COLD -ROOMS. 
Mr. Armitage has a couple of cold- 
rooms, with a cubic capacity of about 800 
feet, and this requires the running of the 
machine for only three or four hours a 
day. The walls are lirst of cement and brick, 
next is a filling of coir fibre, which is considered 
to be a non conductor, and then comes an inner 
t>f cement wad brick, The d99rs, similarly 
constructed show a depth of over nine inches. 
Inside the rooms are angle iron ledges upon which 
the trays are run in. Above the door of the hrst 
room is an apparatus by which a single tray can 
be taken out so that some idea can be had of 
how the fermentation is going on, and avoiding 
the necessity of opening the mam door and letting 
in the warmer atino.sphere. The object, too, of 
having two cold-rooms, is that one is a criterion 
of what the other is like, the advantage of which 
is obvious. A record is taken of the temperature 
at the time the tea is put into the rooms, and 
during the process ot fermentation the average 
is 51 o or 52 o . It may be mentioned, in pass- 
ing, that no fans are used, and one great advan- 
tage of the cold-room is that there is a total 
absence of draught. 
"The merit of this process," observed Mr. 
Armitage, is that we are not plucking fine. Ex- 
cept the newly iiruned tea, we are plucking to 
the extent of two-and-a-half leaves and the bud. 
Other people who pluck fine get a hijiber price 
for their tea, but our prices, if yovi consider the 
medium plucking, are very satisfactory." 
From the results so far acliieved it would ap- 
pear that the process fully jusiities a trial of it 
in other parts of the island, w here anything that 
will help to raise the price of tea will be cor- 
dially welcomed. 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING 
GREEN TEAS. 
FOR EXCELSIOR ROLLER AND TWO 8-TRAY 
SIROCCOS. 
1. Warm the machine by turning on full 
steaui for half a minute. Then place 200 lb. 
leaf in the machine (fre.shly gathered) and with 
20 to 25 lb. steam in tlie boiler, steam for 2 to 
3 minutes ; with 40 lb. steam, 1| to 2 minutes 
is suflicient. 
The cylinder should never be filled more 
than on a level with the two steam pipe nozzles 
at a time, or the leaf will not be evenly 
steamed. If more leaf is wanteil to fill the rol 
lers, it can easily be steamed while the first lo 
is being put in the roller. The cylinder must 
be turned round slowly by coolies- 
2. When the requisite amount of leaf is in 
the roller, put on full weight and stand a cooly 
on top without working the roller for two 
minutes ; this will get rid of most, if not all the 
water caused by steam, and this must be thrown 
away. The leaf, before going into the roller, 
should be perfectly flaccid. 
3. — Roll five minutes without weight, and 
throw away that water or juice ; then roll tea 
minutes half weight ; then pour back the juice 
from this roll into the roller and roll five minutes 
with hardly any pressure, &o as to retain as much 
juice as possible, 
4. — Put this semi-rolled leaf on to Sirocco 
temperature about 260 degree— and fire for about 
twenty-five minutes, passing the trays backwards 
and forwards pretty smartly, and turning the 
leaf as the trays come out. At the end of this 
time the leaf should begin to turn an olive green, 
and feel quite gummy, and be no longer wet. 
5. — Take the semi-fired leaf from the Sirocco aud 
put back in roller. Roll five minutes lightly, 
five minutes hard, and hve minutes medium, then 
break roll (in Souter's breaker); be careful after 
brQakiug thus, whether by breaker or by haadi 
