THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct, 1, 1902. 
The Future of Green Teas.— From a 
letter of Mr. Drummond Deiine under date, 
Sept. 12th, we quote an opinion wliich may 
be of interest to green-tea makers, though 
each will no doubt judge for himself on the 
question raised : — 
" I believe that for a time the coloured pure teas 
made by Ambawatte and Baraoora, may through 
a closer resemblance in appearance tothecolourd 
' Chinese ' teas, help to open the doors of the 
American market, which is desirable ; but lean- 
not lose siglit of the fact that to the ordinary 
consumer the ' pure pan-coloured,' and tiie im- 
pure ' Japanese ' or ' Chinese coloured ' teas 
will in appearance resemble each other, which to 
my idea is not desirable. While as to the state- 
ment of Mr. Hart and, I believe, Mr, Gait, that 
only these ' pan fired ' teas will keep and give 
full flavour, we have the report above mentioned on 
page 16, and also Mr. Hayter's letter from Toronto 
in reply to Mr. Hart which both go to prove that 
the pannina: process subsequent to steaming, is not 
necessary for flavour 'or for ' keeping qualities ' 
of green teas. And I very much doubt if there is 
more profit in a coloured tea coloured by machinery 
panning and selling at say 7i annas than in 
ordinary green teas selliug at 5^ to 6J annas in 
Calcutta or Colombo." 
Green Teas fob America.— The Editor of 
the Indian Planters' Gazette has the following 
satisfactory note on Mr. Judge's letter : — 
" We are much obliged to Mr Judge for his 
letter, although he has been labouring under a 
misapprehension. Mr Hart's contention is that 
greens which have not undergone the final (long 
and expensive) process of panning, — which puts 
a hard greenish greyish appearance on them 
naturally (without the aid of deleterious foreign 
substances such as the Chinese use) — are not 
" true " or finished greens. The assertion is one 
of purely personal opinion on which parties can 
well afford to differ, for it is of no material 
consequence at the moment. After reading Mr 
Judge's letter, we are inclined to think that, in this 
matter, there will be found to exist a satisfactory 
demand and a good market for both unfinished 
and finished greens. In our notes, in our last 
issue, to which Mr Judge refers, we assumed that 
Mr Hart's dictum was in the main correct, for 
the simple reason that the LJniteJ States, on the 
whole, prefer coloured greens, and the American 
market is the one we specially desire to capture, 
as it will eventually take the bulk of the green 
teas which British-growers will manufacture. 
It was on this score that we wrote : — " What 
is wanted (i.e., of course according to the gospel 
preached by Mr Hart,) is that the manufactured 
green teas shall in Mieir finished state wear a green- 
ish hue, without being coloured hy foreigji [subs- 
tances. This can only be obtained (by wluch we 
mean of course, on a commercial scale) by using 
the latest Deane Judge machine, which the 
Baraoora Tea Company have alone got in use at 
present, and (we were careful to add) a certain 
amount of panning.'' We should perhaps, have 
italicised the last five words, for we never for a 
moment intended it to be understood that the 
Deane- Judge machine ifaeZ/"put the hard greenish 
greyish appearance on the dry tea, being fully 
aware that the process of repeated panning could 
alone effect this. Mr Judge clearly defines the 
work done by the latest improved Deane-Judge 
machines and the Drummond Deane System of 
green tea manufacture. 
Green Teas— and Green Teas.— Ther is 
a current belief that low-country leaf makes 
as good green tea as high-grown. This is 
true, we believe, as regards " raw " or 
unfinished greens ; but it is not so in the 
teas made according to the process used at 
Ambewatte, In teas so prepared, the super- 
iority of highgrown leaf is readily realised. 
It remains to be seen how far the latest pro- 
cesses shortly to come into use, will succeed 
in turning out as good greens from low-grown 
as from high-grown tea. 
Para Rubber at the Straits.— From an 
extract given on page 257 it will be seen that 
a Para rubber tree at Penang, about 17 years, 
old, has been tapped six times between the 11th 
.and 1.5th year withont suffering any harm 
giving 2\ lb. rubber each time on an average. 
Its size now (probable maximum) is 68 inches 
circumference main stem at 3 feet up. 
Probably 100 such trees per acre would do 
well, and if a price of 3s per lb. could be 
counted on, a return of £37 10s at each 
tappins, per acre, would be very good. The 
India Rubber World which has been decrying 
Straits rubber is said to be published in 
American interests. Can this be true ? We 
doubt it. 
An Effective Bird-Scark.— At this place it 
has been our study to preserve all birds by en- 
couraginof nest-buikling in every way possible, 
and in this blackbirds and thrushes have not 
been slow in taking advantage of the privilege 
afforded them. All this was very well so long as 
the birds fed themselves and their young upon 
worms and such-like; bub when the Strawberry 
season came on, and the weather became hot 
and dry, and fewer worms were about, they 
turned their attention to the Strawberry-beds; 
nor in this were they in the least shy, for, until 
we endeavoured to let them know that Straw- 
berries were to them forbidden fruit, they natu- 
rally appeared to have an idea that the garden 
and its fruit were all their own. Tiie usual guys, 
&c., were set up, the scaring effect of which 
lasted only for the usual day or two, if indeed 
even for so long. Having in the house a couple 
of very talkative parrots, sonre of our people 
suggested trying the effect of placing these birds 
out upon the Strawberry-beds. One of them, a 
grey bird from the West Coast of Africa, talks 
fluently and his words are well pronounced ; some 
of his speeches run thus: " Three cheers for the 
King ; hip, hip, hip, hurrah ! that is my loyalty ;" 
" Elizabeth's got the blues ; nothing new in that ;" 
these and similar speeches alternative with 
splendidly whistled tunes, such as " Rory o' 
More," "Pop goes the weasel," The Campbells 
are coming," and similar other little ditties, 
with great force, finishing up always at the end 
of each speech or tune with a well-pronounced 
"What do you think of that?" putting great 
emphasis on the word " that." No. 2, a green 
bird from Cuba, has not such a full vocabulary 
as the African, but in its Spanish vernacular it 
made some queer noises ; so that between the 
two blackbirds and thrushes evidently thought 
it best to give the immediate surroundings of 
these birds a wide berth, and our Strawberries 
were by these means very much] preserved ! — W 
miller , Berkswe.— (?«rci?c»ers' Chronicle, Aug, 16 
