Mav 2, 1904.] 
THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
775 
The Bahr el Giiazal rubber, if carefully collected 
and cleanly prepared, will coniniand a good price 
in London, and the Soudan Government has 
already taken action to prevent the destruction of 
the rubber trees by reckless methods of collection, 
and the rubber forests of the Soudan have been 
placed under official management. 
GREEN TEA MANUFACTURE AND 
SOURING. 
INTERVIEW WITH MB. CHARLES JUDGE. 
Mr. Charles Judge, well-known in connection 
with Deane-Judge green tea machinery, 
arrived in Colombo recently on a short visit to 
Ceylon, which he would be glad to extend were 
it not that he has to get back to business con- 
nected with his machinery at Calcutta, 
though the work of green tea makiHg at 
the factory is not now in progress — a ces- 
sation occurring between December and May. 
The factory at present in use has only been 
up some 7 or 8 months and it has been 
found too small for the purpose ; hence ex- 
ensions are now in progress and almost 
completed. On our questioning Mr. Judge as to 
the sourness in green teas, reported from 
America, he was loth to say anything that 
might reflect on the manufacture of greens 
in Ceylon ; but he would attribute it to care- 
less handling, either in not cleaning the pans 
in which they were fired or to allowing the 
leaf to wither before it was steamed. In 
the case of Calcutta factories he knew of 
green leaf having to be brought as much as 
5 or 6 miles before it was treated and the 
leaf had then begun to wither. Careless pack- 
ing and air getting into the teas also often 
accounted for the sourness. Asked whether 
he employed colouring matter to make green 
teas suitable for the American market, Mr. 
Judge said the " colouring " occurred in the 
course of firing, but that he employed colour- 
ing matter to fix the colour thus obtained. 
He said the cry for pure green tea 
WAS now as dead in India as it no doubt 
is in Ceylon, and as the Ceylon and Indian 
Green teas are only taken in America to 
blend with Japanese, it is essential they 
should be of the same attractive appearance. 
In referring to green leaf kept too long 
before treatment, Mr. Judge said that 
the green tea made from this often re- 
sulted in a dirty brownish liquor. 
Mr. Judge has also introduced im- 
provements in the sorting of green teas. 
The machine which he has only used him- 
self has answered very well and he hopes 
to place it on the Ceylon market, if patented, 
even before it is made available in India. 
By other machinery he has now in use he is 
able to produce about 2,40) lb. of green 
tea per day on an area of 6 feet by 4 feet — 
an important matter where factory space 
is of such value. Mr. Judge goes up to 
Hatton to see something of tea manufacture 
on some Ceylon estates. He had several inter- 
views with merchants in Colombo interested in 
green tea, Sir William Mitchell amongst them. 
THE INCREASED TEA DUTY. 
Mr. Judge is of opuion that the extra 2d 
on tea, if passed, would probably increase the 
tendency to make gre3n teas both in Ceylon 
and India for the American, in preference 
to blacks for the home market. 
TIIOEIANITE, THE NEW MINERAL, IN 
CEYLON. 
In connection with the Mineral Survey now 
proceeding in Ceylon in conjunction with the 
Scientific and Technical Department of the Im- 
perial Institute, specimens of minerals supposed 
to be monazite and uraninite have been sent 
recently to the Imperial Institute for investigation. 
The first of these has proved on analysis not to 
be munazite but thorite, which is a silicate of 
thorium, containing over 66 per cent, of thorium 
oxide. The supposed uraninite has proved to be 
a new mineral which it is proposed to name 
thorianite. It contains 75 per cent, of thorium 
oxide (ihoiia) in addition to small quantities of 
the oxides of cerium, uranium and lead. Thorianite 
is therefore richer in thorium than any mineral 
at present known. These discDveries in Ceylouof 
minerals containing thorium may be of great im- 
portance to the Colony if the deposits prove to be 
extensive, since tlioria is largely employed in the 
manufacture of incandescent gas-mantles. Addi- 
tional interest attaches to the mineral thorianite, 
which is strongly radio-active, and may prove 
to be a source of radium. The Imperial Institute 
expects shortly to receive further specimens and 
information as to the occurrence of these minerals 
in Ceyloa. — Imperial Institute Bulletin. 
FUTHER PARTICULAES. 
The Government of Ceylon determined last year 
to carry out a systematic survey of the economic 
minerals of Ceylon and to despatch specimens of 
the minerals found to the Imperial Institute for 
chemical examination and commercial valuation. 
Among the specimens thus received were those of a 
mineral existing in small black cubical crystals, 
and supposed to be uraninite or pitchblende. The 
specific gravity of the mineral was found to bo 
9'32, and analysis showed that it is clearly nott 
pitchblende, since the percentage of oxide of 
uranium is only about 12 jier cent, whilst the 
principal constituent is oxide of thorium (thoria\ 
which is present to the extent of over 75 per cent, 
an amount far higher than that contained in any 
mineral bilherio examined. This mineral appears 
to be new, and Professor Dunstan has suggested 
for it the name of thorianite. Since it is radio- 
active it may prove an important source of radium 
or radioactive earths. A second mineral less rich 
in thorium has also been fouud, and careful 
explorations are now being made as to the extent 
of the occurrence of both in Ceylon. The discovery 
of two minerals rich in thoria, now so largely 
employed for the manufacture of incandescent gas 
mantles, may be of considerable commercial im- 
portance should they prove abundant. — London 
Times. 
DISCOVERED BY MR. A. K. COOMARASWAMV. 
The discovery of thorium in Ceylon 
has aroused considerable interest in this pro- 
duct—the finding of which by Mr. A. K, 
Coomaraswamy, our Mineralogist, (who was. 
by the way, recently made a Fellow of 
University College, London), is likely to prove 
of much service to the Colony in view of 
its commercial value. 
