JULY I, 1 89 I.] 
THE TROPIO:^ A^KfOTLTURiST. 
63 
SIROCCOS AS WITHERING MACHINEa 
IMPORTANT. 
June let. 
Dear Sib, — If " Proprietor (who has no con- 
nexion with any engineering business)" will read 
the following directions and adhere to them he 
need never have mote than two daya' leaf in store 
in any vi'tather : — 
A Sirooco is almost a perfect withering machiua. 
Pass any leaf that has no water actually on it 
through the trays in the usual manner at a 
temperature of 170° to 180*— not more — loading 
the trays as full as they will go in, and as rapidly 
as a man can fill them. Throw the contents of 
each tray as it comes out into an ordinary carrying 
basket, pressing the leaf do'wn well v/ith the hand. 
After vhe basket is full, which will take about 7 
minutes, let it staud about 10 minutes to 15 minutes 
accord. ng to the condition of the leaf. Then take 
the leaf to the roller, beginning of course with 
the first basket — and roil without any pressure lor 
half-an-houf. At tha end of that time take the leaf 
out of the roller and return it to the baskets, press- 
ing it down as befoie wiih the hand. Let it stand 
half-an-hour, (whilst a seeond roll of leaf similarly pre- 
pared is being rolled after which place it egain in the 
roller and give it another 40 minutes, usiiig pressure 
towards the end. Then lift and fire immediataly, 
the fine leaf of course first. The "roil" will be found 
quite sufficiently fetmented and as soft as silk, and 
will give a bright infusion and a slightly pale 
but pungent and Savoury liquor. 
The sirocco I use for withering is one of the 
old 8. trays. In two rows in siroccos with four rows 
of trays. Only the two lower rows should be used 
and the leaf passed through at d back again so as 
not to be too loug exposed to the heat. I put 
315 lb. of leaf, weighed before heating, into a 32" 
"Bapid" and 105 lb into a " Kinmond." 
I may add thut I have been withering from 4,000 
to 5,000 lb, of leaf a day for the last ten days lu 
the above manner, and the annexed copy of the 
London brokers' report on a shipment of Tea 
similarly treated lass year will show that the 
quality of the tea so made is satisfactory. — Youis 
faithfullv, M. H. T. 
Sold 23rd September 1890:— s. d. 
21 Ohests Pek. Sou. Ka : co^irse mixed sold at 10 
21 „ Pek. Bold in : ni : mixed ... ..10 
10 Hf. ChfstH Or. Pek. Bold wiry with tip ... 1 2 
12 Chests Bro. Pek. go )d atjle with tip ... 1 
Good infui-ed leaf ra : strong iiqaor with fair flavoar 
THE "BEITANNIA" DEIEE. 
Labookellie, June 3rd. 
Dear Sir, — It tvill doubtless be of interest to 
many of your readers who may be unable to make a 
personal inspection of this machine which has been 
at work here since 2l8t ultimo, if I supply a few 
details as to its capabilities. With this object in 
view I do not think I can do better than quote 
the results of a trial I made of the machine 
yesterday, when, at a temperature of 205 to 210 
degrees, and passing the leaf through twice, the 
drier gave 302 lb. dry tea in tha hour. The day 
' was a fairly fine one, and such satisfactory returns 
j oould not be obtained in very wet weather, but 
I there is no doubt that the drying capacity of the 
1 "Britannia" at low temperature, is far in advance 
'j of any machine we have yet had to deal with. 
!; The quantity of leaf dried by the " Britanuia" is due 
[ mainly to the fact that the fan is a very powerful 
one, drawing a large quantity of air from an im- 
proved form of stove through the leaf, and that 
the triys are carried on one endless chain, as 
against the several separate endless chains in the 
"Yiotoria" thus presenting a greatly increased surface 
of leaf to the action of the air. In the "Victoria," 
half the chains are always carrying empty trays ; 
in the "Britannia" the trays oontaimtig th« leaf go 
right through the machine without tipping until 
they come to the diochiirge hopper. As regards 
fuel the "Britannia" is more economical than the 
"Victoria" and is more easily worked by the coolies, 
while less liable to geS out o£ order. — Your faithfully, 
A, F. COltRIB. 
DIGGING AND MANUBING COCONUTS. 
June 6th. 
Dear Sib, — Tha communication on the wonderful 
effect on cucouut pUnts of digging the soil is very 
iateresliuK. May 1 ask your corresponcieiit to give us 
some iiifuruaation as to the situatiou of the lauu that waa 
dug, the corapo-itiuu of the suil, wtiether tbe land was 
dng m connection wuh gardt-n cultivation or indepen. 
deatof it, and wiietlierai sitisraotory results follow dig- 
ni. g tbe soil Liglierup a tloj e as at its bottom where 
all the wash and ashes have been deposited by rains F 
A strange fatality seems to follow my agricultural 
opeiiitiuns. My ill-success with paddy 1 recorded 
latsly. lu 188y-90 I turked the soil round the plants 
of 120 acres 01 yiuug plantiitioua, with 12 pruning 
fork.«, and gave each plant a bushel of ashes besides, 
but the results were nothing like what your corres- 
pondent records- — Truly yours, B. 
JAK SEED FLOUR. 
Sib, — Whilst I was amusing myself in reading your 
valuable journal of the 3rd instant, my attention was 
very mucli drawn towards an article heading " Flour 
from Jak S;3ed." Having read throughout, I am glad 
to take this opportunity of giving the little experi- 
ence I havt) hadjOf the above question, for the infor- 
mation of your earnest and pr(.'8pective correspondent. 
It I rememb;r riKhtly my first trial of making jt k seed 
flour was tibout five ) ears ->go, Buice then 1 tuok no iu- 
tere.st whatever. The mtthi-d is s,mple enuugh, similar 
to cbat of arrowroot flour making. Toe only ad-, 
ditional work is to put the seed (n it dried) after pael- 
ing into well toiled water, and leave it for a short 
time," and proceed according to the manner in which 
arrowroot is prepared, whicli I needn't repeat to your 
worthy correspondent. Whenithe seed is being pounded, 
it gives a jarring smell enough to make one feel quite 
disgusted to get on with the work. I managed to 
make about a half-a-pouad of flour, out of which some 
biscuits were prepared, with aa almiiLuro of sugar, 
eggs, and milk and a little table-salt to avoid any iii- 
digtatii.a taking place.-, the biscuits were palatable and 
nice, they were very soft, and broken easily, perhaps 
owing to some detects in the preparation. With re- 
gards its nutritious qualities I am not in a position to 
atone for, but so far I had nothing to complain of 
after my eating it. Anyhow it will not be advisable 
for any one, wtio has auj' sort of windy complaints, to 
eat this stuff, which is so welknown to be windy. — 
I am, yours, JAKSEED. 
MATTERS AGRICULTURAL. 
Veyangoda, June 6th. 
Dear Sir,— Little surprise will be felt when I say 
thrtt I was ?ior3 de combat ever since I saw yonr 
impression of tbe 29th uit. in which two adverse 
leiters and an overi-rown footnote were levelled at me. 
I b1i«1I, with your permission, notice both tbe letters 
in one commuoicatiou, as they are both the outcome 
of my letter on Salt. Bat lor a blunder of " Old 
Planter " or your own proof-reader in omitiing- two 
inverto.l commas, the reading public would have been 
deprived of a very interesting bit of autobiography 
from the pen of " D." I should have thought that 
so subtle an intsUeot as " D.'s " would have detected 
the omission, and ttiat he would have seen that it waa 
'• Old Planter " and not Professor Geikic who waa 
quoting Professor Johnstone. I made this very evi- 
dent in my communication aud indicated where Pro- 
