234 
THE TROK(GAL AGftlCULTURJST. [October i, 1891. 
while the object of the drying process must be con- 
fined to the desicoating of the loaf without driving off 
the flavour already developsd. Ho thereupon got some 
experiments carried cut, for him v^ith sample lots of 
leaf by some, ol his numerous planter friends, and the 
iuformatiou wbici>. be gleaned from these esrieritnen's 
has proved so important th:it its outcamo is the intro- 
duction now by Mr. Davidson of what promises to be 
a revolution in many of the establiBhed ideas and princi- 
ples concerning the mariufac'nre of onr teas. One part of 
the system which he baa evolved is for the onhance- 
meut of flavuur and qualify of tlie tea prior to the 
drying prooess and is the .sulr|i.'ct of one of his later 
patents. Two of the very larKCst of our ludiin 'I'ea 
Oompanies were so satisfied witli the probabililioj of 
the rirsults that woubl likely ensue by working this 
special process that they arranged with him for its 
use, with the several patented machines wiiich are 
necessery for i's proper working being exclusively cod- 
flaed to themselves, so that we understand they are 
■well satibfied with the results they are obtaining there- 
from, yet in-as-muoh as tbij part of the process is to 
be confined to these oompanies, we c>innot further 
refer to it ; but the remainder of Mr. Davidson's 
invettigfttiona as above indicated wg are at liberty 
to submit to the consideration of our planting 
friends, as the improveinent effected by attention to 
the directions he gives as to the temperatures for 
drying have, in some instances that we are informed of, 
given a most wonderful improvement in the quality of 
the tea prodticed. Mr. Davidson points out that it is 
essential while using low temperatures that either 
the leaf be spread extremely thin upon the sieves 
upon which it is exhibited to the heat, or that if 
spread thick, the air draught through it should be 
very rapid to carry off the moisture quickly without 
involving any risk of the tea being " stewed." 
For this purpose and to meet these desirable 
ends Mr. Davidson has greatly increased the power 
of the air current through his new Down 
Draught Sirocco, vhich he now recoinmends being 
used at 150 deg. tempera'nre for cutcha* batlie 
aed withdrawing the leaf before it is quite crip dried, 
so that its t"mperature when tested by thermometer 
should not iiulicttte mr-re than 130 deg., and that the 
final drying or i u,jo i I b:it;ie of tlii-s should be worked 
at a temperature of 130 deg. Some hill teas made on 
these lines have a very delicious and exceptional 
flavour. Of course leaf grown in the plains catjnot be 
expected to have as much fl wour as hill tea, nsver- 
theleas such as it does possess Mr. Davidson says can 
be fully retained by following the above directions. 
We understand "that Mr, Davidson hopes to arrive 
back at his Works in Belfast about the latter end of 
September and although these are already extensive pre- 
mises (notwithstaudirg tlieir recent inaaguration some 
10 years ago) yet we predict that if he coniinues to give 
the s'lme detailed and sjientifio attention to the im- 
provement of tea in its general manufacture that he 
has hitherto bestowed upon it, their growth, will be still 
more rapid and that a great and prosperous future is 
in store for him, as it is only by improving the quality 
of the Indian teas that the daatb-blow can be dealt to 
thoso of China wli.:h iiro still much Bou,«bt for on ac- 
count of tbe delicacy of their flavour in the high class 
qualities, these being still the favourite teas both on the 
Continent and in America. 
We are indebted to the sailing of the S.S. "Golconda" 
having been unexpectedly po'^tponed from the 4th to 
5th instant for the above pirticubirs and Mr.Davidson'a 
photagrapb, but unfortunately we omitted to obtain 
from him any particulars of his private history, and we 
have now only to conclude by vi'ishing him hon voyage 
to ould Ireland for which he leave,s Ceylon early nest 
month. 
TEA SHAKES AND INVESTORS. 
Whe.n the cl»iin of less substantial but more freely 
ftdvertitod eompanio.'j pro in abeyance, the financial 
press occasionally calls attention to the financial 
Temporary or preliminary : the primary idea is 
the levoriie of hoIuI and lor'maiieut,— Ed. T, A. 
f Permanent, solid, or final.— 2'. A, 
position of the tea industry. In its issue of yesterday, 
the Financial Xews had a long article on the subject, 
and the writer, while dealing with the position fairly, 
has riotliing to reproach himself with on the scoio 
of undue optimism. He says: One of the features 
of the financial year, so far as it has gone, is tbe 
stability of Indian sul Ccjlon tea shares aniiil all 
t le fluotuatioDS of tbe other markotp. For one 
thing, they rp.main outsi.le, the range of tlis ordinary 
ppnou'ator, and, for another, there are few of them 
quoted in tlio Stock Excbauge list. One may hear 
oci a^ionally ot a movement in Jokais, which for the 
biht seven years have been pa,yiug 10 per cent., and 
sometimes of a tranaactioii in Dooar.s, or Darjuelings, 
or Jorehaute, The investor, however, who believes 
that he has a grip of a good security does not usually 
carry his heart exposed for daws to peck at : and, on 
tho other hand, the unfortunate persons who have 
dropped money on the ttrength of deceptive pro - 
pectuses usually maintain a cynical sileuce as long as 
they think that tbere is a chance of transferring 
their wbito elephant to someone else. Indian te» 
shares, and particulaJy those of the new Ceylon 
plantations, have been so little known, iudeed, that 
in certain quarters the value ot a new discovery 
was attributed to the article in the Financial Nev:s 
of February, which discussed and explained the sub- 
ject from an investor's point of view. The question 
then was, why tea, as a commodity, should have 
attained so high a price as it then held, and why tea 
company shares Bhonld continue to be bo dispro- 
poitionate'y low. Our answer was, substamielly, that 
many of the companies — and we were referring 
particularly to the Indian companiee^bad been over 
capitalised, and many others extiavagantly and un- 
scientifically managed. There were too many of 
them, also, which seemed to regard quantity rather 
than quality as the Alpha and Omega of their 
policy. On the whole, nevertheless, we felt free to 
say that, in view of the increasing demand for the 
"cup that cheers," there should be good prospects 
for investors in well conducted tea gardens, whether 
in Assam, or Cachar, cr Ceylon. Bicce we dealt 
with the question six months ago tea shares of 
one description have appreciably improved, nearly 
all have held their own, and, at the same time, a 
larger number of companies have earned good dividends. 
Yet, even when so much is said of the past half- 
year's business,' it oontinuea to b(6 the fact that tea 
shares are not in active demand, and are, as a rule, 
quoted lower rhan recent dividends would appear to 
warrant or explain. 
The Financial News bases its calculations on the 
statistical report by Mr. A. W. Martin :— 
Com 
Capi- 
u 
0> 
Pi 
43 C) 
a M 
ct 
u " 
o 
rd 
%>: 
ag 
§• 
t-Z 
fl 
ta 
■a 
•P 
cent 
eturn 
on Ju 
prices 
Ph 
s 
K 
S,, 
1889 
1890 
S. 
B 
187160 
10 
10 
5 
19 
Assam Frontier .. 
( 110,000 
( 110,000 
Pert. !! 
Ord. ... 
10 
]2i 
9 
11 
6 
7 
0 
6 
78,170 
10 
7 
7 
15 
43,560 
9 
7^ 
7 
10 
114,500 
18 
20 
10 
0 
60,825 
3 
•k 
6 
0 
f 18,000 
7p.c.Pref 
8 
8 
8 
0 
I 73,500 
Ord. .. 
7 
7 
7 
15 
36.140 
Darjeeling 
135,420 
6 
6 
5 
14 
( 29,.360 
7p.c. Pref 
7 
7 
5 
0 
\ 106.000 
Urd. 
10 
10 
8 
3 
( 25,»)48 
Ord. . . 
( 25,000 
"A" ., 
8 
8 
5 
14 
1 75,000 
"B" 
16 
15 
10 
i. 
) 16,100 
Ord. . . 
14 
9 
16 
(. 14,500 
New 
Indian of Cachar.. 
O'i.OUO 
6 
7 
7 
15 
Jhauzie , 
56,000 
8 
10 
8 
6 
Jokai (Asam) .... 
200,000 
10 
10 
6 
Jorehaut, ... 
100,000 
10 
10 
6 
1 
Lebong,,,,,,,,,,,, 
S2,U7U 
n 
6 
(j 
5 
8 
