November 2, 1891.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Biters the flavor entirely. Only the practiced eye 
can decide, and it decides at a glance, when the tea 
is right. When it is comes the firing. Several 
machines have been invented for this purpose, but I 
presume the sirocco is the one most commonly used. 
This ia a machine which looks like a very large T, 
and is known as the T sirccco. Along the top are 
trayB upon which the leaf is spread thinly. Below 
is the furnace and hot air pipes heating, if I remem- 
ber right, to about 180 degrees. Two coolies tend the 
machine — one at each end — and pass the trays through 
until it is black and crisp. 
Now comes i he classifying of the tea. Three grades 
have to be separated, and this is accomplished by sift- 
iiig by hand or machinery, as the case may be. Through 
the fine sieves we get the fine Flowery Pekoe, next size 
the pekoe and the large leaf remains, ell being cleaned 
and dusted before packing. 
This completes the process of manufacture. There 
has been DO adulteration of any kind, and all the oper- 
ations have been performel in a factory so clean that 
one might almost eat his dinner oif the well cemented 
floor. No smoking is allowed, nor is anything permitted 
which could possibly contaminste the precious leaf. 
Therefore, in spite of Dr. Bedlo&'s denunciation of 
Ceylon and Indian tea (the latter being equally care- 
fully cure.l) does not the cleanly process of curing 
under European supelvi^icn commend itself over the 
Chinese metliod ? It certainly has commended itself 
in English eyes, as statistics show. In 1878 the export, 
ation of tea from Ceylon was 2.j,000 pounds ; this year 
the estimate is 61,000,000 pounds, while the consump- 
tion of China tea in England fell from 125,000,000 
pounds in 1879 to 61,000.000 pounds in 1889. 
Such an alterationin trade has so alarmed the Chinese 
that fully five years ago the Chamber of Commerce at 
Shanghai sent a commission to Ceylon atd India to 
investigate. The commissioners returned with the 
waruinK thatif China did not send better and purer 
teas from her shores and open her gates to the foreigner 
with his machinery, she must eventually lose her 
export trade. It is to be hoped that China and Japan 
will one day tear down these walls of conservatism 
and open their gates to scientific and modern applian- 
ces for the cultivation and preparation of tea. Their 
export trade is even now iu extremities. 
J. McOoMBiE Murray. 
— Philadelphia Times, Aug. 9 th. 
[In the Amtriean paper in whioh the above 
article appears, it is illustrated by engravings of the 
" Tamil girl plucking leaf," "Bringiug in leaf," and 
' Withering."-~ED.r. A.] 
~ ♦ 
Poisoning by a "Weed-Killer." — An inquest has 
been held at Hastings, touching the death of a domes- 
tic servant It appeared from the evidence of the 
employer, that the girl was taken ill, and that he was 
informed that she had drunk some liquid he had 
purchased as a " weed-killer." The " weed-killer " he 
had purchased in the afternoon of <he day on which 
deceased was taken ill, at Mrs. Gilbert's, florist, in 
Queen's Road. The bottle produced, whioh labelled 
"Scotch elder- wine," and also bore a smaller label with 
the words "weed-killer," was taken by himself to the 
shop, and the liquid, about a pint, was supplied in 
it. He| had himself labelled it " weed-killer," After 
he had used a portion of the liquid, he loft the 
bottle with the remainder in a corner of the garden, 
with the label "weed-killer" facing outwards. De- 
ceased told him in the presence of the doctor that 
she had taken some of the liquid. He had never 
used the liquid before, and he was not and did not 
know that it contained poison, there being many 
things that are not poisonous which would kill weeds. 
The sister of the deceased deposed to seeing the 
bottle on the kitchen-table, and afterwards finding 
tlic deceased spitting over the sink. Inreplytoher 
ini|uiry, deceased said she thought the liquid iuthe 
hotile was elder-wine, and that she had tasted it, 
but was certain she had not swallowed any. Mr. 
E. J. Adkins, surgeon, said that he had analysed 
the contents of the stouuich, and found no arsenic, 
but had detected it in olhor parts of the body. Ho 
had examined sonio the " weod-killer," and found 
itcoiitaiuod a great deal of of arsenic, caustic soil*, ami 
methylated spirit. The symptoms observed were con- 
sistent with arsenic poisoning. Ernest Barton, as- 
sistant to Mrs. Gilbert, florist, said he served ' Mr. 
Banks with the weed-killer, and told him how to use 
it, and Mr. Banks put the label on it in the shop. 
It was Smith's weed-killer, but although he knew it 
was a poison, he did not know what it was made of, 
nor that it was such a deadly poison. His employer 
purchased it iu gallon cans, which were labelled 
"poison," but as Mr. Banks bought so small a quantity, 
he did not think it necessary to put on a lalael'. 
He had never sold less than a gallon before, and when 
he sold that quantity a label, supplied by the manu- 
facturer, and describing the Ijquid as a poison, was 
put on. The coroner said the death appeared to have 
been the result of an accident, but it was doubtful 
whether a florist had the right to sell such a liquid. 
By the Poisons Act, no poison other than a chemist 
was allowed to sell arsenic, and the seller was liable to 
a penalty if he sold it without making an entry of 
the sale in his book, and labelling the bottle con- 
taining it to show that it was a poison. The jury 
returned a verdict of death by misadventm-e, and ex- 
pressed the opinion that more care ought to have been 
exercised in the selling of a liquid of such a poisonous 
nature. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Ceylon Pineapple Plants for Natal. — Mr. 
J. Medley Wood, curator of the Berea Botanical 
Gardens, stated in a report: — 
The growth of fruit suitable for tho Johannesburg 
market and for export, is becoming a matter of some 
importance, and I have been applied to by different 
growers to introduce iu quantity the pine known as 
"Providence," as the fruit of the variety we have here 
does not appear to be large enough for export, one of 
my informants Blating that fruit of the smooth-leaved 
variety had realised in Johannesburg double the price 
of our common pine. I therefore wrote to the Di- 
rector of Kew Gardens for information on|the subject 
and in a reply just received Mr. Morris says of the 
'•Providence": — "It is a large-fruited kind, largely 
grown for export purposes. "We have no special facili- 
ties for getting suckers of it. No doubt your Govern- 
ment could manage to obtain suckers from the Gov- 
ernment of the Bahamas, and have them shipped 
direct. It would ba uaeless to introduce them in small 
quantities. You r( quire two or three hundred at least. 
There ia an equally fine and large pineapple grown 
iu Ceylon ami Singapore. In the former it is known 
as the 'Qaeen' pine. It is quite as large as the Pro- 
vidence pine. You might obtain suckers of these, 
perhaps, more conveniently than from the Bahamas. 
As regards flavour and appearance, there is nothing 
to ohoofo between them." As the pine we have in 
Natiil has always be^n known here as the "Queen," 
I wrote to Mr. A. 11. Bieset, who has been a resident 
in Ceylon, and ho says ' 'I do not know the Ceylon 
pine called the 'Queen,' unless it is a pine with small 
smooth leaves, rui ning to over 101b. in weight, yet 
of good flavour and consistency. This pine I have 
heard called the 'Kew' and sometimes tho 'Mauritius.' 
Apart from this pine, which is a splendid one, almost 
tquorc-ahaped, with large base, I only remember the 
common pine, which is, as far as I can distinguish, 
the same as wo have here," Mr. Bisset also tolls mo 
that steamers leave the ports of Cejlon for Madras 
several times a week; if therefore, the suckers were 
shipped so as to catch one of Messrs. King & Son's 
steamers, they should, if well packed, arrive here iu 
good order. Messi s. A. M. & J. Ferguson, of Colombo, 
would no doubt bo able to procure the suckers if 
favoured with instructions. We have in tho Gardens 
one, or perhaps two, sptcies of what are called the 
Emcoth-leavcd piue, or, as I have heard it called, the 
"Cayenne." They have not done well with us; but I 
hsvve directed tho gardener to remove them to a more 
favourable situation and, shall observe them moro 
clopcly during the season. I am writing to Dr. Trimeu 
of Ceylon, on the subject ; but the question of im- 
Dortiug suckers in quantity, of say 2,000 to 3,000 ia 
a matter to be dealt with by the Committee. Ex- 
changes of pliiuts between here aud West Indies are 
Btuppod ou account of the outbreak of coffee disease 
in Natal. 
