THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[July t, 1890 
3» 
own oouree of operations. Then, finally, it re- 
mains to be considered as to whether the Planters’ 
Association or the Tea planters of Ceylon could 
not give Mr. Lipton suoh an “ official recogni- 
tion” (if the term may be used) as could be 
turned to good account in his great campaign to 
win the people of the States and Canada for 
Ceylon tea ? Could Mr. Lipton be nominated 
“ Commissioner representing the Ceylon Tea Planters 
in America” ? If so, we believe the designation 
would be acceptable, and very useful in advertising 
Ceylon tea up and down that country. All these 
are matters which the Tea Fund Committee may 
well consider at their meeting on Friday morning, 
and we commend them to favourable consideration. 
At the same time there is no occasion for haste. 
Mr. Lipton, as already announced, leaves by the 
P. & 0- S. S. “Victoria” for Europe tomorrow. 
After a short interval ho crosses to America and 
his decision about beginning the “ tea campaign” 
will not be taken until he has the reports of his agents 
in America who have already been instructed to col- 
lect information and prepare reports on the proposed 
new business, against their principal’s arrival. 
No doubt before the end of August, Mr. Lipton 
will be able to telegraph his decision to Ceylon 
and it is against that day, that the Tea Com- 
mittee and the Company’s Directors should con- 
sider what their course ought to be, in the event, 
as is likely, of Mr, Lipton undertaking the Ceylon 
Tea Campaign on a big scale in America. 
DAVIDSON’S DOWN-DEAPT SIEOCCO. 
(By the “ Peripatetic Planter.”) 
Thanks to the data thus obtained, Mr. Davidson 
has found that theory is borne out by practice in a 
remarkable naanuer in several directions. Thus the 
brokers report these teas quicldy fried at a low tem- 
perature (some were pried in onlv four minutes) Id. 
to 2d. per lb. better in the case of medium grades, and 
from 4d. to Qd- per lb. better on the fine qualities, than 
teas made from the same leaf, at the same time and 
place in other driers ! That confirms the foundation 
theory, so to speak, of the “ Down-draft.” Then he 
has found, as theory led him to expect, that the greater 
the volume of air passed through the tea in a given 
time the more rapid the effect upon the leaf ; in other 
words, by increasing the size and speed of his fan, a 
lower temperature may be used, with a consequent 
saving in fuel, so far as the fuel used in the stove is 
concerned. From this it is only a step to the corrollsry, 
if the fan be increased in size and speed, and if the 
stove be also increased in size, then a farther vast 
increase in outturn and improvement in quality are to 
be expected. Hence, his new large “Down-draft” 
Sirocco, which is to turn out two maunds per hour. 
The economy of fuel as shown on the yellow circular 
referred to, is certainly remarkable. Last, but not least, 
comes the improvement in the construction of the stove 
itself. This has been completely reorganised, so far as 
the manufacture of the parts goes, the principle of 
heating, &c., being still the same. It would be difficult 
to describe the changes effected without diagrams ; 
but they certainly appear very radical when explained 
bv diagram, so much so that the life now anticipated by 
Mr. Davidson, vfz., five years, appears quite reason- 
able. This it will ho acknowledged is no trifling ad- 
vantage in itself. The fan, I might mention in passing 
lias a mouthpiece at the exit, so to .speak, and it 
occurred to me, that employers of the Blackman system 
of withering could easilv attach canvas pipe or tube to 
this, and thus convev the warm air to the withering 
room, i. to the side oiiposite the Blackman Fans, 
and bo thus able to employ the Blackman system even 
in houses apart from the tea-houso proper ; or in the 
OHso of upper-stories, convey the warm air to these 
without loss of heat in transit. — /, P, Gai:cUe. 
Tea. in the Azores. — The coming spring is looked 
forward to with lively interest by the agricultural 
claBses in the Azores, and will long be remembered 
as marking a new era in the commercial prosperity 
of the Island. Tea planting has made such great 
strides there and the picking of the leaf is expected 
to be so considerable this season that the pioneer 
shipment will this year be made to the London 
market. It is affirmed that Madeira tea will in 
point of flavour beat the China leaf hollow, which 
is doubtless owing to the balmy climate of the 
Azores. It was only a decade ago that the tea 
plant was first introduced there by Viscount Pazo 
d’Arcos, then Governor of Macao, who made se- 
veral shipments of the plant from almost all the tfa 
districts of China. A few years afterivaids when 
Senhor d’Arcos heard that the plant was already 
acclimatized in the islands, and that there was every 
reason to suppose that it will thrive, he engaged and 
sent a few Chinese tea planters to Madeira who 
taught the natives there how to manipulate the 
leaf . — Ceylon Advertiser. 
The “ Haputale ” or “Downall ” Groi p 
OP Estates — Dambetenne, Monerakande, and Laymas 
— has been purchased by Mr. Lipton, we are 
credibly informed, for £21,000 sterling, — a bargain 
which seems to take the breath away of not a 
few authorities who know the very great value 
attached to these plantations some years ago; and also 
the large extent of splendid tea now coming on, be- 
sides the good coffee remaining, making at least, 
the Dambetenne and Monerakande estates still 
very valuable. That Mr. Lipton has made a 
great bargain is shown by the fact that he was 
offered £2,000 on his price by a Ceylon planting 
capitalist before he left Colombo. Indeed, there is 
a general feeling of surprise at the places selling 
for £21,000, and it is supposed that if the group 
had been advertised for sale for some months in 
Ceylon and in London, at the upset price of 
£21,000, a considerable advance on tliat amount 
could have been obtained. Apart from other 
advantages, there are scarcely any Uva estates tiiat 
will be so benefited by the Haputale Eailway 
as this group — a tramway on the level, it is 
surmised, can be made very cheaply from a new 
Dambetenne factory to the goods station. The 
group contain the following areas in cultivation and 
reserve : — 
Total. 
Culti- 
vated. 
Tea. 
Coffee. 
Grass. 
Dambetenne ... 
771 
433* 
112 
313 
8 
Monerakande... 
. 1,065 
536t 
274 
242 
15 
Laymastotte ... 
473 
336 
138 
171 
27 
Total acres ... 
2,299 
1,305 
524 
726 
50 
* With 12,000 cinchona trees, 
t 5 acres cinchona. 
It will be observed that the price does not make 
more than £16 per acre for the area in cultivation 
without counting nearly 800 acres of reserve. — 
Dambetenne estate has as yet no factory, the 
leaf of the upper estate so far having been all 
sold to Pitaratmalie and no tea sales can have 
appeared under that mark, so that it is difficult 
to see how a name can have been made for its 
delicately flavoured tea as a contemporary alleges. 
The Laymastotte factory — the largest in Haputale 
— has been working and Mr. Lipton’s expert, Mr. 
Duplock, spoke very favourably of the tea being 
manufactured there. This factory is on the Laymas 
road, and it was thought that when completed, it 
would serve for all the group. But a Dambetenne 
factory would, as we have said, be very conve- 
nient for the railway, 
