758 
THE TROPICAL AGRIOULTURIST. 
[May I, 1891, 
THE NEW TEA DEIEES:— THE MAN AND 
THE MACHINE. 
The production of tea in Ceylon has now attained such 
dimensions that every improvement in the machinery 
or its maonfactare must be of high importance^ to 
planters. The two or three inventors who are coining 
fortunes out of their patents can have by no means 
exhausted the possibilities of invention, and this truth 
they prove themselves by continually making so-called 
“improvements" to what were declared to be “per- 
fect” machines only the year before. But this is a 
dodge common to most patentees, as profitable to 
themselves as its object is transparent and irritating, 
if — being satisfied with the original type, — you are un- 
able to get its worn-out parts renewed because they 
have been “ improved” out of existence. It is high 
time, therefore, that we had some more permanently 
perfect machine, more up to the work it is declared 
able to perform than as 50 is to 200. Concerning this 
fact I will tell a good story later on. Not having been 
able to be present at the public trial of Sharpe’s 
new Drier, at Hangran Oya, and I was invited to a 
private view a day or two ago, and I then made the 
acquaintance of the inventor and his machine at the 
same time, and I now propose to give you some ac- 
count of both in a free and easy manner. Owing to 
the inevitable “ accidents” that always happen, that 
public trial was almost a failure. With the impetuosity 
characteristic of youth, these big men — Messrs. 
Philips, and Sharpe (6 feet 4, and 4 feet 6 
respectively) — hurried on the “trial day,” — a month too 
soon — with the inevitable result— partial failure. The 
machine itself is no failure, but its public exhibi- 
tion was, and that without anybody being to blame, 
because Mr. Sharpe “wanted to get away,” and the 
jobbing engineers failed to produce an essential part 
“ till the very last moment,” thus renderiiig anything 
like preparation impossible. The consequence was that 
the “report” sent to the Observer was the poorest stuff 
that ever flowed from the facile pen of that ready writer, 
while the other fellow who reported for the “ Indepen- 
dent” got fits for his pains from the outraged in- 
ventor. I predict that those who avail themselves of a 
private view a month hence will form a more favour- 
able opinion, and bo forced to admit that a new Drier 
of great durability and capability has come quietly into 
the country, and has come to stay. 
Personally, Mr. Sharpe is a genuine and interesting 
specimen of the British Working Engineer, to whom 
an intricate piece of machinery is as familiar and dear 
as his playthings are to a schoolboy. It is a gain 
to Ceylon to have such men amongst us occasionally, 
and unless Mr. Sharpe’s interests are very extensive 
elsewhere, he would do well to settle in Ceylon, where 
there is plenty of room for competition in his line 
by really competent men. Anyone troubled with ob- 
stinate machinery ref using to doits fair amount of work 
would do well to invite Mr. Sharpe to take a look round 
his factory. Here ’s a case in point : — Mr. Sharpe 
paid a visit to one of our largest factories, chokefull 
of all sorts of rollers, driers, packers, sorters, turbines, 
engines and the rest, with miles of belting whirling in 
every direction as might be expected in a factory where 
they turn out 6,000 lb. made tea a day, more or less. 
The manager, whom we will call Mr. Ponsonby, gave 
Mr. S. carte blanche to check the work done by any 
machine he liked, He fixed on the latest brand new 
“ Horizontal Blower ” — “Tea seed in at one end, and 
300 lb. an hour of sorted tea packed in fancy canisters 
out at the other end,” sort of Drier. Instead of 300 lb. 
he found it doing 60 lb. anhour (!) and almost bursting its 
boiler at that. Mr. P. thought there must be some 
mistake, but testing it again along with Mr. S. no 
more could bo got out of it. “ Fancy that,” said Mr. 
P., “what ’s to be done? ” “Ah,” said Mr. Sharpe, 
“ What indeed ? All the world knows by this time, 
that yon can make good tea, but you can’t be 
expected to know everything about machinery. I see 
there the fault lies plain enough.” “Do you ? What 
is it [“ Well,” said Sharpe, scratching his head, 
“I am at heavy expenses coming to Ceylon. Everybody 
has got bis owu busioesB, aod (hat ’s miDO. Any other 
machine I can test for you ?’’ “ Ob, bother any other 
machine,” said Mr. P., “tell me what ’s the matter 
with the ‘Horizontal Blower,’ and name yonr own fee.” 
“ Well, thank you, sir, ElOO please.”! “ Call some 
coolies and masons and without touching the machine 
itself, Mr. Sharpe doubled its output on the spot, 
Before going further let me confess that the words 
enclosed within brackets are my own wicked invention 
all the rest being true. In point of fact, Mr. Sharpe 
most liberally did the job for nothing without a hint at 
a fee. 
Perhaps hint to the wealthy proprietors of that 
estate will not be thrown away — if Mr. Sharpe 
himself will forgive me for saying so — on the princi- 
ple that the labourer is worthy of his hire. Such is 
Mr. Sharpe. 
_ As for the Drier itself, he is still work'ng at it, exer- 
cising such paticDce as the absence of his big shops 
nnd appliances at Lincoln render necessary. 
Externally, apart from the inevitable furnace, it is 
a steel cylinder standing on the floor level 7 ft. or 
8 ft. high, by 6| ft. in diameter. Within revolve 
horizonally four trays, their centres being fixed to 
and turned by a vertical shaft, their circumferences 
being supported on a narrow fixed rail, on which they 
travel. Each of these rails has a “ cut-out ” part, 
at the proper place, which drops and raises sections 
of the trays, rapidly, one after the other, till in the 
course of one revolution each tray has discharged its 
contents on to the one below it, the tea being auto- 
matically delivered outside, from the bottom tray. At 
the trial only three trays were in operation, I am 
told, doing 60 lb. an hour. The construction of a 
fourth tray is that which is engaging Mr. Sharpe’s 
attention now. All future machines of this size (the 
smallest size made) will have four trays, and the output 
be guaranteed at nearer 100 Ib.an hour than a maund. 
So says Mr. Sharpe. The trays are not wire gauze, 
but thick sheets of galvanized perforated iron. Instead 
of its vital parts wanting renewing every year, I 
think it likely that, once put up, a machine will see 
the estate itself change hands before its own parts 
call for change. 
E. W. J. 
^ 
Db. Goebel, a well-known botanic scientist, has 
gone out to Demerara for the purpose of making a 
careful study of that curions pink flower, or rather 
lily, which is peculiar to the watercourses in that 
region. The plant, it will be remembered, excited 
some interest at the Oolonial and Indian Exhibition 
in Eensington in 1886. It belongs to the order of 
Podostemaoeaa, and generally it grows under the 
water, where beds of the plant can be seen. In the 
dry season, when the river shrinks and the plant is 
exposed, it takes advantage of the opportunity to 
flower and fruit. After the fashion of sea-weeds, 
it adheres to rocks by a disc-like root, and it holds 
its ground in the most violent rapids. — Colonies and 
India. 
Ceylon Tea fob Austbalia. — Australian 
buyers are again suggesting that our teas for their 
market should be packed in 40 lb. packages, in 
place of the ordinary 50 to 60 lb. half chests. 
Dealers in the Southern Colonies are accustomed 
to the. smaller boxes and no doubt prices slightly 
higher — 1 or 2 cents per lb. — would be paid for tea 
in such packages. It might be worth the while 
of planters who look to sales in the local market to 
try some breaks in 40 lb; boxes. The danger would 
be that buyers for the English market would not 
oompete. — Since writing the foregoing the following 
extract from a letter for “ the Colonies ” has 
reached us 
“ We would suggest to growers, who, we are sure, 
are anxious to meet the demands of the Colonial trade, 
that they pack a fair proportion of half-chests weigh- 
ing from 40 to 45 lb, net. We feel sure that growers 
would obtain a higher price at the sales for good breaks 
(80 to 100 half-chests), medium to good medium, 
Pekoe souehoDgs and pekoes.” 
