Jan.  t,  1896.] 
THE  TROPIC.M, 
AGRICULTURIST, 
451 
nUlLDINLS  ON  ESTATES: 
EALLAKDIE’S  AND  OWEN’S  PRIZE  ESSA\  S. 
Does  .any  pl.anter  want  to  luiilil  either  a factory, 
cattle-shed,  Inmgalow  (large  or  small)  or  a set 
of  lines,  or  to  alter,  or  reconstruct  any(jiie  oi 
all  of  these?  If  an  experienced  man,  he  at  once 
lirides  himself  on  being  what  every  good  planter 
ought  to  be,  and  claims  to  bo  in  his  cajtacity  of 
jaedc-of-all  trades  : a pr.actical  builder.  In  old 
coffee  days,  to  engage  the  services  of  an  architect 
was  alniost  universally  considered  a useless 
waste  of  money.  True,  as  regards  collee  store.s, 
very  little  variety  vvas  indulged  in,  the  “stores 
nearly  everywhere  having  been  designed  and 
built  on  one  unvarying  plan.  This  was  a custom 
that  had  more  than  one  advantage  : the  cost 
was  easily  ascert.ained  from  the  experience  of 
others,  and  the  native  eontr.actor.s  bec^ame  ex- 
perts in  constructing  almost  identic, al  buildings 
wherever  they  went.  The  pulping-houses,  how- 
ever, <leinan«te<l  more  ^■ariety  of  ])lan,  and  in  con- 
structin'' these  the  I'lanter  found  his  ingenuity 
considerably  taxed.  So,  too,  in  the  case  of 
bungalows,  every  planter  was  I'Cti  to  loliow  liis 
own  taste  and  rc'iuiremcnts,— if  he  did  not— as 
at  first  nearly  everybody  did,  eiirly  in  the  plant- 
i„o_era,  run  up  a rectangular  shed  divided  into 
three  rooms  with  a long  verandah  in  front. 
Those  which  were  subsUntially  Iniilt  remain  to 
this  dav,  but.  often  so  tr.ansformed  by  “taking  in 
the  verandah”  here,  adding  a wing  there,  that 
the  original  simple  design  is  not  easy  to  be 
distinguished.  Well,  all  honour  to  the  _ me- 
mory of  the  old  planters,  .sturdy  .and  inde- 
itendent  .as  they  were,  and  it  mistakes  were 
made  and  money  wasted,  why  coffee  could  afford 
it  as  it  afforded  many  other  items  of  expenditme 
that  would  surprise  the  economy  enforced  by 
strict  Visiting  Agents  in  these  later  days. 
And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a Tea  I'actory 
demands  a grcafw  practic.al  knowledge  of  build- 
in<^s  than  sufficed  for  tlie  simpler  coflee  store. 
,So°  too  the  <'reatcr  number  of  married  planters 
now  have  created  a demand  for  more  up-to-date 
homes  and  bungalows,  while  even  the  coolies  are 
l.etter  housed.  The  old  Diatched  roof  on  posts 
ten  feet  apart,  open  to  .all  the  winds  that  b ow, 
will  not  do  now-a-days  for  cattle,  especially  where 
manure  is  the  object  of  their  liemg,  while  also 
a vast  number  of  valuable  c.attle  are  now  kept 
for  (hairy  purposes  and  for  profits  deri  vable  there- 
from. All  these  modern  conditions  call  for  greater 
care  in  the  con.structiou  oi  buildings  on  estates 
for  all  these  purposes,  besides  sucii  subsidiary 
structures  as  limo-kRus,  Szc. 
In  1.S711  Messr- 
T.  ('.  Owen  via.-  , 
(reJier  in  a baiUy  book  n;i  sucn 
mgs 
Lite  to 
limO-Kun--,  ivi,. 
essrs.  .J.  de  C.aynoth  Bal bardie  and 
wrote  “prize  essays”  published  to- 
ler  10  bamly  book  n;i  such  .-state  ;•  Bui Id- 
i”  • but  like  "otner  works  it  came  just  too 
i.iac  1.0  ..rof  m’uch  service  to  the  planter  harassed 
bv  Daf-dis-'a.se,  loss  and  debt.  But  has  not  the , 
time  -ome  round  again  when  such  a book  ought 
to  1)0  one  of  the  companions  of  every  nr.actic.al 
phnuter  ' How  to  design  every  conceivaole  build- 
inw  in  an  infinite  variety  of  phuis,  is  here  given 
iu  Reiail  graphically  and  te.xtually,  and  even  the 
old  and  expert  builder  will  fimk  yalmable  in- 
formation in  this  bonk  of  designs  and  estiuuates. 
We  coniidently  reconmicnil  it  to  all  in  chaige 
of  tea  and  cac.ao  estates  and  est:ites  of  every 
other  produce  .as  .a  reliable  fuide  111  designing 
.and  constructing  and  giving  out  contracts  for 
every  sort  of  bail  dug  likely  to  be  required  in 
such  places.  This  may  be  judged  from  the 
57 
following  list  of  tlie  plans  “ to  se.ale”  embodied  in 
•the  volume  to  which  we  have  been  referring' : — 
(1)  Biuck  Kiln. — Section  of  kiln — plan  of  kiln — 
trough  and  section — yoke — drying  shed  and  section. 
(2)  Luie  Kiln. — (i)  To  buni  1.50  cubic  feet  per 
diem — (2)  to  burn  250  cubic  feet  per  diem. 
(8)  Biuckwokk  Masonry.— English  bond  and  Fie- 
luiah  bond. 
(1)  Walls’  Eooi'ing  Clip. 
(5)  Kino  Post  Roof.- King  post— (pieen  post- 
struts— tic  beam — principal — ridge  piece- purlins — 
common  rafter — pole  or  roof  plates — wall  plates. 
(0)  Queen  Post  Roof. — Queen  posts — strut.?— tie 
beams  — principal  — ridge  piece — purli  ns  — straining 
beam — common  rafter— polo  of  roof  plate— wall  plates. 
(7)  Hekring-hone  Struts  : 2 in.  square. 
(8)  Joints  oh  Sc.arfs. 
(9)  Beams  and  Pillars. 
Lines. — Twelve-room  set  of  Linos — wooden  roof, 
wattle  and  daub  walls — kanganies’  row. 
Bungalows.— Door  and  wiiniowf  rallies — wooden  plank 
ceilings  — wainscoting  — verandahs — chimneys  — small 
bungalows — large  bungalows. 
Pulping  House  and  Store. — Receiving  pulping  house 
and  store  (combined) — sections  of  pulpers — Walker’s 
Gearless  Pulper — Store  Receiving  House — Section  of 
held  Receiving  House — Coffee  spouting — watcrbo.x — 
covered  spout  to  carry  water  to  outside  hopper — 
Self-acting  measuring  boxes — Tube  well— Cherry  Dis- 
charge, Dams  (comxiosite  and  earthen,  and  wooden 
and  iron  doors)  anients,  weirs  and  spouts. 
Cattlesiied  and  Piggery. — Store  for  fodder — air 
passage — stone  walls  with  permanent  stalls — brick 
walls  with  moveable  stalls — pillars — roadside  cattle 
and  pig  shed. 
Estate  C.artroads. 
Eight  plans  illustrating  buildings  referred  to  in  Mr.  T. 
C.  Owen’s  Essay,  viz.,  Store  and  Pulping  House— Cattle 
shed — big  cattle  shed — big  store — pulping  house — 
bungalow. 
SCIENTIFIC  INQUIRY  INTO  TEA 
CULTIVATION. 
From  the  Secretary,  Indian  Tea  Association,  to 
the  Secretary  to  the  Government  of  India,  Depart- 
ment of  Revenue  and  Agriculture,  dated  Calcutta, 
11th  November,  1895. 
Sir, — Referring  to  your  letter  No.  .952-18,  of  7th 
March,  in  which  it  was  stated  that,  pending  the 
appointment  of  a successor  to  Mr.  Cotes,  who 
had  resigned  bis  appointment  in  the  Indian  Mu- 
seum, the  Government  of  India  regi-etted  they  were 
unable  to  make  any  arrangement  for  the  inves- 
tigation of  tea  blights  in  Assam,  I am  now  directed 
by  the  General  Committee  to  submit  for  the  con- 
sideration and  orders  of  tho  Government  of  India 
a memorandum  drawn  up  by  Mr.  1.  Buckingham, 
C.I.E..  Chairman  of  the  Assam  Branch  of  the 
Association,  containing  suggestions  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  :)•  scientific  officer  for  the  tea  districts, 
2.  I am  to  state  that  this  memorandum  has  re- 
ceived the  approval  not  only  of  the  General  Com- 
mittee, but  of  the  branches  of  the  Association  and 
also  of  the  Planters’  Association  in  D.irjeeling,  the 
Terai,  the  Dooars,  and  the  Kangra  Valley,  who  are 
all  agreed  that  the  appointment  of  such  an  officer 
as  suggested  in  Mr.  Buckingham’s  memorandum 
Avould  be  a very  great  benefit  to  the  tea  industry, 
and,  as  a natural  consequence,  to  the  trade  of  tho 
country. 
3.  T’ne  General  Committee  feel  that  they  can  add 
but  little  to  the  suggestions  contained  in  Mr.'  Bucking- 
ham’s memorandum,  but  they  desire  to  take  this 
opportunity  of  tendering  their  best  thanks  to  Gov- 
ernment for  having  deputed  Dr.  George  Watt, 
Reporter  on  Economic  Products  to  Government,  to 
prosecute  investigations  in  the  Assam  province,  which 
latter  will,  without  doubt,  when  his  report  has  been 
published,  prove  of  the  greatest  value  to  tea  planters 
and  the  industry  generally.  The  Committee 
are  awaiting  with  much  interest  the  publica- 
tion of  this  report,  and  in  the  meantime 
they  would  commend  Mr  Buckingham’s  proposal  to 
