666 THE TROPICAL 
Commerce.— A small quantity of Tej-pat is consumed 
locally, but the bulk of it is exported to Narain- 
ganj, Dacca and other places in Bengal. The Khasias 
usually sell the leaves in Sylhet to Bengal merchants 
who send the leaves to a large extent to Calcutta. 
The price of the leaves is 8 to 10 annas per raaund 
with branches, 14 annas with twigs, and Rl-4 to Rl-6 
cleaned. 
Tej-pat is largely imported from Nepal and the 
forests of the North-West Provinces. About 33 tons 
of leaves and 24 tons of bark are annually exported 
from the tract between the Ramaganga and Sarda 
rivers of the Kumaun district. G-amble notices the 
collection and sale of the leaves in Sikkim. 
The following table shows the return of the sales 
of Tej-part from three districts in the North-West 
Provinces about twenty years ago : — 
1874-75. 1875-76. 
Bijnor . . 36i cwts. R 62 18| cwts. R 76 
.Garhwal . . 14| ,, ,, 30 35 „ ,, 37 
Kumaun . . 88J „ ,,272 120| ,, ,, 374 
TEA EXTENSION IN CEYLON. 
NEW. PACTOBIBS TO BE BUILT IN 1893. 
Messrs. Brown and Co., the well-known engineers 
at present have their hands very full executing a 
number of big orders for factories that have been 
entrusted to their Nawalapitiya branch. They have 
something like a dozen new factories in hand for 
this branch alone, and the manager, Mr. Geo. 
Brown, having to supervise all the works, is now 
kept cotinually on the move. A week ago he was 
away in the Kelani Valley, while yesterday he was 
again in Colombo on his way back from Udugama, 
and to-day, he set out again for upcountry. The 
work that took him south was the erection of a 
factory at Udugama on the property owned by the 
Udugama Tea and Timber Company. Here they are 
now erecting a large new factory, and the building 
to be made in such a way as to be capable of 
extension ; but at the outset the dimensions will be 
100ft. by 40ft. with two floors above the ground 
floor.' The factory is to be built with brick pillars 
and brick walls, with ironcross-bearas and centre 
columns. The roof will be of wood. It is to be fitted 
up with a 40 horse-power turbine with a fall of 50 
feet, and the installation will include steel-piping, 20 
inches in diameter. The machinery at present em- 
ployed in the tAO old factories hitherto used is to be 
re-erected in the new building, with several additions 
of new machinery of latest design. The work has 
been commenced, and the factory is to be completed 
in four months. This will place the Udugama factory 
much nearer to Galle and close to the main cart road. 
The Company has got extensive reserves of jungle, 
amounting to several thousand acres, and we have no 
doubt there is a good future before it, although up to 
now it has been working under difficulties, chiefly as 
regards manufacturing its crop. There is also being 
erected on Donside, near Nawalapitiya, a factory of 
which a feature will be the way the motor power is to 
be provided. Arrangements have been made to place 
the lactory on the main cart-road, to facilitate trans- 
port and the water-power (which is at a considerable 
distance from the factory) is to be availed of by means 
of wire-rope transmission. Detailed plans have been 
made and submitted for this work, and, no doubt, it 
will prove as great a success as it has already proved 
in other countries, although this system of water 
power transmission has not been hitherto largely 
employed either in England or Ceylon. We believe 
that this will be the largest wire-rope transmission of 
the kind in Ceylon. The work has been ordered by Mr. 
Hector and is already progressing. The new factory 
is also being constructed. It is being built so as to 
permit of extension at a later period, but at first 
will be 72 feet long by 35 feet wide. The building 
will boa two-storeyed one, and all the machinery it 
yyjll contaiu will be new, as, there not having been 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 1,1898. 
a factory on the estate before, there is no old mac- 
hinery to be utilised. The place will be of brick 
and iron, with an iron roof. The work has just com- 
menced and is to be finished in four mouths. 
TEMBILAGALLA. 
A third new factory is goi g up on Tembilagalla, 
near Oolapane, the property of Messrs. George 
Christie and Haycock. It will be precisely similar 
to the factory just described as in progress on Don- 
side, as far as relates to materials and accommoda- 
tion, while water-power will also be used for this. 
A NEW WITHEBING HOUSE FOR SANQUHAR, 
A new withering-house of unusual size is in pro- 
gress on Sanquhar estate, near Gampola. This work 
has been in hand about two months, and is ex- 
pected to be finished by the end of next month. 
The dimensions are 72 feet by 35 feet, and the 
building will carry two floors above the ground 
floor. It will be used entirely for withering, and 
will be an addition to the large factory that is at 
present in working. 
DEVELOPJIENTS ON G.AL.ATA. 
A new turbine installation is being put in on 
Galata estate, near Gampola, on the other side of the 
river to Sanquhar. This work has been in progress 
three weeks and will be finished in a week’s time. 
The horse power is 15 with 80 feet fall. 
THE NEW FACTORY AT EATWATTE. 
Messrs. Brown & Co. executed a very smart piece 
of work for the Ratwatte Tea and Cocoa Company. 
They were commissioned to put up a complete 
factory, and, by their contract, they had to do it in 
four months ; but they did it in three. It is now 
in full working order, and everything is going on 
excellently. The motor power here is a 24 (brake) 
horse-power and a large locomotive multitubulor 
type of boiler. The new machinery supplied to the 
factory consists of one large down-draft improved 
sirocco; one 32 in. Rapid roller; one of Brown & 
Co.’s made-tea sifters ; and one Breast roll breaker. 
This latter machine has been lately very much im- 
proved, and is reported to be doing excellent work. 
The dimensions of this factory are 50 feet by 40 feet 
at present ; but extensions are likely to be made 
very soon. The factory, like the preceding ones, 
described, is of two storeys, with iron roof, iron 
columns and cross pillars with brick walls. The 
rapidity with which this work was earned out (in 
a month under contract time) has excited much 
favourable comment. 
A BIG WHEEL ON CRAIGHEAD. 
The next work calling for description is one fully 
as interesting as any that we have already euu-, 
merated. For long, Craighead estate, in Dolos- 
bagie, has relied on two 13 horse-power turbines ; 
but lately there has been a large acreage opened 
on this estate, and additional machinery being, 
therefore, required, extra driving power had to be 
obtained. It was accordingly decided, on the advice 
of Messrs. Brown & Co.’s experts, to discontinuo 
the old turbines and substitute therefore a big 
Pelton wheel. This has now been done, and Craig- 
head now boasts the largest Pelton wheel in the 
Island. The wheel has been most satisfactorily 
introduced, and this despite the fact that it is 
working under a comparatively low fall. The fol- 
lowing are i the dimensions of the wheel: — diameter 
72 inches, (weight 19| cwts. without shafting and 
other accessories) ; horse-power, 45J ; fall, 80 feet 
evolutions, 115 per minute. The water supply is 400 
cubic ft. per minute. This wheel has been thoroughly 
tested, and has been in use long enough to show 
that the change is a beneficial one and the proprietor 
has assured the engineers that he is more than 
pleased with the results, 
A NEW FACTORY AT BAXAWA. 
There are two Raxawas in Ceylon, but the one 
at Dolosbage has been enterprising enough to order 
a new factory, and the site for it has just been 
cut. It will be of two storeys — dimensions 70 feet 
by 30 feet ; and the contract stipulates that it is to 
be handed over in four months' time. We under- 
stand that the motor-power to be nsefl is a Pelton 
