Novemher 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
303 
Mtera the flavor entirely. Only the practiced eye 
pan decide, end 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 is a machine which looks like a very largo t! 
and is known as the T sirccco. Along the top are 
trays 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 the classifying of the tea. Tliree grades 
UAve to Lo pcpsifl<t6(i| ftiid this is accotupIiRbed by aifk- 
iitg by hand or machinery, astbo case may be. Through 
the hne sieves wo get the finoFlowtry Pekoe, next size 
the pekoe and the Urge leaf remains, all being cleaned 
and dusted before packing. 
This compleloB the process of manufacture. There 
has been no adalteration of any kind, and all the opor- 
Htions have been performed in a factory so clean that 
one might almost eat bis diunpr off the well cemented 
floor. No smoking is allowed, nor is anything permitted 
which conld possribly contaminate the prr cious leaf. 
rherefore, in spite of Dr. Bedloe’s denunciation of 
Oeylon and Indian tea (the latter being equally oare- 
fully cured) does not iho cleanly process of curing 
Mnder Kuropeun snpfcivi.'^ion rciumend itEelf over tho 
Uliinose method ? It certuii.ly bas commended itself 
in English eyes, as statistics show. In 1878 the export- 
ation of tea frcni Ceylon was 2ij,000 pounds ; this y^ar 
the estimate is 61,000,000 pounds, while the consump- 
tion of China tea in England foil from 125,000,000 
pounds in 1870 to 61,000.000 pounds in 1889. 
Such an atterationio trade has so alarmed the Obincso 
Uiat fully five years ago the Chamber of Commerce at 
Shanghai sent a commission to Ceylon and India to 
mveshgats. The commissioners retnrned with the 
warning tbaiif China did not send belter and purer 
teas from her shores and open her gates to tho foreigner 
with his machinery, she rausk eventually lose her 
export trade. It is to be hoped that China and Japan 
one day tear down tbcRo walls of conservatism 
and open their gates to scieiitiBc and modern appliau* 
CCS for the cultivation and preparation of tea. Their 
export trade is even now in extremities. 
J. McCombie Muwray. 
— rhitmlelphia Times^ Aug. 9th. 
[In the Amtrican paper in which the above 
artioJo appears, it ia illustrated by engravioga of the 
“ Tamil girl plucking leaf," “Bringing in leaf," and 
' Withering.”— Ed. T. A.] 
POISONINO nv A ‘•Weei)-Kiu,p:r.”— A n inquest haa 
been held at Hastinga, touching the death ofadonios- 
tio servant It appeared from the evidence of the 
employer, that tlie girl was taken ill, and that he was 
informed that slio had drunk some liquid lie had 
purchased as a “ weed-killer." Tlio "weed-killer "he 
had pnrcliased in tlio afternoon of *ho day on which 
deceased was taken ill, at Mra. Gilbert's, florist, in 
Queen s Road. Tlie bottle produced, wliicli labelled 
Hcotcli elder-wine," and also boro a smaller label with 
the words “ weed-killer, ” was taken by himself to the 
'V, "'d liquid, about a pint, was supplied in 
It. 11% had himself labelled it “weed-killer.'’ After 
ho had used a portion of the liquid, ho left tho 
hqttlo with the remaindor in a corner of tho garden, 
with the label " weed-killoi " facing outwards. De- 
ceased told him in tho presonco of tho doctor tliat 
she liad taken some of the liquid. Ho had never 
Used the liquid before, and lie was not and did not 
itnow that it contained poison, there being many 
things tliat are not poisonous whicli would kill weeds. 
I he sister of the deceased deposed to seeing the 
)ottlo on the kitchen-table, ana afterwards finding 
ihe deceased spitting over tho sink. In reply to her 
hiqiiiry, deceased said she thought tho liquid in tho 
ootiio was elder-wino, and that alie had tasted it, 
but was certain she had not swallowed any. klr. 
J. Adkins, surgeon, said that ho had analysed 
ino contents of tlio stomacli, and found no arsenic, 
but had detected it in oUier parts of the body. Ho 
had examined some the “ wood-killer,” and found 
It contained a great deal of of arsenic, caustic soda, and 
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 wood-killer, and told him how to uso 
it, and Mr. Banks put the label on it in the shop. 
It was Sniith’s weed-killer, bnt although he knew it 
was a poison, lie did not know what it was inado of, 
nor that it was siicii a deadly poison. His employer 
purchased it in gallon cans, which were labelled 
“poison," bnt as Mr. Banks bought so small a quantity, 
he did not think it necessary to pnt on a label. 
Ho had never sold loss than a gallon Wfore, and when 
he sold that quantity a label, supplied by the mann- 
faotnrer, and describing the Ijquid as a poison, was 
put on. The coroner said the death appeared toliavo 
been tlio result of an accident, but it was doubtful 
whether a florist had tlio right to sell such a liquid. 
By the Poisons Act, no poison other tlian a chemist 
was allowed to soil arsenic, and the seller was liable to 
a penalty if he sold it without making an entry of 
the sale in his liook, and labelling the bottle con- 
taining it to show that it was a poison. Tlie jury 
retmned a verdict of death liy misadvoiiture, and ex- 
pressed the opinion that more care ought to have been 
exorcised in the selling of a liquid of such a poisonous 
nature. — Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
Ceylon Pineapple Plants for Natal. — M r. 
J. Medley Wood, curator of the Berea Botanical 
Gardena, atnted in a report: — 
Tho growth of fruit suitsblB for tho Johannesburg 
market and for export, is becoming a matter of some 
importance, end I have been applied to by different 
growers to iotroduce in quantity the pino known aa 
“Providence,” as tho fruit of the variety wo have bore 
does not Hppear to be large enough for export, one of 
my informants stating that fruit of the .smooth-leaved 
variety had realised in Johannesburg doable the price 
of our oommon pine. I therefore wrote to the Di- 
rector of Kew Gardens for information on|tho snbjeot 
and in a reply just received Mr. Morris says of tho 
“Providence”: — "It ia a large-fruited kind, largely 
grown for export purposes. AVe have no special facili- 
ties for getting suckers of it. No doubt your Govern- 
ment could mauage to obtain suckers from the Gov- 
erument of tho Bahamas, and have them shipped 
direct. It would be useless to introduce them in small 
quantities. You require two or three hundred at least. 
There ia an equally fine and large pineapple grown 
in Ceylon and Siugapore, In the former it is known 
as the ‘Queen* pine. It is quite as large as the Pro- 
vidence pino. You might obtaio sutlers of these, 
perhaps, more conveniently than from tho Bahamas. 
As regards flavour and appearance, there is nothing 
to ohoofe between them.” As tho pino we have in 
Natal has always bean known here us the “Queen,” 
I wrote to Mr. A. II. Bisaet, who haa been a resident 
in Ceylon, and ho says ‘ ‘I do not know the Ceylon 
piuooalliil the ‘Queen,' unless it is a pine with small 
smooth leaves, ruening to over 101b. in weight, yet 
of good flavour and oonsistenoy. This pine I have 
heard called tho ‘Kew’ and sometimes the ‘Mauritius.’ 
Apart from this pine, which is a splendid one, almost 
square-shaped, with largo base, I only remember the 
common pine, which is, as far as I can diatinguiah, 
the same as wo have here.” Mr. Bieset also tells me 
that steamers leave tho ports of Ceylon for Madras 
several times a week; if therefore, tlie suckers were 
shipped so as to catch one of Messrs. King k Son’s 
steamers, they should, if well packed, arrive here in 
good order. Messrs. A. M. Sc J. Ferguson, of Colombo, 
would no doubt bo ablo to proouro the suckers if 
favoured with instructions. AVo hnvo in the Gardens 
one, or perhaps two, spreies of what are oalled the 
smooth-leaved pine, or, as I have heard it called, the 
“Cayenne,” They have not done well with us; but I 
have dircoteil the gardener to remove them to a more 
favourable situation and, shall observe them more 
elofcly during the season. I am writing to Dr. Trimea 
of Ceylon, on the subject ; but the question of im- 
porting Buekcr.s in qnantity, of say 2,000 to 3,000 is 
a matter to be dealt witli by tho Committee! Ex- 
changes of plants between here and AVest Indies are 
stopped on account of the outbreak of ooffee disease 
in Natal, 
