June ij 1892.] 
THP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
907 
leaf, and « Tery small tngiue lo work it, Mr. Jackson’s 
duties often exicndcil far into night, snd it was this 
aod; tins alone that gave him bis firal start in tea 
maehirery. 
He made his first rcso'.ntion in the lonely midnight 
hour that ho would produce a machine that would 
do the work so as to give him time <cr sleep at any 
rate, and befoieSa.m. next morning he had made 
B model disclosing exactly the motion imparted by 
coolies in rolling leaf on tables by hand. 
On showing this to his brother permission was given 
to make a machine, which in course ot time was done, 
and proving a success it was ttiought desiiahle to 
patent it, 
Tho patent specification was crudely drawn up, and as 
most of our readers will know w«a subsequently the 
subject of much and severe litigation between Mr. 
Jackson ai d Mr- Kinmond. 
Mr. Jackson has much gratification iu the fact that 
some of the very first rollers ho made have atoid the 
Iestora(-me20y»ars’ work and are well spoken of at 
the present day. Soon it began to be known lhata 
new roller had hem invented that would aoiualiy finish 
thernlling ol the leaf, and orders began to cornu in; 
but who was to make the machines? 
Mr. .Tohii Jacksnii ot Ibis time resigned the manate- 
meet of tho Scottish Aesom & Co. and ro'urned to 
Scotland, and with him look some 8 or lOordetsfor 
tho new toller, but tingularly enough to any much 
diffieully was f, nnd in getting any firm at home to 
ninko the machines. No engineers of staudiug bad 
ever before beaid ot tea machinery, and it being 
quite a new venture, ss they lermtd it, one alter an- 
ulh r decfii ed to take it up, till at last a fi m in 
Glasgow was prevailed on to make them. They made 
about CO rollers in all, when Mr. Jackson went bone 
and to his great dtlight got MiSsra. Marshall Sons 
and Co., I,d., to take up the manufacture of them, 
and (torn that day lo this Mr. jseksou has been 
able lo give Planters the bigbest elaas niachitery. 
Everything now went well till the crash came vith 
Mr. Kinmond, which swept all ftom under the 
brother Jacksons’ leet and caused a dissolntion of 
partnership, Mr. William s'ill holding onto it, whilst 
Mr. J.'ho letired snd went to America. 
Mr. Jackson had a In g and sovete slrnggle lo 
regain lost ground and Bptal,a very feelingly of 
Messrs. Marshall Sons & Oo.’s, Messrs. Balmer Lawrie 
it Oo.’s, and the Planters’ great kindness to him at 
this time, and sajs he ronld not have survived the 
blow hut for till m. 
The single action and Standard KoUers had op to 
this time bken his productions. The Standard Jloller, 
although agiod machine, was expensive in constrnc- 
tionj Hi»d for a coi BidcrsblctiDK* ill bis home in Abcr- 
dfti n Mr. Jackson had be* n thinking of ft possible me- 
cbanicHl mpans of preduoing h costly mftcli'ne 
that w ould have the same action on the leaf as the 
StaniUrd Ko ler. Careful thought thus produced ihe 
well-known Excelsior Roller, the pecnliar crank mo- 
tirin of which is said to be unique in the list of mechaiu- 
ciil n ovtmcnla. 
Having now got a good rofler Mr. Jackion began to 
turn his atteuiion more closely lo Drying machinery, 
but it is only within the last 5 nr 6 .tears he has given 
special thought to it, and in this short time it siir- 
priats us to learn he has sold over 500 Victoiius, 
800 Venetians, and since May this year, when 
his first new Britannia Drver was started in 
t'eylon, something oluse on 100 orders have gone 
lupine for them, and from all we bear of this fine new 
machine he is likely soon lo creep on to the tour 
figures wi ll It. 
Mr. Jackson also surprises us by stating that there 
are some 50 patnuts granted in Calcutta alone for 
rolling machines, and with s mo feeling of pride 
says:—” I think I sm the only mo wl o has como 
through from the start in Tea Machinery,” and expr. a- 
sii'g great thankfulness lo geunine ehl friends still in 
Assam and Ceylon, who have supported him through 
good nu.l had times, he ali i hopes for many years to 
devote his whole energy to the (level q meut and 
improvement of machinery used in tho manufactnre of 
Xaa.—Jndimt Plantern' ansrtti. 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
Tea and Tannin.— Life would he monotonoua jf ,t 
were not for the fi lip given toil by those little alarmist 
tumours wi'h which the medical papers beguile the 
weary hoars snd excite the imagination of their 
readers. Those who gape lor tho lack of aome- 
thing to de, and must l ave a new ern.sation at any 
price, find the first mrment of a stanling annuuncm. 
mem posiiivelv excitinv. Between the Lancet and 
the BritUk ifedicul Journal, the average human 
being vrbo eats and drinks food subject to analysis 
may always Icel on the jiii vice, la so disposed. 
Tho Britith Medical Journal, for instance, in the 
course ot its researches into the mysteries of tannin 
in tea, and in that of China in particular, as compared 
with teas of Indian and Ceylon growth, gives the 
following rosnit: — ‘‘China, I'ii tannin, 3T1 theine, 
30 minutes’ inf nsion ; Indian, 17'73 tannin, 15 miimtes* 
infusion ; Indian and Ceylon blooded, 10'28 tannin 
8 91 theine, 15 minutes' infusion.'' If this be correct' 
the Indian and Ceylon teas appear to contain nearly 
double the quantity of tannin to be found in 
China tea. even when the latter is iiifased for a 
much longer time than the former. The British 
Medical Jmtrnal, iit the article referred tn, sajs: 
“Slime examples which have been forwarded to us of 
the results of analyses for tsuiiin and theine in tea 
indirate considerable variation in the amount of tannin 
according to Ihe qnabty ol tho tea and the stage of 
growth at whith It is picked. In some blends of 
China teas the percentage of tannin extracted by 
inlu ion for thirty minotes was 7 44; theiro, 3-11 • 
and a similar result was given in the examination of 
the finest Moning ; while, on the other band with 
fine Assam tea a perren'sge ol 17 73 of tannin by 
weight was extracted after infusion lor filteau minute s- 
and two b'ends cf Assam and C-ylon tea ga e res^ 
poctively 8 91 and 10 26 of tannin. On the whole, it 
is probable that tliu Indian teas are mnoh more heavily 
loaded wi'h lamiin than the China or Japan teas. 
Moreover, tho common method ol prolonged infusion 
in boding water is well calculated to extract all the 
tannin, while it dissipates the fl ivonr ol the tea. To 
be drunk reasonably, lea should not he infused for 
more than a minute, and with water of which Ihe 
temperature does not exceed 170° F»hr. It shonld 
b« taken without sngar or milk, which would drown 
the ttavour of the delieate and sromatio infnsiou 
tbus obtained. This, at least, is bow tea ia drunk 
both in China and Japan, whence we have borrowed 
the use of it. With our Enropean method of pro- 
longed infusion ill boidng water we destroy alt the 
best flavour of the tta, and we extract such heavy 
proportions of tannin as to cultivate indigtstion as 
the result of tea-drinking. Iiii'igesticn ia unknown 
among tea-drinkers iu Ihe East, snd it is, in all proba. 
bilily, only the result of our defective use of the 
leaf." Tho idsaef lea infasing (orone minnte only ia 
certainly uevel, and will amuse Mincing Dane ''^Aa 
for the consumers of tea, they will, no dcuht with 
that pervorsily which cbaraclecisi s the victims of a 
bad habit, continue lo drink tia infnsed as usual 
sndBciouBlysrlectinglhetiaaof India and Ceylon iil 
prelereuce to those of China, becanse the former ore 
stronger and give bcltir value for the money. 
Tea Plantino AND Tea Rbtailino.— T he sequel to 
the brief ourr, spondence which uppearid in our 
oolnmns about twomonihs back about the advantages 
—real or imaginary— which the grocer who was himself 
interested in tea gardens possessed over the lea le- 
lailer who was not ia now to be found in the nror- 
peo’usolihe May-Bloom Tea Planlationa, Limited" 
which appears in several papers. It i.s evidence of 
the keen competition in the tea trade and the neoes- 
aity for novelty of idea, if of nothing else. The ocm- 
pant.inita pro’peotns, appeals to 'he grocerto lake 
shares, ami thus “ becom. ” his own pUntor. and he 
will tbenfas-isted by powrcfnl adveriisements) “ b« 
in a position to sncei ssfiilly contend against the 
si vere competition arising frem firms who style them 
selves ‘planters,’ or who, by weight ot their advertise 
raeuts, threaten to monopolise the sale of one of tho 
most profitable articles of the retail dealer’’ The 
