JvhY 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



13 



To the Editor of the ''Ceylon Observe, T 



TEA PLANTING : PRACTICAL HINTS. 



18th May 1883. 



Dear Sir,— In your iasueofthe 16th inst. yon mention 

 a case where "150,000 two year old nursery tea plants 

 wei-B put out last season." It wouldbe most interesting 

 to know in what way the roots were treated, and if the 

 trees were topped before pUntiug. 



My experience is against allowing the plants to grow 

 to a greater height than 12 inches before planting in the 

 field. This height tea plants will, under ordinary 

 circumstances, arrive at in sis to eight months from the 

 date of putting the seed in the nursery. Six inch plants 

 I consider pieferable to those of a larger size, from the 

 fact of the root being as a rule deeper than the height 

 of the plant above the ground. Small plants, I find, 

 scarcely cease growing when transplanted, whereas it 

 is not unusual for those of more mature growth to 

 remain in the ground for six months without making 

 the slightest progress. 



Germinated seed does uncommonly well in cleared land, 

 but not where mana grass or weeds have been grown, 

 pooohies being frequently most destructive in the latter. 



o. A. 



[Windsor Forest was planted we believe with plants 

 over 18 month old, but there is much in what " S. A." 

 says about the readiness of six months' plants to 

 grow after transplanting— that is, we suppose, pro- 

 vided they do not come in for the burst of the mon- 

 soon as they are put out. — Ed.] 

 — I 



SILK CULTURE IN CEYLON. 



Hope Estate, Deltota, 23rd May 1883. 



Dear Sir, — Mr. C. R. White may be able to obtain 

 eggs of mulberry-feeding worms from the Indian Go- 

 vernment. The eggs of B. moH that I was bringing 

 from England began to hatch out on the 7tb instant, 

 about a week before we reached Colombo, and, though 

 every effort was made to retard the hatching of the 

 remainder, the young worms died soon after arrival. 

 It is impossible to do more than experiment with 

 Bomhyx mori at present, as there is not a eutficiency of 

 mature mulberry trees on any estate. — Yours faith- 

 fully, P. N. B. 



EXPERIENCE OF GROWING TEA FROM THE 

 NURSERY IN CEYLON. 

 Ardallie, Agrapatana, 24th May 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — As there ssems to be a number of 

 erroneous statements flying about the Windsor Forest 

 tea, I may now try to put you right, as I put in 

 the tea nurseries that supplied the first tea to Windsor 

 Forest and Horagalia and Seaforth. In the first place, 

 the tea seed was not from Assam : it came direct 

 from Uarjeehng, and first-rate seed it was. I had 

 some ,(J8 maunds, and on an average there, was only 

 about 6 per cent light. It was carefully packed in 

 one niaund boxes, mixed with charcoal, and the boxes 

 lined with lead and inside the lead brown paper. The 

 varieties of the tea seed were hybrid, and indigen- 

 ous. Tlie difference in the seeds I could not make out 

 at the time, but directly they got above ground you 

 could easily spot them, the leaf being a much lighter 

 green than the hybrid and much longer. I finished 

 putting in the seed into the nursery ou the 30th Dee- 

 ember 1874. I planted over 9 acres of it by the 

 middle of June 1875, and also supplied Windsor 

 Forest and Horagalia with plants in July, the following 

 month. 



Plants grown down in a forcing climate like Yak- 

 dessa I consider would not be in good condition, 18 

 months old, for planting ; and the great object in plant- 

 ing tea is to catch the first rains. This gives them 

 a splendid start and they go on growing for ever. 

 This is Cejlon experience. — Wars faithfully, 



J. D. W. 



SHAND'S PATENT* DRIER. 



Colombo, 28th May 1883. 



Dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for the reply 

 you make to the "Indian Planter "'s enquiry as to 

 whether my tea drier is also suited to drying cardamoms. 



I had previously written to him to repeat what I 

 wrote to you a short time ago, viz., that by putting 

 a soup plate on a saucepan of water kept boiling, 

 and placing on it some green cardamoms, he could 

 ascertain whether the principle of my drier would 

 answer the purpose or not. I also told him that, if 

 the shells cracked in the process of drying, it would 

 be owing to his own mismanagement and want of in- 

 telligence. 



The fact is my tea drier will not answer for any 

 purpose whatever in the hands of persons not gifted 

 with an average share of intelligence, or who ignore 



the condition upon which successful results depend. 



Yours truly, C. SHANd! 



PRODUCT OF A 17-YEAR OLD SUCCI- 

 RUBRA TREE. 



Kalugala, Pussellawa, 28th May 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — I am sending you under separate cover 

 per today's post a sample piece of succu'nbra bark 

 obtained from a tree which I have just uprooted 

 on this estate, as I am well aware you take a <n'eat 

 interest in all products. The following is the quant- 

 ity of bark obtained from the tree, which was 17 

 years old. I may mention that the proportion of 

 stem bark to branch and root seems small, but the 

 tree many years ago got broken off, and consequently 

 had not attained any great height; — 

 Stem bark ... 94 lb. ^ 

 Large branch ... 143 ,, I -kt i. . , 

 Small branch ... 42 „ J-Netbark. 

 Root .. .. 100 ,, J 



The monsoon burst here last night, but with little 

 wind. — I remain, yours faithfully, 



HENRY MANNERS. 

 [The specimen of bark is splendid and might well 

 be mistaken for the finest yellow bark. The total 

 quantity of wet bark is 379 lb., cijuivalent to about 

 126 lb. dry, which certainly ought to sell at H 

 rupee, if not 2 rupees on an ax'erage, considering 

 the large proportion ot stem and root bark. We should 

 be glad to know the result. At 1-^ rupee per lb. 

 the result would be 189 rupees, or more than 10 

 rurpees for each year of the tree's existence. — Ed.] 



It is not as if the Tea Industry was an expa^isive 

 one. Increased yield there will of course be as young 

 gardens arrive at maturity ; but new gardens will not 

 for many years, if people are wise, be opened ont. Men 

 have already lost too much in tea to render this at all 

 likely, besides which the supply even now exoeads the 

 demand. What we say, then, to those who, for circ- 

 umstances not ari.Miug from their own fault, timl them- 

 selves stranded lu India, is : Seek, while there is time, 

 fresh Belds and pastures new, and go hopefully and 

 manfully to work to achieve there a success, or a liveli- 

 hood even, unhappily at present denied to eo many 

 planters here.— /Ht/iow Tm Gazette. 



