6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July j, 1886. 



facturo He ; packing 3c ; transport Ic— 24 cents 

 per lb. in Colombo. 



'So. Approximate cost of machinery ami factory 

 for estate as above described is from 1112,000 to 



Kir,,ooo. 



B<5. Water-power is best where possible. Tur- 

 bine is advised ; a water-wlieel being a less steady 

 power and requiring more water ; the former is, 

 however, most likely to get out of order. Cost of 

 fuel for engine per lb. tea is ,|- cent. 



38. Digging is highly recommended. The effect 

 of castor-cake manure in one case good ; in an- 

 other it did not improve the (juality or price of 

 tea. Cattle manure has undoubtedly shown good 

 results ; also burying green prunings and applying 

 other bulky manure. In very dry weather it is 

 advised not to manure ; about a month or two 

 before or during pruning are the times preferred. 

 Jlanuio increases strength. 



3i). Two papers advise pruning all the year 

 round to keep the labour occupied and never to 

 have a large lot of inferior tea all at once. A 

 few recommend pruning half from June to Sept. 

 and half from Nov. to Jan. The majority advise 

 from June to Sept. and get over it as quick as 

 possible. Indigenous and hybrid can be pruned 

 the same ; bad jat hybrid is j^runed after the style 

 of China or at any rate lower and more severely 

 than good jat. I'runing at two seasons keeps labour 

 employed. To prune or dig ni very dry weather is 

 not advisable. 



10. To be careful in every detail is the only 

 way to make good tea. Good soil and jat help 

 greatly, and good leaf and hard withering and roll- 

 ing are advised by all. In time the whole pro- 

 cess may be done mechanically, and at any rate 

 great improvements in machinery may be effected. 



41. When a supply has been put in and has 

 well started near a bad jat plant in young tea, 

 take out the bad jat, but not before ; as it is 

 difficult to grow supplies. In old tea do the best 

 possible with the bad jat. 



42. An oblong wooden building of jungle timber, 

 boarded Hoor, thatched or wooden roof Avith plenty 

 of light and air make the best withering shed. 



43-1. One paper says in a very wet climate a 

 medium jat will flush better than a high jat, but 

 the majority prefer the latter. The highest class 

 hybrid and indigenous will not yield so well, and 

 bad jat teas will yield 100 to 200 lb. per acre 

 less and value per lb. will be 2d to 3d less. The ap- 

 pearance of the bush alters with soil. In bad soil 

 no jilt will appear good. 



The Sub-Committee are of opinion the falling-off in 

 the (juality of tea comj^lained of is not owing to any 

 weakness or disease of the tea bush and must be 

 sought for from other causes, perhaps the recent fall 

 in price has caused this complaint to be exaggerated. 

 C. E. Wellbon, Honry. Secretary, 



fMr. Barber'n paper.) 



BlackstonEj 4th Jan. 18SC-. 

 1,2, 4. — There is but one mode of plucking that can 

 be safely reconmieuded for the good of the bush, as for 

 the (juality of the tea to be manufactured : an entire 

 leaf with the bud and stem attached to it, with 

 the best part of the leaf below it, but without the 

 stem attached— all taken at one nip. This can be 

 done with safetj' at all times of the year ; except 

 Boon after pruning, when the newly-grown shoots 

 arc being nipped. Calling these shoots primaries or 

 primary shoots here for the sake of distinction, I 

 will recommend that for the first four rounds or so, 

 while still plucking the primaries, that they be nipped 

 still jnore sparingly, a leaf with the bud and stem 

 attached to it being all that should be taken; an 

 entire leaf being thus left to develop at the end of 

 the shoot, the next flush will be retarded somewhat, I 

 aod tbe bueb iu the meautimes wilj usture, a J 



condition to be observed if we aim at securing (pjality. 

 At this early season of the year, instead of displaying 

 an eagerness to fall with unsjjaring liauds on the 

 green stalks and leaves just shooting, and glutting (ur 

 withering racks and machinery with vast (iiiantiti('s 

 of insipid vpg(!table matter, which no art or skil' ran 

 convert into good tea, as turned out later in the 

 season,— if we exorcise a little forbearance, and permit 

 the bush to grow and ' gradually mature, taking 

 meanwhile just enough to keep it in shape 

 and form, we shall be speedily compensat(!d for 

 the apparent loss, with an ample yield of more 

 matured leaf, witliout any very appreciable reduc- 

 tion of quantity in yidd at the end, and we shalj 

 be the better enabled to maintain imimpaired the 

 prestige wo have won for quality in Ceylon. 



3. Bangy leaves below pruning level should not 

 be plucked, I think. A vigorous shoot is not com- 

 monly found ending in a bangy terminal, where the 

 field is duly attended to, at the regular intervals. 

 Twigs with unsutificient supply of sap are gener- 

 ally not worth attention. Flowers may with advant- 

 age be pulled off when flowermg, and seeding are 

 due to a change of season or inferiority of j;'it. 

 Where however the cause is to be found m poverty 

 of sod, something more than taking away the flowers 

 will be found necessary to be done at once, viz., 

 manuring. When due to age of bush a treatment 

 m()re heroic will have to he prescribed, viz., the 

 knife. In some instances trees badly planted with 

 the tap-root bent or injured also speedily run 

 into seed. 



5. Cutty sacks for plucking should not be 

 tolerated for a moment ; their use would lead to 

 the brnismg, crushing and heating of the leaf iu 

 the field. 



6. I do not sift green leaf ; as I sift the green 

 " roll " I am inclined to think that the pekoes 

 would be less liable to be broken if rolled along with 

 the souchong. 



7. I do not remove water from wet leaves before 

 spreading to wither. I do not say it should not 

 be done. 



8. I do not advocate either under-withering or 

 hard-withering, though it may be safer to incline 

 towards the latter than to the former. 3t) to 3.5 per 

 cent for wither is a sufficient average. 



0. Natural withering is better than sun or arti- 

 ficial withering especially for flavour. Sunning is 

 preferable to artificial withering. 



10. Light and air are among the acknowledged 

 agents in natural withering ; a draught is no dis- 

 advantage if it does not blow away the leaf. 



11. The withering tats I use are similar to Mr. 

 Fairweather's, only a little moi-e primitive in the de- 

 tails and perhaps a trifle less expensive. I believe 

 his arrangement with the wire to guide the web a 

 better plan than mine, but in principle they are 

 much the same. For both serving and discharging 

 they afford greater facilities than any other wither- 

 ing arrangements I know of, while they have 

 the merit of being the least expensive at the 

 same time. 



12. 13. The " Blackstone " roller, of cjiirse ; as 

 for its merits — well ! are they not chronicled in 

 the columns of the local papers ? I s'rculd wish to 

 be spared discussing rollers in this paptr vnderthe 

 circumstances. 



14. When the souchong leaf has acquired tFe 

 necessary twist for a marketable tea, and thejuico 

 is readily expressed on the roll being grasped by the 

 han(l, it is time to stop rolling. Hard and light 

 rolling being relative terms may be differently 

 understood according to the apprehension of different 

 individuals, but if we go by the above tests any- 

 thing under it would not ferment properly, while rolling 

 beyond it would, to my mind, be barren of profitable 

 results. The disadvantages would be the following: — 

 Discoloration of tip, breaking of tip, risk of getting the 

 coarse and nnwithered leaf broken up and mixed with 

 the broken pekoe; waste of time and energy; fuel 

 wh(3re an engine is used, and water in the case of a 

 water-wheel being used ; extra wear and tear of machiu- 

 eiy. Where, iiow ever, early pluckiug is resorted 



