17^ 



*H£ TROPiCAL AamCui^i OKiSiv 



j_b£p'f. I, xsser. 



superior tea, may or may not be affecting the quality 

 and should commend itself to serious notice. 



When the late !Mr. Cameron cnme to this island to 

 find its resources at the lowest ebb, cotfie and 

 cinchonn almost dying out, with some land umler tea 

 doing little or nothing because not properly under- 

 stood, he started to show what tea wouM immediately 

 yield — to fhow that he could Jo aomciliiii;/ ii'ilh it, and 

 that 'jt'.ickii/. It was indeed a bold stroke and deserved 

 success which dicated such close (the closest possible) 

 picking, adi'.allfi taking the half of every leaf the tree 

 j>ut forth in Jii'.shiiu/ (iv]ie7-e he had not al read y taken 

 the I'-hole ont). The outturns procured were in many 

 instances as fabulous as the prices obtained. 



Assuredly the end justified the means; the prices 

 would have compensated handsomely, and, what is 

 more, the gardens stood it wonderfully well. Mr. 

 Cameron knew rightly that places in India, with the 

 combined effects of droughts, hailstorms, excessive 

 heat alternating with bitter cold, not to mention blights, 

 could scarcely liave lived under such treatment. 

 Certainly, their outturns would never have been what 

 they are. He had here a better climate to work on, 

 but even this advantage may be abused by this kind 

 of treatment. 



It becomes now a moot (luestion — how long it may 

 be carried on with impunity (comparatively) here ? 



"When thus put before those interested, many un- 

 hesitatingly tell you that they do not cultivate the 

 bushes for appearance, nor yet for posterity; some 

 even go so tar as to inquire what posterity has 

 done for them ? Met with such reprovals, how difficult 

 Mr. (low will find it to advocate more gentle treat- 

 ment of the bushes, more especially when he will 

 be told that the soil here is waiitiug in depth and 

 quality, as found in other fields. Is not this, though, 

 the strongest possible plea in favor of the more 

 rational treatment of the plants 



The system of picking, which by long teaching finds 

 most followers in India generally, is probably the 

 best, because, costing little, the bushes can, whilst 

 yielding both quality and quantity, do so with the 

 least possible injury to themselves. 



Thus, after pruning, the bushes are allowed to run, 

 say, from five to seven leaves and a bud. Some 

 shoots mostly in the centre of the bush, at once out- 

 strip the rest. It becomes necessary to check them, 

 and those that have reached the desired number of 

 leaves may be ripped, taking one leaf and a bud as 

 nearly as possible at the union of stem and leaf ; in 

 a week or ten days (providing they are not side 

 ghoots) more are ready, and should be taken. 



Coolies will not bring in large quantities at this 

 rate. They should not be expected to do so, for the 

 object is to form the bush: thus the most careful 

 picking is required at this stage; that is, when the 

 bush is making what will eventually be pruning wood, 

 upon which depends the season's, as well as the 

 following season's, crop. Any care expended upon it is 

 afterwards amply repaid. After these shoots are 

 more or less uniform in height — that is, each stem 

 having as nearly as possible the same number of leaves, 

 it will be found that, from the two upper leaves of the 

 ripped stems, the primary useful (so to speak tiush) 

 comes. These are allowed to run, say, to four or five 

 leaves and a bud. At this time the side shoots will, 

 stand in danger of being broken ; so they are taken, and 

 •Srith these two leaves and a bud from the four or five 

 leaves of the primary shoots, when at least two leaves 

 •whole (some count the eye as one) should be left. 

 These two leaves will in turn put forth other shoots 

 or flush. In short, for the first ten or twelve rounds 

 the pickers require special attention to prevent them 

 nibbling or picking young undeveloped shoots, which 

 is never overlooked. I^ater iu the season, however, 

 it ceases to be of such importance. Every cooly is paid 

 according to the (juantity (with due regard to quality) 

 of the leaf plucked, and then it does not signify so 

 long as one leaf is left. 



And now, mark: the picking of half leaves is never 

 encouraged (it is doubtful whether it ever withers or 

 ferments well), there being always in the season a 

 aufficieucy of mature leaves ready for the weekly 



plucking ; if not, the number of pluckers" is dimin- 

 ished. Should it occasionally happen I through drought 

 or blight) that there is little, or no leaf, there is no- 

 thing left but to wait for it. "What is put otf, or 

 has to l)e waited for, is nob lost. In the same way 

 little notice is taken of bangy bushes or shoots. By 

 leaving them they right themselves in time. If taken 

 off, the second leaf is nearly always hard; any way 

 it is impossilde to make good tippy t'r'a with bangy leaf. 



The application with some modification (say less 

 whole leaves, but leaving entire leaves and not persis- 

 tently tearing every leaf in half) of the Indian system, 

 which is the outcome in many cases of dearly-bought 

 experience, is about the only way of preventing the 

 broAVsed apperance complained of, which must in 

 time materially decrease the outturn in Ceylon, or, it 

 may be, worse — bring some dreadful blight in its train, 

 and make the balance unworkable by killing out half 

 the plants. 



The worst that can result from a fair trial of the 

 modified system is that tea thus treated may require 

 more frequent (it may be yearlj') light iiruning, and 

 possibly let us hope give partial exemption from 

 heavy pruning with a good, if not superior, all round 

 tea at some cents per lb. cheaper. 



With a climate perhajis second to none in suitability 

 for tea, proximity and cheap carriage to port of ship- 

 ment, which give at once cents, per lb. advantage 

 in every lb. manufactured, the only danger in the 

 race for wealth appears to be that of killing or crip- 

 pling the goose from which all expect the golden 

 eggs.— ,J. E. L. H.— Local " Times." 



July 22, 1886. 



[The impression created by this letter is that iu 

 India now, half leaves are not plucked. Is that gener- 

 allj' the fact, and has the practice of taking only whole 

 leaves extended to Ceylon ? Is it beyond doubt that 

 half leaves do not ferment well? — Ed.] 



1,200 Acres or Tea in one proprietor's hands is 

 a good deal, but this is the fortunate case of Mi.-. 

 Jas, Blackett of Dolosbage who, moreover, has the 

 satisfaction of knowing that his fine-looking fields are 

 all grown from a good jat of tea and all promise 

 luxuriant crops of good leaf. 



Tea Eolling, — A planting correspondent writes: 

 — I have just heard that J. Mclnnes, Walker & 

 Greig's Manager in BaduUa, has finished a hand- 

 roller suitable for small tea estates. Ho expects 

 it to roll from 80 to 'JO Xb. of leaf an hour and 

 the probable cost of the machine will be about 

 liloO, so small is the roller that 2 coolies can 

 carry it. 



The Vixe on ouk Moutain Plateaux. — We 

 understand that Mr, Gordon Cirinlinton has been 

 successful in growing grapes of a fair (juality at 

 Portswood near Nuwara Eliya. This is the lirst 

 time we have heard of the vine fruiting at so 

 high an elevation in Ceylon. Jaffna and Dumbara 

 are usually the situations associated with grapes, 

 although the climate and soil of Uva in many 

 parts ought to be admirably adapted for vine 

 culture, 



Cas^sia Li'iNEA ANP THi; Chtts'amEn.— According to 

 the report of the Superintendent of the Afforestation 

 Department of Hong Kong for 1SS5, there is a great 

 difhculty in growing this tree, as the following extract 

 from the report will show: — "The plantations of Cassia 

 Ligaea that were made on the hills north of Aberdeen 

 would probably have been iu a thriving condition by 

 this time but for the persistence of the Chiucse iu 

 breaking off the leaves and branches of the plants. 

 They appear to attach some importance to the plant 

 as a medicine, and despite the vigilance of the forest 

 guards, they succeed iu keeping the plants in an almost 

 leafless condition. Even iu the Botanic Gardens, where 

 the plants are protected by iron tree-guards and wire 

 nettuig, they have killed several plants by pre>istcntly 

 defoliating them and wrenching off the branches."— 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, 



