Oct, i, iSS6.] 



THE TROF*lCAL AGRICULTURIST, 



277 



BEST SEASON FOR PBUNING TEA? 



21st September 1886. 



Dear Sir — The question, " What is the best month 

 in which to prune tea on estates exposed to the 

 south-west monsoon " is often asked and various 

 answers with reasons which appear conclusive 

 to each advocate, are given making the matter 

 rather confusing to a new hand at the work. 

 One man will advise a commencement in .June, 

 another in July, others at different dates uj) to 

 October ; a few preferring the north-east monsoon 

 to prune in. 



Judging from the growth on coffee and other 

 plants throughout the south-west monsoon together 

 with the short experience we have of tea, June 

 and July pruning is I think a mistake, except on 

 places under 2,000 feet. In these months there is 

 a good yield of leaf and what is of great im- 

 portance, the tea made— where the withering ac- 

 commodation is sufficient — is of finer quality than 

 is made earlier in the season. On the other 

 hand, nothing appears to be gained by this early 

 ^)runing, unless when the bushes require a length- 

 ened rest after pruning. 



To make the most of the bushes, I would pre- 

 fer doing this work from middle of August to 

 middle of Se)Dtember : the first plucking would thus 

 fall to be taken in the first half of October and 

 would escape injury from the burst of the north- 

 east monsoon which usually comes on about 20th 

 October. The second growth would start in Novem- 

 ber and the tea afterwards be in fine bearing 

 condition for the best plucking months— March to 

 June. Later pruning than this would shorten the 

 yield from the small surface there would be to 

 pluck from in the best months. 



On estates approaching sea-level where in the 

 wet season there is sufficient heat to induce the 

 bushes to flush, pruning might with advantage 

 be done in the dry season, but perhaps the pro- 

 longed drought immediately after pruning would 

 have a damaging effect on the tree and probably 

 cause a portion of the wood to die back. Has 

 pruning been tried at this season in low-lying 

 districts ? ALFYSO. 



Ikdlus' and Kaffir Labouf. in Natal are thus 

 noticed in the London letter of the Imlian Planters^ 



Gazette: — 



The following information re Indian labour in Natal 

 will not come amiss after what has already been 

 sent you in reference to Natal. The necessities of 

 the Coast plantations have led to the introduction 

 of East Indian or coolies labourers in considerable 

 numbers by Government ageucj', cbiefiy at the em- 

 ployers' expense. Several laws have been passed to 

 regulate terms of payment, and to provide for the 

 due care and protection of the immigrant. Indians 

 are engaged to tlieir employers for the term of five 

 years, after which they are free to engage in i-uy 

 occupation they choose, and at the end of ten years 

 from their first coming to the Colony they can claim 

 to be returned to their country by the Government 

 or to have au equivalent in land to the amoimt of 

 their passage money- A sum of £10,000 is annually 

 set aside as a Government contribution to the ex- 

 penses of this immigration. The interests of the 

 coolies thus imported are looked after by an officer 

 specially appointed (" the Protector of Immigrants," a 

 familiar term to your readers) and a complete medi- 

 cal and general staff. From the 17th November 18tj0 

 to the end of ISS."), there arrived in the Colony Hf,.582 

 Indian immigrants including men, women, and cliildren, 

 of these nearly 5,000 have returned to India, on coni- 



Eletion of term of service, or have left for elsewhere 

 y license. Of indentured Indians, there are now, in- 

 cluding women and children, about 10,000 in the 

 Colony; and of "free" Indians, about 19,000 

 Indiana are now tg some extent employed in 



the midlands and up-country. Considerable numbers 

 of the " free " Indians are at work on their own 

 account as farmers, market-gardeners, traders, and 

 hawkers. As a rule, all the Indians adhere to thoir 

 old habits in diet.dress, social eustoms,and religious ob- 

 servances. Hence an oidcl/amhib going to Natal would, 

 so far as he employed Indian labourers, feel quite 

 at home. The native population I have already alluded 

 to in a former letter ; it comprises various tribes, 

 but all of the Zulu type, and all use Zulu language, with 

 slight dialectic differences. The experience of 50 years 

 shows an unbroken record, except in a few unimpor- 

 tant instances, of submission to law and order and 

 of good social relationships with their white neigh 

 hours and employers. Naturally good tempered, docile 

 and honest, they appreciate just and fair treatment 

 and many friendships have been formed between the 

 two races. The Government of this large population 

 (361,766) has been carried on with scarcely a disturb- 

 ance and taxes amounting to a considerable sum 

 have been collected from them year by year with- 

 out friction or serious difficulty. 



" Artificial Quinine."— Here is how the 

 British Trade Journal deals with this subject : — 



No sooner does the "silly season" set iu than 

 the daily press astomshes its readers by announce- 

 ments of " remarkable discoveries " which are to 

 "revolutionise" either this or that particular indus- 

 try. Last autumn a London journal published the 

 startling intelligence that the present sugar indus- 

 try—beet as well as cane— was to be annihilated by 

 the wonderful returns cf sugar which it claimed 

 could be obtained from the Mahu-a or 2fo>rra tree of 

 Hindostan. As was pointed out sliortly afterwards, 

 this was nothing but a Munchausen story, since 

 the flowers in question contain only 1-04 per cent 

 of sacciiarine matter, and even that small quantity 

 is fit for nothing but brewing and distilling pur- 

 poses. We believe it was the same moruing journal 

 that reproduced the American hoax of the new 

 species of cotton tree with pods weighing each from 

 2 to 3 lb., by which the cotton trade was to be 

 " revolutionised." This year the same newspaper 

 brings forward a " remarkable discovery" of the arti- 

 ficial mode of making quinine, which will, we are se- 

 riously told, bring down the price of that drug to 

 something like 3d per oz. We are also told that 

 this important discovery " was made by the acci- 

 dental breaking of a medicine bottle." But, as we 

 are well aware that all great discoveries are usually 

 the result of accident, this need not surprise any 

 one. Tlie reallj- extraordinary part of the story 

 is that good quinine "can now be manufactured 

 without limit by a very simple process from an article 

 which can always be got in abundance in any part of 

 the World." In order to round off the story it should 

 have been stated that the artificially-made drug had 

 been admiinstered in cases of fever with the most 

 satisfactory results ; but to this extreme the inventor, 

 doubtless with a discreet regard for his patients, 

 appears not to have gone. We have the best authority 

 for stating that the announcement that an eminent 

 firm of manufacturing chemists has expressed itself 

 favourably with regard to the alleged discovery is 

 entirely false. It has yet to be proved that any- 

 one has really succeeded in producing so complex 

 a body as quinine synthetically; and it is extre- 

 mely improbable that even if produced at all it could 

 be made at any very low price. Before such 

 statements are accepted and published by any 

 newspaper it would be strongly advisable to have 

 certain evidence of their correctness 



■till more interesting is it to learn from 

 Olieinist and Drucjrjist : — 



Artificial Quinine.— Referring to the alleged dis- 

 covery of artificial quinine Mr. J. 0. B. Moens writes 

 from Haarlem :— "The French chemist who in 1882 

 claimed to have discovered a synthetical process of 

 quinine manufacture was so confident of bis discovery 

 that he actually submitted samples of his prepam- 

 tion to the Academy of Sciences for inspection. The 

 almost incredible fact was then revealed that the so- 

 called sulphate of quinine was nothius; but sulphate 

 of ammonia." 



