NoVi u t 



.1 



^Hfl tRdl*f^AL AGRICOLtl/RlB''T. 



55f 



THE TEA PLANTEll'S MANUAL*. 



2otIi October 1886. 



"The Tea Planter's Manual" of Mr. T. C. Owen 

 which has lately been issued from the Press is 

 a useful little book, and comes to meet a much 

 felt want. With tea as its topic, it has a wide 

 horizon, and should have a wide circle of readers. 

 Every manner of subject connected with our new 

 product is more or less discussed, and the budding 

 tea planter who is all alive for information and 

 has an insatiable appetite for "wrinkles" as well 

 as the man who poses as an authority and is 

 above such things, may find in its pages something 

 instructive to the one, and interesting to the other. 



The book is unambitious; "more a compilation of 

 the opinions of others, and the results they have arriv- 

 ed at than an original work" is part of the modest 

 preface which introduces the reader to the " Manual." 



Still Mr. Owen does not efface himself when in 

 the presence of our most authoritative names, but 

 objects to their finding when he sees due cause— 

 " checks up" in the planter's vernacular — and in so 

 domg he but evinces the every day characteristic 

 of the class to which he belongs, who having ac- 

 quired their knowledge in the school of experience 

 are unwilling at the bidding of any to resign the 

 heritage won therefrom. 



In works of this' kind there are several classes — 

 compilations and compilations in fact — and those of 

 my readers who are acquainted with an ambitious 

 London book entitled " Tropical Agriculture " will, 

 when comparing it with " The Tea Planters' Manual" 

 appreciate the difference I speak of. The former 

 is a thing of paste and scissors, bundled together 

 any way, contradictory, confusing, and unsafe; 

 whereas the "Tea Planters' Manual" — albeit largely 

 the work of the paste pot and cuttings — has like 

 the famous artist's paints, a mixture of brain 

 therewith, and is all the more valuable for the 

 addition. It is in fact a practical treatise from a 

 practical man. 



Yet it is not perfect and has some sins of omission, 

 which might be remedied in another edition. 



For example, in the estimate for opening 200 

 acres there is an item for roads and drains, and 

 we can suppose a student of the " Manual" 

 anxious to get some information as to the best 

 kind of roads to cut. K15 an acre is allowed for 

 reading and draining ; but when he turns to the 

 chapter on " Field cultivation," he finds nothing 

 whatever to guide him regardiag roads except 

 a few general statements as to the desirability 

 " to make all portions of the estate as readily 

 accessible as possible." The information about 

 the drains is complete enough ; " good 18-inch 

 drains at from 30 to 50 feet apart according to 

 the character of the land, at a gradient of 1 in 

 15 ft." What I complain of is that similar definite 

 information has not also been given regarding 

 the roads. In a Manual there should be no 

 taking for granted. A similar objection applies to the 

 item under nurseries. It runs as follows : — " Nurseries 

 and cost of "25 maunds seed which should have 

 been laid down previously 112,000." Now how is 

 this to be a guide to any one? How much for 

 seed? How much for nurseries ? Again I turu back 

 to the chapter on " Seed and Nurseries," and al- 

 though there is no reason to complain of the 

 general information in this case, which indeed is 

 very full, still the cost of making beds, planting, &c., 

 Is not given. All you have to guide you as to cost 

 is the remark, " I do not think E2 per 1,000 is t«o 

 high an allowance for the cost of raising good plants 

 including cosi of making a nursery." What a 



""♦By T. C. Owen; published by A. M, «c J. Fergusuu, 

 . Qbscmr Office, Colombo, 198(5, 



student of the "Manual " wants is detailed ifaform- 

 ation which will be useful to him in his work aS 

 it progresses day by day, although the other is 

 not without its value. To the experienced planter 

 details are not so important,, yet even he cannot 

 carry about in his head the cost of everything, 

 and I do not think that a Manual can be too 

 explicit or too full. One man wants one thing and 

 one another, and if both knew the whereabouts to 

 enquire for everthing, they would go there. 



The book has two coloured plans of factories 

 drawn to a scale, which must have added very much 

 to the cost of the " Manual," more I think, than they 

 are worth : and although they help to wear your book 

 out earlier than it otherwise should, still when you 

 add to the plates the figures estimated to erect such 

 a building — and remember what such estimates are 

 worth, those who don't care for them as plans, can 

 regard them as illustrations of what is expected from 

 the Ceylon planter, and more especially from the 

 favourite product, to the cultivation of which he is 

 now so devotedly attached. May it prove a true 

 prophecy. 



There is very much in the " Manual " to which 

 I should like to refer, but already I am near 

 my limit, and must deny myself the pleasure. If I 

 here objected to some things, it is not that I do 

 not appreciate this new addition to the Ceylon 

 Planting Manuals : but rather that I should see its 

 present value enhanced. The book i^ stuffed full 

 of information, and the wonder is not that there 

 are some omissions, but that these omissions are so 

 few. As an " Enquire Within " for everything about 

 tea, I would commend it. Peppekcokn. 



Dr. H. J. Fox announces, in the St. Louis Medical 

 Journal, that creosote is almost a certain cure for 

 erysipelas, for he has treated some hundreds of 

 cases with only one fatal result. The affected parts 

 are kept constantly covered with cloths soaked in a 

 solution of creosote in water — six to twenty drops of 

 creosote to one ounce of water ; or a poultice may 

 be formed by stirring ground elm into the solution 

 so as to make a paste, — Aladrax Mail. 



Advantages of Crown Gkaftinc}. — By adopting 

 crown grafting, almost all the advantages of budding 

 upon single stocks are secured, and in this way part 

 of the work can be done in the winter, and not all 

 rushed into the hurry and bustle of summer. In crown 

 grafting it is best to use good, first-class stocks shorten- 

 ing the tap root a Httle, leaving 9 to 10 inches of 

 root, and use scions shorter than piece-root grafting, 

 say about 3 inches, and make the splice or union 

 just at the crown or collar of the seedling. Plant 

 the graft about 1 inch below the joint, leaving 2 

 inches of it above ground. Should any of the scions 

 fail, the seedhng will throw up a sucker, which can 

 be budded the same fall, and thus have nearly a 

 perfect stand. — N. H. Aluungh. — Journcd of Tore st it/. 



Lemon.— The Gardeners'' Chronicle says :— The lemon 

 plant, or sweet-scented verbena of our gardens (Aloysia 

 citriodra), holds a foremost place among Spanish herbs, 

 Every leaf of it is treasured and dried for winter 

 use, and it is regarded as the finest cordial and sto- 

 machic in the world. It is taken in two ways either 

 made into a decoction with hot water and sugar and 

 drunk cold as a refrtsco and tonic, or, better still, 

 with the morning and evening cup of tea. Put a sprig 

 of lemon verbena, say five or six leaves, into the tea- 

 cup, and pour the tea upon it ; you will never suffer 

 from flatulence, never be made nervous, never have 

 cholera, diarrh(ua, or loss of appetite. Besides, the 

 flavour is simply delicious; no one who has drunk 

 their Pekoe with it, will ever again drink it without 

 a sprig of lemon verbena. It may notjibe generally 

 known to our readers that some of our most success* 

 ful tea mixers have ac(iuired fame by using the leaves, 

 of this plant amongst their teat.,—Flantcr aiul Farmer 

 —["Is that 80/" fw they say in America,— Ed-1 



