Junk i, 1887.] 



1-HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



840 



DURATION OF AN ASSAM-HYBRID TEA- 

 BUSH UNDER CULTIVATION; 



The question raised by Mr. J. L. Anstruther, 

 and to which we only very hurriedly responded 

 in our last issue, is one of great practical im- 

 portance. The fear evidently entertained is that 

 subject to the heavy and continuous pruning 

 which tea receives at the hands of the planter 

 in Ceylon and India, can it be fairly expected to 

 last beyond a very limited term of years. To 

 any one who has seen a Tea Garden after the 

 knife has been thoroughly applied, the doubt is 

 not an unnatural one. The sight of the bushes 

 cut down until not a single leaf is visible is not a 

 very encouraging one. " Can these dry sticks live ?" 

 springs spontaneously to the mouth of the observer. 

 Now we are not going to enter on the vexed question 

 of " pruning," further than to say that a good 

 deal has, no doubt, yet to be learned on the sub- 

 ject in Ceylon, and that it would be well for 

 planters in different districts to initiate experi- 

 ments on their own account, meantime, studying 

 all the literature on the subject, including the 

 thoughtful paper by Dr. George King of Calcutta 

 on " tea pruning." Already, there is considerable 

 division of opinion in Ceylon, some with experi- 

 ence averring that the " annual " pruning should 

 rather be one of " eighteen months " interval, 

 and that a slight pruning should often be suffi'iient. 

 This, of course, apart altogether from the im- 

 portant question raised in our letter " From the 

 Hills " on Saturday as to whether our bushes 

 should not be left to grow much longer 

 than is usual before the knife is put in 

 at all. Such is undoubtedly the opinion of 

 a good many of our Indian critics. Some have 

 gone the length of saying that a very few years 

 will show the wrong principle upon which we have 

 been acting, and that our bushes will then need 

 a long rest and do nothing or very little for two 

 or three years. But we do not think such gentle- 

 men make sufficient allowance for the wonderfully 

 recuperative character of the Ceylon climate, 

 especially in our moist region, so far as the tea-bush 

 is concerned, nor for the hardy character of the plant 

 itself as exhibited even in our poorest soils. 



Then as regards the life of the bush, in Ceylon even, 

 we have some data to supply for the reassurance of 

 Mr. J. L. Anstruther and his "Job's comforters." 

 The first clearing in Loolcondura— 20 acres — was 

 felled by Mr. Taylor we believe at the end of 18(57 and 

 has been cropped continuously we suppose, for about 

 17 years. We feel sure no objection will be 

 offered to an inspection as to its condition today. 

 Then again Mr. C. Shand reminds us that he has 

 tea in iiakwana-on the Barra flat which was 

 always considered as worthless by coffee planters 

 — under regular cultivation and pruning from 19 

 to 20 years. We cannot go beyond this in Cey- 

 lon but the question is well asked whether the 

 case of cinnamon should not afford some comfort 

 to the dubious tea planter. The same cinnamon 

 bushes are flourishing today that have had their 

 main stems hacked and cut away periodically 

 for over a hundred years back and still the process 

 goes on with good results over the same roots 

 and stumps. 



But it is from Northern India and Assam mainly, 

 that we must gain the information calculated to 

 relieve the suspicion that the tea-bush under 

 pruning is short-lived. One authority writing 

 on tea either in Assam or China, speaks of 100 

 years as the life of a tea-bush ; but we cannot 

 recall where we read that statement whether 

 in Fortune's or Colquhoun's book ? Of more inti- 

 107 



mate bearing is the fact that the original Assam 

 Company began operations in the " forties", their 

 first shipment of tea being made in 1817. It 

 will be of special interest to learn whether the 

 clearing from which this was gathered is still in 

 operation and if not, what is the age of the oldest 

 garden in regular and full cultivation in Assam ? 

 This is a question which we hope to have answered 

 in due course by one or other of the Ceylon men now 

 in Northern India who get the Overland Obsevirr or 

 by an Assam planter who will read of this dis- 

 cussion in his Tropical Agriculturist. 



THE LIFE OF THE' ASSAM-HYBRID TEA 

 TREE. 



Pundaluoya, May 20th. 



Dear Sib, — Can you or any of your kind corre- 

 spondents inform me of the " duration of life "in 

 the Assam hybrid tea bush under cultivation and 

 harvesting. I observe that " Fortune" in his book: 

 "Tea countries of China," states "the length of 

 time which a plantation will remain in full bear- 

 ing depends of course on a variety of circum- 

 stances, but with the most careful treatment 

 consistent with profit, the plants will not do much 

 good after they are ten or twelve years old ; they 

 are often dug up, and the space replanted before 

 that time." I trust for the sake of our industry, 

 that with us the hybrid plant will live and give 

 profit somewhat longer, although from a sympa- 

 thetic point of view the poor plant having such 

 a painful existence after we have once begun to 

 operate upon it, it might not be desirable. While 

 on this subject, 1 do not think that the mys- 

 terious mortality amongst apparently healthy 

 bushes all through plantations, at various ages, 

 has ever been satisfactorily explained. Can it be 

 that the bushes lose heart at the terrible future 

 before them, and prefer to succumb rather than 

 brave it, or prefer death to existence under the cir- 

 cumstances. — Yours faithfully, 



J. L. ANSTRUTHER.- 



[The existence of the " Symplocos " tree often 

 accounts for dying out : see Tea Planter's Manual. 

 As to the age of the Assam-Hybrid bush under 

 cultivation, we do not see why it should not 

 flourish and bear profitably for 30 to -10 years 

 and there must be gardens of that age in Assam. 

 We shall endeavour to make sure on this point.— 

 Ed.] 



COFFEE, CACAO AND TEA PROSPECTS. 



Our South-west monsoon, in the opinion of the 

 most competent local authority. Master Attendant 

 Donnan, may be considered to have fully sot in 

 at Colombo and the biggest thunderstorms of the 

 season may be regarded, we fancy, as being over. 

 But there will be some more rain yet to come, 

 although April gave us nearly three times its 

 average, and the total for the year is also above 

 the average. Thus the average of 17 years' rain- 

 fall at Colombo for the first five months is 

 almost exactly 32 inches, whereas to date (21st 

 May) we have had over 3r)-\ inches, of which no 

 less than 23-80 inches fell in the one month of April. 

 We have therefore no reason whatever to complain of 

 our South-west monsoon allowance at Colombo. 

 But the case is very different upcountry, where "a 

 failure of monsoon" has already been an alarming 

 note sounded from some districts. This cry is, how- 

 ever, premature ; there is plenty of time yet for 

 plenty of rain, and even now heavy clouds are moving 

 on from the Indian Ocean across the lowcountry to 

 the hill districts to gladden the hearts of the tea 

 planters and render them aa busy as possible 



