6i8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1883, 



several in Kaiidy) io pruning is instead of taking ofif 

 the shoots (or twigs) at the joint is to ]e:iv« about 

 9 01' 12 inches on ; see sketch Ho. 2, which allows the 

 tree to throw out auy amount of wool fti'd leaves 

 but Uttle or no blossom. ONE WHO KNOWS. 



WEEDING ON COFFEE ESTATES, 

 giRj — The question of weeding coffee estates seems 

 to have resolved itself in most cases not into one of 

 the damage done to the coffee by weeds so much as 

 what suoulil tie the proper medium maintained be- 

 tween perfectly clean weeding and allowing the weetU 

 to grow up to be either hoed or cut down periodically ? 

 There can be little doubt that as rr-gards cost of weed- 

 in", if an estate be weeded montldy from the time it 

 is openeil, the expenditure under this head will lie aa 

 small as can possibly be expected by any other method ; 

 but whether the continual tciaping of the soil and 

 the carryiug-off and burying or Ijurning of the weeds 

 to effect a thorough state of cleanliness do not in 

 the lone run cause more damage to the estate by loss 

 of soil than is actually saved in cost of weeding is 

 a moot point that seems hard to settle. Could planters 

 manage to keep sufficient labour all the year round 

 to handweed the estate at intervals whenever the 

 superintendent saw that the weeds were likely to 

 seed, if not pulled out, and were these weeds then 

 thrown on the ground after having the earth shaken 

 off their mots, it seems this would be the most de 

 sirable way of carrying on weeding, as the ground 

 woul'i not be kept too bare and too much exposed 

 to the sun's rays, neither would the soil be lost by 

 scraping ; and yet the puUing-up of the weeds when 

 a fair size loosens the soil; whilst their being spiead 

 over the surface of the ground after being pulled up 

 would stop wash. 



But this system is almost impracticable, owing to the 

 labour difficulty, as, though an estate may be most suc- 

 cessfully hand weeded for a year or two, it is rarely that 

 a planter is able to control his labour supply so as exactly 

 to suit his requirements. A heavy crop (save the mark!) 

 or anxiety to put out the manure, or push on with 

 handling, too often necessitating the withdrawal of 

 some portion of, if not the whole of, the weeding gang, 

 till the pressing work is finished. When once the estate 

 has been allowed to get weedy, what is the best 

 and cheapest method of keeping it in a cultivated 

 state : that is, so that the coffee can grow without a 

 chauce of beiug choked out and on the other hand 

 the proprietor can save any useless expendiiure of 

 money by a too vigorous application of handweeding 

 combmed with scraping ? This is aquestion that really 

 affects planters in a most serious way, with the short 

 crops we are now having and the woeful price of coffee. 

 With many it will be a case of not weeding for the 

 next four to six months for want of funds. Now, 

 does it not seem foolish that a system of handweed 

 ing and scraping should be carried on by planters to 

 the la«t moment they can afford it, and then have to 

 be given up for lack of funds, eo that in a few months 

 the work and saviugs of years is destroyed, if the 

 planter has been cherishing the idea that a 

 cleaukept estate is the cheapest in the long run ? 

 Would it. not be best to try and evolve some system 

 out of ali the experience gained on the subject of 

 weeding by which a systematic style of weediug could 

 be followed from the opening of a new estate : one 

 that would comliine cheapness, the advantages of so 

 keepino down the weeds as to let the coffee grow 

 vigorously, the return to the enil of weeds as a green 

 manure or mulching and the benefit to be derived 

 from digging wit b the pronged hoe? 



Can any of your correspondents oblige with the out- 

 line of a system that will combine these advantages, 



giving cost per acre of each weeding with the average 

 of labour at four annas, for we must su|ipose that 

 women, girls! and boys could be employed, as other- 

 wise what could we employ them at besides weeding, 

 and where could we get a sufficient force of men to 

 carry out heavy holing or cutting with the grass knife? 

 SOUTH TEAVANCORE. 



MR. C. SHAND'S TEA DRYER. 



Colombo. 21st Dec. 1882. 



Dear Sie, — With reference to your remarks and 

 queries regarding my tea drying machine, will you 

 allow me to mention that, as it is not intended to 

 sustain any pressure of steam, the drying surface can- 

 not easily be heated over 150 degrees ? 



As a matter of course, the tea takes a longer time 

 to dry than when made by Siroccos, In which the 

 temperature is maintained at 275 degrees, but the 

 extent of drying surface available makes this a matter 

 of secondary importance. 



I did not mean that no care or attention is required 

 to keep up fire and supply boiling water periodically 

 from a cistern placed over the flue ; but you can 

 understand that the same care, judgment and observ- 

 ation is not required to dry tea at a comparatively 

 low temperature as at a very high one : for instance, 

 it does not injure coffee to allow it to remain on the 

 barbacue after it is thoroughly dry ; but put it 

 in a roaster, and what care and judgment is not re- 

 quired to perfect the roasting ! 



No doubt, by the use of .Siroccos and other modem 

 appliances, the risk of fire-burning is now greatly 

 diminished, but these still require great care in shift- 

 ing the trays and watching the thermometer. This 

 constant watching is obviated by the use of my machine, 

 and all the superintendent has to do is to feel when 

 the tea becomes crisp and dry ; he has the security 

 that, if this is neglected to be done at the moment 

 it is sufficiently dry, no injury takes place by its 

 remaining on the heated surface. 



The machine is especially adapted for redrying tea 

 before packing, this being an operation carried on at 

 a low temperature, and requiring a good deal of care. 



There are, it is well known, two difficulties con- 

 nected with the proper manufacture of tea, requiring 

 at present the constant supervision of the superintend, 

 ent : these are fermentation and firing. If the necessity 

 of closely watching the latter can be dispensed with, 

 it gives the superintendents more time to direct the 

 fermentation, on which the colour of the infused leaf, 

 and consequently the value, so greatly depends. — 

 Yours truly C. SHAND. 



[We are glad to get these details, and now it would 

 be interesting to have the opinions of experts on 

 specimens of leaf dried over charcoal fires in the original 

 fashion ; by means of the .Sirocco and other dryers 

 where fire is used and finally over Mr. Shand's steam- 

 heated surface. — Ed.] 



APHIDES ON TEA : THE BANE AND 

 ANTIDOTK. 

 Western Provinc-, 21st Deer. 1882. 



Dear Sir, — By same post I send you a match-box 

 containing a few young tea shoots, with numbers of 

 small poochies like bugs on them. What are they? 

 Because, if they happened to get as numerous as the 

 ordinary coffee bug, it would be a case of either pruning 

 down the bushes, or iutroduoiiig a new class of tea 

 yclept " full flavoured poochie pekoe." You will ob- 

 serve they invariably " go for' the tender young 

 flush in preference to the older leaves.— Yours faith- 

 fi.ily LONACH. 



[Our eulomological referee, to whom we sent the box, is 

 good enough to make the following remarks- — " Thfl 

 small poochies are aphides. Along with those sent in the 



