August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



well sheltered from wind. Flat ground is better than 

 sloping. The climate must be moist, but a well-marked, 

 dry season, if not too long, is no disadvantage. The soil 

 should be deep and well drained ; good forest soil is, of 

 course, best, but that of native gardens is generally very 

 suitable. 



2. Planting.— The seeds must be sown as soon as poss- 

 ible after they are gathered, as they quickly spoil for germ- 

 ination after becoming dry. Germination commences 

 soon and proceeds very rapidly, and the young plants are 

 very impatient of being transplanted, unless with the 

 adoption of such precautions as will prevent any injury to 

 their roots. Arrangements must, therefore, be made either 

 for growing the seeds in a nursery in such a manner as 

 to allow at least a foot between each seedling, so that they 

 may subsequently be taken up with the earth about their roots 

 or for sowing them singly in bamboo or other pots, or for put- 

 ting two or three seeds in each place it is intended a tree shall 

 occupy, afterwards allowing only the strongest seedling of 

 these to remain. The last plan is the best for native cultiv- 

 ators. In plantations the trees should stand at from 10 to 

 15 feet apart, according to the richness of the soil, 12 feet 

 beiug a good average distance. 



3. Cultivation. — It is necessary to shade the seedling 

 plants when young: this is effected by branches fastened 

 in the ground of any tree which retains its withered 

 leaves — as cinnamon, mora, &c. There is no occasion to 

 provide any permanent shade in most parts of Ceylon, 

 but shelter from wind is of great importance. Plenty of 

 light and a free ventilation of air are essential for the 

 production of good and abundant crops. The ground under 

 the trees must be kept perfectly free from weeds, and 

 may be littered with decaying leaves and other vege- 

 table matter. Manure is very beneficial. The trees 

 should be kept from growing higher than 10 or 12 feet, 

 and the primary branches be encouraged to assume a hori- 

 zontal direction ; redundant shoots from these or from 

 the trunk must be pinched off when young. The prin- 

 cipal trunk and branches should be kept very clean, aud 

 great care should be taken that the small and delicate 

 flowers are not rubbed off or injured. 



4. Gathering. — A first crop may be expected on good 

 soil in the third year. The fruit must be quite ripe before 

 it is gathered ; this is known by the rind having a yellow- 

 ish colour when cut into. The pods should be cut off 

 cleanly with a knife, and not too close to the stem. They 

 can be easily split by a blow from a wooden mallet, and 

 the seeds and pulp are then taken out and put into baskets 

 to be carried to the curing-place. 



5. Curing. — The seeds should be heaped together to 

 " sweat." This may be done in pits or boxes, or better on 

 a platform covered with coir matting ; the seeds should be 

 covered over with matting, gunny bags, or a tarpaulin. 

 Every other day they must be thoroughly turned over un- 

 til the process of fermentation has gone far enough, which 

 will be in seven, eight or nine days ; on the proper dur- 

 ation of this depends the goodness of the sample. The 

 mucilage and pulp round the seeds is now ready to be 

 washed off, and this washing requires several repetitions 

 with plenty of water. As soon as clean they should be at 

 once spread out on mats in the sun to dry, avoiding, how- 

 ever, the extreme heat of the day, aud in about three days 

 they will be fit for the market. In wet weather the drying 

 must be done by artificial heat in the house. 



When woll dried the " beans " should be perfectly clean, 

 with a thin pale cinnamon-brown skin, of one colour all 

 through, and entirely free from damp or mouldiness. 



Henry Tbimen, Director, K B. G. 



The Government have offered R50,000 for the dis- 

 covery of a machine or process to strip the fibre from 

 the stalk of rhea in a way to put the produce in the 

 market cheap, workable and plentiful. A Mr. Ander- 

 son now in Darjeeling has discovered how to do what is 

 wanted. He has come from England to place the 

 process and to demonstrate it before Government, aud 

 goes to Calcutta in a few days to form a syndicate 

 to work his patent. From his specification and his 

 specimen of results the process seems simple, cheap, 

 and successful. — Madras Times, 



NOTES ON TEA. 



When noticing the report of the Assam Tea Com- 

 pany we intended to draw the special attention of 

 our readers to the fact that notwithstanding so low 

 an average selling rate for their teas as Is Id per lb. 

 the Company were able to divide profits of 14 per 

 cent for the year, this being equal to the average of 

 a long series of years, in some of which the teas 

 averaged twice the price they realized in 1SS3. This 

 result was mainly due to the substitution of machin- 

 ery for hand labour, and to some extent no doubt 

 to improved means of communication. In Ceylon the 

 tea enterprize practically begins -with machinery, good 

 means of communication and an abundant supply of 

 labour available. 



With regard to the formation of the tea-plant into 

 a good bush from the very commencement — that is, 

 from the first year of its field life, we notice that 

 the Indian Tea Gazette has extracted the letter we 

 had upon the subject a short time ago, together 

 with our own editorial upon it. As there is a very 

 large acreage of young tea now in Ceylon we 

 think it is our duty to again record the results 

 of our own experience. The tea on Abbotsford, 

 some of which is now 7 and 8 years old, was al- 

 lowed after the Indian fashion to grow at its own 

 free will for the first two years without a knife 

 being applied to it in any way, the consequence 

 being that when it teas cut down the bushes had 

 attained the height of 0, 10, and even 13 feet 

 with, in most cases, a clear single et^m with- 

 out a lateral under IS or 24 inches, so that after 

 pruning the fields presented the appearance of a 

 manufactory of hat-pegs. By careful manipulation 

 they were beiug got into shape, when at the com- 

 lnencemeut of last year by the late Mr. Cameron's 

 advice they were again maltreated for a time by 

 having their 1 side branches regularly plucked. The 

 ruinous results of this system beiug speedily perceived, 

 however, the advice was at once set aside (during 

 Mr. Cameron's life time) and the order was giveD 

 and has since strictly been adhered to that no 

 side branches (that is, of course, bdolo tho level 

 of pruning) should be touched, except where they 

 trailed on the ground or ran into the adjoining bush. 

 The result is that bushes 5, 7, 10, and even 12 feet 

 in diameter are common. 



In dealing with young tea planted iu 1881 and 1882 

 the superintendent of Abbotsford used the experience 

 he had gaiued from the failure of the Indian method, 

 and adopted one which he considered more suited to the 

 (to outsideis) incredible rapidity of Ceylon growth. 

 At 10 months he began nipping off the tops of all 

 plants over 2 ft. 9 in. high, aud continued this pro- 

 cess till the plants were IS months old, when he 

 sent round six of his best podians with sharp knive3 

 to top all down to their 18 incii measuring sticks. 

 The result is that the young fields form one sheet 

 of uniform spreading bushes, with surfaces of from 

 2 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. diameter in the case of 20 month 

 old plants, and 3 to 5 ft. diameter in those 32 months 

 old. We think we are at liberty to quote Messrs. 

 Win. Smith, G. M. Ballardie, G. A. Talbot, H. K. 

 Rutherford, C. E. Strachau, J. Huntly Thriug, aud 

 J. A. Rossiter, among a host of others, who can 

 testify to having seen this tea for themselves. 



Belore passing on we take this opportunity to 

 mention that we are more than ever conviuced of 

 the immense benefit tea renders to cinchona. Three 

 years ago we planttd up every fifth row of tea with 

 cinchona, chiefly oflicinals and hybrid, and the losses 

 are practically nil while the trees are now undergoing 

 the Mclvor stripping process, having already had a 

 partial shaving. That they do not materially affect 

 the yield of tea flush is proved by the confident ex- 



