4?4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1884. 



GKOWTH OF TEA AND OTHER TREES AT AN 



ALTITUDE OF FROM 4,800 TO 6,000 FEET 



IN UPPER LINDULA, CEYLON. 



EFFECT OK GAIN AFTER DROUGHT— MEASUREMENTS OF SEED- 

 BEARING TEA BUSHES — DISTANCES FOR PLANTING TEA- 

 PICKING AND PRUNING OF SIDE BBANCHES— TALL TEA TREES 



—GROWTH OF BLUE GUMS THE " GUM DISEASE " — TIMBER 



TREES— FAVOURABLE WEATHER FOR FLUSHING— OUTTURN — 

 PRUNING — RAINFALL— Helopeltis AlltO?lU ON THE TEA, BUT 

 LITTLE DAMAGE DONE. 



LiNDULA, 14th Oct. 

 The genial rains which have recently succeeded 

 the loug drought have brought out tea and other 

 vegetatiou wonderfully, and the flush on pruned tea 

 bushes can almost " be seen growing." The soil is 

 a good tea soil, but the altitude is what a few years 

 ago would be regarded as extreme. Our insular 

 position, contiguity to the equator and generally 

 regular alternation of tropical heat and moisture were 

 forgotten. On this estate (Abbotsford) tea promises 

 to compensate for all disappointment in the case of 

 Arabian coffee (we have not had much to complain 

 of in regard to cinchona from first to last), and 

 yesterday measurements were taken of unpruned tea 

 bushes reserved for seed-bearing and of pruned plants 

 operated on so as to promote lateral growth and 

 surface foliage, those present being the proprietors 

 (Messrs. A. M. Ferguson, senior and junior), Mr. 

 John Hampton, Mr. VV. B. Lamont and Mr. Max 

 Wright. The figures recorded by Mr. A. M. Ferguson, 

 junior, are as follows : — 



Tea Bushes. 

 Lower Estate. — Slightly less because side branches grow- 

 ing 



upwards now. 



'Giant tea bush 



I Big bush near 



s->S 



26 ft. w 29 m 24-6 "1 

 25 « 22-5 

 14 M 14-6 

 ^Circumference of stem 2 ft. 3 in. ; 9 in. diameter V 

 ''Another tree height 23-6 ; circumference of 

 stem at 3 ft. from ground IS in.; 6 in. diarn. 

 Another circumference of stem 2 ft. Zh in. 

 9 ft. m 8-2 ; circumfereuce 26-9 

 9-6 m 9-8 „ 28-9 



8-6 « 8-3 „ 25 



11-2 m 12-6 ... 16-2 

 one bush. oue surface, 



jj | 16-2 one surface, by Oyniru Gap. 

 t- ^ 7-9 M 7-9. Circumference 23J ft. 



Upper Estate.— Ai 6,000 ft., 2 yrs, old 4 ft. diam. 

 At 5,900 ft., 2 „ 3-6 



3 „ 5-6 h 5-6 J 

 Grevillea 11 yrs. old, circumference of stem 4 ft. 2 in. ; 



height about 50 ft. ; diameter 1-5. 

 Gum 8 yrs. old, circumference of stem 5 ft. 2 in. 

 height about 100 ft.; diameter 1-9. 

 The unpruned trees are all retained for seed-bearing ; 

 those pinned are all cut so as to compel them to 

 spread horizontally and yield the largest possible 

 quantity of "flush." Some of the trees are ex- 

 ceptional, but many of the pruned trees of similar 

 age show similar dimensions. Here, as elsewhere, there 

 is considerable disparity of growth in plants, but 

 generally the ground is being so rapidly covered that 

 I have felt compelled to give up the planting dis- 

 tance of 3' x 3' on which I insisted ever since re- 

 turning from Darjiling in 1876, in favour of 3' x 4'. 

 That up here. What, then was my amazement, to 

 hear a few days ago from one of the best and most 

 reliable authorities, that on the lowcountry tea estates 

 in Ceylon, closer and closer planting is being adopted, 

 until recently an experienced superintendent has 

 adopted 3' % -V ! Either the growth must be chiefly 



upwards in such cases, or the system of picking and 

 pruning side branches must be in vogue. The late 

 Mr. Cameron practised and recommended that system, 

 but, whether rightly or wrongly, the superintendent of 

 this estate now holds, after full experience, that he 

 would as soon cut his best friends as cut away 

 branches growing out sideways from his tea plants. 

 He is doing all he can, and with much success, to 

 obviate the evil produced by previous side-picking 

 and pruning ; and the trees are in most cases so rapidly 

 meeting, that the problem is how the pickers and cultiv- 

 ators are to make their way between plants put down 

 3' x 4'. If that is close enough at 5,000 to 6,000ft., it 

 would seem as if 4' x 5' would be a good distance at 

 anything below 1,000 or even 2,000 feet ; but of course, 

 each planter must finally decide on the results of his own 

 experience. The height of a handsome tea bush with 

 a nutmeg-tree habit of growth, on the side of a path, 

 is given at 23 feet 3 inches; but amongst trees of 

 the original 1874 nursery, allowed to grow up close 

 together, there must be specimens about 30 feet high 

 actual measurement some years ago having given 27 

 feet. In lateral growth, the giant tea tree seems the 

 largest as yet described. The superintendent specially 

 rejoics in the wide surfaces of his 2 and 3 years 

 old plants, which had never been picked or cut at 

 the sides, except to get rid of a straggling or super- 

 fluous branch. TheAeight of some of the blue gums 

 planted closely in 1870, estimated at 100 feet, took 

 even us by surprise. There promises to be a repro- 

 duction on a email scale of the grand scene at Fern- 

 shaw in Victoria, where the highest trees in the world 

 shoot up close together and branchless as far as the 

 eye can reach, like pipes of a vast organ. Our tall 

 gums are at 4,800 feet, near the site of " the old 

 buDgalow," and were never affected by the " gum 

 disease " which in 1S82 was so virulent at the higher 

 elevations. As ornamental and timber trees, howevor 

 we value the grevilleas more than the gums, while 

 the toon (Galrela totma) promises to flourish here 

 no insect having yet attacked the few fine specimens 

 raised from seed received from the Dehra Dun. The 

 Norfolk Island Vine,Aranraria Bidioillii, with cypresses 

 junipers, and other plants of various lands, do fairly 

 well up here. But surely, no timber tree in the world 

 can excel the blue gum for growth with 100 feet in 

 8 years ! Tea, however, requires shelter trees less 

 than any plant of economic value we know of, and 

 we mean in future to confine attention to Grevillea 

 robusta and the red cedar (toon), having a good deal 

 of indigenous timber trees left in belts. 



The weather is nil that could be desired for tea 

 flushing, and 1,700 lb. of dry tea were made here 

 last week from 0,944 lb. of green leaf. The quantity 

 would be much larger but lor the discretiou which 

 the superintendent telt bound to exercise of pruning 

 tome of his fields in May and other months most 

 productive of Mush. This year pruning has gone on, and 

 will go on all over the seasons. In future, it is hoped, to 

 concentrate the operation into the winter months. Not- 

 withstanding the qualifying effects of the pruning, 

 there is every prospect of the estimate of 500 to 600 

 lb. per acre being realized. Of course, some difference 

 may be made by rains in the north east monsoon, 

 heavy in proportion to the deficiency in the south- 

 west. As yet there is no sign of an abnormally rainy 

 monsoon, the rainfall this month having been on the 

 1st, 0-13 inches ; none on the 2nd and 3rd. On the 

 4th, 25 ; 5th, 0'28 ; 6th, 056 ; 7th, 016 ; Sth,02S ; 

 9th, 002; 10th, 067; 11th, 01 ; 12th, 013 and 13th, 

 l - 30. The rain has fallen chiefly at night and there 

 has been good, genial sun-heat during daylight. 



P.S. — The estate has suffered little from insects, 

 but I regret to say that a careful search has resulted 

 in the discovery of the undoubted presence of immat- 

 ure lielopeltis. I have assured myself of the identity 



