October i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



253 



TEA PLUCKING. 



[^VLat follows applies to Darjilinf, which is iu 27'^ 

 North and close to the Hiumlayau snows, and to 

 Kaogra, which is still further uorth and much colder. 

 Both places, equally with Dehra Dun have marked 

 winters, and of a real winter we iu Oeylou know 

 nothing, except in shape of chill monsoon wiuds aud 

 rains. But the remarks on plucking are of general 

 application. The proprietor of the estate in Ceylon 

 which has sent the highest quality tea (judged by 

 prices obtained) into the market states that liis two 

 chief secrets were fine plucking and rather under 

 fermentation than over. — Ed.J 



Pickini; Leaf. — For the first two years, from seed- 

 lings, all that is necessary in this way is to present 

 any shoots running away from the main body of the 

 plant ; and in the third year, when picking properly 

 commences, great care should be taken not to overta.'C 

 the energies of the plant. In Kangra, at any rate, 

 if one gets during the third year from sixty to 

 eighty pounds per acre, and double that quantity in 

 the fourth, it is as much as can be expected, though 

 iu Darjeeling one might get one liuniU-ed pouuds 

 for the third year, and three maunds (two hundred 

 and forty pouuds) for the fourth. 



"We place the average yield of an acre in full 

 bearing iu Kangra at rather more than 200 lb. per 

 acre; lai.ing the whole of large area; though iu a 

 small acreage, highly cultivated, and carefully tended 

 300 lb., or iu exceptional instances even more, might 

 be obtained. 



In Darjeeling the average of a first-rate garden 

 making really good tea ought to be placed from four to 

 four-and-a-half maunds per acre ; and for an area, 

 say of a hundred acres, the property of an able 

 man, managing on his own account, an outturn of 

 400 lb. per acre of good tea might reward his exertions. 



Of course, the amount of tea that could be obtained 

 from a limited area, under special treatment, is more 

 a matter of interest to the curious than of practical 

 value to the planter. The greatest amount of tea 

 we ever heard of being made from one acre of 

 land (belonging to an Association with gardens run- 

 ning fnim the hills to the Terai) under such special 

 treatment, was nineteen maunds (1,520 lb.) Possibly 

 in Assam or elsewhere a higher result may have 

 been obtained. The different systems of picking leaf 

 now in vogue all have their advocates, jlost are in 

 favour of what in Darjeeling is called Kitppo paro 

 (leaving a jiortion of the lowest leaf plucked to protect 

 the coming shoot) ; but it is difficult, especially in a 

 heavy Hush, to make the cooly follow this system, 

 and pick a proper quantity of leaf, especially as 

 the top of the thumb and top of the first finger can 

 alone be used to do it properly, and these soon get 

 tired when very much has to be picked. It is a 

 great protection, however, from tearing the leaf off 

 the trees, which coolies are only too fond of doing. 



The thirl leaf often happens to be unsuitable for 

 picking: Lave that leaf; but where the shoot has 

 a sufficient quantity of leaves (five or six), not to 

 pick the third is to delay the new shoot, as it (the 

 third leaf) as well as the lower ones on the shoot, 

 have tj harden before a free flow of sap can he 

 afforded to the the new shoot. 



Of course, the finer the leaf that can be obtained 

 without plucking it before it is ready, and thus in- 

 juring the tree, the higher price will be obtained for 

 the tea ; and considering the high cost of carriage, 

 and the general disfavour that medium and indif- 

 ferent Indiiin teas etperience in the Home market, 

 our attention must be devoted to the manufacture 

 of really fine tea ; but it is very easy to run into 

 the other extreme, and in seeking to avoid the 

 Scylla of in lifferent tea, get (for the season, at any 

 rate) wreck d on the Cha-ylidia of making such fino 

 t»'a that th': outturn hardly pays working expenses. 

 Two hundred pounds an acre at fourteen annas a 

 pound, will probably leave a profit; one hundred 

 poutids at one rupee two annas will likel3% if not 

 inevitably, bring a man on the wrong side of his 

 books. As the main object of the planter, and of 



those whose capital is invested in the enterprize, is 

 pounds, shillings, and pence, and not amusement or 

 philanthropy, the happy me lium must be hit. The 

 ni )st paying tei in Kangra would, as a rule, be 

 what in an ordinary market would be a fourteen 

 anna tea; and, if this price is not obtained all 

 rt)uud, it is hardly worth of a man's while to engage 

 iu tho enterprize, with its attendant risks. Iu D.tr- 

 jei'ling a twelve-anna tea would pay very well; but 

 viewing what has been already stated, fourteen anna 

 standard might also be kept in view, and would 

 doubtless, by raising the character of the teas, im- 

 prove their value, the further aud further they were 

 n-moved from the ordinary run of Ohina tea: and 

 it is from falling into this category that all the 

 Indian hill districts have to keep aloof, if they wish 

 to maintaiu their distinctive character. It is to the 

 Lmdou market that Darjee'ing, at any rate, has to 

 look as the purchaser of its te;is, as it costs the 

 same to laud a tea that fetches fifteen pence, as it 

 does to land one that realizes two shillings. — Indian 

 Tea Gazette. 



AREC4NUT PALM CULTURE . 



Sir, — I feol very much obliged to your correspond- 

 ent for the further information he has kindly taken 

 the trouble to collect in reply to my questions re- 

 garding the areca palm cultivation at the Straits. 

 It certainly, as regards the correct distance apart to 

 plant, entirely supports what he said before ; and 

 further directly corroborates Mr. Borron's opinion. 

 .Still "fajt" is an unassailable argument, ami, how- 

 ever true it may be for particular localities that 

 wide planting is to be preferred, with the proofs 

 existing from which I have drawn my own conclu- 

 sions, I can only believe that it rather argues a 

 similarity of climate between the Straits Settlements 

 aud Matale East (was it not stated, either by your 

 ourrespoulent or some one else recently writing from 

 the Straits, that, whilst Liberian coffee was a success, 

 tea, though the plant grew well enough, was 

 p'actically an unquestionable failure there, owing to 

 the long-continued droughts, sufficiently severe to 

 crack the soil?) than supplying a rule applicable 

 generally; and it will take a good deal of practical 

 evidence to shake my faith in the belief that on a 

 closer system the heaviest gross yield is to be 

 obtained in a climate similar to Udagama, by liberal 

 cultivation, or on conditions of soil being similar 

 without. I even am almost lincined to go so far as 

 to believe, from what I have been able to notice, 

 that the number of nuts per tree will hardly be 

 m'lch less on the closer system. But your correspond- 

 ent has raised a fresh point, one on which I could 

 not venture any certain opinion at present, and that 

 well deserves considering, viz., that the widely planted 

 tree produces a finer sample, which no doubt must 

 raise the market value, aud would tend to equalize 

 the yield by weight. All I can say on the subject 

 of sample is that I believe that in the arecanut it 

 is markedly influenced by the quality of the soil, 

 whether rich naturally or manured ; and also by 

 not merely the variety, but by the standard sample 

 of the produce of the trees of any given variety 

 from which the seed nuts are taken, though I do 

 not know that it would be right to say that an 

 accidentally small seed from a select tree would 

 necessarily manifest much deterioration in its off- 

 spring ! I can give you, I think, iu each case an 

 instance in pomt. I bought a good number of" Haraban" 

 pooacs last year from different villages, and from 

 one of which they invariably averaged at least 

 double the size of those from elsewhere. On intpuring 

 the reason I was told it was on accoinit of the 

 better soil ! Again, on a well-Vnown propi-rty near 

 Kandy, on which I am not aware that the soil is 

 exceptionally poor, as I believe it has grown fine 

 cocoa, as well as fruit trees and other products 

 luxuriantly, there are a number of arecas of tlie 

 "Singalee" variety, but their produce is so small that 

 ou very good authority, I was told they brought fa' 



