^4" 



THE -raOPlCAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[May I, 1886, 



TEA MANURING EXPERIMENTS. 



CONTINOAHON OF EXPERIMENTS WITH CASTOIi-rOONAC 



AND Castor-cake and Bone-dust in Combination, 



IN Season 1885, on "Cuandpoiik tea 



Estate," Chittauono. 



Having copied Jlr. McL, Carter's paper tloscrioing 

 the results in the first year after manuring his tea 

 with castor-cake alone and castor-cake ami bone-d\ist, 

 we are now glad to be able to lay before our readers 

 as copied from the 7Va (tazetU the figures showing 

 the continued effect in the second year. Mr, Carter 

 looks for further increased yield and profit in the 

 third year; — 



On a reference to the Indian Tea (iatette of Gth 

 October 1885, page 257, para. 2, I assumed the cost 

 of manuring with castor-cak'i alone 1 lb. per bush=24 

 cwt. per acre, as on plot 3, to amoiuit to 1I70 per acre, 

 and al.so that the increased yield of tea in second staaon 

 and without any further application of the manure 

 would be 30 per cent., and tliat in all probability it 

 will be actually 32 per cent. But the results at end of 

 season have not borne out either of these anticipations; 

 nevertheless the registered increase is still fairly aatis- 

 factory, as the following returns testify : — 

 2nd Season. 



Outturn of green leaf on tea per acre 



Plot No. 1 of i acre— no lb. lb. 



manure equal to 796 e(iual to 79() 



Plot No. 2 of i acre, 1 

 mauuro<l with 6 cwt. Bone I 



dust and 12 cwt. Castor- }-do. S99 do S99 



cake to the 13 cwt. of com- I 

 bination per acre J 



Plot No. 3 of 4 acre, "J 

 tnauured with 24 cwt. of ( 



Castor-poonac alone per [ 960 do 961 



acre ) 



Comparing one plot witk another, No. 2 shows an 

 increase (due to manure) of lb. 103 tea per acre equal 

 to 3 per cent over plot No. 1. 



And No. 3 an iucrea.<e of lb. 165 tea per acre equal to 

 20J per cent in excess of No. 1, whereas between Nos. 

 2 and 3 the latter gives an increase of lb. 65 tea per 

 acre equal to 7 per cent only. 



The profits per acre therefore are on Plot No. 2 : 

 as. R. A. P. 



Plot No. 1 of lb. 796 tea per 



acre at say 8equaltol39S 



Plot No. 2 of lb. 8R9 tea per 



acre at say 8 do. 449 8 



In favour of latter, lb. 103 tea 



per acre at say 8 as. equal to 51 8 

 Less cost of manure do nil 



Net profits per acre in 



2nd Season 

 Add profits per acre in 



1st Season 



do 



do 

 do 



51 8 or 81-6 percent 

 34 11 6or55-3 „ 



Total nett profits per 



acre in <•'■» Seasons do SO 6oriy6'9 „ 



eo.st per acre I should have said of combined juaiiura 

 on plots was Ke3-1-H in 1884. 



Results from Plot yo. J, 

 lb. B. A. P, 



Plot Noi 1 of 796 tea per acre 



St .-ay 8 as. ... 3fl8 

 Plot Ko. 3 of 961 tea per acre 



at say 8 as. ... 480 8 



In favor of letter by ^^.^^^ -^ 



lb. 165 8 as. .,. 82 8 

 Less cost of manure ... nil 

 Nrtt profits per acre in 2nd 



Season ... 82 8 or 1178 per cent. 



Add profits per acre iu Ist 



Season ... 72 8 or 103"5 per cent. 



I'otal nett profits per acre in two 



Sessoue 



165 or 221 '3 percent. 



The cost of manurirg per acre in 1831 on plot No 

 3 being R70. 



I have merely tj add furthnr, that Ihe bushes on 

 above plots were piu.ud down to 18 iichs on 25th 

 January, and that at e: d of Season 1835 their aveiage 

 growth was on — 



Plot No. 1 25 inches. 



,, 2 28 inches. 



n 3 27 inches. 



The areas were deep dug once on 21st December 1884, 

 and light hoed and ridged combined four times subse- 

 quently in Season 1885. 



The first flush was taken on 2yth March, and the 

 last on 29th December, making '26 flushes in Season 

 at average interval of 10^ days. The rainfall in the 

 year was close up 119-99— and average temperature 69° 

 to 70'^ at 6 A. M. daily. 



These trials will be carried on in 1886 also, which 

 makes the third Season ; and I expect the manured 

 plots will still show an increase of crop over the non- 

 manured adjacent area, and such a result will be em- 

 inently satisfactory. 



"ClIANDPORE," 1 F. McL. Caeter, 



Gth March 1886. > Manager. 



.SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF RHEA FIBRE. 



The Gohinief and India states : — 



The praiseworthy efforts made by the Govern- 

 ment of India to stimulate inventors to the dis- 

 covery of a means of economically preparing the 

 fibre of the Rhea or " China Grass " for manu- 

 facturing purposes have at last met with success. 

 For many years past the strength and beauty of 

 the fibre yielded by various species of Vrtica 

 have been fully recognised as superior in every 

 re.^pect to all known fibres, either for textile or 

 other manufactures. The fibre of the variety 

 known as Rhea or Ramie, mote popularly as 

 " China Grass," and in France as " Vegetable 

 Silk," has long been the admiration and despair 

 of experts and inventors, who have striven to 

 discover some means of separating it from the 

 bark and the wood of the plant, to which it 

 closely adheres, and to free it from the resinous or 

 gummy matter in which it is enveloped ; and only 

 the proved value of the product could justify the 

 efforts which have been so jjersistently made to 

 overcome the difficulties attending the reduction of 

 the raw material to a marketable state. The 

 honour of the discovery of a perfect method of 

 accomplishing this is divided between two French 

 inventors — one, M. Favicr, who has invented a 

 machine fur the production of " ribbons " by de- 

 corticating the stems of fibrous plants by steam, 

 and M. Freniy, who, in conjunction with M. 

 Urbain, Director of the Encyclopedic Chimique, 

 Palis, has perfected a system of converting such 

 ribbons into lilae'^e, ready for spinning. The beauty 

 aiul tensile strength contained in the Jilaxse pro- 

 duced by these joint processes from the fibre of 

 the Ramie is unequalled. It rivals silk in soft« 

 ness and glossiness, and excels even the celebrated 

 stijm Icnittii'iniii, or New Zealand (lax, for strength 

 and durability, while it is superior to both in the 

 alnwst unlimited fields which exist for its eulliv- 

 atioii. The trial of a piece of " belting" for 

 driving machinery, made of China grass, as com- 

 pared with a similar belt of leather, showed that 

 the former could sustain a stress of 8,326 lbs. peT 

 square inch, as against 4,"331t lbs. per square inch 

 borne by the latter ; while a water-hose of China 

 grujis containing watei- at a iTessnre of (iOO lbs. per 

 square ineli only " sweated " as much as ordinary 

 liose under 11 pressure of 100 lbs. The great dillicultyiu 

 the way of the economical utilisation of tliis fibre 

 ha> been the large quantity of resin or gum with 

 which the fibres are ooatcj.and which it is most dilli- 

 cult to separate, especially wbea the grabt it in a 



