TEA MACHINERY. 225 



Again, " Nil Desperandum," quoted above, continues : 

 I enclose a report on Darby's Digger from the Times and Pioneer, 

 which shows that it is an instrument possessing the principle we 

 require in deep hoeing, viz., turning the earth completely over, and 

 bringing the subsoil to the surface, although of course far too 

 unwieldy, costly, and weighty to be used in Tea. It is, however, the 

 first step in the right direction, as it closely copies spade action ; and 

 we may hope that before long a machine with that principle, and 

 capable of being worked in a Tea khet, will be brought out. For 

 light hoeing, last cold weather I procured from Messrs. Vipan and 

 Headly, Church Gate, Leicester, England, two expanding horse hoes, 

 which I worked all the hot weather, and which did their work 

 admirably and at a much cheaper rate than can be done by hand 

 labour. Two of these hoes hoe a i2-acre khet in six days up the lines 

 of Tea and across them, but to make a thorough job it is better to go 

 over the work again. The total cost of this : 



Planted 4' x 4' 



( Pay of boy and man 12 days ... 360 



For one hoe J Food of bullocks < 4 as. per 



200 

 diem, Barley @ 24 per Rupee ... 



Cost of light hoeing i2-acre khet ... ... ... =560 



2 



Against 10 12 o 



Nirrikh for 136 bildars, light hoeing, 240 spaces, 



4' x 4', per diem @ 0-2-9 each ... ... = 23 6 o 



Or a saving of more than 100 per cent. - 



I gave one i2-acre khet four of these light hoeings during the hot 

 weather, which so thoroughly destroyed the grass seeds that, although 

 heavy rain has fallen here for the last month and a-half, the grass 

 in this khet is thin and not more than 6" high, a fact which, to those 

 who know how the jungle springs up in cultivated ground in the Doon 

 when the rains set in, will be a sufficient proof of the success of these 

 instruments. The frame of the hoe is only 7" high, and when the 

 blades are buried in the ground is only 4',', and as the handle projects 

 from the centre of the back of the hoe and not from the sides, there is 

 no danger of the bushes being injured. The hoe will expand from 

 14" to 20" at back, and from 3" to 7" in front ; and as the standards 

 of the blades are curved outwards, the hoe in its greatest expansion 

 cultivates a breadth of 27" of ground. I found that one bullock was 



Q 



