CAMELLIA 



THEA 



Cultivation 



placed 



THE TEA PLANT 



at definite distances on these lines, to mark where holes are to 

 be dug and the plants to be placed. Prior to planting out a hole should 

 be dug at each of the stakes at least a foot deep and 10 inches wide, 

 and the young plants then removed from the nursery and deposited in 

 the prepared holes. 



Period. Period of Transplanting. Planting may be done either when the 



seedlings are 6 months old or when they have been in the nursery for 

 a year. Under ordinary circumstances 6- months planting is gradually 



Method. being more and more adopted. Under this system the plants are taken 



from the nursery when 4 to 8 inches high, and have a small ball of earth 

 6 to 8 inches deep attached. They are conveyed to the holes which have 

 been made ready, as above described, but if the ends of the tap-roots 

 are seen protruding or bent they are either straightened or nipped off. 

 Each ball of earth with its plant is then placed in the centre of a hole, 

 loose earth filled in all round, and rammed down moderately. If the 

 rain follows immediately the only attention required afterwards will be 

 to see that weeds are cleared all round the plants, and that the surface 

 earth is kept loose. If rain does not come at once, the plants will need 

 watering. If planting be done with older seedlings in November or 

 December it is necessary to have a very much larger block of earth (at 

 least 12 inches deep and 6 inches in diameter) attached to the root, and 

 correspondingly larger holes in which the seedlings are to be deposited. 

 In this case, as the planting takes place in the dry weather, a considerable 

 quantity of water should be given, and a mulch of dry grass placed 

 around the plants. 



Rules. In planting, according to one of the best and most recent authorities (C. 



Bald, Ind. Tea, its Culture and Manuf., Calcutta, 1903, 69), the following rules 

 should be observed, viz. : 



" (a) The end of tap-root may be cut clean off, but it must not be bent or 

 doubled up. 



" (b) The plant must be placed so that the collar is level with the surface 

 of the ground. If placed too high, some of the roots will be exposed ; if too 

 deep, the bark of the stem will be injured by being buried. The plant should be 

 at the same depth in the ground as it was in the nursery. 



" (c) The laterals should be spread out, not driven into a clump round the 

 tap. 



" The hole should be only one-third filled with earth, which is then pressed 

 round the plant by hand ; one-third more filled and trodden or rammed moder- 

 ately, and the remaining third filled in but left quite loose." 



Drainage. Mention has already been made of the necessity for drainage 

 on most tea soils. On the flat or nearly flat land, the drains should be at 

 least 3 feet deep, as narrow as possible, banked up a little on the sides 

 to prevent the water running off the surface into the drains, and should 

 follow the natural course of the drainage of the land. For ordinary tea- 

 soils they should be from 30 to 60 feet apart. On slopes the object 

 of the drains is not only to cause percolation of the water, but also to 

 prevent wash of soil. They should hence run along the contour of the land, 

 and be slightly banked up on the upper side. . At intervals, main drains 

 (running down the slope and thus crossing the contour drains) will be 

 required to carry away the water. [Cf. Mann, Treat Deter. Tea in Ind., 

 Tea Assoc., 1906, No. 4, 8-12.] 



Hoeing. Hoeing. In all the districts of Northern India it is found that careful 



hoeing of the land is needed from the early days of the plantation, both 

 in order to prevent the growth of weeds and to keep the surface of the 

 land loose. With young plants the principal cultivation (apart from 



224 



Drainage. 



Nature and 

 Direction of. 



