[Of. Mann and 



Fixation of 

 Nitrogen. 



Pruning. 



Best System. 



CAMELLIA 



THEA THE TEA PLANT 



Cultivation 



seed, and the bushes retained in the land for 3 years. 

 Hutchinson, Green Manuring in Tea, I.e. 1906, No. 2.] 



Certain trees growing among tea are found to be beneficial. The best 

 of these is Albizzia stipulata, but Dalbergia assamica has given 

 similar results. These are planted from 40 to 60 feet apart throughout 

 the garden. The lower branches are annually removed, so that the shade 

 given may be as light as possible. [Cf. Pests and Blights, etc., 136-47.] 



Pruning. The pruning of tea is an extremely technical process which 

 can hardly be adequately described in a general notice such as the present. 

 In nearly all the Indian districts it is an annual operation, and in 

 North India is always carried out between December and March. In 

 South India and Ceylon the time is not nearly so fixed, but if possible 

 it should be always done during the non-growing period of the plant. 

 Commencing with a tea seedling, one of the best systems of pruning on 

 the plains of India is perhaps as follows : After the tea seedlings have 

 been on the ground 1 to 6 months (according to whether they have 

 been planted out at a year old or at 6 months old respectively) they 

 should be cut down in December or January. If of the " Assam " in- 

 digenous type this should be not lower than 6 inches from the ground ; 

 if of the " Manipur," 6 to 8 inches. Each plant ought then to throw 

 out, from the stump, 3 or 4 stems, which are allowed to grow for 2 years 

 before being pruned again. Then when they are 3 years old from seed, 

 they are cut at 14 to 18 inches from the ground. After this, each year's 

 pruning will be at a point from 1 to 2 inches above that of the previous 

 year (light pruning), until the yield begins to diminish, when it will be 

 necessary to cut back to 12 to 15 inches from the ground (heavy pruning). 

 This ought not to be necessary till the bushes are more than 10 years 

 old. At a later age, if the bushes are found to give a very low yield, it 

 may be necessary to go even lower than this, and even in extreme cases 

 to cut the bush down level with the ground (collar pruning), but this 

 should not be necessary till after many years, if the garden be properly 

 cultivated, manured and plucked. 



In light pruning it is important : 



(a) To leave only a small length of new wood, say not more than 

 2 inches all over the bush. 



(6) To cut the shoots at the sides of the bushes to the same length as 

 those in the middle. 



(c) To remove everything which is not likely to yield a new vigorous 

 shoot in the following season. For example, remove all dead branches, 

 all gnarled twigs and crow's-foot formations (clumps of imperfectly formed 

 shoots), all trailing shoots on the outside of the bush, and all small useless 

 twiggy shoots throughout the bush. 



At high elevations growth is very much slower than in the plains, and 

 heavy pruning will naturally be much less frequent than under ordinary 

 conditions. And moreover there appears no doubt that growth made 

 immediately after heavy or collar pruning gives a much lower grade of 

 tea than can be obtained after light pruning. As the tea grown at the 

 high elevations of hill districts usually depends for its commercial success 

 on its high quality, heavy pruning is generally avoided as far as possible. 

 [Cf. Pests and Blights, etc., 78-100 ; Mann, Exper. Heavy Pruning in Assam, 

 in Ind. Tea Assoc., 1907, No. 3 ; also Factors Deter. Quality of Tea, I.e. 

 1907, No. 4, 17.] 



22G 



Conditions 

 to be 

 observed. 



Effects of 

 Pruning. 



