CAMELLIA 



THEA 



Cultivation 

 Yield. 



THE TEA PLANT 



Principle 

 Involved. 



Pests and 

 Blights. 



Insect. 



Treatment. 



Treatment. 



Yield. The object of the tea-grower is to get the maximum number 

 of young shoots on the bushes in each year, as it is only the two, three, or 

 at most four youngest leaves on any shoot which can be made into tea. A 

 very small leaf crop can be obtained, under the system of pruning already 

 set out, in the second year after planting ; in the third year about 150 Ib. 

 per acre ought to be obtained, if in the plains. By the sixth year the 

 tea (on the plains) is yielding a full crop, which varies, according to the 

 soil, from 400 to nearly 1,000 Ib. per acre per annum. Any crop above 

 700 to 800 Ib. per acre is very abnormal, and due to special conditions. 

 The average on the plains of India is rather under 500 Ib. per acre. 



Deterioration of the Tea Plant. This subject has been so fully dealt 

 with in recent publications that it may suffice to give a reference to the 

 literature. \Cf. Watt, Pests and Blights (1st. ed.), 155-60 ; Mann, Treat. 

 Deter. Tea in Ind., Tea Assoc., 1906, No. 4 ; also Renov. Deter. Tea, in 

 Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., pt. ii., 85-96.] 



Enemies of the Tea Plant. The tea bush is attacked by quite a 

 legion of pests and blights, but owing to the fact that the tea crop is a con- 

 tinuous one for 8 or 9 months in the year, it is rare indeed that it is wholly 

 destroyed. In the worst cases the yield is reduced possibly 20, 30 or 

 even 40 per cent. In spite of this fact the damage done is in many cases 

 extremely serious. For a complete treatment of the enemies of the tea 

 plant the reader is referred to technical publications (more especially 

 the Pests and Blights, etc., 165-416). All that it is possible to attempt 

 in this work is to furnish a list of the more serious pests and blights. 



Red Spider. The pest which is almost always the first to appear 

 in a garden is the "Red Spider" (Tetranychws bioculatus, Wood-Mason), 

 a small red mite which sucks the leaves in the hot, dry weather of April, 

 May and June, and afterwards, if dry weather continues. This leads 

 to the checking of the growth and the weakness of the new shoots, and, 

 hence, loss of crop as well as thinner and less vigorous wood as a basis 

 for the next year's growth. The use of sulphur, applied by dusting 

 on previously wetted bushes in February and March, is becoming very 

 general as a means of counteracting this pest. [Cf. Pests and Blights, etc., 

 348-59.] 



Mosquito Blight. The insect which causes by far the greatest damage 

 to tea in India is, however, the so-called Mosquito Blight (Helopeltis 

 theivora, Waterhouse). The losses due to this pest may be put down 

 at 7 or 8 lakhs of rupees per annum. The insect itself is a capsid plant- 

 bug, which passes the whole of its life-history on the tea bush, feeding 

 on the leaves. It works by puncturing the youngest leaf and sucking 

 the juice. The leaves thus quickly become a mass of brown, dry and 

 withered material. It can be apparently combated and almost entirely 

 eradicated from isolated gardens by spraying the bushes soon after 

 pruning with kerosene emulsion and having a squad of children catching 

 the insects throughout the year. Such a method is expensive, but has 

 well repaid the cost on estates where mosquito blight has been serious. 

 [Of. Pests and Blights, etc., 247-85 ; Mann, Variations in Helopeltis theivora, 

 in Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind. (Entom.), i., No. 4.] 



Green Fly. The growth of the shoots on the tea bushes is often 

 greatly retarded in the early part of the year, apparently by the activity 

 of a jassid bug (Chlorita flavescens, Fabr.) known in the tea districts 

 by the unfortunate name of the " Green Fly." It seems to completely 



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