9O CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



FILLING UP VACANCIES. 



So difficult is this to do, that I have heard several planters 

 declare they would attempt it no further, but, on the contrary, 

 accept the vacancies in their gardens as an unavoidable evil. 



That it is difficult I, too, can certify. Seedlings put into 

 vacant spots year after year die, either in the rains they are 

 planted or the following spring. If, however, a few yards off 

 a fresh piece of land is taken in and planted the plants live. 

 What is the reason ? It can be nothing connected with the 

 soil, for on adjacent spots they live and die. 



It puzzled me a long time, but I believe I can now explain 

 it. First, seedlings planted in vacant spots in a garden are 

 never safe. When in the rains there are many weeds in the 

 gardens, and it is being dug, the young seedlings are not 

 observed, are either dug up, or injured so by the soil being 

 dug close to them, that they shortly after die. This is, I 

 believe, ft\& principal cause of the failure, and it may be in a 

 great measure, if not entirely, obviated by putting, first, a high 

 stake on either side of the seedling, and taking care it 

 remains there all through the rains. Secondly, as an additional 

 precaution, and a very necessary one, before any such land is 

 dug, send round boys with ' koorpies ' to clean away the jungle 

 round the young plants, and at the same time open the soil 

 slightly over their roots. Doing this ' cultivates ' them, and 

 the plants being apparent, with the newly stirred vacant spaces 

 round them, are seen by the diggers, and are not likely to be 

 damaged. 



The second cause of failure I attribute to the old plants 



