94 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



the seedling in it during (say) February, the basket, with the 

 occasional watering necessary, will, more or less, have rotted 

 before it is put into the hole. 



I have concluded a contract for ten thousand pots and five 

 thousand baskets at half an anna each for both kinds. 

 Two pice, to ensure the filling up of a vacancy, is not a large 

 outlay. 



Since writing the above I have had experience of both 

 the above plans. The pot system is far the better, and answers 

 very well. 1 I am now trying to improve this still further by 

 making the pots a little larger, and placing a thin inner lining 

 of tin inside each about half an inch from the sides. This 

 space is first filled with sand, then the pot is filled with 

 mould, and the tin pulled out. The same tin will therefore 

 do for any number of pots. The seed is then put in. 



I think by this plan if, when about to plant, the mould in 

 the pot is well wetted, that it, with the seedling, can be turned 

 out whole in one piece, and then put in the hole without the 

 pot. 



The same pots would then answer year after year, and the 

 expense would be quite nominal. 



If well done, the seedling in this, as in the former case, 

 would not even know it had been transplanted. 2 



1 The baskets are too frail ; being often wetted, they fall to pieces before 

 the planting time. 



2 It may be that the transplanting and transporting tools invented by Mr. Jeben 

 (see page 78) will solve the difficulty of filling up vacancies. 



