be well prepared, with facilities for irrigation or hand planting 

 watering. The seed should be planted two inches methods. 

 deep : otherwise the preparation and so\\ang are as 

 with coffee. The young bushes should be ready k) 

 transplant in from lo to i8 months, the best distance 

 for planting in the Limuru district (owing to the 

 luxuriance of growth) being eight feet by eight, or 

 even nine by nine. Planting should be done only 

 in cloudy weather when the ground is moist and rain 

 is imminent. Virgin forest land is the most suitable. 



The tea bush differs from other evergreens in pruning. 

 this important respect — that whereas with coffee and 

 citrus trees there are distinct harvesting seasons, it 

 is not so with the tea bush. It bears leaf and requires 

 plucking all the year round. The pruning of the 

 tea bush is naturally quite different from that of 

 coffee — in the former one prunes to get a larger sur- 

 face and to encourage the growth of leaf, while in 

 the latter one's aim is to promote the growth of seed. 



The writer has had little experience of tea, but skeds 

 is satisfied that the soil and climate of the Limuru suppues. 

 district are favourable to its production. Plants 

 raised from seed grown on the Caineville Estate are 

 now promising well, and it is hoped in another year 

 to have seed available for sale. While it is yet too 

 soon to say whether plants raised frcm locally grown 

 seed will prove superior to the original importation, 

 for local planting it has been well proved that such is 

 the case with other plants. 



There are other districts than Limuru in the capital 

 Highlands of B.E.A. suitable for the cultivation of required. 

 the tea plant, so that the prospects of the industry 

 well deserve attention. The late Mr. G. W. L. Caine 

 estimated the cost of clearing and planting 300 acres 

 and maintaining up to the 4th year, including neces- 

 sary buildings and machinery, but not including the 

 cost of the land, at ;C7,50o, or £2$ per acre. 



W. H. CAINE. 



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