TEA MACHINERY. 223 



PLOUGHING AND HOEING MACHINERY. 



Dear Sir, On looking over your columns I have been surprised to 

 see the small attention paid to agricultural machinery : in fact, I can't 

 find the subject mentioned, although one would imagine it was as impor- 

 tant if not more so than manufacturing machinery. Various agricultural 

 instruments, such as ploughs, &c., have, I know, been tried in old times, 

 and not with the best results to the bushes ; but there is no reason why, 

 because the ordinary machines have failed, that planters should be 

 sunk in the belief that that costly article the coolie must endure as 

 long as Tea does.* 



I will now consider the cultivation implements I know of. 



Planting Pots. These are made of clay, cow dung, and 

 cut straw. They are placed in the nurseries and the Tea 

 seed planted in them. When the seedlings are big enough 

 to put out, pot and all is buried where the Tea bush is to be. 

 The pot being broken a little when placed in the ground, 

 the rain soon destroys it. The seedling does not know it has 

 been transplanted, and the check of six weeks or more, 

 experienced by all transplants, is entirely avoided. I know 

 not who invented the pots, but the idea is an excellent one. 



Jebens Transplanter. This is an implement for lifting 

 seedlings without injuring the rootlets or disturbing the soil 

 around them. It is noticed at page 79 favourably : since 

 that time (1878) it has been used more or less in all Tea 

 districts. I have seen many opinions both for and against 

 it. I believe the truth is it works very well in light soil, and 

 with smallish seedlings, but does not answer in hard soil or 

 with plants above 2^- feet high. Where the soil and size of 

 seedlings are suitable, it certainly saves much of the check 

 experienced otherwise by transplants. 



I know of no other peculiar implements for Tea 

 cultivation. 



* " Nil Desperandum " evidently foresees what must be sooner or later. 

 All interested in Tea, owners, planters, and inventors, should aid to achieve 

 the result. 



