15 



METHODS OF PRODUCING TILTH. 



In temperate climates this condition is brought about principally 

 through the agency of frost. To this agent we cannot appeal here, 

 but we have other means almost equally effective. Mere exposure 

 of the turned-up soil to varying temperature and to varying conditions 

 of moisture improves the tilth wonderfully, provided that enough 

 rain does not fall to cause it to puddle again. This is one of the 

 principal reasons for deep-hoeing the garden in the autumn, especially 

 in stiff lands. By exposure of the soil, as turned up, to the weather, 

 it gradually takes on a more friable condition, and at the com- 

 mencement of the following season is capable of forming a loose 

 soil which will be deeper or shallower according to the depth of the 

 autumn hoe. Hence this deep-hoeing should be done as soon after 

 the rains are over as possible, so long as it will not get trampled 

 down again by people plucking, and as little as possible by people 

 pruning. 



A second method by which the tilth of a soil can be improved is 

 by the continuous presence of the roots of plants. To have a crop 

 of annual or perennial plants continually on the ground is, however, 

 out of the question in the case of tea, and I only mention the 

 method here as a means of making land ready to plant again if 

 formerly abandoned, if such is desired to be done. Such land should 

 be cleared, planted, say, with sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) or some- 

 thing similar which requires no attention, left for a couple of years, 

 ploughed up and planted. The tilth will be found to be very much 

 improved. 



But by far the most generally applicable means of improving the 

 tilth of a stiff soil is by the addition of organic or decaying vege- 

 table matter. Green manuring affords the simplest and cheapest 

 means of doing this, and I have reports from planters in hand stat- 

 ing that its effect, when put in on my recommendation, has been 

 very great in this sense. I shall deal with the question of green 

 manuring in another chapter, but it is necessary here to call atten- 

 tion to the marvellous increase in the friability of a stiff soil 

 following a crop of " Mati kalai" (Phaseolus aconittfolius] hoed 

 into the land. 



Instead of utilising a green manuring crop for adding organic 

 matter to the soil, the same may be done by burying jungle, or by 



