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altering the drainage channels, I see no objection to deep cultivate 

 between alternate rows each year by digging a trench and 

 filling in. An ordinary deep hoe would be made and the soil thrown 

 out into the row of bushes, and then a deep hoe would be done at 

 the bottom of the trench, say one kodalli wide, thus formed, and then 

 the whole of the surface soil would be drawn back into the trench. 

 We should thus have a trench hoed between every second row of 

 bushes during one season, between the remaining rows in the second 

 season, and across the other way of the land during a third and fourth 

 season in a similar manner. By this means, for, made in the manner 

 I suggest, the trenches would be 18 .to 24 inches deep, the roots 

 would be forced into a lower level almost, if not quite, to the same 

 extent as if deep cultivation were resorted to, and the cutting of the 

 roots would be reduced to a minimum. 



Green organic matter or farmyard manure might well be put 

 into the trench at the same time to attract and feed the descending 

 roots of the bush. I have seen the method above described working 

 out very well, and I am confident that in many situations, where a 

 very deep 15-inch hoe all over is next door to an impossibility, such a 

 method as I described would be found of considerable benefit and 

 lead to the formation of a root system descending far more than 

 would otherwise be the case. Cut in the way I suggest, and with 

 blind ends, they would not either interfere with the regular drainage 

 system. There seems, however, a difficulty in dealing with slopes on 

 which the lines of plants do not run straight across the slope, nor 

 yet up and down, but diagonally. This also forms a difficulty with 

 draining itself in such circumstances, and the habit of so planting is 

 strongly to be condemned; A way out of the difficulty may perhaps 

 be found on the spot, but it is essential that trenches such as I have 

 suggested do not become drainage channels. 



OTHER METHODS OF BREAKING UP HARD PAN. 



There are one or two other methods of dealing with a hard or 

 hard pan subsoil. The first of these is the planting of trees, and of 

 course a tree which is itself beneficial to the tea is to be preferred if 

 it answers the purpose in view. What is wanted is a tree with a 

 deep tap root and deep lateral roots which go right through the hard 

 layer and so to a certain extent break it up. One would naturally 

 at the first onset suggest the " Sau " tree (Albizzia stipulata)> but on 



