52 



the system, was that the bushes in the section irrigated were looking 

 much better, fresher and greener than the rest of the garden, and were 

 giving more leaf per acre than the remainder of the property. 



It seems, however, that there are only two classes of soil on 

 which it would be likely to be of advantage. The first is a deep 

 dry porous sand such as 1 have described, the second is a shallow 

 soil underlaid by a hard pan layer. The former would probably 

 be best dealt with by a system of furrow irrigation with or without 

 drains as found necessary ; the latter by a method of basin irriga- 

 tion (i.e., the land would be banked up round the plot and then 

 flooded) combined with deep drains. In either case a thorough 

 hoeing would follow the application of the irrigation water. I 

 should much like to see exhaustive experiments made in these 

 directions in places suitably situated for obtaining irrigation water, 

 The method would only be applicable, I think, in comparatively 

 rare instances, but where applicable would be invaluable as a 

 supplement to a rainfall either insufficient in amount or badly 

 distributed in season. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL AND QUALITY OF TEA. 

 So far in this chapter I have spoken of the physical state of 

 the soil as affecting the luxuriance of the plants : it remains to treat 

 of it as affecting the quality of the tea. But here one touches on 

 a' subject which has not even been broached from a scientific stand- 

 point Is it however reasonable to think that the physical state of 

 the soil would have an influence ? By every argument of analogy 

 there is little doubt that its influence should be great, if not para- 

 mount. The cultivated crop most analogous to tea in many respects 

 is tobacco. There the crop consists of the leaf, there the value 

 partly consists in the content of alkaloid (nicotine) in the leaf, ther^ 

 the aroma and value is developed by a fermenting process, etc., 

 and except that it is an annual crop, the similarity is almost perfect. 

 In that case, however, the connection between the size of the soil 

 particles, the depth of the soil, or the water content of the soil is 

 essential so essential, in fact, that it is as hopeless to attempt to 

 grow Connecticut tobacco on the Virginia land as to grow the 

 Pennsylvanian product in the Connecticut Valleys. In the Con- 

 necticut Valley itself, " where the soil is a heavy clay loam, or for other 

 reasons is normally very moist, the tobacco produces a thick leaf 

 which has considerable oil and gum in its tissues, cures a dark colour, 



