46 



in large quantity affect the quality of the tea ? In his recent report 

 on Ceylon Tea Soils/ Mr. Bamber has expressed the view that 

 they are one of thj influences chiefly at work in determining the 

 value of the tea, and he prints tables showing that, as the organic 

 matter and nitrogen in the soil increase, so does the price. Though 

 perhaps a general statement that the quality increases with the 

 amount of organic matter and nitrogen would be too wide in the 

 case of the Assam Districts, yet, with the exception of certain special 

 types of soils, one may say, I think, that other things being equal, a 

 garden produces higher quality tea (for the district and hence the 

 climate in which it lies) as the percentage of nitrogen and organic 

 matter in the non-sandy portion of the soil increase, and that the 

 loss of these constituents is followed by a lowering in the quality 

 of the tea, which can only be counteracted by closer, and still closer 

 plucking. This is strikingly illustrated by the way in which the 

 nitrogen increases in the leaves which make the best tea. The 

 following is an example of the way in which the nitrogen decreases 

 as one goes from the tip to the second leaf on a stalk, and this 

 totally independently of the nitrogen present as caffeine.f 



If therefore one increases the concentration of the nitrogen 

 and hence of the organic matter in a soil, the quality should improve 

 and this observation is in agreement with experience. Nitrogen 

 yielding manures therefore occupy a foremost place in any system for 

 manuring tea both in respect of luxuriance of the bushes and 

 the quality of the product. In the next chapter I will discuss the 

 methods of carrying this out. 



One or two exceptions to the above statements must be made. 

 As is well known, bheel soil does not yield good" tea, although it 

 yields very luxuriant bushes, and I suspect that this is due to the 



* Colombo 1900. 



t These analyses were carried out for me by Mr. D. Hooper, to whom I here tender 

 my sincere acknowledgments. 



H. H. M. 



