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as Nitrate of Soda, or which themselves have a tendency to im- 

 poverish the soil for the future as, for instance, Sulphate of Ammo- 

 nia. To argue that because future manuring will be necessary, there- 

 fore a garden is to be allowed at present to deteriorate beyond 

 recall, is a policy so shortsighted that had it not been put before 

 me on many many occasions, I should not have attempted to discuss. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MANURING. 



As a general policy, Firstly it is by no means wise to await 

 manifest deterioration before going to manuring, A slight but 

 continuous decrease in yield is a warning that the land is less capable 

 of producing than it was. Collar-pruning is then often adopted 

 and results in a temporary spurt after which the bushes only become 

 worse again than they were before. Really what was wanted was 

 rot collar-pruning, but manure, I fancy that in nearly all parts of 

 Assam, after about the tenth year of a garden some means should 

 at least be used to retain and increase the food material in the soil, 

 and after the fifteenth there are few cases where manure is not 

 absolutely required, if some loss in yield and often in quality is not 

 to be anticipated. In some unsuitable lands put out in tea even 

 recently, manure is required almost as soon as the tea commences 

 to grow, but these are exceptional, and ought really never to arise. 



Secondly. T\\t nucleus of whatever manuring is done must 

 be found on the spot. Everything not profitably saleable that the 

 garden produces should be returned to the land, Every morsel 

 of cattle manure, of wood ashes, of pruning ashes, of tea refuse 

 not sold, of sweepings of coolie lines, of road sweepings, of jungle 

 cut round the tea, &c., &c,, should be put on the tea if a 

 really economical manurial policy is to be carried out. If all these 

 were collected and composted with soil during the whole season and 

 then put on the land, much less manure would be required from 

 outside. To have such products and allow them to rot about the 

 place, unless for some trenchant reason, is wasteful in the extreme. 



Thirdly As little should be bought outside the district as possible. 

 Artificial manures should be reduced to the lowest quantity especially 

 in view of the enormous cost of their importation. There are occa- 

 sions in which it may be necessary to use them, but the less they are 

 needed the better. Assam, as a province, is extremely rich, and 

 while there is so much unoccupied land, it seems almost incon- 

 ceivable that nearly all the materials required for fertilising the 



