30 TEA 



The principal ingredients which the tea-plant re- 

 quires its food to contain are nitrogen, potash, lime 

 and phosphoric acid. In starting a tea-plantation, it 

 is considered of the utmost importance to select a site 

 with a deep bed of virgin soil that is rich in these 

 ingredients. But even when, as on the highlands of 

 Ceylon, the chosen site has a particularly rich and 

 deep bed of suitable soil when planting is begun, the 

 time will come when the constant demand for nourish- 

 ment on the part of a continuous crop will tend to 

 make that soil give signs of exhaustion. Certain trees 

 with manuring properties are planted among tea- 

 bushes to provide the soil continuously with a mild 

 tonic — they also serve the purpose of shielding the 

 bushes from the wind. But from time to time the soil 

 has to be given a special meal wherewith to make 

 such food as the tea-plant requires, particularly when 

 the ground has been under tea cultivation for a great 

 number of years. 



The chief objects aimed at in the manuring of tea 

 are : 



To keep the fertiUty of the soil up to a high standard. 



To keep the bushes healthy. 



To increase the yield of leaves per acre. 



To improve the quality of tea ; or, in the case of 

 bushes already yielding very fine quality leaf, to make 

 succeeding crops equally good. 



Tea-plants are not disease-proof, and there are many 

 insect pests which are very Uable to work havoc amongst 

 them. Naturally, they are better able to resist all 

 ills when they are well nourished. Even so, they must 

 be carefully watched, and at the first sign of blight 

 they must be properly doctored. Sulphur is one of 



