F.— ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 127 



and after a light pruning yields tea. Whether it is nursery or basket plant, 

 the interval between planting in the field and coming into bearing may 

 be reckoned at z\ to \\ years, according to climate and elevation. Thence- 

 forward the trees are pruned on a two- to three-year cycle : the object of 

 pruning being to control the tree and get an even spread of leaves. It is 

 a serious operation, to which only healthy trees respond properly. Bushes 

 in use are 3 to 4 ft. high, but left wild they would grow to a height of 

 20 to 30 ft. or more, and would have small white flowers all over them 

 at blossom time. It is interesting to remember that in New Zealand in 

 spring the white flower of the manuka shows up prominently. It is called 

 the tea tree because the earlier settlers made a drink resembling tea from 

 it, and it is sometimes spelt incorrectly ' ti ' tree, as though it were a Maori 

 word. 



(2) An estate in bearing is cultivated each year as well as pruned 

 periodically. Growth is permitted during the wet season to resist erosion, 

 but after the rains must be cleared. The digging is done with a four- 

 pronged fork, and its purpose is to turn and aerate the soil, bury weeds 

 and absorb water. (In parts of South India the division of labour is 

 carried to the point at which two men work one spade, one man inserting 

 and raising the spade, and another jerking the contents to one side by 

 means of a small cord attached to the neck of the spade.) In pruning the 

 branches are cut away and stacked in rows, and, when the foliage has 

 dropped, they are removed for firewood or manure. The leaves them- 

 selves are scraped into heaps and forked in with the help of the worker's 

 feet above the bushes. Compost manure is humus made from the waste 

 products of agriculture such as leaves, sweepings and cattle dung. 

 Heaped rubbish engenders great heat, takes up nitrogen and kills lice. 

 It is finally dug into the soil between the bushes, say five tons to the 

 acre. The value of this organic manure is now generally recognised, 

 and it is customary to apply it with a chemical concentrate such as bone 

 meal and potash. 



Though tea is the only plant on the estate grown to yield a cash return, 

 yet there are other trees planted on it to help the tea tree by way of pro- 

 tection and nourishment. The most common shade tree is the tall grey 

 Grevillea robusta, commonly called the silver oak. The stouter Albizzia 

 yields good wood as well as shade. The Dadap is a quick-growing nitro- 

 genous shrub, which is lopped for its leafage. In Ceylon a common 

 catch crop is the yellow-flowered Crotolaria, which is cut down and forked 

 in. The deciduous leaves of the Grevillea, when they lie on the ground, 

 protect the soil from the baking effects of the sun and act as a mulch, 

 preventing soil washing. 



There is thus on the estate, even when cleared, a continuous pro- 

 gramme of cultivation, which is done by male labour. Any slackening 

 of cultivation is punished by attacks from couch grass, allock, lantana 

 and other noxious weeds. These have to be eradicated by continuous 

 forking and burning, after which it is possible to re-establish high-shade, 

 medium-shade and green nitrogenous plants. 



(3) Tea-plucking falls into two parts. The first plucking is on the young 

 trees to bring them to a level, and it is done three times over. Then comes 



