The Tea insects of India. 53 



was made not a trace of spider remains. Altogether 138 acres have been sulphured 

 with the five tons sent up. The sulphuring has been most careful!}- done, either a Babu 

 or Mr. Burns being in constant attendance, and, as far as can be judged at this early 

 stage, the experiment is likely to be a very remunerative one. Whether or not the 

 spider will come back remains to be seen, but at the present moment I can guarantee 

 there is not a single affected bush over the whole 138 acres." 



13th April 1892. — " The drought still continues, only -86 inch of rain having 

 fallen in April, tbe total to date since the 1st January being 4"05 inches. Notwith- 

 standing, Bundookmara is looking very well and would flush at one with rain. The 

 great heat and dryness of tbe soil liave brought on some red spider, but not much, as 

 the early pruned sections were all sulphured, and the later pruned have not yet suffi- 

 cient foliage to make red spider harmful. It is gratifying to observe that not a single 

 plant over the sulphured area shows the slightest sign of red spider, and blight, which 

 had appeared with the first growth, has also entirely disappeared. I believe that in 

 dealinjj with the one disease we have also dealt with the other, and that the early 

 pivt of the season will be free from blight." 



18th April 1892. — " There have been no charges in connection with the sulphur- 

 it having been brought up to the garden by my own boats. From tbe invoice and 

 estimating for freight, I make out the five tons have cost approximately E900 and 

 applied to the bushes about E8-4 per acre. A very small increase in yield will cover 

 the expense, and I am hopeful, from the look of the sulplmred sections, of proving to 

 you that the money has been well spent. You must not expect to see any very 

 startling increase in outturn in consequence of the sulphuring, as I have naturally 

 treated those flats which are the poorest and most in want of encouragement ; but if by 

 doing away with spider, and possibly blight, I can in time bring these flats from poor 

 to good, the gain will be great indeed. At the present moment I believe that the 

 application of sulphur will result in an increase of a maund of tea per acre ; it certainly 

 will be so if blight is mitigated as well. 



" I have written out extracts from my diary, giving you full particulars respect- 

 ing the way the sulphur was applied, the state of the bushes before, and the imme- 

 diate result after application. It will be interesting to compare this report with subse- 

 quent ones which I will send from time to time in the game form." 



Abstract of diar J/. — "The treatment was begun on 7th March 1892 and com- 

 pleted on 21st of the same month. Sixty acres were treated at the rate of one hundred- 

 weight to the acre, which gave a very sufficient sprinkling, sixty-seven acres at the 

 rate of two hundredweight to three acres, while eleven acres were treated with a 

 mixture of one part of sulphur to two parts of sifted lime. The tea that was treated 

 was of the ' China ' variety. The bushes were rather below than above the medium size* 

 They had not put out much growth owing to the drought. Eed spider had appeared, 

 and careful examination showed that it was present in many places. The application 

 of the sulphur was made through markin cloth by simply shaking the bag over the 

 bush. Where water was available, the bushes were first splashed with water, but 

 over a considerable area the application was made without previous watering. The 

 sulphur adhered fairly well even on dry bushes, in spite of the high wind which blew 

 both at the time that the treatment was going on and afterwards. The average cost of 

 applying the sulphur was about Hl-4-9 per acre, including the purchase both of 

 the cloth and also of the kulcies for watering. As far as could be made out, provided 

 the sun loas strong, bushes powdered in the morning had all the red spider killed by 

 -evening. After sulphuring the bushes were examined daily, but the only bushes on 

 which red spider could be -found were one or two which had been treated with the 

 mixture of lime and sulphur ; even here, however, very careful search was required to 



