March, 1910.., 



237 



Miscellaneous, 



moved its adoption. The Hon, Mr. 

 Obeyesekere seconded the motion, which 

 was carried With the omission of the 

 name of the Hon. Mr. Bernard Senior, 

 the same Committee was appointed a 

 permanent Advisory Committee on 

 Model and Experimental Gardens, viz., 

 Mr. R. H. Lock (Chairman), Hon. Mr. 

 Kanagasabai, Dr. H. M. Fernando, Sir 

 Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, Messrs. 

 W. A. de Silva, W. D. Gibbon and C. 

 Drieberg (Secretary). 



Mr. Lock read a paper on "Weeds,' 

 and in the discussion which followed 

 the Chairman, the Hon. Mr. Obeye- 

 sekera, Dr. H. M. Fernando, and Mr, W. 

 A. de Silva took part. 



C. DRIEBERG, 



Secretary, C.A. S. 



A MANUAL ON DRAINING. 



(Contributed.) 

 " If you have good soil on your estate, 

 try and keen it," was the advice of an 

 "old hand " to a young planter, asking 

 his opinion on the subject of draining. 

 In a country where such heavy rains are 

 the rule, this is no easy matter, but 

 everyone can take such steps on his 

 place as to reduce washing away of the 

 soil to the minimum. 



It may be said this advice comes some- 

 what late in the day, that draining a 

 Tea estate that has originally been badly 

 drained, would be " locking the stable 

 door after the steed is stolen," the best 

 reply to this is another adage, equally 

 appropriate, " better late than never." 



There are manuals on pruning and 

 manuring, helpful and valuable, but, as 

 far as I know, none on draining, and yet 

 the retention of the soil is of even greater 

 importance, and should come before the 

 improvement of the soil. 



If late in the day for Tea, a manual 

 may possibly be found of some assistance 

 to the younger hands now engaged in 

 opening for Rubber, and in these days 

 when high cultivation and manuring is 

 so extensively carried on, it is of the 

 greatest importance that the laud should 

 be well drained, otherwise much of the 

 expensive manure must get washed 

 away in the heavy plumps of rain which 

 are so frequent, and which often cause 

 such terrible damage, damage that is 

 irreparable. The fine results from some 

 favoured districts in Ceylon, are, I 

 should think, to a great extent attribut- 

 able to the lower and better distributed 

 rainfall, the land being on that account 



less subject to wash than in other less 

 favoured districts which suffer from 

 excess, 



I remember seeing a clearing being 

 opened above a cart-road, (the district 

 need not be mentioned,) which was an 

 object lesson of the necessity for prompt 

 attention to draining. It had been 

 planted before draining, but unfortun- 

 ately for the Proprietor, one of these 

 torrential thunder-plumps came down, 

 and simply washed the land bare. The 

 side-drain on the cart-road was choked, 

 and the road itself inches deep in soil, 

 the very cream of the land. I wonder if 

 the Proprietor realised what he lost on 

 that occasion, a loss he could never 

 replace. A few drains to intercept the 

 rush of water down the slope would have 

 saved tons and tons of valuable surface 

 soil. 



In the Coffee days it was considered 

 sufficient to have drains about 50 feet 

 apart, but in course of time, when the 

 land got bared of the roots and stumps 

 of jungle trees which held the soil to- 

 gether, this distance was too great, and 

 most estates, when they were planted 

 up in Tea, were inter-drained, making 

 the drains 25 feet apart, which is about 

 right. 



The first thing after burning off a 

 clearing is the tracing and cutting of the 

 roads and drains. For the former a 

 gradient of 1 ft. in 20 ft. is best, that 

 is, in ordinary land, a steeper trace often 

 causes gutting of the drain. If, however, 

 the land be steep, the roads should be 

 traced at a greater gradient in order to 

 get over the ground. A road at an easy 

 gradient on steep land means a lot of 

 walking and little ground covered. 



As to the way of tracing the roads, the 

 starting point should, of course, be the 

 terminus of an existing road, and, as far 

 as possible, roads should be equidistant, 

 but this depends on the nature of the 

 land. You can hardly have too many 

 roads, and they should always be kept 

 in good order. To get easily and quickly 

 from field to field is of the utmost 

 importance, and has more to do with 

 the cost of plucking than many imagine. 

 Bad and insufficient roads mean time 

 lost in taking up lines for plucking. 

 When it is considered that there are at 

 least thirty rounds of plucking in the 

 year, and the large plucking force is 

 taken into account, the time lost in the 

 course of the year through deficient 

 communications must be considerable. 

 There should always be a road, or at 

 least a path, along the boundary of a 

 field where coolies take up their lines 

 for plucking. Sometimes a path cut, 

 costing a few rupees, will be the means. 



