March, 1910.] 



236 



Miscellaneous. 



The natural drains have usually a bed 

 of stones, a wise provision of nature, 

 which prevents their being worn too deep 

 by the rush of water. Sometimes, 

 though not often, a leading drain can- 

 not be avoided where two sides of a 

 slope converge into a depression, where 

 there is no natural drain. 



It is very satisfactory to the Planter 

 to go out in the heavy rain and watch 

 his system of drains working well and 

 preventing the wash that would other- 

 wise take place in his land. 



What about fields that are so full of 

 rocks and boulders that it is quite im- 

 possible to trace drains in them ? There 

 are lots of such land in Ceylon, and it is 

 often the best. I had to deal with much 

 land of this nature ; my first thoughts 

 were it is much too rocky to be drained, 

 I had better let it alone, the rocks and 

 boulders will keep the soil together ; and 

 so they do, but you will find soil being 

 washed away in places, and you ought to 

 try and save it, if possible, it is worth 

 saving. I found the best way to drain 

 these rocky places is to find the natural 

 drain, that is, the course of the flow of 

 water down the slope, cut a drain up it, 

 or remove the stones that can be re- 

 moved, then put in a short drain here 

 and there at right angles, just where 

 you can get one, ignoring trace, so long 

 as it carries the water into the natural 

 drain. Your drains then form a herring- 

 bone pattern. Such draining may be 

 incomplete, but it is the best you can do, 

 and is far better than having no drains 

 at all. Of course there may be so many 

 rocks and boulders about that any 

 draining at all is impossible, in such 

 land drains are not necessary, but where 

 you have the rain running over the sur- 

 face of the land, stop it if you can and 

 save your soil. 



Draiuing serves three good purposes, 

 it carries away the excessive moisture, 

 it prevents soil being carried away, the 

 earth taken out of it forms a valuable 

 top-dressing, it is mostly sub-soil, but it 

 improves with exposure to the air. It is 

 noticeable that wherever there has been 

 a cutting for a road or drain, and the 

 earth has been thrown down among the 

 Tea, how much the Tea improves by the 

 application of a surface dressing, even of 

 sub-soil. You can hardly have too many 

 drains on your estate. 



In addition to the regular draining of 

 an estate, some extra draining is nearly 

 always necessary, in patches of sour soil 

 where the tea seems backward. If these 

 patches are examined in wet weather, 

 they will probably be found water- 

 logged, the excess of moisture makes the 



soil sour. Good deep drains should be 

 cut right through the middle of them, 

 and, if necessary, others at right angles. 

 It always pays to drain and plant 

 swamps, the accumulation of deposit 

 from the wash from the slopes above 

 grows fine Tea. It is a mistake to have 

 a swampy ravine breaking the lines of 

 the Tea, as it hinders pluckers and gives 

 them an excuse for dawdling, an art in 

 which the eooly excels, in crossing the 

 swamp to continue their lines. In a 

 swampy place where there is slab rock 

 and no depth of soil, carry the soil and 

 top-dress the nearest Tea with it, there 

 should be no unused uncultivated soil on 

 a good estate. People are apt to say of 

 such a work, it costs a lot and does not 

 pay, they forget the returns are peren- 

 nial, though you may not get your 

 money back in one year you probably 

 will in ten, plus improved bushes. 



Cleaning out Drains. 

 In cleaning out drains the usual 

 method is to throw the soil below the 

 drain, the result is there is an accumu- 

 lation of soil below the drain, and the 

 Tea immediately above the drain is 

 denuded of soil, and for that reason is 

 usually poor Tea. In such places it is 

 better to put the soil taken out of draius 

 and silt-pits above the drains, terracing 

 with stone to prevent it being washed 

 down again. The hillocky appearance 

 in the Tea (that is, where you see the 

 bushes standing on mounds above the 

 level of the ground), is an indication of 

 bad wash. The best remedy for this, 

 after sufficient draining, is terracing, 

 and filling up the spaces between the 

 terracing with soil from the drains. I 

 have seen "shuck" unprofitable Tea 

 transformed into good Tea by this 

 method, patches which were a blot on 

 the estate made to look as well as the 

 other Tea. 



Silt-Pits in Drains. 

 Many years ago I realised the heavy 

 and serious loss to estates through wash 

 from these heavy plumps of N. E. rains 

 which fall in so short a space of time, 

 that the ground cannot absorb the fall, 

 and the water runs over the surface of 

 the soil, carrying away valuable humus 

 into the nearest ravine, down which it 

 is taken into the river and lost to the 

 estate. Good draining of course to some 

 extent prevents this, but to still further 

 minimize the loss of soil, I adopted a 

 system of silt or catch pits in the draius. 

 These pits were cut 20 feet apart and are 

 about 15 inches deep by 15 inches wide 

 and 4 feet long. They not only catch 

 the soil which would otherwise be 

 washed away and lost, but they keep 



