112 



[August, 1910, 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



A COMMON SENSE WAY TO CULTI- 

 VATE A TEA ESTATE. 



(By a Practical Planter.) 

 "To raise a thick turf on a naked soil 

 would be worth, volumes of systematic 

 knowledge." 



White of Selborne. 



"Whoever could make two blades of 

 grass grow upon a spot of ground where 

 only one grew before would deserve 

 better of mankind, and do more essen- 

 tial service to his country than the whole 

 race of politicians put together." 



Swift. 

 " Tilth means Manure." 



With reference to the difference bet- 

 ween Mr. Joseph Fraser and Mr. Petch, 

 about the burying of primings, I would 

 certainly back Mr. Eraser's practical 

 experience against Mr. Petch's theory. 

 The actual quantity of nitrogen, &c, in 

 the prunings is not of so much conse- 

 quence as the incalculable value they 

 have of introducing humus into the soil. 

 To destroy tbem by fire is the wilful 

 waste of a fool, and reminds me of 

 Lamb's Chinaman, who burnt down his 

 house to get roast sucking pig. The 

 excuse planters make for this fearful 

 waste is that they do it to destroy tbe 

 borer. Now I venture to say that ifc has 

 done little or no good, for on one estate 

 which I know that has burnt prunings 

 tor the last three years, the superinten- 

 dent tells me that it has done little or 

 no good. To bury your prunings with 

 an extra dose of sulphate of potash, say 

 112 lbs. per acre instead of the usual 

 dose of 51 lbs. per acre, is the most pro- 

 fitable way of getting rid of the borer ; 

 only superintendents will not do it 

 because it takes more coolies than burn- 

 ing. The reason I say sulphate of 

 potash will kill the borer is that you 

 never find the borer on tea near a set 

 of lines where there is an excess of 

 potash in the soil. 



WHAT WOULD BE SAID OF A FARMER IN 

 ENGLAND 



who burnt his straw, &c, on the land. 

 There is nothing more strictly covenan- 

 ted in farm leases at home than that the 

 straw shall not be sold off the land. 



Humus. — Decayed vegetable matter. 

 I give the meaning because fifty per 

 cent, of my brother planters know noth- 

 ing about humus, nor the part it plays 

 in the growth of plants. 



Extract from "The Tropical Agricul- 

 turist," November 1908 :— 



" All soil 1 ? in tropical climates are more 

 or less devoid of' humus — unless they 

 have been recently cleared of their virgin 

 forest, or are formed of the washing of 

 the surrounding hills. The maiu cause of 

 this absence of humus is the fact that 

 decomposition goes on constantly and 

 the excessive rain washes out the soluble 

 matter. 



" The presence of humus not only adds 

 to the fertility of the soil, but makes 

 it more porous and open, thus increas- 

 ing the water-holding capacity." 



Read Bambei's report on Ceylon tea 

 soils, and see the poor amount of' organic 

 matter on most of the estates that have 

 not been heavily manured, Do we in 

 Ceylon make any serious attempts to 

 increase the organic matter in our 

 estates ? I think not. We do not bury 

 our prunings, consequently the sticks are 

 carried off by the coolies for firewood, 

 (on most estates that is the only fire- 

 wood they have), the leaves dry up in 

 the sun and are powdered to dust by the 

 feet of the coolies, and with the first 

 shower of rain the dust is washed into 

 the nearest drain. We neglect to plant 

 crotalaria or dadaps, because we fear to 

 increase the so-called weeds. I know of 

 no country in the world in which 



SUCH AN INSANE METHOD OF CULTIVATION 



is carried on. The Indian planter digs 

 his weeds twice a year. Orchards at 

 home are not clean weeded. The Italian 

 vine growers give humus to the soil by 

 heaping up gorse and heather between 

 the rows of vine. A farmer at home 

 plants grass and clover, and ploughs it 

 in so that the roots may rot and bring 

 humus into the soil, for, without humus, 

 artificial manure has little or no effect. 

 With clean weeding we do not allow 

 nature to cover her nakedness ; every 

 poor little weed that sinks its root into 

 the soil to open it up and serve as a duct 

 to admit the air and rain into the soil, 

 is snapped up. Why is ifc that the 

 returns of large quantities of artificial 

 manure vary so much on different es- 

 tates ? Simply the want of humus in 

 the soil- If a soil has humus the bacteria 

 is able to convert artificial into solu- 

 ble matter that the roots can take up. 

 The soil of most of our old coffen estates 

 is so poor in humus that artificial man- 

 ures will not give a fair return. I have 

 buried prunings on five estates both in 

 low and up-country, and I have never 

 known mycelium to originate in the 

 holes in which the prunings were buried, 

 nor do I think id likely, if care is 

 taken to sprinkle the prunings with 



