184 The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



each district has to face and solve problems 

 affecting land, labour and cultivation without 

 knowing what is being done in other similarly 

 situated districts. The principal of unity heing 

 strength and the power of concerted action' are 

 as clearly recognised in tropical agriculture as 

 in any other industry. With this idea in view it 

 is suggested that a conference of all those inte- 

 rested in planting be held in the capital— Port 

 Moresby. The present suggestion is to have it 

 in June or July, 1911. In general the idea is to 

 discuss all matters in any way affecting the 

 dlanting industry of the Territory. In detail the 

 idea is to discuss the Government attitude in 

 regard to selection, purchase or lease of land ; 

 the supply, recruiting, employment, housing, 

 treatment and payment of the native labour ; 

 the scientific assistance of the Department of 

 Agriculture in expert advisers on cultivation 

 and curing of crops, and the prevention of plant 

 diseases; the transport and handling, and the 

 exploiting of markets for Papuan produce; the 

 thorough advertising of the country with a view 

 of attracting fresh planting capital. 



"THE RENEWAL OF OLD AREAS 

 IN TEA." 



There are areas in all long-standing tea estates 

 which have almost ceased to be profitably re- 

 productive. As a means to the improvement of 

 such there are three systems in vogue. On the 

 first the immediate returns would be nil for, 

 say, three years but the ultimate result would 

 be undoubtedly more satisfactory. The object 

 of the second is to retain unimpaired the yiel- 

 ding capabilities of the original plant until such 

 time as the transplants are sufficiently esta- 

 blished to be pressed for yield themselves. The 

 last is the one from which more immediate re- 

 sults would accrue and one which would main- 

 tain throughout an undiminished yield slowly 

 increasing as the infillings attained maturity 

 but never attaining the ultimate results to be 

 secured under the first system. Ceteris paribus 

 the large-leaved plant yields a heavier crop per 

 acre than a small China of the same vigour and 

 standing. Under the first system the whole area, 

 after the uprooting of the old plant has 

 been accomplished, should be ploughed and 

 staked 4 feet 6 inches by 4 feet 6 inches 

 triangularly and every stake hold 18 inches 

 in diameter anjl depth. The area should 

 then be planted with one year old plants. We 

 prefer a one-year-old to a two-year-old plant Tor 

 transplanting purposes in open areas, as the 

 ultimate results on considerable areas of one 

 year old plants seem to be more satisfactory in 

 clearances of the nature under criticism than 

 older plants. The holes should be filled with 

 sifted earth and the plant carefully put in, then 

 liquid manure poured on the base of the plant 

 till the sifted earth settles down when any dis- 

 crepancy in level should be filled up with dry 

 earth. On no account should this earth at the 

 base of the plant be stamped down. Liquid 

 manure is easily procurable in situ, by macera- 

 ting old cattle manure with water, in ten gallon 

 drums (or casks) and moving these about as the 

 exigencies of the case require. When this work 

 is finished, narrow 6 inch drains 3 feet deep 



should be put in at intervals not loss than 

 99 feet and the whole area treated with 

 15 maunds of mustard oil cake per acre. 

 Areas treated on t his system in the most obsti- 

 nate soils have given satisfactory results and 

 have in the case of infellings in long established 

 vacancies siu passed in vigour the surrounding 

 plant. 



The second system of the renewal of old 

 areas has its advocates, aud has undoubtedly in 

 good soils been effectively carried out, but it 

 could not be advocated where the premises are 

 bad or indifferent. The subsequent eradication 

 of the original plant being distinctly detrimental 

 to the newly introduced occupants of the soil at 

 the time of eradication. 



THE THIRD SYSTEM 



in all cases should be taken in hand, not only 

 in old deteriorated areas, but also in all cases 

 when plants from borers or any other cause 

 show permanently checked vitality in vitiated 

 soils. We have seen large areas of practically ab- 

 andoned tea with judicious eradication and inter- 

 planting on ordinary careful lines aided by super- 

 imposed growths of sawand boga medeloa at- 

 tain renewed vigour. On this ai - ea fork hoeing was 

 largely utilised and with most beneficial results 

 on the hard irresponsive soil in question. This 

 system of cultivation is strongly to be recom- 

 mended as an adjunct to openiug up the soil to 

 any depth without injuring the root processes 

 of the plants in. situ. The system advocated is 

 based on the fact that the root processes can 

 absorb nothing that is not in solution and per- 

 meate free soils much more rapidly than close 

 ones. In free soils the roots spread themselves 

 out equally in all directions radially from the 

 point where the plant comes in contact with the 

 soils. In soils where a hard pan is met with as 

 an immediate subsoil, the roots extend only 

 laterally and have little or no depth. We 

 need scarcely point out in our days that 

 the theory which endows the tea plant 

 with a tap root of unlimited length, ever 

 descending vertically in search of moisture 

 to the same depth as the plant is allowed 

 to grow vertically, is unsupported by criti- 

 cal evidence and may be relegated to the 

 vanishing fictions of the past. We have gone 

 into this question of root processes most care- 

 fully and have uprooted full-grown healthy 

 plants on all soils with the view of being able to 

 speak conclusively on the subject. There is yet 

 another point on which we have collated evi- 

 dence and that is the cause of the beneficiat 

 action of the Atbizzia stiputata on tea and we 

 are now in position to submit conclusive data to 

 show that the shade and the constant fall of tine 

 vegetable deposits will give the full beneficial 

 results observed without the root action as des- 

 cribed by scientists and that the shade of many 

 deciduous trees are equally effective in this con- 

 nection. — Indian Planters' Gazette, Aug. 13. 



PAPER PULP FROM LALANG. 



Mr. 0. F. Pears Applies for a Patent. 



A patent has been applied for ia Negri Setn- 

 bilan by Mr (Jharles Ffolliott Pears for an in- 

 vention for improvements in the preparation or 

 manufacture of paper pulp from lalang grass. 

 — S.F. Press, June 28. 



