December, 1910.] 



509 



EdiblelProdueis. 



Besides the above bulk manures there is 

 Bheel soil and leaf mould if the estate 

 has any forest. This last is a most 

 valuable manure and should be taken 

 advantage of more frequently. Tea 

 prunings should all be buried green if 

 possible. In some districts where mos- 

 quito and other blights are prevalent, 

 all prunings are burnt so as to destroy 

 the blight, but were the prunings to be 

 buried with quick lime, this would be as 

 effective in killing any blight, and the 

 bushes would receive a good manuriug 

 especially valuable to clay soils, it help- 

 ing to make the soil more porous. These 

 bulky manures are all available locally, 

 and every effort should be made to take 

 advantage of these supplies. Another 

 way of applying manure is to dig pits by 

 each plant one foot square and 18 inches 

 deep and put the manure into them; 

 this is very effective, but not as good as 

 the trench system. Of the more concen- 

 trated manures, such as nitrates and 

 phosphates, etc., these no doubt are very 

 valuable, but should not be used before 

 a proper analysis of the soil is made and 

 any deficiency made good by a chemist. 

 Indiscriminate use often tends to waste 

 by supplying food that the soil already 

 has sufficient of. 



Green manuring by growing and bury- 

 ing nitrogenous plants, such as mati 

 kalai, etc., is very beneficial. The most 

 general in use is mati kalai. This plant 

 should be planted after the rains start, 

 when it makes luxuriant growth, and 

 will cover the land aud bushes, choking 

 off all weeds. About August is the best 

 time, the plant then growing very 

 vigorously and flowering in about ten 

 weeks to three months, when it should 

 be hoed into the soil. If this plant is 

 planted later than August it does not 

 grow to any size, quickly flowers and 

 seeds, and in fact develops into a grain- 

 bearing plant instead of a foliage-bear- 

 ing one. The planting of nitrogenous 

 trees is of undoubted advantage. In 

 districts affected by mosquito blight 

 planters are afraid to plant shade trees. 

 The mosquito always feeding in the shade 

 is thought likely to be dangerous. This 

 by some is thought an error, as not only 

 do the nitrogenous shade trees add to 

 the vigour of the plants, but they make 

 the bushes start earlier in the season, 

 and if early pruning is done, there is no 

 doubt a very fair crop could be made 

 before the mosquito becomes really 

 troublesome, which is generally by 

 August. It would be a good experiment 

 to try in some China sections where 

 mosquito is prevalent. In planting 

 shade trees it is better to plant them half 

 the distance apart at first in order to 



receive their benefit at an early date, and 

 as the trees grow larger cut out every 

 alternate one. 



THE TEA TRADE. 

 Review op Season 1909-10. 

 Nowadays there are so many who are 

 either actively couneated with the culti- 

 vation of Tea as au article of commercial 

 value, or "vho are indirectly interested in 

 the welfare of the industry from an 

 investor's or other standpoint, that any 

 topic touching on the subject of tea will 

 invariably be found acceptable in some 

 quarter. 



To those financially concerned in the 

 production of the article the past season 

 must be looked upon as one of prosperity 

 almost right along the line closing with 

 the industry in a position which would 

 seem to indicate that lean years, of 

 which the Trade has known so many, 

 are to be rewarded in the shape of a 

 continuance, for some time at all events, 

 of the good fortune which has attended 

 growers during the period under review. 



When the Calcutta market opened the 

 second week of June there were few who 

 would have ventured to predict the sea- 

 son's closing with a crop of such volume 

 as was ultimately harvested, and with 

 so late a commencement in the growing 

 districts, the results of drought and 

 unusually adverse climatic conditions, 

 the most sanguine could not have antici- 

 pated an output of more than that of 

 1908. The total outturn from the North- 

 ern India estates, however, has reached 

 some 235 million lbs., and has actually 

 exceeded the previous season by about 

 15 millions, constituting a record crop, 

 the average price realized having shown 

 about one anna per lb. better return to 

 producers ; and gardens which, in the 

 former year, were barely able to show a 

 credit balance in their annual accounts, 

 have in the past season earned dividends 

 ranging from five to fifteen per cent., and 

 even more. 



The percentage of the crop which came 

 under the auctioneer's hammer in Cal- 

 cutta is looked upon by the Local Trade 

 as having been superior in quality to the 

 average of recent years, inasmuch as 

 practically no downright poor tea has 

 been seen. With the exception of a 

 comparatively few gardens there have 

 been no signs of coarse plucking, and 

 outturn from the quantity-producing 

 districts of Sylhet aud Cachar has indi- 

 cated more care and attention in manu- 

 facture ; Dooars planters are to be con- 

 gratulated, for the crop from there has 

 been particularly useful as a whole, while 



