August, 1909.] 



125 



Edible Products. 



wasted to a certain extent, that they are 

 now buried in trenches with a view to 

 inducing greater vertical depth of roots. 



Perhaps one of the most notable 

 features of manuring in the Tea Districts 

 has been the increase in the use of oil- 

 cakes ; and the discovery that homce- 

 pathic doses of these give practically the 

 same results that large doses do, has 

 led, and will continue to lead, to their 

 general application. 



But the most striking of all manurial 

 innovations in the tea districts is the 

 extension and use of green manuring 

 both as a means of adding organic matter 

 to the soil and because of the faculty 

 which the family of leguminous plants 

 enjoy of drawing nitrogen from the air 

 and the parting with the same to the 

 soil in a form that the plant can 

 assimilate. Here, indeed, it is not too 

 much to say that the whole face of the 

 tea districts has been changed, and 

 there are few gardens which have not 

 their area of land planted with nitro- 

 genous crops every year, A writer of 

 distinction declared iu an article which 

 he wrote for the Statesman some little 

 time ago on Green Manuring that every 

 garden should be able to do at least a 

 sixth of its acreage every year with some 

 nitrogenous crop. To those who are in 

 straits for labour this estimate may 

 appear out of the question, but if it is 

 an over estimate it at least represents a 

 degree of excellence worth striving for. 

 Indeed, it is unreasonable to aver that 

 sooner than neglect the planting up of at 

 least a sixth of the area of a garden with 

 a nitrogenous plant, it would be better 

 to sacrifice some other work Avhich 

 might at first sight appear to be more 

 productive of immediate return. 



Benefits of Draining- 

 To return from manuring to draining: 

 it is now recognised by the majority of 

 tea planters that whereas many stretches 

 of land were considered to be so-called 

 self-drained these are now realised to be 

 very much in need of this operation. It 

 is no longer the desire of the modern 

 planter to get rid of water as it falls 

 f rom the heavens, but to induce that 

 water, instead of passing over the face 

 of the earth, to soak into the soil, taking 

 with it the air and the mineral sub- 

 stances with their life-giving properties. 

 The improvement by drainage may be 

 summed up in an improved texture of 

 the soil which makes it more friable and 

 more easily worked, with the result that 

 when the level of the water in the rainy 

 season is lowered it allows the roots to 

 penetrate deeper so that they have a 

 wider range of feeding ground. Not 

 only is this latter of immense benefit 



towards the greater growing condition 

 of the roots, but it prevents the effects 

 of drought, as the roots become inde- 

 pendent of surface conditions and get 

 enough capillary water to keep them 

 going. The damage from drought which 

 results to tea gardens in many districts 

 annually is too well-known to be written 

 of here, and there is nothing that 

 counteracts a drought to the same 

 extent as thorough and deep draining. 

 Another great benefit which accrues 

 from the removal of excess water from 

 the neighbourhood of the roots is that 

 the sun's heat reaches the soil without 

 wastage and the air and water get the 

 opportunity of carrying the surface tem- 

 perature downwards. As McConnell 

 points out, water is a poor conductor of 

 heat, and, therefore, the warmth of the 

 sun's rays is carried very slowly into 

 the soil when it is wet. If drained, the 

 ordinary action of conduction will warm 

 up the particles of soil much more quick- 

 ly. There may be a difference of from 

 5 to 10 degrees Pahr. in temperature 

 between drained and und rained soil, 

 simply from the presence or absence of 

 excess of water. The effect draining has 

 with regard to blights is one of the 

 other points which must not be lost sight 

 of in tea, and flushing capabilities are 

 enormously increased, first from the 

 moist heat, and secondly from the 

 absence of these blights. To continue 

 the advantage of drainage, soil wash is 

 to a great extent prevented, as the rain 

 water is permitted to percolate down- 

 wards, whereas if the soil was already 

 wet, the inclination is for it to run 

 over the surface, carrying with it the 

 finer particles of the soil. Again, drain- 

 ing is imperative before we can get the 

 full benefit of manurial dressings we 

 apply to the soil, as only in this way can 

 those which have been applied to the 

 surface be carried down to the roots. 

 As a result of the improved texture of 

 the soil above mentioned, the better 

 capillarity, oxidation, and action of 

 manures, the tea bush flourishes as it 

 never would iu a cold undrained soil, be 

 the natural drainage what it may. But 

 the improvement which results from 

 drainage is so immense and so extensive 

 in its character that space forbids deal- 

 ing with it further. 



What science has done for the actual 

 soil conditions in conection with the tea 

 plant has here been roughly outlined, 

 and the progress which has been made 

 in other directions and which are as 

 drastic and of as much importance will 

 be dealt with later. 



If the knowledge of what constitutes 

 the principal ingredients of the soil and 

 their various functions and also the 



