and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



BURYING W BURNING OF TEA 

 PRUNINGS. 



Their Effect as Manure In Ceylon. 



Before the Neboda Tea Co. of Ceylon on 

 Feb. 13th., Mr. Joseph Fraser made a most im- 

 portant statement on the question of burying 

 vs burning of tea prunings, which is given 

 below. With prunings buried (with basic 

 slag, &c.) one division showed as large a yield 

 as 1,179 lb. per acre. Another estate visi- 

 ted by Mr. Fraser is quoted in support of 

 "burying": on this there was a definite experi- 

 ment. Before treatment the yield per acre on 

 one field was 300 lb. and after four years 920 lb. 

 — while on an artificially manured field ad- 

 joining it had increased to 690 lb. only. Simi- 

 larly upcountry, burying prunings with bulk artifi- 

 cial manure and albizzia leaves and twigs brought 

 the yields up to an average of nearly 1,100 1b , 

 with a maximum of 1,481 lb. per acre ! The 

 figures as to cost we commend to the attention 

 of planters. As to whether Mr. John Hughes 

 "got mixed" in his references to manuring and 

 burying, we may leave him to deal with more 

 elaborately than we could ; but Mr. Fraser, 

 it should be pointed out, gives the most valu- 

 able analytical figures, for the chemical and 

 cultural results achieved, and emphasizes the 

 cumulative effects of burying, with a proviso 

 against its employment in root pest centres, 

 stiff soil or bleak situations. Practical and 

 scientific planters will be grateful for the full 

 statement he presented at the Neboda meeting. 



MR. FRASERS' STATEMENT. 



At the Annual Meeting of shareholders of the 

 Neboda Tea Co. of Ceylon. Ltd. The Chairman 

 (Mr. Joseph Fraser)— in moving the adoption of 

 the report— said : — The results of the year's 

 working may be considered highly satisfactory. 

 The average tea yield was 803 lb. per acre in- 

 cluding 27 acres of Tea and Rubber. Allow- 

 ing for manuring items, and loss on rice, the 

 nett cost was a shade under 19 cents per lb. 

 and the profit exclusive of loss on rice, which 

 I trust is more or less a temporary item, R8969 

 per acre or say £6 sterling. Narthupana divi- 

 sion that haft had the 



PRUNING SYSTEMATICALLY BURIED, 



with the Basic Slag and Sulphate of potash, 

 plus artificial manure, gave from the whole 227 

 acres an average yield of 960 lb. per acre, 

 the best yield being 1,179 lb. A thoroughly 

 cultivated field on the Neboda division 33 acres 

 gave 987 lb. per acre, but 110 acres that were 

 cultivated only occasionally, the labour not 

 being available, owing to rubber extensions, 

 gave an average of 687 lb. per acre, while two 

 fields of 57 acres, never manured or cultivated, 

 only yielded 309 lb. per acre. They were, 

 however, pruned within the year, but the aver- 

 age for two years was under 400 lb. and that 

 too from fine indigenous tea. The results 

 therefore of burying prunings, plus manuring, 

 in this instance, seem fully justified. 



37 



A DEFINITE EXPERIMENT 



in two adjoining fields, on an estate I visit, 

 further confirms this. They have the same 

 aspect, lay of land, and soil, and were yield- 

 ing an average in the pruned, and unpruned 

 years, before they were manured, or cultivated, 

 of under 300 lb. per acre, per annum. One 

 field had the prunings buried with Basic 

 Slag and Sulphate of potash and six months 

 afterwards was manured with artificial. The 

 other field was manured with a similar mix- 

 ture of artificial only, at a corresponding 

 period from pruning, and in both instances, 

 this has been repeated four times or for eight 

 years, the fields being pruned every two years. 

 The first two years the advantage of burying 

 prunings was small, and showed a loss, if 

 charged with the Basic Slag and Sulphate of 

 potash, the second covered cost, and the third 

 showed a profit, that is compared to the field 

 treatod with artificial manure only. The fourth, 

 however, was highly satisfactory. The average 

 yield from the field manured with artificial for 

 the two years, 



ending 31st December, 1908 was 690 lb. per acre 

 and from the buried prunings 



and manured field ... 920 ,, 



increase ... ... 230 ,, 



An increase of 2301b., per annum or 460 1b. 

 for the two years with the following financial 

 results : — 



Crop expenses plucking to f.o.b. 

 14 cents per lb. ... ... R64*40 



Cost of cooly labour burying plus cost 

 of Basic Slag and sulphate of potash R20-60 



Total R85-00 



Value of 460 lb. of tea at 35 cent ... Rl61 - 00 

 Nett additional profit for 2 years... R76 00 



As regards the size of the bushes, the class 

 of pruning wood, their healthy, vigorous look and 

 freedom from pests, the advantage all along was 

 clearly in favour of the buried prunings and 

 manured field. On another group at from 2,600 

 feet to 4,601) feet above sea level the following 

 results have been secured by burying prunings 

 with bulk and Albizzia leaves and twigs and artifi- 

 cial, in three fields aggregating 94 acres, 1,064, 

 1,057 and 1,165 lb. per acre per annum for the 

 past three years, the highest yield in any one 

 year being 1,481 lb, per acre— results are not 

 generally so apparent, particularly in poor old 

 coffee land soils, with miserably stunted bushes, 

 but the indirect advantages in developing heal- 

 thy ones with good pruning wood can seldom be 

 questioned. The actual cost of burying prunings, 

 in cooly labour, is from say R4 per acre for 

 small bushes up to R10 to R12 per acre even 

 for very large ones, but in that case the bushes 

 run from 30 to 36 months from prunings. Allow- 

 ing the yield to vary from 400 lb. to 1,200 lb. 

 per acre per annum, the cost would work out for 

 a 2-yearly pruning at \ cent per lb. and less 

 when the 3-yearly system is adopted. Mr John 

 Hughes evidently got sadly mixed in regard to 

 this, and appears to have included, all the 

 manuring items under burying prunings. 

 The following figures are interesting in this 

 connection :— . 



