*)r, 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



I consider that too much has been made of 

 the third point ; that most of the advantage is 

 due to the second; and that this can be obtained 

 by less dangerous methods. Destruction of 

 pests by burying seems to me very doubtful, 

 unless they are caterpillars and get squashed. 

 Certainly no fungus is killed by burying it. 



As regards the disadvantages, the following 

 points are beyond doubt : — 



1. The conversion of prunings into humus is 

 brought about by the action of fungi. These 

 fungi are for the most part saprophytic, i.e. they 

 live on dead substances. 



2. A saprophyte can be converted into a para- 

 site on the living tea bush if it is habituated to 

 tea prunings. 



3. All our tea root disease fungi are initially 

 saprophytes. Even the tea leaf fungus, Gray 

 Blight, lives far more vigorously as a saprophyte 

 than as a parasite. 



4. Our newest tea root disease is caused by a 

 fungus which lives on prunings, either buried 

 or on the surface : likothe ottiers, it is an edu- 

 cated saprophyte. 



As practical results are preferred, I quote the 

 following from a recent letter about the newest 

 tea root disease: — 



" I am sending you some dead tea stumps 

 and roots. For the past nine years each 

 field, where possible, has had its prunings 

 buried at the time of pruning, which would be 

 every second year. One hole to every four trees 

 every other time. An application of Basic slag 

 and Potash is added to each hole. The following 

 year the field is treated with artificial manure. 

 In the particular field from which these 

 roots are taken, there is a very considerable 

 number of deaths." 



T. FETCH. 



"COMPRESSED" INDIAN TEA 

 I N INDIA . 



At a Meeting of the Indian Tea Association 

 held last month — 



The Chairman — said that he had to invite 

 the Committee to consider the recommenda- 

 tion of the Executive Committee that a 

 bonus of nine pies per lb. be offered on a mil- 

 lion pounds of compressed tea to be sold in 

 India. It would have been seen from the pro- 

 ceedings of the meetings of the Executive 

 Committee that this was a proposal which 

 had originated in London. The attempt to 

 manufacture compressed tea had been tried, he 

 believed, tin India, but without any particular 

 success. At home, however, it was under- 

 stood that machinery which would press 

 tea properly had been invented ; and he was 

 informed that certain firms were prepared 

 to interest themselves in the project and to 

 give it a trial. Although the Executive Committee 

 did not expect any very great results from work 

 in India, they recognised that there was a great 

 potential market in the country, and they 

 were willing therefore to make further efforts. 



Mr. H. C. Begg— then proposed and Mr. W D 

 Cowan seconded : — 



li Thata bonus of nine pies per Pound lie offered 

 on a million pounds of compressed tea to be sold 

 in India during the year ending 31st March, 1910." 

 The resolution was carried unanimously. 



VISIT OF A LONDON TEA MAN. 



INTERVIEW WITH MR. A. MANN OF 

 MESSRS. JAMES FINLAY & CO. 



Interesting Information on Indian Tea. 



Mr. A Mann, the Visiting Agent of Messrs. 

 Finlay. Muir & Co., who, during the last few 

 months, has been all over the North India tea 

 gardens of the firm, and, latterly, the South 

 India properties prior to spending month 

 on the Ceylon estates, arrived in Ceylon recently 

 and, in a conversation with a Ceylon Observer 

 representative gave some interesting informa- 

 tion relating to Indian tea. 



Prospects or the Indian Tea Crop. 



Mr. Mann was first asked what were the 

 prospects of the coming season's Indian tea crop, 

 to which he replied: " Not very good. Just 

 now North India is suffering from a severe 

 drought which had not broken when I left. 

 We had only some two inches rainfall from the 

 end of October up to the middle of February, 

 and that fell in decimals— so that really it was 

 not much use. Dibrugarh, though, has had a 

 good rainfall, and they should start fairly well." 



Is the area cultivated likely to extend ? 



No, it is not likely to extend much. 

 Labour is the difficulty and it is getting more 

 acute every year. There is such a demand for 

 it in mines, lactories, railways, and that sort of 

 thing. 



Weeding. 



What are your views on the advantages or 

 otherwise of Indian methods of cultivation 

 as compared with those of Ceylon ? 



Well, of course, we stick to our ideas. Wee- 

 ding would never do with us, ours is such a stiff 

 soil that it has to be turned over. We don't do 

 weeding at all. We go in for one very deep hoe 

 in the cold weather and five to six light hoeings 

 throughout the year. We have no plucking from 

 the end of November till the middle of March, 

 the bushes rest then, and we prune every year. 

 The climate and soil are, of course, quite dif- 

 ferent. The soil here is very open and friable, 

 ours is not, ours is stiff. Weeding 



SEEMS TO SUIT CEYLON 



but it would simply ruin the North India gar- 

 dens, I should think. The system pursued in 

 both places is the correct one for the climate 

 and soil. 



The Burying of Prunings. 



Do you believe in the burying of prunings ? 



Most decidedly I am very strong on that 

 point, and f would go so far as to bury all dis- 

 eased prunings even, unloss there were a fungoid 

 growth. They contain the nutriment of what we 

 want to put back in the soil and I consider it is 



The Best Manure 

 of any we can get. North Indian planters are 

 very strong on burying prunings. 



Do you hold the same opinion with regard 

 to Ceylon gardens? 



I do not see why these remarks should not 

 apply to Ceylon. As far as I have seen, both 

 here and in South India I should think the 

 burying of prunings would be most advanta- 

 geous to the plant, 



