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Oils and Faff!. 



plants are that the plants thrive better, harvesting and weeding are more con- 

 venient, whilst the initial expenses of planting itself are less than in the previous 

 case. Another point requiring attention, and much neglected by cultivators, is the 

 proper choice of rootlets. The rootlets should be from two or three-years-old bushes, 

 and should be from plots which have never been cut for distillation. Rootlets when 

 obtained under these conditions produce vigorous plants and highly satisfactory 

 results. 



DRAINING, WEEDING, AND MANURING. 



Draining is not much adopted on citronella plantations. This I think is 

 a penny-wise pound-foolish policy. It is quite an essential measure to prevent the 

 wash-away on the hill sides. The stunted condition of many a plantation is clue 

 more to the neglect of this factor than the poor nature of the soil. 



Clean Weeding twice a year amply repays the additional expense that 

 has to be incurred with a prospect of returns. There are some who weed only once 

 a year, but, as citronella is a plant whose growth is much impeded by weeds, 

 attention to this point should not be lost sight of. Besides weeding, cleansing 

 bushes of the adherent dried grass once everry second or third; year goes a 

 great way to invigorate the plant. 



Manuring. There is hardly any manuring done on citronella plantations except 

 laying the grass, exhausted of its oil, as a mulch on the citronella fields. We have 

 obtained better results with a mixture of ash of the dried grass mixed with 

 farm-yard manure. Manuring should be done once a year, the best time for 

 applying it being well in advance of the heavy rains of the North-east monsoon 

 or immediately after it. It is about this time that the plant is in flower, and 

 manuring at this season helps much to make the plant recover from the 

 exhaustion of energy consequent on flowering. 



cutting or harvesting. 



The command of cheap labour is always a matter which concerns the 

 citronella planter very much and, indeed, unless there be a source of cheap 

 labour-supply close at hand it is not possible to work any large plantation. 

 As it stands at present the proprietor of a citronella plantation is at the mercy 

 of the villagers for labour. If there is harvesting in the rice fields the command 

 of sufficient labour is impossible, with the result that the crop of an entire 

 plantation, or a good part of it, has to be abandoned. To obviate this it woidd 

 be advisable to adopt reaping machines adapted to work on citronella plantations. 



We learn that there are reaping machines working on the highlands of 

 Scotland, and think that a modified form of machine might well serve to cut 

 citronella grass, thereby also lessening the cost of production. 



After the citronella grass is cut it is not advisable to distill it immediately. 

 It should on the contrary be allowed to wither to some extent. Grass that has 

 been properly withered yields a sweet-smelling oil, whereas grass that has not 

 been withered gives an oil which is characterised by an element of disagree 

 ableness. In the process of withering one should be careful to avoid any fer- 

 mentation consequent on allowing the grass to remain in big heaps, especially 

 when there is much moisture on the surface of the leaves. Grass that has 

 undergone fermentation gives hardly half the normal yield, besides imparting 

 a disagreeable odour to the oil distilled under such conditions. On some 

 plantations four crops are gathered during the year, while on others only three 

 are taken. The latter is preferable. 



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