Edible Products. 78 [Feb. 1907 



No. 2 is thoroughly cleaned from weak growth whether at the side or 

 centre, and the new wood is cut to an equal length of 1§ to 2 inches 

 all over the bushes. 



No. 3 is table pruned, that is to say is cut fiat across the top, two inches 

 of new wood being left in the centre of the bushes, and no cleaning 

 is being done. 



No. 4 is likewise, table pruned, but four inches of new growth is left on 

 the bushes. 



No. 5 is pruned on a system which has been very successful on the ' Bhagjan' 

 garden of the Amgoorie Tea Company, and we propose to call it the 

 ' Bhagjan' system. Very little new growth is left, not more than half 

 an inch, it being the object each year to make the new growth arise 

 not from the new wood but from the old knot. This pruning will 

 take several years to get into operation, but a start has been made 

 during the present season. 



The yield of leaf both to the acre of land and to the square foot of bush 

 surface will be obtained, and, in addition, the composition of the leaf and the effect 

 on the bush itself will be noted as usual. This experiment will certainly give very 

 valuable guidance for future investigation in this direction. 



The question of heavy pruning will be taken up very shortly. It may be 

 remembered that the Tea Association has now been carrying out experiments in 

 heavy pruning, for some years in several districts of Assam. Very definite results 

 have been obtained, and are almost ripe for publication. These will form a very 

 valuable guide for approaching more closely the investigation of the very many pro- 

 blems offered by heavy pruning in tea. 



PLUCKING EXPERIMENTS. 



The method of plucking of a tea estate vitally affects the yield, and, if such 

 is possible, in an even greater measure, the quality of tea. The methods used, 

 however, differ essentially, conditioned, it may be, partly by questions of labour, but 

 also by differences of opinion as to the procedure giving the best results. Thus in 

 Upper Assam there are two essentially different plans in vogue. After leaving 

 enough growth in both cases, the one and more usual method is to go regularly round 

 the tea every seven or at most eight days, taking at each round the ready leaf, that 

 is to say only those shoots which contain a fully formed " two and a bud," leaving 

 the necessary amount of growth below— which varies with the season : the other 

 which has come to be known as the ' Sadiya Road' system, goes round the garden 

 usually, in not less than ten days, but at each round takes everything whether it be 

 'two and a bud', or 'one and a bud' which is on the bush above the number of 

 mature leaves which has been decided, for the time, to leave. As a rule on this 

 system, the whole growth is taken, that is, in local terms, the leaf is plucked 'down 

 to the janum,' much earlier in the season than under the former system. To the 

 adoption of the second plan thus shortly described a good deal of the high quality 

 of the Sadiya Road tea has been ascribed by some ; and to test this point, and also 

 its applicability in another district, duplicate plots plucked by either method have 

 already been laid out at Heeleaka in 1905. 



This is only one of the problems of plucking— others concern the necessary 

 amount of growth to be left after pruning before a bush can be plucked ; the relative 

 advantage of plucking fine on long shoots, and on freshly grown shoots (close 

 plucking), the so-called ' Alleyne' system, the treatment of banjhi shoots, and so on. 

 These are all susceptible of investigation, which it is intended to undertake at 

 Heeleaka as occasion allows. 



