62 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[JULT I, 1889. 
iiot much iuerease the cost of working the estate 
and putting the tea in the market. A very small 
increase iu the selling price of the tea would more 
than cover this. An Old Tea Hand. 
LXIII. 
The Dest teas produced in the Kalutara district 
are from July to the end of the year and the worst 
in the driest weather, viz. February and March. 
When the heaviest pluckings are got the quality 
of the leaf is certainly not of the best ; and in 
addition to the liquor being poor the same attention 
cannot be given to the curing of the tea as when a 
more moderate plucking is got. 
Manuring with bulky manure increased the quantity 
largely and improved the quality considerably. 
Medium plucking pays best I believe, and I think 
that if we all went in for flue plucking the tea pro- 
duced would be used for mixing with China teas 
instead of as at present with ordinary plucking 
driving these China teas out of the market. 
In a table published by a contemporary giving 
the cost of producing tea from crops of 150 MO lb. 
per acre, a mistake has occurred in the first column. 
The cost of production of 150 lb. per acre should be 
56J cents per lb., not 50 cents as put down. 
The cost of producing 250 lb. per acre, which is 
about the average crop of several old estates up- 
country I know of, is put down at 40 cents per lb ; 
add to this interest on capital invested, say R250 
per acre at 3 per cent, and the cost of production is 
increased to 48 cents per lb. At present prices I 
doubt whether 48 cents is being realized, and it be- 
hoves us all to give our best support to any scheme 
for opening new markets. 
LXIV. 
Dikoya, 26th May 1889. 
1 I consider the best teas are made in the wet 
weather, say from June to September, and when the 
bushes are 6 to 8 mouths old from pruning. The worst 
teas are made during the hot weather trom December 
to April, the flushes then are very quick in growing, 
and as a rule teas turnout thiu and without any flavour. 
2 Have had but little experience, but should think 
bulk and artificial would increase yield ; cannot see 
bow manure could affect flavour. 
3 Certainly, and consider those who combine 
quantity with quality are doing far more to strengthen 
our market than by sending in strong flavoury teas which 
are used largely for mixing with weak China teas and 
so force their sale. Supposing everyone went in for 
fine plucking, query, would not the prices fall just as 
rapidly as they are now doing, and I should think the 
stronger the teas the less will be required. I quite 
agree with " W. F. L." in all his remarks, and his 
figures are pretty conclusive. S. 
LXV. 
1. It stands to reason that bushes must yield their 
finest quality when in their prime, i. a. just after 
" that first budding spring of youth," or 6 to 12 
mouths from pruning ; and the less the amount of 
foliage the stronger will the quality naturally be, 
provided always that a healthy leaf or shoulder be 
left, and not a goat-browsed-like nondescript, which 
is sometimes — or ofttimes? — seen. I have observed 
that flavour is much superior in the dry months. 
2. A sample of uumauured tea tasted against one 
of bone and castor caked from the same field gave 
a slightly minor pungency. 
'■i. It is the old story : Est modus in rebus, and he 
who hits the happy one will be happy. 
P.Jjj, — There have been some dull things written to 
your paper lately about tea, showing intensely the one- 
sideduess of thought. One absurd ('eduction you 
nullified with your usual incisive Ed. C. O. To two 
other statements I would make short replies. One 
win to tin: effect that tennis was incompatible with 
good teamaking. To this J would say : it is not the 
planter that works, but the plautor who gets the work 
d ine, that succeeds. If a man has four or five hun- 
dred— ay, or even two hundred— acres to look after, 
can he be in the factory all day ? In that case, as far 
as actual teamaking is concerned, what is the difference 
whether he is absent at other works or— tennis ? Again, 
to the statement that without carefully plucked leaf 
one cannot make good tea, I would ask : how is it that 
factories buying from four to six estates (I can name 
them— and leaf to sell is— well, not so nicely plucked 
as leaf to make): — do make good tea ? A. V. R. 
* 
THE BANDIKAI. 
Colombo, 24th April 1889. 
Deah. Sib,— With reference to the valuable informa- 
tion which has appeared in your paper re the Bandi- 
kai plant and its fibrous qualities, I hope that the 
following extract may prove of interest. I have taken 
it from a book in the Qjlorabo Museum Library 
on the "Fibrous Plants of India" by Dr. Forbes 
Royle, m.d., f.r.s., London, 1 855.— Yours faithfully, 
G. A. J 
Extract referred to. 
Other BIalvaceous Fibre- Yielding Plants. 
"In connexion with Hibiscus cannabinus we may 
appropriately mention the other fibre-yielding species 
of the same genus. Among these we find those which 
are also used as articles of diet; as for instance : — 
" Hibiscus esculentus, the Okhro of the West Indies, 
with which is now united the H. longifoliv.s of the 
East Indies, the Bandikai of Madras, the Ram turai 
and Dhenroos of Bengal ; and from both of which the 
Bammia of the West C jast of Africa probably does 
not differ essentially. Of all these, the long, young 
pyramidal pods are filled when green, with a large 
proportion of mucilage, on which account they are 
gathered when green, and cooked as vegetables, being 
much esteemed by many, though considered too viscid 
by others. The fruit is also used to thicken soups 
in the countries where it is indigenous and in the 
South of France and iu the levant. The seeds 
which may also be added like barley to soups, and 
have been recommended to be roasted as a substitute 
for coffee, **.*>**. 'p ne bark of this plant also 
abounds in fibre, which is of fine quality, as in many 
others of the same genus. Dr. Roxburgh cut the stems 
when the seed was ripe, and committed them to the 
steep a few days after." 
The comparative strength of different fibres, amongst 
them those of H. esculentus are given in a tabulated 
form on page 268 of Dr. Royle's book. 
♦ 
WHAT IS SOJA BEAN. 
To the Editor of the "Ceylon Observer." 
Dear Sie, — something good to agriculture always 
comes from the Celestial Empire, and if any of your 
readers could tell us what they know of Doliehos 
soja, a spice which is now becoming very valuable 
in some p irts of the world, they would indeed be 
doing another good thing to Ceylon planters. It is 
known iu the Straits as "Soja Bean," and is said to 
be cultivated in Japan and China. 1 suspect it must 
be growing in Ceylon and known to the native-; 
but who could say what is its native name ? 
NEW PRODUCTS. 
(From " Treasury of Botany.") 
So.ia (or Soya) hispidd is the only representative 
of a genus of Legv/minosai of the tribe Papilionaace, and 
much cultivated in tropical Asia on account of its 
beans, which are used for preparing a well-known 
brown and slightly salt sauco (Soy), used both in 
Asia and Europe for flavouring certain dishes, es- 
pecially beef, and supposed to favour digestion. Of 
lato it has been cultivated as an oil-plant. S. hispida 
is an erect hairy herb, with trifoliate leaves, and 
axillary racemose flowers, which have a five-cleft calyx, 
a papilionaceous corolla, ten diadelphous stamens, and 
