August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
133 
agriculturists, headed by Mr. Jacob Wilson, has been 
formed to acquire and work Mr, Strawson's invention. 
Mr. Wilson is a gentleman on whose judgment the 
agriculturists of Great Britain have justly placed the 
most implicit confidence ; and now that the invention 
has been taken up so enthusiastically by him, the 
destruction of turnip and fruit crops by insect pests will, 
doubtless, in a very short time be a thing of the past. 
The Times, February 11th, 1889, says " It is very 
evident that, before long, ' Strawsonizing ' a crop will 
be a recognized farm operation." In addition to apply- 
ing insecticides, for which it was especially invented, it is 
the most perfect and rapid Distributor of all Corn and 
Seeds, Nitrate of Soda, Thomas' Phosphate, Salt, Soot, 
Lime, and other artificial fertilisers. For particulars 
apply to Strawson & Co., Newbury, Berks. 
[An engraving shows a machine of the size of a big 
dogcart, drawn by one horse with a man sitting in front. 
No doubt it could be adapted for hand-power to suit 
plantation work. — Ed.] 
TEA PLUCKING AND TEA PRICES. 
Of course, in discussing the relative merits of any 
two systems of plucking, no rigid comparisons are 
possible, for circumstances differ so much on different 
estates. Indeed, we know the opinion is held by 
planters of experience that no "very fine" plucking 
is possible in hot, low-country districts, where in the 
forcing weather the flush almost runs away from 
the pluckers, and that if it were strictly carried out 
its affects upon the trees would be most detrimental. 
Without entering just at present upon this question, 
but dealing with the conditions which exist on the 
great majority of estates here, we find that it is quite 
possible for them to make a change in their present 
system of plucking — the question we have to con- 
sider being whether it will pay them to do so. Cir- 
cumstances differ widely in different cases, and there 
are many estates at present realizing — in spite of 
the prevalent low prices — such excellent averages for 
their tea, as to put any change in their system of 
plucking out of the question. But, unfortunately, there 
are others — and we fear the majority — who find that 
present prices leave but a small margin of profit. 
We do not see, however, that they will be able to 
improve matters by plucking "fine," as is recommended 
to them by London brokers and others. The present 
price of Pekoe Souchong is low, but in our opinion, 
it is not likely to go much lower. Assuming how- 
ever that it went down to 5d a lb., it does not 
follow that it would not pay to pluck it, for it re- 
duces the cost of manipulation all round, ana, more- 
over, generally speaking, it costs nothing to pluck. 
This seems very paradoxical, but it really is not so. 
For instance, a well-known planter recently divided 
a gang of fifty pluckers, and sent them into the 
same field, half having instructions to pluck fine and 
half to continue medium plucking as usual, and the 
following was the result: — 
25 coolies brought in 311 lb. leaf 
25 coolies brought in 198 „ 
113 
Now, we may safely assume that these 113 lb. 
of leaf were Pekoe Souchong, and furthermore it is 
quite plain that the cost of plucking was nil ! Sup- 
posing, therefore, that only 5d a lb. was realized for 
it, there would be a distinct profit on the leaf, for 
it would not cost more than 15 cents to manufacture. 
At first sight, no doubt, it is difficult to understand 
how there can be any profit on the Souchong of an 
iuvoice selling say at 7d., when the average cost of 
production is perhaps as high as 8d. or Sid ; but, as 
a matter of fact, all the profit there is," is earned 
by this low-class tea. If anyone differ from this 
opinion let him deduct the Souchong from an invoice 
aud work out the tea remaining (Pekoe and Broken 
Pekoe) at a rate say 10 cents higher than his old 
average and see what the result is, allowing, of course, 
a slightly higher rate for the cost of production.' 
Soniu figures have lately been shown us and placed 
at our disposal by a merchant and large estate pro- 
prietor, which show the result of such a calculation 
very clearly, and thus provide an excellent comparison 
of the different results obtainable from fine and 
medium plucking. The figures as regards acreage, 
yield, and average price realized are not hypothetical, 
but taken from the returns of a young and promising 
estate at a medium elevation. Assuming that fine 
plucking reduces the intake of leaf 33 per cent ; that 
the cost of laying down the smaller quantity of tea 
thus dealt with is raised from 30 cts.— which is the 
rate actually ruling on the estate referred to — to 
35 cts. ; and that the fine tea would realize an aver- 
age 10 cts. higher than that hitherto obtained, the 
following result is obtained ; — 
Medium Plucking.— 200 acres at 300 lb. an acre. 
60,000 lb. tea @ 55 cts. R33,000 
Costing @ 30 cts. K18.000 
Profit 15,000 
Fine Plucking.— 200 acres at 200 lb. an acre. 
40,000 lb. tea @ 65 cts. R26.000 
Costing @ 35 cts. RI4,000 
Profit 12,000 
Difference in favour of medium plucking 3,000 
It may be said that the average estimated above, 
viz. 55 cents is high, and the cost of production, 
viz. 30 cents, is very low ; but the figures are those 
which actually obtain on a certain estate and can 
be modified to suit the peculiar circumstances of 
anyone. It will be seen, however, that if we apply 
this formula to an estate obtaining a lower average 
for its teas, the result is much the same — only that 
there is a difference in degree. Not until the price 
realized approaches the cost of production does it 
really pay to pluck fine. There is, of course, an ex- 
ception to this, mentioned by us yesterday. We 
allude, of course, to the case of a planter who has 
an insufficiency of space or machinery to deal effici- 
ently and carefully with the large quantities of leaf 
coming in. In that case, of course, it would be better 
to pluck finer, and thus reduce the quantity of leaf 
manufactured. But such a case is, of cours, exceptional, 
and our contention does not apply to it. It will 
be noted, in the comparison made above, that 10 cents 
per lb. has been allowed as the increase in price 
obtainable by manufacturing only the fine leaf, and 
it has been said by one to whom we showed the 
figures that as much as 12 cents ought to be esti- 
mated. We very much doubt, however, whether as 
great a difference as this good be calculated on 
throughout the year. Leaving, therefore, the cost 
of production, the yield per acre, and the proportion 
of the leaf the same, let us see how the calculation 
looks with the average price reduced, assuming al- 
ways that a 10 cents better average could be obtained 
by fine plucking. The result is very instructive :— 
Medium Plucking. — 200 acres at 300 lb. an acre 
60,000 lb. tea at 50 cts. K.30,000 
Costing at 30 „ ... 18,000 B. 
Profit ... 12,000 
Fine Plucking.— 200 acres at 200 lb. an acre. 
40,000 lb. tea at 60 cts.... R24,000 
Costing at 30 „ ... 14,000 
Profit ... — 10,000 
Difference in favour of medium plucking... 2,000 
Medium Plucking. — 200 acres at 300 lb, an acre, 
60,000 lb. at 45 cts. ... R27,000 
Costing 30 „ ... 18,000 
Profit ... 9,000 
Fine Plucking. — 200 acres at 200 lb. an acre. 
40,000 lb. at 55 cts. ... R22,000 
Costing at 35 „ ... 14,000 
Profit ... 8,000 
Difference in favour of medium plucking... 1,000 
Medium riucking.— 200 acres at 300 lb. an aero. 
60,000 lb. at 40 cts. ... B24.000 
Costing at 30 „ ... 18.000 
Profit ... 6,000 
