October i, 1889.I THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
247 
2. Plucking jshould be done when the shoots after 
pruning have grown from 6 to 8 inches high. For the 
first two rounds pluck only the bud and the lower 
leaf attached, leaving 4 to 6 leaves on the tree. Care 
shoald be taken to nip off any " banjy " at your 
level as you go along. Until the third plucking you 
will have only the primaries ready for plucking, after 
that the secondaries will also be ready to be plucked, 
and then you begin to pluck all that you can with 
one operation of the hand pluok 2| leaves, leaving 2J 
leaves on the tree. For about 3 or 4 rounds you 
continue plucking as above ; and then you do it a 
little closer, leaving only 1J fully-formed leaf, and so 
continue closer and closer, the harder the trees grow, 
until towards the end of the season you leave only a 
half-leaf on the shoot. 
3. To obtain a " good wither " from 30 to 35 per 
cent of the wet leaf must be lost. The leaf plucked on 
a hot sunny day will not lose over 25 to 30 per cent 
on wet leaf ; but on a cold and moist day, although 
the leaf is not actually wet, it will be found fully 40 
per cent less on attaining a good wither. 
4. Tea should be fired till quite crisp. This can 
be beat told by the touch of an experienced hand. 
Sifting when half-finished is necessary in chula 
firing, but it is not necessary in a sirocco firing for 
these reasons. (1) The meshes of the sirocco drying- 
trays being larger than the chula trays, allow the 
broken tea and dust to fall through in stirring 
and escape burning. (2) The continual stirring of 
the leaf in the trays helps the intense draught in 
the sirocco drying chamber to dry the tea off in 
a less time than the chula, avoiding the risk of 
burning, and drying the contents of the tray equally. 
Cochin Tea Maker. 
XI. 
Lebanon Group, Madulkele : 
Elevation between 2,800 and 4,800 feet. 
In reply to your request for answers to the questions 
re tea culture asked by B., I have pleasure in giving 
them below. Mv elevation is from 2,800 feet to 4,800 
feet. Rainfall about 120 inches well distributed. Acre- 
age of tea worked by me nearly 1,000. 
1. " When is it best to prune and how?" — This is 
a large order, and I really feel I am only learning 
the best seasons and methods of pruning. For this 
district July pruning- is undoubtedly the best. Trees 
pruned in this month make splendid wood and escape 
the strong June-July S.-W. winds. There is little 
flush also about this time and therefore little last by 
pruning. My heights for pruning a fair to a good jat 
are as follows: — Top at 12 months to 12 inches and at 
24 months cut down to 16 inches. The third year I 
would prune to 18 and the fourth to 20 inches and 
would commence again at 16 inches in the fifth season. 
I have yet to learn a lot about this work, and wish 
I now had the experience and knowledge I hope to 
possess 5 years hence. 
2. "How should tea be plucked after pruning till end 
of season?" — The lower you prune the longer you must 
let the ensuing flush grow. As a rule I leave, for first 
flush two-and-a-half leaves, for second flush one-and-a- 
half, and then half-a-leaf only for the rest of the 
season. Two months before pruning a little judicious 
stripping often brings in a lot of leaf resulting in no 
harm to the bushes. I am most careful to leave all 
side branches to grow of their own sweet will. When 
your tea is 8 to 10 years old or perhaps 6 to 8 on 
young land, ynu can pluck all round your bush, for 
then your bushes a ill cover the ground and can stand 
hard plucking. 
:$. li About what percentage should be lost in 
withering?"— I wither as hard as I can without actu- 
ally drying the leaf. This means losing 40 per cent 
of moisture, or in other words withering down to 60 
per cent. 
4. " Should tea be fired till quite crisp &o. ?' 
1 do not like firing till quite crisp, but always put away 
in big bas v "ta when just not crisply fired. Teasput 
away in this condition will be found quite crisp and 
thoroughly dried next morning, and by so doing all 
risk of burning your teas is avoided. I use Jackson's 
Victoria and Venetian Driers and therefore find no 
necessity for sifting halt-fired roll. The roll is always 
sifted before firing, and, of course, the small is fired 
separately from the big. T. D. 
XII. 
Kotagala: Elevation over 4,000 feet. 
1. From the latter part of July to the earlier 
part of September I have found to be the best 
time to prune: my experience has been gained at an 
elevation of from four to five thousand feet and from 
three to six hundred feet. 
Iu order to make the busb spread and prevent it 
running up whip-like, it ought to be cut across at 10 
inches to 1 foot the first year. When there is any 
wind this ought to be done at the commencement of 
the S.-W. monsoon and repeated at 15 inches at the 
same time the following year- After th*t with fair 
jat it is I think to the advantage of the bush to 
let it run for two years before cutting again, 
and then cut according to the bush. I have tea 
flushing fairly well on poor laud at 4,500 feet ele- 
vation that was cut across in April 1887 and 
has not been touched with a knife since. Up to the 
very cold wet weather it never showed the least sign 
of wanting pruning. 
2. My style of pluekiug is very much on the lines 
laid down by Mr. Armstrong in his special paper on 
Tea Cultivation, published at the Observer Office, viz. 
after pruning with good to fair jat pluck primaries 
leaving three whole leaves and the " fish " or mother 
leaf, leave two whole leaves on the secondaries and 
one on the tertiaries. After that leave one whole leaf 
and the fish leaf up to say within a couple of months 
of pruning and then take as much as possible, but on 
no account must the " mother " leaf be taken or the shoot 
will die back. Whenever possible the pruniugs from 
all trees over three years old should be buried. They 
make *t valuable manure which is there on the spot 
transport free, and merely for the application. 
3. The average loss in withering is about 35 per cent. 
4. I think the turee-quarter system of firing preler- 
able. If tea is fully fired at first a large per cent of 
the flavour goes off in final firing, whereas in the 
other case it is preserved. Teas fully fired at first and 
put in a bin for a few days have a heavy sourish 
smell which is net present when the tea has been three- 
quarters fired and the moisture allowed to evaporate 
a little before finishing the firing. It is not necessary 
or advisable to sift tea while firing with a " drier " 
as the act of turning the leaf on the tray takes out the 
smaller leaves as they get dried, and more sifting would 
tend towards the twist. 
My experience of tea on old land is too limited to 
enable me to answer the questions of "W." fully. 
W. H. M. 
XIII. 
1. When is it best to prune and how ? — It depends 
on elevation. 
2. How should tea be plucked from the first pick- 
ing after pruning till the end of the season ? — Leaving 
six inches above, after that one and a half leaf. 
3. About what percentage should be lost in wither- 
ing to get what is called a " good wither ? " — 38 per 
cent. 
4. Should tea be fired till quite crisp or not, and 
should the teas be sifted while firing, so as to get all 
leaf equally fired? — Should be fired till it is crisp and 
with chulasshoul ; ~ siued; not with machines. 
G. A. T. 
XIV. 
"When is it best to prune, and how ?" — In 
temper i,te climates, nature decides the time. When 
deoidu ais trees and shrubs drop their leaves, and 
plants of all sorts go to rest on the approach of 
winter, everyone knows that then is the time to 
prune. Here in Ceylon where we have no winter 
we must be guided by conditions. 
