8x8 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1888. 
plants, which I believe to be plentiful in Upper 
Burmah which adjoins Muuipore, and it is, there- 
fore, a. decided mistake to call it ind genous. The 
very growth of these plants is enough, to thute 
acqua nted with true indigenous, to st,ow that by 
tfle number of small branches it developes, it can- 
not be a pure indigenous plant, whose branches are 
very sparre aiid far apart in comparison with any 
plant tending to the hybrid class. Most people are 
aware how easily one plant can hybridise another by 
its pollen being carried by insects, and as tea has 
been made in the north of Burmah, I see no reason 
to doubt the possibility of the light leaf plaut 
having perhaps become so impregnated whilst in 
flower, and so give us the dark leaf plant and seed. 
These light-leafed plants are longer in leaf, 1 believe, 
and what is generally termed the small leaf plant, 
is simply nothing more than a second or third re- 
move irom the first plant self-planted in the large 
traots of jungles or even planted out by the Munipo- 
rees after they learned the demand for this class of 
seed. That this class of plant is a hardy one, no 
one doubts for a moment, and if it yields well, so 
does a good China; but it is deficient in strength 
of liquor to be really pure indigenous, which is 
invariably a more tender plant to handle. 
Now to return to my former subject, indigenous 
tea seedlings put out from the pure plant are deli- 
cate, and from various causes, such as the parent 
plant having grown in the shade and then planted 
out in the open, it will always be found that when 
indigenous seedlings are planted in the shade or 
on the cool siJe of a teelah, they thrive better than 
if on the hot side without any shade. It may also 
arise from the seedlings not having sufficient mineral 
food whilst in fruit stage on the mother plant, or 
from being in poor laud, heavily washed laud, or 
ary other cause, as the first plant was a self-sown 
plaut and naturally had not the amount of care 
bestowed on its planting that we bestow in planting 
exotic, the first remove shows signs of delicate 
health. Now indigenous once removed is, as a rule, 
a good yielding plant, and hardy, and simply because 
it has been once trausplated, and so able to procure 
all the nourishment requisite to keep it in a robust 
state of health. Plants twice removed are often 
termed indigenous ; but this is a mistake, as in 
nine cases out of ten the plant has not been plant- 
ed is an isolated spot and has beceme hybridised. 
It is absolutely necessary for any person growing 
an indigenous seed crop, to isolate the plants from 
all possible chance of contamination from other 
plants, and where this is done a really high class plaut 
will be got; not till then. A great deal can yet be 
done towards improving indigenous plants, or, cor- 
rectly speaking, high class hybrid plants : such as 
panting out Oachar indigenous and Bazalonie, or 
any other two kinds, alternately in the rows, and 
so introducing a new class of plant that will yield 
well and give strength of flavour at the same time. 
To ensure a good seed crop, the bushes should be 
deeply turned round every cold season and lime 
applied to the roots, with good cow manure on the 
top. If a liberal allowance of lime* be given, it 
may go for three years, and only heavy manuring 
with cow-dung carried on every year in the cold 
season,, with the deep trenohing, and provided the 
land be sandy, a good crop will be the result, any- 
thing from 10 to 40 maunds of seed per acre. 
Another mistake people make at present, who 
grow seed, is cropping it for leaf. The bushes do 
not yield well for either crop, and seed from such 
bushes should be avoided as much as possible. It 
is also a mistake many people make when a bush 
gets too big to pluck, to leave it for seed, as in- 
variably such a bush has not got free sap chan- 
nels to puro'it, of a full and vigorous flow of tap. 
A full flow of sap for a fruit crop is quite as es- 
sential as for a leaf crop. I might even go the 
length of Haying more so, as the mineral substances 
exhausted from the soil harden up the wood very 
* But most writers on tea state that it requires 
the minimum of lime,— Bo. 
considerably, more on a fruit bearing tree than in 
a tree grown for its leaf. A tea plant can grow to 
a certain height with advantage for a leaf crop, but 
after constant plucking and pruning the channels get 
stopped up, and with a poor, feeble flow of sap, 
the bushes throw out poor small leaves arid degen- 
erate very rapidly ; but if these very plan's are cut 
down low aud allowed to form new wood and 
consequently new sap channels, the bush regains its 
former vigour and we get a fine luxuriant foliage 
in place of the small puny leaf it yielded prior to 
its being cut down, and though the bush may be 
half or quarter its former size, I am prepared to 
say it yields more per acre. If this is so with a 
leaf crop, it also surely holds good with a seed crop, 
and such bushes also, after a certain stage, can 
with advantage be pruned down. 
In conclusion, let me say to all concerned in tea, 
when making new extensions go in for high class 
plaut. Don't be over-ruled into buying seed by the 
name of it, without satisfying yourself: first, that 
it is a really high class plaut ; secondly, that it is 
isolated from all contamination from an inferior jdt 
of plant; thiidly, that the bushes are in a robust 
state of health ; as with a falling market none but 
the finest yielding plants will recoup one for putting 
them out. And don't, above all things, be misled 
by the term indigenous, as unless it is procured 
from the jungles, niue out of every ten gardens 
selling their seed as " Munipore Indigenous " sell 
nothing more than a moderately fair class of hybrid. 
Its being a hybrid in its first stage won't make it 
more an indigenous, because Tom and Dioksellitae 
Muniporee, Oachari, or Tipp-rah once removed.— 
Oachabi. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
[Except for lowcountry places, 3000 feet and 
under, we suspect high class hybrid plants are 
preferable. — Ed.] 
NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS, 
(From Messrs. Sehimmel $ Co.' s Half-yearly Circular.) 
Since last autumn, Messrs. Sehimmel & Co. state, 
the trade in essential oils has beeu of a fairly 
satisfactory character, although not an exceptionally 
favourable one. The increased stringency of the 
protective duties, and the tariff-wars which have 
lately marked the commercial policy of Continental 
states, have adversely affected the export business 
of the Leipzig firm, and the sale of essential oils 
to liqueur manufacturers in Germany has been 
greatly hampered by toe Spirit Law, which has had 
the effect of disorganising the liqueur industry, and 
of decreasing its output to the estimated extent of 
25 to 30 per ceut. The perfumery trade has ap- 
parently suffered no injury through the action of 
the new law, although its provisions with regard to 
tbe official control and inspection of the stock of 
alcohol in the hands of manufacturers are exceedingly 
irksome. 
Cinnamon Oil. — In Colombo higher prices are 
now asked. The bulk of the exports from that 
island consists of bitter, low-class oils, or of cinnamon- 
leaf oil, only a small percentage of the shipments 
being of fine and pure quality. The most practical 
and certain test of the purity of cinnamon oil, aud 
one which is preferable to all chemical tests, consists 
in simply pouring a few drops into cold water, when 
cinnamon oil sinks, as its specific {gravity is higher 
than that of water. When touched with the tongue, 
pure oil immediately creates an extremely sweet 
taste, far surpassing that of sugar. This purely 
sweet taste should be maintained throughout. Ordi- 
nary oils first cause a clove-like taste, which is only 
succeeded by sweetness after a long interval. Such 
oil has no higher value than ordinary oil of cassia. 
Clove Oil. — Until now only small shipments 
have come to hand of the clove oil distilled in 
Mauritius from green cloves. This oil, though it is 
said to answer the requirements of a good quality 
of clove oil, is of a very low specific gravity (1.048 
at 18" O), against 1.060 s.g. at the same tem- 
perature lor clove oil distilled by Sehimmel & Co. 
