Oct. 2, 1893.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
obsouiG or doabtful, but are the mature rtsuUs 
of the clasesl obdervations and investigations oi 
our Eurcpean Soifrrtists. To one or two of these 
facits, I shall have to draw special attention in 
ana Bering the present inquiry r-^gar.ling the de- 
terioration of Ceylon teas. What then has chiefly 
led to the fulliiig off in qualiiy of Ceylon tets? 
I reply the same causes that led to the ruin of 
ooSee I I will endeavour to be as explicit as 
possible. 
We know how the deciduous trees in England 
shed all their leaves in Autumn, leaving them 
bare and leafless. Then in Spring those bare 
treas renew their branches with innumerable youug 
shoots. Njw I ask: "From whence oomes the 
Bap that supplies those young shoots to the leafless 
trees?" Someone haatily replies: "Why from 
the roots of ojurse." Now Mr. Editor one 01 the 
thoroughly certified " faots" that I referred 
to, is that no lebfless tree, bueh; or plant is able 
to draw up a single particle of nutriment from 
the roots (not to mention the aasimilatting pro- 
cess) until that tree, bush or plant has again besbme 
clothed with foliage. It woull monopoliza too 
much of your space were I 10 explain how this 
is, but ehab be glad to give a full explanation 
if required. Now I merely mention the fact. Where 
then does the sap come from that supplies those 
young shoots to the bare branches ? Why fcoui the 
same place that it went to in the previous Autumn 
when the green leaves emptied out their contents 
before they fell dry and sapless to the grounl. 
That is from the store-houte of the bark of the 
trees, where the sup lay stored up ail Winter 
until set in moiion again by the geniul infiuenoes 
of Spring. To maka this more evident. What 
happens after we have stuck out cuitings from 
trae, budh or plini ? Young shoes appear 
on these cutiiags. Where doest he sap come from 
that supplies Ihtse young shoot;? bot from any 
rooie, because the shoots appear generally before 
there is any development of root on the cutting. 
The sap then evidently could only have proceeded 
from tne bark. But nosv I thmk I hear the 
exclamation ; — " What on earth is this fellow aiming 
as and what c-onneetion is there between deciduous 
trees and tea bushes?" Well festina lente, lam 
working up 10 the point If we examine a tree, 
alter pruuiug, wo had the bare branches in the 
esma condition as deciduous trees in autumn, 
namely leafless. Now I ask where is the nutri 
meut to come from that will clothe those bere 
LriinchuB with fiebh foliage in the spring ? Do 
I hear the answer ; ' Why irom the same source 
as the deciduous trees get it of course?" Now I 
come to fact number two, which is that no tree, 
bueh or plant can provide or store up any nutri- 
ment for its future requirements [during the growing 
jnriod; for all the sap, and nutriment, is (hen thrown 
forward to the growing points to form new growth and 
none reserved for the future requiremeuts of the 
tree or bush itself. When the growing season 
cornea to a dose and the tree or bush seems to 
have relapsed into a dormant state, then only is 
the time when the storing-up of sap in the tiseu s 
is aotively piooeedirg. 
Now how IS it with the tea bush in Ceylon ? 
With the forcing cliccate of t-eylon, the tea bush 
is k pt in a perpetual st^te of growth with only 
a very few . light checks occasionally. But wh; n 
the growi' g season is euppcs'jd to have come to 
a.i end (a it iver rioes io C'^^loii) and the over- 
taxed tea bush is beginning to rnst tnd recuperate 
iiH (ofCf-s by stoni g up eivp in i.s tissues uuJ oark, 
rouna cullh b the pruning knife ai d ( fl gocS all 
the foliage, leaving the denuded bushes iu a bti t; 
in which no stotiug of sap ia possible. Thus the 
poor tea bushes are stflrved and robbed. Every 
teti pianier knows, or ought to know, that tea' 
manufactured from the flushes of bushes which 
were allowed to retain their foliage through tbe 
dormant season, is incomparably superior in quality 
to tea m?de from bushes that were pruned in the 
usual way. The reason of this lies in the facts 
I have described. This thsn Mr, Editor is one of 
the chief causes of the deterioration in Ceylon 
t^a. There are other causes such as a prolonged 
dry season b; ing neo^dssary for the thorough pro- 
cess of nitrification and seralion of the soil &c. ; 
but I will net trouble you with this point now! 
I miy add that with the c'imate of India, the tea 
has various sufficient intervals of rest from active 
growth (when the tea bushes are not flushing) 
to termit of the stcirg-up of sap in the tissues of 
tbe bushes. 
By-the-bje, to those who are acquainted with 
such elementary facta as that the process of 
nitrification is only possible in the lopmost twelve* 
inches of the soil, it is amusing to hear the 
earnest assertion of your London correfpondent 
an ! others that tea can appropriate nourishment 
by its deep tap-root 1— Enough for the present. 
-Yours faithfully, j. McKENZIE. 
P,S.— * Conectirn dated Ang. 30th.— " I meRi t to 
Fay that the procefs of ritrification is oonfired to 
he topmost eighteen incbes or two feet of foil— 
a.e r iiug to the texture snd compoaition of tlie soil " 
—J. iMcK. 
[We take it that when Mr. MaokeaBie wrote 
the above letter, he had not seen the communi- 
cation from one of the first Mincing Lane authori- 
ties on tea oontrovertirg the common notion 
that Ceylon teas had deteriorated in quality, 
though they had in value (as a whole) through 
the far greater quantity produced and more espeoielly 
of the lower grades. Oeylon can (and does) pro- 
duce as good teas as ever it did in certain quun- 
tities which the planters concerned judge to be 
equal to the eemaud. We are obliged to our 
present correspondent, however, for his suggestive 
remarks about sap, the sea oos, and the prooes.s of 
nitrification. Our best means of re-assuring Mr. 
Mackenzie as to his feari for the Ceylon tea 
plant is to point to the report of the manager of 
Leole Condura which he will find in next issue of 
the Tropical Agriculturist, where he shows that his 
tea-bushes 25 to 27 years old, and which have been 
regularly cropped, are as vigorous as ever they were 
and are now yielding at the rale of close .500 lb. made 
tea peraeis. Mariawatte field too, near U years old, 
still looks luxuriant after giving annuEilly over 
1,000 lb. per acre ever sii ce it came into full bearirg. 
Let Mr. Mackenzie oome and see our Ceylon Tea 
districts and he will be comforted as to their con- 
dition and feel that too much is made by Mr. 
Hawes and others of the " deterioration" cry. — 
Ev.T.A.] 
THE SAP THEORY AND ALLEGED DETE- 
RIORATION OF CEYLON TEAS. 
6th Sept. 
Dbar Sir,— On looking over your issue of 4th 
inst. my attention is directed to a letter on the 
D^ttriorulion of Ceylon teas." Now, I am too 
young a planter to give my vie vs on the " supposed" 
deterioration of our te.a, but I cannot refrain from 
expressiug myself on the botanical akpeot of your 
correspondent's letter. 
As regards his "sap" theory, it is simply qaixotio. 
To say th.^t Ihc t up e .^bora oJ by the leaves id 
stored up in the ba k, m ght hijve reoeiV' d cV' .K no" 
in a by gone a^^e, befjre iij-erimcut (Icmobsltatcd 
that it deBoeuded to tbe roots between the cambium 
