6l2 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  r,  1893. 
PROPOSED  TEA  ANALYSES. 
Some  time  back  Mr.  John  Hughes,  the  well-known 
agricultural  chemist,  with  whose  work  on  behalf 
of  Ceylon  planters,  most  of  our  readers 
must  be  well-acquainted,  submitted  proposals  to 
our  Planters’  Association  for  instituting  a series 
of  experiments  with  the  objeot  of  determining 
to  what  extent  tea  might  be  classed  as  an  ex- 
hausting crop,  and  as  to  the  best  method  of 
returning  to  the  soil  the  constituents  extracted 
from  it  by  the  bush.  We  believe  that  the  principle 
advo  ated  by  Mr.  Hughes  received  endorsement 
by  the  Association,  which,  however,  took  no 
immediate  steps  towards  giving  effeot  to  that 
gentleman’s  proposals.  In  this  condition  matters 
remained  for  some  considerable  time  until  a few 
months  back,  when  it  beoame  understood  that 
the  Association  had  under  its  serious  consider- 
ation the  obtaining  of  the  services  of  an  expert 
analyst  to  conduot  work  here  on  the  spot,  and, 
as  we  then  believed,  on  the  lines  laid  down  by 
Mr,  Hughes  in  his  letter  to  that  body.  From  a 
conversation  whioh  is  reported  in  our  London  Letter 
of  this  mail,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  case  that  the 
proposal  of  the  Association  as  to  the  character  of 
the  researches  to  be  conducted  by  an  analyst  on 
the  spot  differs  widely  from  that  put  forward 
by  Mr.  Hughes,  and  in  view  of  the  very  considerable 
cost  whioh  must  be  entailed  in  getting  out  a com- 
petent roan  specially  from  England  and  of  the 
inquiry  he  would  be  instructed  to  oonduct,  we 
think  it  advisable  to  oounsel  the  Association  to 
weigh  well  the  remarks  on  this  topio  proferred 
to  our  London  Correspondent  by  Mr.  Hughes.  Of 
course  the  neoeeeity  for  the  tendering  of  such  ad- 
vioe  must  be  dependent  upon  Mr.  Hughes  having 
rightly  understood  what  it  is  that  the  Planters’ 
Association  has  in  contemplation  to  attempt.  That 
expert's  view  was  and  is,  that  it  must  be  most 
desirable  to  learn  with  the  fullest  accuracy  possible 
the  actual  constituents,  and  theiramount,  withdrawn 
from  the  soil  during  the  growth  and  bearing  of  a 
tea  bush,  and  therefore  to  determine  the  best 
method  for  ensuring  their  replacement,  so  as 
to  obviate  all  ohanoe  of  ultimate  exhaustion  to  the 
soil.  It  is  pretty  generally  known,  that 
as  compared  with  the  old  days  of  coffee  only  a 
small  quantity  of  manure  is  sent  upoountry 
for  the  purpose  of  application  upon  tea  estates. 
W6  published  figures  supjlied  (o  us  by  the  Rail, 
way  General  Manager  a short  time  ago  which 
showed  that  in  plaoe  of  4,200  and  5,400  tons  as 
in  1882  and  1883  respectively — years  when  coffee 
was  getting  very  low  down — the  railway  for  the 
past  three  years  has  not  carried  more  than  3,500 
tons  per  annum  of  manure.  In  the  palmy  days  of 
coffee — in  1877  for  instance— the  manures  sent 
upoountry  by  rail  exceeded  27,000  tons ! So  far 
the  general  opinion  has  been  that  tea  on  fresh 
land  does  not  require  manure  and  that  on  old 
coffee  land,  it  will  not  pay  to  apply  it.  Well,  for 
that  each  planter  mu3t  judge  for  himself  : but 
there  is  Mariawatte  Euroly  as  a standing  illustration 
of  the  great  use  of,  and  profit  to  be  derived  from, 
manuring.  That  104  acres  should  in  twelve  years,  as 
B contemporary  showed  the  other  day,  have  yielded 
1,143,000  lb.  of  made  tea,  oan  only  be  ac-^ 
counted  for,  we  think,  by  liberal  cultivation  and 
manuring.  We  have  no  doubt  there  are  tea  estate 
proprietors  who  would  gladly  deal  liberally  by  land 
whioh  i.®  yielding  them  500  lb.  and  upwards  of 
made  tea  per  aero  > but  who  hesitate  to  begin 
manuring  so  Song  as  their  bushes  look  in  good 
heart  and  continue  to  bear  well.  This  hesitancy 
• is  also,  doubtless  largely  due  to  the  limited 
knowledge  possessed  of  the  cijttr&Qter  of  the  ferti- 
lizers best  applicable  in  the  case  of  tea  cultiva- 
tion. Until- very  reoently  it  was  generally — indeed 
universally — believed  that  nitrogen  should  be 
the  ruling  const  tuent  of  manure  to  be  applied 
in  the  oase  of  tea  growth.  But  although  no 
final  and  authoritative  postulate  is  as  yet  possible, 
there  ie,  aoocording  to  Mr.  Hughes,  a growing 
aooeptance  of  ihe  theory  that  nitrogen  is  absorbed 
by  leal  growth  from  the  atmosphere  more  than 
through  the  rootlets  obtaining  it  from  the  soil. 
In  a great  degree,  therefore,  it  seems  to  be  now 
considered  that  nitrogeneous  manures  are  not 
those  most  needed  to  replenish  the  soil  of  our 
tea  estates.  It  seems  to  have  been  fully  demon- 
strated by  experiments  conduoted  at  home  that 
leguminous  plants,  such  as  peas,  beans,  <fco.,  derive 
their  required  supply  of  nitrogen  direct  from  the 
atmosphere,  and  that  they  are  for  that  reason 
independent  of  the  soil  for  that  particular  nutri- 
ment. This  was  proved  through  no  improve- 
ment in  growth  or  yield  being  observable  in  cases 
where  plants  of  that  character  had  been  liberally 
manured  with  nitrogenous  fertilizers.  It  was 
chiefly  to  determine  how  far  the  tea  tree  partook 
of  this  independence  that  Mr.  Hughes  counselled 
the  oourse  of  experimenting,  he  submitted  to  the 
Planters’  Association. 
Mr.  Hughes  is  under  the  impression  that  what  is 
now  contemplated  by  that  body  goes  far  beyond  the 
ecope  of  bis  proposal.  And  that  it  is  intended  to 
undertake  a looally  seriesof  analysesof  teas  grown  and 
prepared  on  different  estates  situated  very  diversely 
as  to  elevation  and  oharaoter  of  soil.  From  suoh  a 
oourse  of  experiment  Mr.  Hughes  thinks  we  should 
derive  little  or  no  satisfactory  result.  Elevation, 
temperature,  method  of  preparation,  would  all  so 
far  affeot  particular  analyses,  as  to  render  it 
impossible  to  judge  by  comparative  results.  Eaoh 
and  all  of  those  conditions  must  largely  vary  the 
constituents  of  samples  submitted  to  analysis. 
This  fact  is  so  thoroughly  recognised  by  manure 
manufacturers  at  home  that  eaoh  establishment 
keeps  its  special  analyst,  and  determine  its 
procedure  solely  upon  the  experiments  conducted 
by  him  without  reference  to  results  obtained  in  other 
factories  or  by  outside  general  experimenting.  We 
have  thus  briefly  sketched  out  the  main  purport 
of  Mr.  Hughes’  statements  so  as  to  prominently 
point  out  the  leading  features  of  the  case  as  put 
by  him.  These  are  sufficiently  clear  and  important, 
we  believe,  to  render  it  desirable  that  the 
Planters’  Association,  before  going  to  the  expense 
of  bringing  out  a Chemist  for  general  researoh, 
should  pause  and  consider  how  far  the  cost  of 
doing  eo  would  be  likely  to  be  recouped  by 
the  results  of  his  work. 
(From  a London  Correspondent.) 
London,  Feb,  17. 
It  seemed  to  me  to  be  desirable  to  learn 
what  Mr.  John  Hushes  might  have  heard 
respecting  the  resolution  of  your  Planters’  Asso- 
ciation to  obtain  the  services  from  home  of 
AN  EXPERIENCED  ANALYST 
to  conduot  researches  on  the  spot  with  reference 
to  tea.  It  somewhat  surprised  me  to  learn  that 
Mr.  Hughes  had  not  been  communicated  with  on 
this  subjeot,  and  he  told  me  he  had  heard  nothing 
certain  as  to  the  intention  of  the  Association  nor 
as  to  the  object  it  had  in  view  when  contem- 
plating the  securing  of  an  expert  to  work  on  the 
spot.  He  said  that  even  should  he  be  asked  to 
do  so  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  go  out  to 
Ceylon  to  conduct  experiments.  As  to  these,  he 
pointed  out  to  me  that  the  proposals  he  ha 
mpde  to  the  Association  differed  in  very  material 
