Mav  I,  1893.]  the  tropical  agriculturist. 
experiments  in  tea  manuring 
IN  SOUTH  INDIA. 
A correspondent  writes  us  (“Madras  Times”):  — 
In  the  bad  times  of  coffee  some  100  acres  of  land, 
which  had  only  had  coffee  for  3 years  were  planted 
with  tea  4 x 4 with  cinchona  10  ft.  apart.  They  were 
left  to  grow  together,  the  tea  being  only  cut  down  in 
its  second  year,  giving  about  001b.  an  acre  ; in  its  third 
to  fourth  vear  only  1201b.  The  cinchona  was  then 
dug  up,  which  besides  emoving  the  shade,  was  like 
digging  up  or  trenching  the  soil,  and  the  tea  jumped 
to  2901b.  next  year,  the  year  after  to  310  about ; then  it 
was  manured  in  plots  with  the  following : “ (1)  Lime 
refuse  and  cattle  dung  mixed,”  (2)  “ashes,”  (3) 
“jungle  soil  alone,”  (4)  “ jungle  soil  and  bones,”  (5) 
“ditto  aud  poonac  ” (coconut),  (6)  “ditto  and  castor 
poonac,”  and  (7)  “ nothing  but  pits  dug  above  each 
tree  and  left  to  fill  in  with  the  showers.”  This  wasdone 
in  January  and  February.  About  May  the  whole 
place  came  on,  but  all  about  the  same,  no  distinct 
difference  could  be  seen,  and  the  heavy  rain  and 
wind  of  the  monsoon,  for  the  estate  is  very  high, 
about  4,500  average,  kept  the  flush  back ; still  the 
trees  looked  more  ready  to  flush  and  in  better  heart 
than  before,  especially  where  the  cowdung  and  lime 
refuse  had  been  put.  ' In  September  the  flush  began 
again,  and  now,  just  two  years  from  the  application, 
the  results  are  still  distinctly  visible.  The  ashes, 
after  the  first  few  months,  did  absolutely  nothing ; 
the  part  pitted  but  not  manured,  and  that  pitted 
and  with  jungle  soil  only  applied  did  well  till  after 
the  rains,  in  May  and  September  and  October  put 
on  very  large  flushes,  an  increase  of  60  to  70  in  the 
year,  but  went  off  after  January,  and  I could  see 
no  difference  between  what  was  only  pitted  and  left 
and  what  had  jungle  soil  alone  applied.  That  part 
manured  with  the  two  poonacs  gave  an  average 
increase  yield  of  about  901b.  in  the  year  in  excess 
of  what  it  did  previous  to  application,  and  is  still 
going  on  at  a lesser  rate,  but  still  improved  from 
what  it  was  before  manuring.  That  with  lime,  refuse 
and  cattle  manure  went  ahead  earliest  and  put  on 
about  1201b.  increase  the  first  year,  and  about  701b. 
this,  whilst  the  jungle  soil  and  bone,  which  was  on 
the  most  exposed  part  of  the  place,  gave  an  increase 
of  90  to  100  in  the  May  following  and  has  now  if 
anything  increased  on  that,  certainly  shows  no  signs 
of  falling  off.  Even  t’-.s  jungle  soil  gives  about  301b. 
per  tree  with  J alb.  of  poonac  and  Jib.  of  bone  to 
each  tree.  The  trees  are  manured  by  having  pits 
1 foot  long,  1 foot  wide,  6 inches  deep  cut  a foot 
above  each  tree.  I have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
leaving  out  the  part  manured  with  ashes,  the  value 
of  the  tea  is  increased  £5  an  acre,  as  the  trees  have 
spread  and  thickened  very  greatly,  and  that  it  is 
due  to  the  high  cultivation  is  evident,  as  there  is 
some  not  manured,  which  compares  but  badly  with 
it.  The  place  will,  I believe,  this  year  give  400  lb. 
an  acre,  and  this  is  a very  excellent  yield  for  the 
elevation.  I was  much  astonished  at  the  effect 
the  bone  dust  had  ; it  did  not  force  on  a huge  flush 
of  leaf ; in  fact,  acted  slowly ; but  it  benefited  the 
trees  most  of  all,  and  bone  is,  of  course,  generally 
supposed  to  be  a fruit-producing  manure.  The  cost 
of  artificial  manure  may  be  put  at  R40  an  acre, 
with  jungle  soil  at  any  distance  it  costs  R60,  and 
I should  doubt  it  being  wise  to  put  it  by  itself. 
Cattle  manure,  of  course,  depends  much  on  carriage, 
but  putting  it  as  you  always  can,  by  having  mov- 
able cattle  sheds  at  a distance  of  not  over  200  yards, 
including  cost  of  cattle  keep,  it  should  not  be  more 
than  R25  to  R30  an  acre.  Putting,  say  J cwt.  to 
each  tree,  I believe  every  third  or  fourth  year  is 
quite  sufficient  to  back  the  trees  up  to  their  full 
vigour.  Failing  this,  renovation  pits  between  -every 
four  trees  2 feet  square  by  9 inches  deep  could  be 
cut  for  R7  an  acre  easily,  and  would  repay  amply. 
Even  stirring  up  the  ground  round  trees  with  crow- 
bars has  a good  effect.  But  I believe  it  will  pay 
proprietors  over  and  over  again  to  go  in  for  a 
thorough  system  of  manuring ; and  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  getting  to  soil  within  an  easy  carriage. 
We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  cattle  manure  well 
torted  and  kept  in  covered  pits  till  it  cuts  like  a 
90 
713 
[cheese  is  facile  pnneeps.  It  is,  I think,  however 
an  open  question  whether  swamp  soil  well  dried! 
mixed  in  a compost  with  a little  cattle  manure  and, 
say,  an  ounce  or  1J  oz.  of  fine  bone  powder  would 
not  be  as  cheap  and  nearly  as  effective  as  manure. 
For  this  a few  cattle  would  suffice. 
ON  THE  SAME. 
There  appears  to  be  a great  diversity  of  opinion  as 
regards  the  manuring  of  tea,  and  many  planters  of 
experience  seem  to  think  it  better  left  alone,  the 
general  reason  being,  that  if  once  begun  it  must 
be  continued,  and  also  that  though  it  increases  the 
yield,  it  in  a corresponding  manner  reduces  the 
quality.  Now  as  to  the  first  reason,  it  may  belaid 
down  as  an  axiom,  that  any  given  plant,  giving  and 
having  crops  either  of  fruit  or  leaf,  must  consume 
a large  amount  of  the  chemical  ingredients  on  which 
it  lives.  Again,  the  harder  a tea  plant  is  picked, 
the  greater  will  be  its  endeavours  to  throw  out  new 
leaf  to  supply  itself  with  air,  and  therefore  the  more 
food  will  its  roots  require,  to  balance  the  artificial 
state  produced  by  plucking.  Of  course,  especially 
in  virgin  forest  soil,  there  is  a sufficiency  of  leaf- 
mould,  the  deposits  of  ages,  to  last  for  many  years. 
Aud  provided  the  soil  has  a strata  of  clay  or  stiff 
soil  below  (at  not  too  great  a depth)  which  will  hold 
damp  enough  during  the  hot  months  to  feed  the  huge 
top  root  the  tea  plant  sends  down,  there  is  no  doubt 
manuring  is  not  necessary.  In  old  coffee  land  where 
the  soil  has  been  exhausted  by  plants,  and  moreover 
by  the  weeder  with  his  hoe  scraping  down  all  the 
best  top  soil  into  the  nullahs,  tea  takes  twice  as 
long  to  come  on  as  a young  plant,  and  we  have  never 
yet  heard  of  even  one  authentic  case  of  tea  in  old 
land  not  manured  by  hand,  or  by  the  silt  of  over- 
flowing rivers,  ever  equalling  its  brethern  in  new  land. 
Of  course,  there  is  a good  deal  in  tea  being  a sub- 
soil feeder.  But  that  only  means  that  manure  after 
the  first  few  months  filters  slowly  down  and  acts 
more  gradually.  The  tea  plant  is  by  no  means  de- 
ficient in  surface  roots  ; digging  up  the  ground  alone 
will  show  this  very  quickly.  But  after  this  is  over, 
it  takes  longer  for  the  manure  to  get  down,  and  it 
is  absorbed  far  more  gradually  than  is  the  case  with 
coffee  and  cinchona,  which  use  it  up  by  their  sur- 
face roots  almost  entirely. 
Is  it  reasonable  to  expect  a plant  to  grow  in  the 
same  place  giving  crops  of  leaf  every  8 days  for 
10  months  in  a year,  for  an  infinity  of  time,  with- 
out giving  it  extra  nourishment  to  enable  it  to  go 
on  yielding  the  same  or  more  ? And  why  are  places 
like  the  Gorthie  flats  in  Dikoya,  which  are  subjected 
to  annual  overflows  of  rivers,  leaving  behind  that 
richest  of  manures,  the  silt,  famous  throughout  Ceylon 
for  their  yield  and  prices  ? No  doubt  it  is  an  error 
to  manure  too  early.  But  the  moment  yield  be- 
comes stationary  before  it  begins  to  exhaust  itself 
is  the  time.  Probably  new  tea  land  would  bear  for 
five  or  six  years  after  arriving  at  a plucking  age, 
whilst  old  land  barely  runs  three;  that  is  to  say, 
to  give  satisfactory  yields.  To  wait,  however,  till 
tea  exhausts  itself,  and  then  have  to  bring  it  back 
to  its  primary  vigour,  is  an  error  in  a financial  way 
of  the  worst  kind,  as  with  tea  in  a vigorous  state, 
a small  amount  applied  every  2 years  would  keep 
up  the  average.  To  bring  it  back  would  cost  a vast 
amount  more  and  would  never  recompense  the  trees 
for  the  shock  their  system  had  sustained.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  manure  to  get  excessive  yields,  be- 
cause, if  with  the  present  competition  a planter  puts 
into  cultivation  inferior  land,  which  naturally  will 
only  yield,  say,  250  lb.  an  acre,  he  must  w0  rk  at  a 
loss  or  only  a low  margin  of  profit ; the  av  erage  of 
his  neighbour’s  is,  say,  350  lb.,  and  if  to  increase 
that  yield  artificial  means  have  to  be  used,  he  must 
go  under,  for  there  is  plenty  of  land  goig  quite 
capable  of  giving  big  yields ; and  the  lines  of  supply 
and  demand  are  now  almost  merged,  so  small  pro- 
fits must  be  put  up  with.  But  it  is  against  all  lessons 
high  farming  has  taught  us,  to  let  good  laud  wear 
itself  out,  for  want  of  a little  expenditure. 
