<X1 MONTHLY. 
Vol. XX. 
COLOMBO, OCTOBER 1st, 1900. 
No. 4. 
PLUCKING, PRUNING AND PRE- 
PARATION OP TEA. 
THE "CEYLON OBSERVER" PAMPHLET 
OF 1897 ON THE ABOVE SUBJECT, 
(B,/ " 1874." J 
HAVE gone through this pam- 
phlet again with much interest. 
I am at present going in for 
the subject of Pruning and 
referred to it to try and get 
some authority for my views. 
The pamphlet consists of opi- 
nions from 84 planters and 
comments on the letters by the 
editor. It contains a great mass of information. 
It would enable a proprietor, visiting his estates, 
who had no special knowledge of tea, to put shrewd 
questions to his managers, and ask them to give 
reasons for the line of action they had adopted- 
I think that it was unfortunate that the questions 
were put so as to show the influence of the three 
F's of the heading, on the fall in prices. 
The 6th and 7th questions on the list are for " any 
Other causes apart from Overproduction." Surely 
the range of prices AepexxAa 'entirely on the relation 
between demand and supply. In 1876 my manager 
made some " blackened " red leaf and got 10 annas 
for it. The red leaf was blackened by being steeped 
in ink. The ink was made by boiling hard tea 
leaves in iron pans. Set we got 10 annas and the 
stuff could only be called tea because it appeared 
to be tea. Would it be too much to ask you to re. 
open the ballot, as applied to each question in turn, 
Kud leaving out its relation to average prices ? 
I should like to start the question of " Pruning." 
From your pamphlet I see that the general opinion 
■ays that " cutting down " reduces the value of the 
made tea, until the bushes have begun to get well 
coveted. Some plaotera condemn ciittin^ down 
but a large number say that it is necessary at in 
tervals. This is the very point I wish to question. 
Letter No. 13 from " Hantane " says : "(3) Severe prun- 
ing, I have no experience of. I don't prune severely 
but often, every 12 months or so. The estate is 
old, the soil poor, but it is liberally manured and 
pruners are kept at work steadily all the year round. 
The result as far as I can yet judge has been 
wholly beneficial, no falling-off in the teas, and good 
plucking averages all the year round." That was 
three years ago; it would be interesting to know whether 
the same system has been carried on up to date. 
There is only one alternative for cutting down OE 
cutting back and that is to cut out all old and 
useless wood each time the bush is pruned. The 
planter quoted above, does not say for how long ho 
has refrained from cutting down, and so his support 
loses nearly all its value for my contention that 
'' cutting down " can be entirely! dispensed with it 
the bush is pruned properly each time it undergoes 
the koife. By " properly " I mean that all the good 
yielding branches shall be cut back as far 
as is judged necessary, but all old branches which 
have ceased to yield should be removed from the 
buah so that new branches may take their place. 
I can say that I have cut down only five acres within 
the last 10 years. I regret having done so. and 1 can 
go on indefinitely without cutting down, because £ 
remove the useless wood each time the bushes are 
pruned. The test of the fitness of a branch to re= 
main is that it shall have some decent new red 
wood on it. If it has not grown new wood about three* 
eighths of au inch in diameter since the last pruning, 
it has to be cut out or cut back. This work is done 
by a special gang of men who follow the ordinary 
pruners. The bush having been pruned is open to 
inspection, Each branch shows at a glance what 
it has done in the way of growth. If all the branches 
are bad, only one or two are removed and the rest 
given another chance, and they generally vespoRdj 
