856 THE TROPICAL AGRlCULTtjRIST. [June 1, 1903. 
CEYLON TEA IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
P.O. BoxNo. 263,Germiston, Transvaal, April 9. 
Sib,— I address you on a subject that 
affects Ceylon tea in South Africa, and must 
ask you to submit copy to the En^ciish 
Press in Colombo. During the month that 
has just passed, a Conference has been held 
at Bloemfontein, under the presidency of 
the High Commissioner, Viscount Milner, 
whereat delegates from Cape Colony, Natal, 
Orange River Colony, Transvaal and Rho- 
desia, met to discuss mutual affairs, and 
they resolved on certain changes in the 
Customs Tariff, though they are not to be 
made public till 1st July, this year. I learn 
that it is intended to make the duty on 
tea on a par with the Natal and Cape duties, 
that is, 6d a lb.— whereas at present 20 per 
cent has to be added to invoice price: and 
in this value is to be included all packing 
which is being sold with the articles, and 
on that value 7^ per cent, together tvith a 
special duty of 5s in the 100 lb. is charged. 
As it is, packing, duty, and charges, on my 
last invoice came to 5-380d per lb. of tea, and 
on the previous shipment 5-366d ; this is quite 
enough for the tea to have to carry. If we take 
•42 cents of the rupee as cost, at an average 
rate of exchange it works out at 6-982dperlb. 
Is it fair to an English Crown Colony to tax 
that tea6d a lb as duty ? This is to protect 
Natal-grown stuff. One of the largest Natal 
tea and sugar growers is now leader of the 
Natal Opposition, and the parties are pretty 
even in numbers. This gentleman was, I 
believe, one of the members of the Confer- 
ence, and here you have the key to the posi- 
tion. As a part result of this Conference, last 
week's " Gazette " repealed the duty on pro- 
duce grown in British South Africa, except 
in as far as spirits were concerned ; while all 
along the produce of Natal has been carried 
over its railways at a specially reduced rate. 
If the Chamber of Commerce, the Planters' 
Association, and the *' Thirty Committee ' 
pull together on this point as they should,' 
there is time for a strong remonstrance to 
be lodged with the High Commissioner before 
such duty is imposed. 
Once imposed. Sir, you will have far less 
prospect of being heard to effect. 
As far as the tea trade here is concerned, I 
may state that large quantities of groceries, 
including tea, are being sold by auction nn 
account of the Field Force Canteens, and also 
the Army Supply Department. So far the 
" Field Force. ' since the war, have sold, 
according to figures given by the Colonial 
Secretary the other day, goods to the value 
of £88,000 -and £78,000 worth still remains to 
be sold— on an average goods being 30 to 50 
per cent below what they can be landed at 
in theTi'ansvaal — Yours, «&c., 
ARTHUR H. GREEN. 
COLLAR PRUNING FOR TEA. 
Lower Dimbula, April 28. 
Dear Sxb,— In reply to Mr. A. Cooke I 
know ot no one in Ceylon who has "collar- 
pruned " the same tea- bushes ttvice, for the 
simple reason that there has not been time 
to try it. Up till 5 years ago, if my 
memory serve me, this operation was a 
mere name in Ceylon, known to us from 
Indian tea literature. Your Nagpur cor- 
respondent may confuse t^vo operations ou 
the same stem under this name. First:— A 
" coppicing" or "stumping," leaving a stem 
of 6 in. or moi-e projecting above the sur- 
face of the ground from which would spring 
a candelabra growth of suckers — if it (the 
stump) was not killed back by drought in 
the meantime. Second : — The real operation 
— cutting off at the junction of the stem 
with the roots. This results in a growth 
of straight suckers, from the junction and 
along the roots for a few inches. These are 
alloioed to run up for 12 or 15 months till 
they are 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. high when they 
may be plucked with tlie rest of the field 
with the object of making them bush out. 
more than that of getting leaf. At the 
usual pruning— (every two years) they are 
levelled over with the knife at, say. 20 in 
height above ground, never less, and fall 
into plucking with the rest of the field in 
due course, whippy growths having been 
cut out. A.t the end of two years more 
they would be cut to a lower level, say 16 
i 1. and more thinning out of stems done 
and side growth encouraged. Again for two 
years they would be plucked like the rest 
of the field and (6 years from collaring) 
then pruned -a step higher and thinned of 
superfluous stems, leaving, say, a 5 or 6. 
stemmed bush, which, so far as 1 can predict 
ought to go on for 10 years more or less- 
till these stems in their time become effete, 
I refer, of course, to medium and high j4t, 
tea— not to bad hybrids, which no man 
knows how to treat— except, perhaps with 
an axe and mamoty 1 
Except in cases of cutting down seed- 
bearers and fire damaged bushes to produce 
bushes of many stems, 1 think coliar-pruning 
in Ceylon has been confined to bad j^ts ; and 
the results cannot be said to be on the whole 
atisfactory. They just flush for halt the 
time of good iats and show their ugly 
Ethiopian integuments again which neither 
knife nor saw can change -ay ! nor guid 
manure either ! In the Indian tea districts 
I take it that the successful collar pruning, 
has been done in the case of originally good 
jat bushes, which have become hollow- 
stemmed, hide bound, sapless an effete, from 
age, from many prunings and from the 
ravages of white ants, etc. on the decayed 
core, resulting from heavy pruning and 
the collection of rain water in the hollows 
so caused.— Yours faithfully, 
STILL UNCOLLARED. 
TEA COMPANIES'- AND TEA 
COM PANIES ? 
The Watte, April 30th. 
Dear Sib,— Why is it that some Tea 
Companies, or rather their Directors, give 
such full information about their propertiej 
(as well as cropsj in their Annual Reports } 
while others are absolutely silent as to 
acreage of tea, young and old, and other 
products? What are shareholders about, 
that they do not in-sist on a schedule wit 
