kvQ. 1, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
10^ 
FACILITIES FOR MAKING GOOD TEA :-X. 
KELEBOKKA—UANGALA— UPPER 
HE WAHETA ; 
MANURING AND PRICES. 
Two letters from Maclulkele, one from 
Rangala, and one from Hewaheta, may be 
couvenientlv treated together, though tliey 
illustrate diverse views. While one of the 
Madulkele letters (from the higher part 
of Kellehokka) holds "wind, mist and ram 
as the drawbacks to making better tea, the 
other considers the character of the factories 
(one only being first-class in the district), the 
over-j3ruhing and over-plucking of bushes 
whereby their health sulfers and the flavour 
is affected, the chief obstacles to be over- 
come. And both planters are men of wide 
experience and keen observation. Our Kan- 
gala Correspondent again sees no draw- 
backs, as, with finer plucking on most 
estates, as good tea is turned out in the 
district as is possible; not so, the writer 
in Upper Hewaheta, who holds the weather 
in the North-East monsoon a drawback, 
and also the fact that half the crop of the 
district is nlucked between 20th February 
and 7th June. Bat have not the months 
of pruning any effect on the chief months 
of plucking!' On. perhaps, one estate only 
is all the tea regarded as good jat; on 
most estates there is, according to all tour 
letters, a mixture represented on the whole 
by "fair"— the planting of over ten years 
being inferior. While one Kellebokka writer 
admits general povertv of soil, in whichRangala 
ao-rees, the other regards the general charac- 
ter of the soil as not poor. Our Hewaheta 
friend distinguishes between old coffee land, in 
which the soil is poor, and jnngle laud which is 
good. There is no difference in opinion that 
some of the Kellebokka estates are worn out, 
chietiy old coffee estates, whose surface soil 
has disappeared. In Rangala, as most of the 
tea is on old land, much of it has neces- 
sarily been worn ; and what is not old, is 
wind-blown! So our friend cheerfully re- 
marks that over-cropping is not the cause 
of the wearing out while Hewaheta under- 
stands our question in an unusual sense, 
when he says that estates are worn out, only 
as far as good yields are concerned, and 
not as respects flavour and strength of liquor. 
Our question had reference to the character 
of the soil ; and, perhaps, an answer is to 
be found in the fact that, though the yield 
of the laud might be better, the flavour 
and strength of the tea remain what they 
^ere whicli is not the general experience. 
Manuring, says one of our Madulkele friends, 
will improve the tea and pi'ove i^rofltaljle, 
on estates along the public cart road; the 
other admits impi-ovement of the bushes as 
a sequel to manuring, which, however, is 
further followed by a fall in prices where 
manure has been extensively used. This last 
is an imnortant statement; and we should 
like to see it thoroughly sifted. Is it merely 
a case of pout hot\ crgii propfcr hoc, or, if 
an explanr.ti y\ is noi, to be found in the 
special character of the manures employed, 
can there have been c-liiuatic or other 
considerations to account for the fall in 
price. Rangala practically shares the opinion 
tirst-meutioned, with the qualification that 
the profltableaess of the operation is doubt 
ful at present prices. Hewaheta is rather 
indefinite, in asserting that we have yet to 
learn the best form of manure to help to keep 
the tea bush in good heart. 
The opinion of one of the Madulkelites on 
factories is to be found ia his answer to 
the first question, which includes iiisufiicienfc 
withering space among the drawbacks, and 
he is supported by his district neighbour, who 
further explains that the deficiency is chiefly 
due to the long spells of bad weather, 
which are at tlie bottom of most of the 
mischief in the Kellebokka and Knuckles 
districts. The two other districts sutt'er from 
the deficiency, though Rangala notes an 
improvement of late. In motive power little 
remains to be desired, except in dry weather; 
but as respects machinery, Kellebokka, in 
the opinion of one writer, is decidedly defi- 
cient in some places. Enough, or more than 
enough, is the general response to the ques- 
tion touching labour. On pruning, the opi- 
nion of one writer has already been ex- 
pressed, as a drawliack to making good 
tea, owing to its undue severity; but while 
he does not think the knife has been too 
long withheld, the other writer declares 
that the two extremes, of cutting down to 
within a few inches of tlie ground, and 
letting the bushes up to 2 feet or 2i gene- 
rally prevail. Rangala has no complaint 
against pruning ; and he and Hewaheta are 
agreed on pruning at intervals of 18 months 
to two years. "General remarks" take the 
form of a growl against "Weather ! Weather 1 
Weather !" from one Madulkele source ; while 
the other descants strongly against cruel 
])runing and close cropping as telling against 
the general health of the bushes. Rangala 
regards cheap manure as the only cure pos- 
sible, where the old land is getting ex- 
hausted and the young is too exposed for 
heavy flushing ; and Hewaheta rather con- 
tradicting itself as to loss of flavour, desires 
information as to the cause of the loss of 
some of the flavour for which tea from the 
district was noted some ten years ago. This, 
however, bears out the opinion of Mr. T. C. 
Owen which we quoted the other day as to a 
connection between virgin soil and delicate 
flavour ; but, on the other hand, that veteran 
agriculturist, Mr. Joseph HoUoway, on our 
sixth page today indicates how flavour as 
well as vigour may be maintained by judi- 
cious cultivation. 
THE FLORIDA VELVET HEAN. 
For the past year or two % great deal has been 
written about this extraordinary plant. Mr. Geo. W. 
HiiStings, '"in orau^e grower in Fioriiia State, thua 
sums up hia experience of it in one o£ the leading 
American pipers, and in view of the introduction of this 
beiu to tti!3 colony may be of interest : — 
'■ The cultivation ot tlie vielvet boan up to the 
present time has citablished the foilovving facts :— 
For the extreme south, it is the gi c itest forage 
and humus producer yet dis(^ov.'!red. N )rth of cen- 
tr.il G-eorgi;i, only in exceptionally long seasons will 
the seed mature. Nirth of the Ohio River, it will 
maka lo-r^e gr.iwih of vine and leaves, but will not 
come to bloom. It ia a great fertiliser for orange 
groves, but its use is not advisable afoer the grooves 
come into bearing, as the vines are a habitat o{ 
