248 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct 1, 1899. 
ON THE PREVENTION OF TEA PESTS 
AND BLIGHTS. 
BY OLIVER COLLETT. 
{Bead hcfove the Ambaganimva Planters' 
Association, Aug. Slat, 1899.) 
The Director of the Pioyal Botanic Gardens in 
his recently issued Circular on the subject of Tea 
Blights says : — " Tlie immunity from disea^^e 
that tea has enjoyed in so marked a manner for 
many years is now disappearing ; many insect 
and fungus enemies, some of local origin, some 
introduced from Assam and elsewhere, are now 
attacking tea in many parts of the Island, and 
it behoves all interested in the cultivation to 
be upon the watch to recognise the signs of dis- 
ease as .soon as possible after tliey appear, and 
to at once attack and as far as possible eradi- 
cate the disease. The iliseases are here, and all 
experience of cultivators in all ages and lands 
shows that such diseases come to stay ; they 
cannot be completely eradicated, but they can 
be kept in check if taken in time.'' 
Here is good and sound advice to which we are 
all, I am sure, prepared to give our best atten- 
tion. At tiie satne time many of us may not be 
inclined to fall in with the opinion of Mr. Willis, 
that the health of the tea-plant in Ceylon is now 
lor the first time being seriously threatened by 
the attacks of fungus and insect-pests. On the 
contrary, I think, it is the experience of most of 
us that these pests have always been w'th us ; 
and when we come to consider the fact that mil- 
lions of insects and of parasitic fungi are daily 
brought into existence, apparently for the sole 
purpose of feeding upon the alimentary juices of 
plants, the wonder rather seems to be that plants 
which are kept under constantly cropping condi- 
tions -as in the case of tea — should be able, season 
after season, to retain their natural vigour and 
keep their foes at bay. 
The test, of course, comes when an unusually 
unfavourable season occurs, and the resources of 
the plant are naturally tried to the utmost. If 
it is left, as not infrequently happens, in 
a weakened and impoverished condition, ic be- 
comes, according to a well-known law in nature, 
a ready prey to the attacks of disease. Thus, 
insect and fungus pests find the opportunity that 
they have been waiting for ; and they very soon 
make themselves known to us — both in our tea 
fields and in the columns of the public press. 
Now, the present season (1899) has been, up-to- 
date, a distinctly abnormal one. We had a severe 
drought in the early part of the year, followed by 
an excessive rainfall in the months of May, June 
and July— just the -sort of season in fact, which 
would be likely to do harm to our tea-bushes — 
and the consequence has been that they have 
been exposed to an outbreak of disease of unusual 
severity with a smaller chance of warding it off 
than has been the case in former years. 
It is, therefore, our business to consider— and 
that very seriously— whether, in our general sys- 
tem of cultivation, we are doing all that is needed 
to h^lp the bushes to i)reserve the necessary 
amount of strength and vigour that shall enable 
them, in an unfavourable season, to combat suc- 
cessfully with the attacks of disease. 
It is, I believe, the opinion of Indian planters 
that we, in Ceylon, predispose our buslies to the 
attacks of enenies by our system of plucking from 
them all the year round, and of only allowing them 
a rest — if rest it be— during the time that they 
are pruned down. Now, it is possible that there 
may be more truth in this than we have hitherto 
supposed. You are aware that all plants under 
cultivation must have a resting season ; and it is 
perhaps a question whether we ought not to be 
sati.^fied witli a slightly diminished yield per 
acie, in Older to allow our bushes to have a com- 
plete rest tor a month or two, at the least, between 
each pruning. Certain it is that resting has an 
enoimously beneficial effect upon tea under 
any circumstances ; and I can quite conceive 
that the time will come when we shall find it 
ultimately profitable to allow a small proportion 
of our acreage — say one-eighth or one-tenth--to 
remain unplucked (but of course meanwhile weeded 
and .Tultivatedj every season. 
.Again, there is much to be done in the way of 
sy.stematieally lemovingall lichenous growth and 
nidss from the stems of our bushes after every 
]iniiiing. 1 am aware that a great many 
planters regard this as an altogether unnecessary 
operation but, there can be no doubt whatever 
that the lenioval of this growth invigorates the 
bashes to a great extent ; and that where it is 
left to grow upon the branches it affords a 
dangerous refuge and breeding place for all manner 
of fungus and insect pests. 
There is one more point to which I should 
like to refer, and that is the question of the 
abandonment of fields of diseased and un- 
profitable tea in the midst of cultivated 
areas. A pat"h of tea, once abandoned, 
becomes a spore-nursery for every kind of disease, 
and a source of considerable danger to all estates 
in its immediate neighbourhood. It is possible 
that this question, which, in my opinion, involves 
moie serious iM>iies than any of those just dis- 
cussed, may be one which the Planters' Associ- 
ation may not be sufftciently poweiful to cope 
with. If so, our only resource will be to ask 
Government to introduce measures which shall 
render compulsory the destruction of all ahan- 
doned areas of tea by fire. 
In these remarks, which have been hastily 
diavvn up to be in time for this meeting, I have 
confined myself to a general consideration of 
what, in my experience, are likely to be the best 
methods of protecting our tea buslies against the 
attacks of disease. I have not attempted to dis- 
cuss the nature and treatment of fungus and 
insect pests. The former are treated of by Mr. 
Willis, in the Circular already reterred to ; and 
the latter are fully described in the little work 
by my friend Mr. E E Green, entitled "In ect 
Pest of the Tea Plant," with which most planters 
are already familiar. 
A LESSON IN TEA. 
(From the American Grocer.) 
This is not a made-np story, but a true Darration 
of facts. Many readers may at once recognize ihe 
parties concerned — for my part I am under a promise 
not to mention names. 
A certain firm purchased a large quantity of tea 
in the foreign ninrkets two years ago. Almost imme- 
diately after the purchase the price of tea went down 
and the speculation turned out to be a failure. The 
tiim was in a quandary, as it had over 8100,000 ex- 
pended in the purchase, which would not then realise 
more than three-fourths of that amount. The 
dilemm". was explained to a wise man, and he said he 
would think over the matter and report next day. 
When he came back in the morning he asked the lii-m 
if they would turn over one-fourth of the stock to him 
and he would guarantee to get fall price for it. They 
