32 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1, 189b 
be best for India also, but the annual praning has 
become so firmly fixed that I do not dare to suggest 
any departure, 1 can only Bay that I tried the plan 
on a patch of Manipuri indigenous, and it gave 14 
maunds of tea per acre, against a yield of 12 maunda 
from the rest of the plot which was pruned as 
usual. 
That was long ago, and I had not snfiicient coaroge 
or power to continue the experiment on a large scale. 
I have nothing to say to those who are in charge of 
estates on good fo'l and yielding more leaf than their 
labour foroe.s can ii^uidle, but tiiem are many proper- 
ties v;hich might be saved by patient and careful 
fostering of the bushes, and by refraining from tlie 
established custom of cutting down. The planter has 
an instinctive horror of a ''/vioi" and to get rid of the 
knot, he gets rid of the bush. There is also an idea 
that the tea plant has not the power to propel the sap 
to a distance beyond 2 feet or so. Naturally, when 
the old stem is interrupted at intervals of a few inches, 
and is also tapped by small side growth, the sap does 
not show great vigour; but a stem which rises 
clear from the giouod up to the yielding part 
aad having no small branches to divide the sap 
will show great atiength and give a good crop of 
strong well-grown leaf. Whether straight or gnarled 
the life of a bianch coraes to an end sooner, or 
later, but it is folly to cut it out before it has given 
signs of weakness. Une ^hould have a standard gauge 
of wood below which the branch shoul I come out, 
and each branch should be left as long as it grons 
good of the standard girth. On some soils planted wilh 
indigenous, i inch diameter .might be taken as a 
gauge; on other soils with hybrid plant i inch might 
be the limit. 
My priniiples now are not to sacrifice one inch of 
yielding surface area, and to increase the surface year 
by year by adding about four inches growth at each 
pruning to the smaller bushes ; to carelully cut away 
poor wood so as to give more sap to the brandies 
which are yielding well. 
Beyond this, at present I have not sufficient labonr 
to take all the leaf that is grown, so that manaring 
or anything of the sort is not advisable. Having 
mentioned the word manure, I cannot refrain from 
repeating what I said once before that manuring 
should be adopted, not to improve the bushes, but as 
a separate means of utilizing capital to good profit 
In course of time, I expect that manuring will become 
general, and that it will be found an excellent source 
of revenue. You will pour mf-ney on the roots of the 
plants, and take it off the tops with an increase of 
ftbout 10 per cent. With very ordiuary care, one 
thousand rupees applied as manure to a given plot 
of land annuallji should give a return ot eleven 
hundred rupees, that is to say, 10 per cent. At this 
rate a big company would find it more profitable 
to spend 1150,000 getting a return of RSo.UOO per 
annum, than in spending an equivalent sum in extend- 
ing its area of plant. 
With pruning on the system detailed above, and 
liberal manuring every year, the yield of a whole 
estate should not stop short of 1,600 lb. of tea per 
acre. And this would be better in every way than 
having an estate of double the area yielding 800 lb. 
per acre. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Pruning of Tea.— We publish a paper cl.se- 
wherc under this heading, from the pen of an 
experienced Indian Tea Planter, propounding im- 
provements according to a sy>teni which he has 
found to give good results on the plantation under 
his cliarge. We would invite the opinions of 
practical Ceylon men to the letter of " 1874" ; 
for an interchange of experience in this way 
between this island and Northern India cannot 
fail to be mutually beneficial. 
Cacao Planting in Samoa.— We have an in- 
teresting letter from aHiiiisI, rewdenl in Raiiio*. 
who has begun planting cwa.. itn.l m ho bj t4i« 
Tro/zusfU A'jiuulturUt, which he and lii* iieijcli- 
hours prize much, ha.« Ijeen itidiiced to send lo 
Ceylon for " more informaiioir^ whii-li wt-aicgind 
to 8up|ily. Cacao planting can never IwH-.ni.e of 
much imporianoe in Samoa : to inwt a local 
deinan.l seem-s the ambition of our conesjioiident. 
FaCT.S about TkA, f(V Da. (jOBDO.S-ST.VliLKS, 
C.M., li.N.— The Mazawiitfc Ti->i Company, l.ul. 
have ifwued a taj^ufully dchignci booklet, printed 
in green and g<dd, which is writieii by GoHon- 
Mables of caravan fame, an.) illu-L.^t,- 1 pro- 
fusely by Ambrose Dudley. l |,e eviU of drinking 
cheap and common tea,s. which are now a inatKr 
of every day discussion, are here dealt with in 
a thorough and lno^^t interesting niiinnir. The 
Uoctor proves by Iii« own expeiience ami ol*. 
servat ioi:, both as a doctor and cc.nsun.er of iIm 
cup that cheers, (hat it u not a .|uc-ti..n ..f ibe 
evils of lea dnnkiug," but tliee»ili»of drinkinc 
bad teas," which are lo be feaie-l and H»„id«l. 
Copies of the book, which will well repay the 
few minutes requiie.l for its jierusal, can be hod 
on application from the Company 
" KivW l{ULr,KTix."-No. 132. becember. 1897, 
has jnst been issued. It^ coiiieiits «ie of unuDual 
interest, coiumising exlracu from Ictien. of Dr. 
Henry from Yunnan, in which he urge« the dea. 
|.alch of a botanist lo S/.eehwnn and the neich- 
bourluK,.l. I he flora \h very rich, extremely iii- 
feresiing and contains ni.iny plants which w„„ld 
be suitable for introduction here. IVrl.aps U.e 
Itoyal Hortienll.iral .Society, living idlcn on 
better days. ,„ijrht be induced to a««isl. *n.l re- 
new Its old glories. The inlioduction of Ficu^ 
ela.stica into Egypt promises t.. be a matter of i... 
portance as a source of rubber. The grest ,le- 
man.l for the timber of white Willow- for ci itket 
bats !-will give lise lo mtich thought on (he part 
of practical men, as well .as of idiilosopher. • The 
fate of the pelican is detailed, Ut (he cn lnct of 
the gamekeeper w.as so al>ominablc. that it is to 
be hoped he will be deprived of his gun forthwith 
Gardcnns' ( hronicle. May U o"'M,iin. 
Tha FOKRi,-ssiA.-The .Secretary to "Venesta. 
Limited - sends us copy of a letter he has ad! 
dressed to Mr. A. Philip. Secretary. Planters' 
Association, Kandy, a-s follows:- '^"lers 
■ !' ""derstand that one of the obstacles to tha 
introduction of Ceylon tea into Russia, is the vert 
high duty. We therefore ^vrote Mr. Luther, who 2 
Director of our Factory at Revel, is not oLly a res^ 
dent in tha country but a Russian subject^as we 
to learn If tea packed in Venesta cases-" could Tot 
be got through at a lower Customs Tanff. on account 
of the packages being of Ru-sian manufacture Mr 
Luther writes us, that he wdl take the matter in 
h^ind, and try to get a reduction, not only in iht. 
Duty, but in the Railway Freight as well il 'll 
will aavise him when the next shipment of tef 
packed m Venesta cases is made to any Russ fn 
Port, rou no donbt notice in Mr. Christie's renort 
that^^tea imported in Russian bottoms, is t.ken fro^ 
Petersburg to Moscow at a reduced railway 
freight, the economy being something like /o 05 
We beheve that the Russian vfiuuLr Flet 
generally carries this cargo from Cev/on 
wotdd suggest that the next loT that ^/s^^pof"^ bv 
that oppoituuUy, might be packed entirely in TeSesti 
cases so as to affo.d an occasion for makin^tH. 
experiment. mHi,.mg this 
"It would also facilitate matters, if, just bp»n« 
shipment you could give us a description of th| 
cargo, and tell us what the marks are so L 
have evei-ythmg in readiness before the goods arrive 
