Dec. 2, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
40f 
PARA RUBBER PLANTING IN 
TRAVANCORE, 
INTERESTIiVG ENTKRPRISE: GOVERNMRNT AND 
PRIVATE. 
Trevandrua', No/. 9 — Considerable interest is 
beiiif( evLiieeil both by tlie Governtnenc and private 
gentlemen in tbe plantint; of para rubber. There 
is a small para rubber plantation ab Maliatur 
worked by the Government, but it is not thriv- 
ing as it shoiilil. I learn that Mr Sawyer, a 
Delira Dan scholar of considerable attainments, 
who was formerly in the Travancore Forest 
Service and resi<^ned it is to be re- 
employed. He will probably be placed 
in charge of the rubber planting as he was 
in charge of the rubber plantations at Mergui, in 
Burma. Mr Sawyer's health not being good in 
Burma, he lias come back to Travancore. 
Meanwhile, Mr Hunter, a cardamom planter on 
the High Range, lias been traversing the unre- 
served forests near Maliatur which he thinks are 
-suitable for para rubber. He purposes planting 
3,000 acres if he can get them from Government, 
and the area will be worked by a syndicate. To 
be early in the held appears to be the object ot 
everybody. Ceara rubber grows well in Travan- 
core, but is not remunerative. — Madras Mail, 
Nov. 13. 
THK COMMONWEALTH STANDARD FOR 
TEA, 
UNDER THE NEW CUSTOMS REGULATIONS. 
Sec. 54 of the Custoin.s Act, clause e, states :— 
" Any tea not complying with the prescribed 
standard of strength and purity shall be deemed 
unKt for human use." Clause 15 of the regulations, 
which have been issued only a few days, provides 
that " Tea which does not comply with the fohow- 
irig standard of strength and purity shall be deemed 
unfit for human use : — 
" The analysis to be made on the tea dried at 
a temperature of 212 cleg. F,, and then powdered 
and totally exhausted with boiling distilled water. 
Total aqueous tea extract, not less than 30 per 
cent. ; total ash, not more than 8 per cent ; 
soluble ash, not less than 3 per cent." — Aus- 
tralian Grocer, Oct. 24. 
TEA PRUNING, 
[From Our Special Correspotident.] 
The various systems of pruning the tea bush are 
the result of experience, and consequently each 
manager holds on strongly to that system which he 
has proved to give the beat results. 
But, as time goes on, and conditions change, 
systems which apply to any branch of tea oulfciva- 
tion or manufacture, should be adapted to the altered 
conditions. 
As a rule, men who have themselves proved any 
fact, are inclined to be conservative, and there are 
only a few who move with the times, and adapt their 
systems to their present conditions. 01: these again 
a few look ahead, and prepare for what they see as 
an inevitable necessity. 
This is the reason why a soientiflo enquirer is 
necessary at this period of our history, so that he 
shall go ahead and save us the trouble of making 
jrials, and give authority for any ueceasary chaDge, 
Tho remarks T propose to make are intended to 
call the attention of anyone who will make pruning 
his special study. Aohauga in the system of pruning 
is required, because of our altered conditions. la 
tlio old days when tea was worth a rupee a pound it 
bsoame the natural tendency to get as many pounds 
as possible, witliout any regard to the future welfare 
of the prop.erty. It is a fact that light pruning will 
give the greatest possible yield in the coming season, 
and so the general system has been to prune as 
lightly as possible until, after a succession of years, 
ths bush gets choked up with a superabundance of 
small twigs, and the yield begins to get loss, because 
it is more difficult to pluck the small new shoots. 
Then the bush has to be cut down, and will again, 
within a few years, get nearly up to its maximum 
yield. If in its prime, a plot has yielded tea 
mauads of tea per acre, it may, after cutting down, 
reach nine maunds per acre. After the second 
"cutting down" it may get up to seven maunds. I 
hold tha'. each successive " cutting down " reduces 
the vitality of the bush, and of its roots, so that 
eventually the bush will die. I am speaking from long 
experience, and am ready to argue out this point if 
necessary. The haste to get yield succeeds at the 
ime, bat leads evautually to the ruin of any pro- 
perty. As prices fall it becomes all the more necessary 
to keep up the bushes to a fixed standard. In the 
old days the loss of a mauud of tea per acre did not 
make much difference in the course of ten years, 
because economy of expenditure kept pace with the 
fall in prices ; but now when economy cannot be 
carried farther, the loss of yield is a dead loss, which 
cannot be replaced. The system of pruning mas* look 
to the future welfare of the bushes. They cannot 
be strained now without fe ir of actual ruin. 
I will propose a system, and will leave it for others 
to improve on my suggestions. If it is true that each 
time a bush is cut dowa it receives a sliock which 
reduces its vitality, it stands to reason that " cutting 
down " must be abolished. But it is a fact that each 
branch of a tea bush sooner or later gets hi Je-bound 
and covered with mosses, and ceases to yield. There- 
fore each branch must be cut out whenever it reaches 
this stige. I have pointed out that tbe custom is to 
allow the majority of the branches to grow too old, 
and then cut them all out at once. This renders 
the pruning simple and inexpensive. One man caa 
cut down 100 bushes, and the operation will last 
for five to ten years, whereas it will take one man to 
cut out only old wood from 109 bushes, and this must 
be repeated every second year. Bat in the first case 
the bush is injured, and in the second it is actually 
benefitted by the removal of old wood. Let it 
be accepted then that no bush to be cut 
down all at once, but at stated periods old, use- 
less wood must be removed carefully, and with dis' 
crimination. If this is done the bushes will always 
remain at their best, with due consideration of soil 
exhaustion. Beyond the health of the bush there ia 
a verij important consideration for Indian estates, ona 
which gives Ceylon a distinct advantage over India, 
and that is the 
REGULATION OP SUPPLIES 
to the market. The Editor oi Indian CrarcUnhirf and 
Planting made out a. table of offerings to London ia 
1900. 
Packages. Excess Deficiency 
Average over under 
offerings, average, average. 
India 135,026 100 142 125,478 
Ceylon 107,443 55|ll6 40,492 
Average of Variations. 
India ... 33,861 67,206 
Ceylon ... 27,333 19,803 
This shows at a glance that India ha,s greater varla' 
tions, and I will propose a system of pruning, which 
ia certain to lessen the variation;? without decreasing 
the yield, 
