THE TROPfOAL AGRICULTURIST: (Julv i, 1891. 
they are huddled and squeezed in anyhow, it often 
causes a lot of undue aud useless shoots to appear, 
which greatly damage the growth of the tree. Seeds 
inst sprouted are sometimes j^-ut into the hole to the 
number of from three to five, and if all come 
up, they are easily lifted and planted elsewhere. 
In one season they will have pushed through 
their shading to the height of 1 foot to two feet. 
This shading is generally branches from trees, from 
grass, or from the wild date palms of Natal {PTicenio; 
reclinata or Phoenix spinom)- After the trees become 
large, so that they can stand alone, this covering 
is removed, and the trees grow sturdy and strong. 
The rainy season, or the good season, as it is called, 
commences in October, and it makes all hands busy, 
with planting and picking. The preparation of the 
ground is done in the winter months; the jungle or 
" bush " as it is called in Africa is taken down, and all 
weeds: and rubbish are burnt, the land is turned over 
and holed, ready for the time when the rains come. 
A coolie will make two hundred to three hundred holes 
per day. The plan adopted in laying out is to get 
as long lines as it is possibls to be had ; tea is generally 
planted four feet by three, but sometimes six feet by 
five and a half. If we could get our tea_ out 
in the early months of the rainy season, it paid us 
well, and whatever expenses were laid out in labour 
and attention, in the fi«t or secood year, in the 
third we recovered B,ll expenses. I have seen tea 
bnsbes there, ten and twelve feet across, with a heavy 
flush ; a man will bring in from twenty. five to fifty 
lb. of leaf per day, if there is a good flush. Pru- 
ning operations are done in the month of July, always 
cutting hard into the centre of the tree so as to leave 
the tree, shallow basin shaped. Manuring and digging 
are done in the months of August and September, 
and any spare time is spent in taking down 
bush and cleaning land. Seeds are gathered in 
the month of March, which is the dry season 
and put into nursery beds, and by the end of Sep- 
tember or October are quite ready for planting out in 
lines ; these lines are kept free of weeds eo as to give 
the tea every possible chance. Very little draining is 
done etoepting in places wh;re there is staudisg water 
or in places where there is likely to be a flood. 
A most imnortatit thing in the suoceBsfal growing of 
the tea in Natal is shelter. I find that with having 
shelter the trees are strongfr and are better able to yield 
a good flush. Shelter is best afforded by trees of a quick- 
growing nature and puch as are known to succeed well 
in that locality. Hot and cold winds have to be provided 
against as sometimes the winds are so hot, that together 
with the heat of the sun they scorch the leaves; they are 
particularly hurUul to the young flush. The gum 
(Eucalyptus) does well in Natal, growing to the height 
of twenty feet in three veers. Pinus insignvs, P.finea, 
Pinus pinaster and Grevillea robusta alsu do well ; in fact 
any tree of an ornamental character ia suitable to break 
wind, besides acting as a screen against rough blasts 
they produce a most pleasing effect. Lines of faucy 
trees and shrubs wherover planted will proieet the 
young and tender shoots of tea by neutralizing the force 
of the wind and rendering its effects sm tender shoots 
less dangerous. Tea plauttd within thirty feet of the 
gum will not grow well. In order to let the tea have fair 
play, even at this distance, trenches are dug seven or 
eight feet from the gum, to the depth oi two or three 
feet which cause the roots (o 8?ek a lower bed. 
All the work is done by Indians from Madras and 
Calcutta, who come out under a five years' agreement ; 
when that is fii.iphed they are free men, they are at 
liberty to stay or engage eleewhere, for another term. 
If they stay ten years in Natal, the Government pay 
thoir passage buck again, if jast for one term only, 
they must pay their own paspage. The women get 5s 
per month, the men Jrom 10s to 15s with the allowance 
of IJ lb. of rice per day, to({other with fish, oil, dal, 
salt. They are allowed to build their own houses in a 
stated time, wood and grass being within easy reach. 
Tlwty work from sunrise to sunset. They are called to 
and from work by meann of the estate bell, which is 
rung at certain timcH. They are capital workpeople, 
when well looked after. Thoy aro generally intelligent 
and industrious. The tea is made by means of machi- 
nery, the work being done by boys in the factory, who 
do well. The only thing which is a drawback is lack 
of means of transport, railways are not numerous as 
yet; as in other colonies bullock waggons are much 
used, sixteen or eighteen going to the span. Indian and 
Oeylon teas are sold in the colony at lower prices than 
the home-grown tea, and this will probably cause the 
Natal teas to decrease in price, and will consequently 
bring a smaller return to the planter, who up to the 
present has realized very good average prices. None 
of the tea has yet been exported, and as the total, 
acreage under cultivation is under five thousand acres, 
no doubt it will all continue to find a sttle in the colony 
itself. W. M. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
From B letter of Mr. Pineo, dated New Yoik, 
10th April, we quote as follows : — 
"You in Ceylon may think we are not ordering 
tea very fast, and we are not, although I shall, I 
think, cable this week for 15,000 lb.; and yet we are 
working for results in a sure and, hitherto, untried 
way. We are not having the tea piled, aud laid away 
on grocers' shelvce, bat we are getting it direct into 
the houteholda. That is what we are working for 
now — so that, by-and-by, the grocer will be obliged 
to come to us and will sell and not pigeon-hole and 
after awhile return our tea to us as unsaleable, un- 
desirsble stuff. 
" Our Chicago agent has induced the proprietor of 
the ' McCormick' building to change the name and 
it is now known as the 'Ceylon' building : hence you 
will understand we are quietly, slowiy, surely sowing 
seed in good ground that we are in the first im- 
stanoe, thoroughly preparing. We look for substantial, 
permanent, lasting results, and are not working to 
make an immense showing et first, and then dig- 
appearing aud vacating the field and thus injuring 
the cause we are so earnestly working for. 
" We have made arrangements with a gentleman 
here who is believed to have large means to make 
up the retail selliog of our brands of tea for New 
York City and suburbs. He has taken « splendid 
store, on West 23rd Street, near the grest retail 
establishments of Stern Bros, and LeBoutiliier BroB. 
where ladies flock daily by the thousand, and he 
tiikes the native eer^ants and all the expense of this 
matter upon himself, as well as investing a fair 
amount in the Company's stoclr. 
"This relieves the Company of a very large expense 
and what is still better, gives us a good worker. 
" Blaillard is the fashionable dealer incocoa, etc., and 
is known aa such all over the United States." 
Coal in Pubsbi-awa. — Some time ago we had a para- 
graph stating that a mineral resembling eoal had been 
tound on Boibschiid eetato, Pusselawa and that Mr. 
LeMesnrier, A. G. A., hearing of it, had takes the m»tter 
np and had induced the Government to send a sample 
of the find to Mr. Geo. Armitage. This gentleman 
found the lumps sent him to be real coal, but could 
not say whether it would pay to carry out prospect- 
iug operations in the neighbourhood of the find till a 
proper survey had been made on the spot. Govern- 
ment sent home Mr. Armitage's report to an expert 
in England and that is as far as Government has yet 
SOne ill the matter, but we hear that Mr. Le Mesurier, 
when he went to Bnglond recently, took home a couple 
of cigar boxes fillod with lumps, of Ceylon coal for a 
further report on their quality aud value. Since 
the first find on Bothschild, it has been discovered 
that the seam of coal there can be traced again on tte 
opposite side of the valley, and we trust that the matter, 
which is of great scientific as well as commercial im- 
portanoe, will not be allowed to rest where it is at 
present.— "Local Times." 
