February 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
575 
sparse, down to two or three feet, the feeding 
rootlets will follow it in the same degree. 
On nearly flat hind, as I believe is the case 
in India, the rain moisture tends to sink in 
rather than flow off, and this mechanical action 
having been always in force has carried the solubles 
with it to a depth bolow the surface; hence the 
necessity for “deep hoeit g ’’ t i reach the feeding 
ground of the plant. But where, as on our hill- 
sides, the true soil is all on the surface, getting 
thinner and thinner every year as the rain rushes 
rapidly off, the feeding rootlets confine themselves to 
those few inches ; and if you destroy thorn all round 
the tree at the same time that you prune the top, only 
a climate like Ceylon would prevent such drastin treat- 
ment, killing the plant outright. There are roots which 
find their way down to great depths, as may be seen in any 
deep catting ; but these are generally single feelers, or 
explorers after food and moisture, and only develop o. 
network of feeding-roots at their ends when they find 
it. This, I think, is their function; but on old coffee land 
in Ceylon the Outface only for a few inches down is 
absolutely filled with fibrous roots. I have no doubt 
there are fields of tea in Ceylon which can be as deep- 
hoed as in Assam, but not ou our steep hill sides with- 
out the utmost bare. In this respect each field must 
be treated as we find it. 
But our great sheet-anchor is climate. I remember 
years ago turning my back upon Diubula (where just 
before the great coffee boom I cculd have bought 
several estates cheap) frightened at the shallowness of 
the soil compared torayownUva. I lived long enough 
to see those estates bear large crops of coffee, and they 
are flourishing still. Even where all surface soil is 
gone, given healthy trees established and roots well 
covered, the climate alone will give 200 lb. an acre. 
But you will find all the feeding roots at the urface, 
and where is the cause for surprise that if these be 
all destroyed the tree su'ks '? Top-dressing would bo 
enough if we could keep it from being washed off, 
and in suitable places 1 have seen very good results 
from this with no digging at all. — Yours, R. W. J. 
[In the portion ofD.mbula we are acquainted with, 
the soil is deep. We have seen the hoeing proceas 
in full operation on tha bill-sides of Darjiling, which 
are as steep as the Ceylon mountains. In a descrip- 
tion of work on a tea garden on the northern spurs of 
the Himalayas, too, we find such passages as the fol- 
low in. ; — 
“ Right and left the trim round hushes ruu in exact 
order, the rich brown earth turned up between them. 
“Many of the coolies seem to think clothes superfluous 
luxuries ; for they are attired in a single coat and their 
own long bare legs. How distinctly one can see the 
sinews work under the smooth brown skins, as they raise 
the heavy hoe high in air and then come down with a 
thud, detaching a heavy clod of earth from a neighbour, 
ing tea bush. 
“Presently the sahib has registered the names, sounded 
the depth of the digging here and there, chatted with 
the Jemadar, and then turned leisurely homewards- 
leaving behind him the spruce tea bushes, the bending 
•upple figures, all enclosed in ranges of grey-green 
misty hills, topped by the unmelt'ng snows.” 
—Ed. T. a.] 
FORKING TEA NO. II. 
Dec. 22ud. 
Deau SiB,— I havfibeeu very much interested in the 
letters about forking tea, I have little personal ex- 
perience in forking, but I have a wider experience in 
regard to the forking carried on on neighbouring es- 
tates. I have always been against the system of fork- 
ing as carried out in Ceylon ; and I did not suppose 
that so many men of experience were of the same 
way of thinking. I only lorked 20 acres about 6 
years ago, and it threw the tea hack for a couple 
of years. The 20-acre field was a light soil, and 
deep forking properly carried out is beneficial 
only ou clayey soils. A neighbour of mine has 
had very marked success in forking, but the soil on 
bis estate is largely composed of clay and ho simply 
loosens the clods without turning them over, 
The system of digging in India is quite different 
from that carried out inOeylon. In India the digging 
is done with hoes, and in Oeylon it is mostly oirriod 
out with forks 18 inches long in the prongs, and I am 
of opinion that the leverage applied by forks with 
such long prongs shakes the bushes to their very 
foundations. I opine that forks with prongs only 9 
inches long would show quite different results, aud 
a light digging applied with such forks in October 
would conserve the rains of November and December 
which come in heavy plumps and 75 per cent of 
which is lost by running off the soil.— Yours faithfully, 
J. F, R. 
OACOA CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
Kandy, Dec. 29lh. 
Dar Sib,— a correspondent in your Supplement 
of 23rd wants to know what “ Eldorado ” thinks 
ot the report of the Lanka Company concerning 
cacao. 
1st. _ The return of crop is under 2 cwt. per acre 
which in face of the fact that in other producing 
countries the average return with a primitive 
cultivation is 6 cwt., is a poor return, although 
above the average of this Island. 
2nd. In your Directory of 1883-1884, Yattawatte 
estate is put down as having 435 acres of 
cacao in cultivation. In the last report there are 
only 371 acres, or a decrease of nearly 15 per cent 
even if no new land since then has been opened 
in favoured spots. 
3rd. The 25 per cent profit which your corres- 
pondent takes to be the result of the Lanka 
Company's report, is by no means the correct one 
from a financial point of view which has to be 
worked out allowing 8 per cent compound interest 
per annum on capital invested. Had your corres- 
pondent the figures to make such an account ho 
would find that he has no reason to be sanguine 
nor to add “enough” to ELDORADO, 
COCONUT CULTIVATION BEYOND THE 
DEDURUOYA. 
Eajakadaluwa, Chilaw, Dec. 31st. 
Dear Sir, In your account of the ooconut industry 
of Chilaw, there is an error which in justice to 
another should be pointed out. The first ooconut 
plantation opened up north of the Deduruoya r»ver 
in this district was at Sittamadam and is owned 
by our genial unofficial Police Magistrate and leader 
of the Chilaw bar, Mr. Thos. Cooke. So this gentle- 
man is the “ pioneer.”— Yours faithfully, 
GEORGE D, MILLER. 
xaa. IN 1891 . 
Strathellie Tea Co., (Ltd.), Nawalapitiya, 
Dear Sir,— I am today reminded ofmy promise 
to send you my computation of probable total 
exports of tea from Ceylon during Commercial 
Season, which is now made concurrent with the 
Calendar year. 
My figures for the Fisoal Year ran, you will re 
member to 52,000,000 lb. Taking 25.000 acres as 
giving their first returns and a reasonable increase 
from say 30,000 acres (mostly in the jouSer 
districts and Uva) I arrive at 64,000,000 as tha 
figures of probable exports, thus : 
70.000 acres at 340 lb, per acre = 23,800 000 lb 
s-’nn?i ” ” ” 13,50 o'ooo 
110.000 „ 250 „ „ 8,750,000 „ 
