^11 El 
Vol. X. COLOMBO, MARCH 2 nd, 1891. [No 9 . 
THE CULTIVATION, MANUFACTURE AND 
CHEMISTRY OP TEA. 
OME very valuable information 
on these heads will be found 
in the report of Mr. Bramber 
which is given in the pro- 
ceedings of the Horticul- 
tural Society of India on 
page 616. As a preliminary 
to his detailed and exhaustive analyses of the tea 
bush, soils, manures, &o., the chemist employed by 
the Horticultural Society and the planters has com- 
menced visiting the various tea districts, and the 
report we are to extract contains a record of the 
impressions produced by the first of those visits. 
With reference to recent discussions on forking, 
it will be seen that Mr. Bramber attaches much 
importance to frequent and deep hoeing of the 
soil so that air and moisture may be admitted 
for the decomposition of micaceous and other rocks 
containing potash. Very close planting is objected 
to because of the obstacle to hoeing presented by the 
interlaced roots, such interlacing also rendering the 
bushes more liable to attacks of blight. All planters 
will agree that when plants are diseased, whether 
suffering from insect or fungus pests, the prunings 
ought, as Mr. Bramber suggests to be burned and 
the ashes (with all ashes from the factory and 
lines), carefully applied as manure. But we submit 
that the prunings from healthy plants can be 
better utilized if buried unburut. Out experience 
is that neither decomposing prunings nor rotting 
tree-stumps do any harm to, but rather benefit, 
tea bushes, with one notable exception in the case 
of a very beautiful but very fatal symplocos. On 
the decaying tuberous roots of this special tree 
a poisonous fungus forms, which, when it comes 
in contact with the roots of the tea bushes, is 
speedily and inevitably fatal, gaps arising from 
the destruction of throe or four to a dozen tea 
bushes, being scattered over estates, where stumps 
of this upas-like tree have been left to decay in 
the ground, instead of being carefully removed 
and burnt, as they ought to be. What Mr, Bramber 
svys about plants left to grow in old nurseries is in 
accordance with all experience, and what is said 
of the loss of nitrogen by the periodical firing of 
grass lands is worthy of attention. Whether for 
improved pasturage or cultivation with tea or other 
plants, our patanas would be enormously bene- 
fitted by the application of nitrogenous manures. 
The pity is that such substances are so costly, the 
disturbed condition of the American sources of 
supply tending to make them still more so. 
Droppings in caves haunted by bats and swiftlets 
would be valuable, but we believe the Sinhalese rice 
cultivators appreciate and use this matter largely. 
The question is whether grass lands might not be 
enormously improved by the growing and burial in 
them of several successive crops of leguminous 
plants, such as the lupins, common peas, &o. 
Clover might also be tried, as its roots go far down 
into and improve the soil, in which it will grow. 
Mr. Bramber’s notice of the heat produced in tea 
leaves by the friction of the roller, and the subse- 
quent rapid cooling down from evaporation in the 
“fermenting” process, are suggestive of important 
and beneficial results, likely to be attained from 
further research iu this direction. We shall look 
with keen interest for further reports of the com- 
prehensive experiments which Mr. Bramber is to 
institute. 
♦ 
SALE OF VALUABLE ESTATE 
PROPERTY. 
The estate of Holyrood West in Dimbula, con- 
sisting of 546 acres of which 360 are planted with 
tea and 150 acres still in good coffee, has just been 
sold by Mr. G. S. Duff to the Ceylon Plantations 
Tea Company for £15,000 sterling, The Com- 
pany is to be congratulated on acquiring so valuable 
a property which apart from its intrinsic value, 
has a railway station at each end of the estate — 
Watagoda and Talawakele. Mr. Talbot has now 
in charge for this Company a series of as valuable 
properties as have ever been owned by a planta- 
tion Association in Ceylon. 
