92 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICUL'IURIST. 
[Aug.  I,  J896. 
The  seedling  are  genevelly  removed  from  the  nur- 
series nt  the  ago  of  from  six  to  eight  months. 
They  should  be  transplanted  with  balls  of  their 
own  earth  attached  to  their  roots,  and  this  can 
be  acomplished  to  great  perfection  by  Jabcu’s 
patent  transplanter,  an  ingenious  Gachar  invention, 
simple  in  operation,  handy,  costing  a mere  trifle.  All 
risky  dry  aspects  should  bo  planted  by  this  means, 
and  also  during  the  most  seasonable  and  favour- 
able season  and  weather.  Most  northern  aspects, 
unless  during  unfavourable  weather  or  towards 
the  close  of  the  season,  may  be  planted  very 
successfully  by  hand  with  a lighter  quantity  and 
less  perfect  ball  of  earth  attached,  at  a saving  of 
labour.  By  this  method  the  seedlings  receive  no 
check  to  their  growth,  while  those  put  out  in  the 
old  ordinary  detective  way,  without  earth  attached, 
with  difficulty  exist  during  the  ensuing  dry  season 
at  the  best  five  months  in  duration — some  years, 
even  eight  months,  from  October  to  May  inclusive. 
"With  land  thoroughly  prepared  and  planted  out  as 
referred  to,  though  much  more  costly  the  lirst  year, 
this  will  be  more  than  compensated  for  in  the 
saving  upon  the  cultivation  in  subsequent  years; 
while,  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  that  as  good  growth 
has  been  obtained  in  three  years  in  this  way  as  was 
common  during  five  years  under  the  ordinary  method. 
It  must  readily  be  perceived  that  the  judicious 
cultivation  of  such  excessively  steep  ground  rrrust  be 
a matter  of  vital  inrportarree.  The  rrtmost  foresight, 
ingerruity,  arrd  car  e are  necessary  to  prevent  the  soil 
from  being  carried  downhill,  rrot  so  mrrch  itr  the  pro- 
cess of  hoeirrg  itself,  as  by  the  action  of  the  heavy 
rainfall,  especially  the  sudden  uowu-pours  early  in 
the  miny  season.  Forlcing  is  much  less  dangerous 
for  injuring  the  roots  of  the  tea,  and  is  much  safer 
for  hill  cultivation  tharr  hoeing  with  the  country 
Jcodalic.  Moreover,  the  straight  digging  fork  admits 
of  the  labourer  stairding  upon  the  unturned  ground, 
arrd  turning  or  tossing  the  soil  up  hill  ; while  in 
hoeing  he  reverses  the  process,  by  trampliirg 
the  grourrd  he  has  just  cultivated,  arrd  draggiirg 
the  soil  down  the  declivity.  Cultivation  by 
means  of  the  straight  diggdng  fork  was  first 
advocated  and  experimented  with  in  Darjeel- 
ing by  the  late  Mr.  Jolrir  Stalkartt.  Forking 
was  resorted  to  orr  a large  scale  by  nre  23  years  ago, 
and  is  irow  pretty  gerreral,  the  hoe  [kodalie)  being 
only  irsed  in  the  preparation  of  extensions,  road-mak- 
ing, and  the  like.  It  is,  however,  decidedly,  more 
costly  than  hoeing,  which  is  a,  consideration,  wherr 
kahour  is  scarce,  and  marry  hundreds  of  acres  are 
entirely  urrder  spade  industry,  so  to  speak.  The 
deepest  and  most  iirrportant  cultivation  of  the  year 
is  the  cold-weather  digging.  This  is  hut  too  com- 
monly done,  by  turning  the  ground  up  rtugh,  and 
leaving  the  whole  in  largo  clods.  Such  a process  is 
highly  objectionable,  hr  a cliirrate  like  Darjeeling, 
with  'a  long,  trying,  dry  season,  and  too  subject  to 
droughts  in  spring.  It  is,  cf  course,  quite  diffei'cnt 
in  Britain,  where  the  soil  exposed  in  a similar  way 
is  pulverised  by  the  action  of  forest,  and  there  is 
Ml  general  an  excess,  rather  than  otherwise,  of 
moisture  in  winter.  But  this  rough  cultivation 
aggravates  the  defects  of  the  Darjeeling  climate, 
and  intensities  the  drought  ; vvlhle  the  clods, 
by  the  scorching  action  of  Ihc  snn,  get  dried 
and  baked  like  so  many  bricks  especially  in  the 
southern  and  dry  aspects.  In  all  countries  subject 
to  droughts,  especially  in  the  tropics  and  sub-tropics, 
a thorough  cultivation  and  pulverisation  of  the  soil 
throughout,  but  especially  at  the  surface,  in  autumn 
and  the  dry  season,  is  by  far  the  best  for  attracting 
and  retaining  moisture  and  obtaining  healthy  ciop 
growth.  Thorough  cultivation  admits  of  ample  aera- 
tion of  the  soil.  This  is  a subject  which  I have 
given  much  thought  and  attention  to  for  30  year.-;. 
Shortly  after  I went  to  Darjeeling,  I experimented 
with  rough  and  thorough  cultivation,  on  equal  plots 
alongside,  noting  tho  result  as  to  benefit  derived 
from  dew  and  rctciiJion  of  moisture,  and  can  en- 
tertain no  dor.bt  as  to  the  immense  advantage  of 
the  latter  system  over  tho  former.  While  making 
my  farewell  tours  through  the  district  in  the  spring 
of  18‘J0,  field  after  field,  in  different  localities,  came 
under  my  observation,  lying  exposed  to  the  scorching 
•snn  in  clods,  in  some  instances  almost  half  tho  size  of  a 
man’s  body,  and  1 could  not  butsympatliise  with  the  pro- 
prietors. For  the  second  and  succeeding  cultivation 
at  the  close  of  spiing  and  the  early  ]rart  of  the 
tea  season,  hand  weeding  is  the-  most  suitable  and 
stimulating  culture  of  all  ; and  as  an  accompaniment 
the  weeds  or  grass  can  readily  be  disposed  of  in 
layers  or  bands  across  the  slopes,  and  (drainage  having 
been  attended  to  as  referred  t ) check  the  “ wash  ” in 
a wonderfully  effectual  way,  even  where  there  are  no 
terraces.  Hand-weeding  may  be  carried  on  most  ad- 
vantageously, especially  where  extensions  have  been 
thoroughly  prepared.  In  the  rains,  when  hand-weeding 
has  become  impracticable  end  a turf  has  formed,  the  soil 
may  be  forked  over  less  deeply  and  left  rough,  there 
being  no  longer  fear  of  drought,  and  less  from  “ wash.” 
After  ail  extra  wet  time,  or  011  unsafe  parts  during 
tho  rains,  nothing  more  should  be  attempted  than 
close  sickling,  supplemented  by  hand-weeding,  of  spots 
around  the  collar  of  the  roots  of  the  plant 
The  great  difficulty  attending  the  perfect  cultivation 
of  a tea  garden  during  tlic  rains  is,  tlie  crop  must  be 
gathered  at  the  same  time,  and  tliere  is  often  pressure 
to  get  the  leaf  off  at  the  most  perfect  stage.  Tho 
time,  nature,  and  amount  of  cultivation  has,  there- 
fore, but  too  often  to  he  regulated  by  tlie  labour 
available  lor  it.  Forking  ought  to  be  avoided  in  ex- 
cessively wet  limes,  and  done  in  favourable  weather, 
liut  for  the  reason  just  stated,  it  is  impossible  always 
to  choose  the  best  time,  unless  the  labour  force 
be  unusually  strong— stronger  perhaps  than  might 
prove  profitable  where  coolies  must  he  retained 
all  the  year  round,  as  is  the  rule,  and  cannot 
he  engaged  for  a pressure  of  work,  and  their 
services  bo  dispensed  with  when  it  is  completed. 
Extensions  and  hnilding  upon  an  old  garden  are 
also  liable  to  retard  garden  operations,  and 
add  to  a manager’s  difficulties  and  anxieties.  Un- 
fortunately, the  real  question  is  not  to  know  w’hat  ought 
to  be  done  in  regard  to  cultivation,  hut  too  fre- 
quently what  is  practicable  with  the  available  labour. 
What  has,  in  many  instances,  become  a most  vital 
matter  on  the  hills,  is  how  best  to  rectify  the  results 
of  reckless  or  defective  cultivation  on  old  gardens 
during  the  past.  This  is  sufficient  to  tax  to  the  ut- 
termost the  skill  and  resource  of  the  most  ingenious, 
and  in  some  parts,  not  to  speak  of  impaired  crop- 
ping capabilities,  so  grave  has  the  evil  become  that 
the  only  effective  remedy  would  be  to  carry  back  the 
soil  from  the  valleys  and  hollows  where  it  has 
in  process  of  time  been  wasted.  Terracing  an 
old  garden  originally  lined  up  and  down  hill, 
and  often  laid  0!it  in  hedges  without  any 
such  object  in  view,  has  its  drawbacks.  The 
plants  that  fall  in  the  backs  of  the  terraces  get  their 
roots  bared  too  much  and  injured,  and  those  in  the 
edges  are  nndnly  buried. 
Ploughing  is  impracticable  anywhere  on  the  Dar- 
jeeling hills,  but  in  the  plains  districts  might  with 
advantage  be  restored  to,  and  I daresay  has  been 
lor  the  preparation  of  extensions,  but  whether 
steam  ploiiglnng  has  been  resoited  to  or  not,  I 
cannot  say.  About  2.0  yeai-s  ago  I te.sted  lighl 
ploughs  by  Ransome  and  of  native  pattern  on 
a mature  garden  in  the  Terai,  but  the  work  was 
not  fine  or  the  result  satisfactory.  For  tho  plough 
the  distance  between  the  rows  would  require  to 
be  wide,  hut  in  spite  of  this  the  lateral  roots  of 
the  tea  get  damaged,  and  the  cleaning  close 
to  the  stems  must  be  done  by  hand.  The  injury  to 
the  roots  should  to  some  extent  be  obviated  by  trench- 
ing all  over  as  recommended  on  opening  out,  but 
ifloughiiig  on  a planted  gaiden  is  never  likely  to  prove 
so  advantageous  as  hand  labour  when  procurable  at 
moderate  cost. 
'riie  manuring  of  the  tea  plant  is  for  many  reasons 
difficult,  but  lid'tunately  the  matter  is  not  yet  a press- 
ing one  genially,  tho  tea  crop  being  neither  heavy 
nor  exhaustive,  and  more  nitrogen  is  undoubtedly 
returned  in  tho  rain  than  in  more  temperate  cli- 
mates. The  average  crop  of  green  leaves  taken  from 
the  soil  annually  does  not  exceed  12  cwt.  per  acre 
(say  half-a-pound  per  bush)  wliicli  is  very  trifling 
compared  with  tlio  weight  of  agricultural  crops  in 
this  country  exclusive  of  tho  portions  tUerouf  returned 
to  the  soil,  Borne  attendant  drawbacks  to  tea 
