Dec.  r,  1896.] 
THE  rROPICAL  AGRICaLTURIS  T. 
585 
LEAVES  FROM  A PLAN'L’ER’S  NOTE 
BOOK. 
{Contributad  by  a Pla'if-er.) 
Pluckinc;  ani>  Kindrhd  Matters. 
I. 
The  general  rule  on  all  gardens  is  to  pluck  two 
leaves  and  a bud,  or  two  and  a half  leaves  and  a 
bud.  But  after  the  first  two  flushes  are  off,  and 
specially  when  there  is  an  abundance  of  leaf,  the 
rule  is  more  honoured  in  the  breach  than  in  the  obser- 
vance thereof.  Theoretically  the  rule  is  supposed 
to  be  in  force,  but  practically  it  is  a dead  letter. 
When  inspecting  the  leaf  brought  in,  during  the  pro- 
cess of  spreading  it  out  for  withering,  I daily  find 
that  the  major  portion  of  the  leaf  plucked  consists 
of  three  to  four  leaves,  for  the  most  part  all  on  one 
stalk.  Managers  and  Assistants  do  their  best  to  pre- 
vent this,  but  on  large  concerns,  especially  during  the 
height  of  the  season,  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
prevent  the  pluckers  bringing  in  the  extra  leaves. 
In  fact,  the  pluckers  themselves  cannot  well  be 
blamed.  Outsiders  can  form  no  idea  what  plucking 
means.  Only  planters  and  garden  coolies  learn  from 
experience  what  it  reslly  is.  Plucking  is  no  child’s 
play  and  is  an  art  only  learnt  by  hard-persevering 
labour.  I use  the  word  art  advisedly,  and  I feel  sure 
my  brother  planters  will  back  me  up  in  my  asser- 
tion tl'.at  plucking  is  an  art,  and  not  merely  an  art, 
but,  I may  almost  say,  one  of  the  fine  arts.  The 
amount  of  skill  required  to  be  a succe.ssful  plucker 
is  by  no  means  small.  Only  a planter  knows  what 
a cunning  hand,  and  what  skilful  manipulation  is 
required,  before  one  can  become  a really  first-class 
plucker.  There  are  pluckers  and  pluckers,  but  what 
a difference  between  them.  A planter  is  simply  de- 
lights i when  he  finds  a plucker  who  can  pluck.  There 
are  no  pluckers  like  women,  and  amongst  women 
none  that  will  compare  with  the  Nepalese,  or  other 
hill  women  (Pahariahs),  working  on  the  hill  g.ardens 
in  D.arjeeling  and  the  Kaugra  Valley.  Men  mike 
w'retched  pluckers;  their  hands  .and  fingers  hive  not 
the  necessary  pliability ; they  are  too  hard  and 
coarse.  Children  pluck  fairly  wtll,  when  they  can 
be  persuaded  to  put  their  minds  to  it,  and  girls 
often  turned  out  adepts  at  it.  Thevalueof  women  and 
girls  who  can  pluck  is  beyond  estimation ; they  are  worth 
their  weight  in  gold.  The  study  of  plucking  and 
pluckers  is  a most  interesting  one,  and  if  some  of 
my  brother  planters  will  only  jot  doivn  their  ex- 
periences, and  send  their  notes  down  to  this  journal, 
I feel  sure  the  Editor  will  be  delighted  to  insert 
them.  There  is  an  Indian  plant,  a medicinal  herb 
of  great  value,  which,  unless  plucked  off  by  one 
clear  cut  of  the  nail,  loses  its  peculiar  properties  and 
is  rendered  valueless.  I have  sometimes  thought 
that  if  we  really  sifted  the  matter  thoroughly 
it  might  be  somewhat  the  same  with  tea.  I 
have  a faint  kind  of  idea  th  it  the  manner  the  leaf  is 
plucked  has  a deal  to  do  with  the  quality  of  the  tea 
manufactured  from  it.  My  own  beliefs  is  that  leaf 
lucked  off  with  one  clean  cut  of  the  nail,  withers 
etter,  ferments  better,  and  altogether  turns  out 
better  tea,  than  leaf  carelessly  stripped  or  broken 
off  the  bushes.  Some  pl.anters  may  laugh  and  con- 
sider the  idea  an  absurd  one,  but  it  is  little  things 
like  these  that  sometimes  make  all  the  difference. 
Anyway,  to  any  planter  who  may  possibly  have  the 
leisure,  which  unfortunately  I have  not,  and  who 
will  not  mind  the  sweat,  the  experiment  is  worth 
trying.  I have  read  many  articles  on  the  subject 
of  plucking  my  machinery,  but  I have  no  doubts  as 
to  any  mechanical  contrivance  ever  proving  a success. 
Even  if  a machine  was  invented  that  would  suit 
all  bushes,  and  run  through  a garden  plucking 
or  rather  cutting  off  the  leaves  promiscuously, 
the  results,  I much  fear,  would  prove  dis- 
astrous. Scissors  aud  clippers  of  kinds  have 
been  invented,  birt  after  numerous  experiments  it 
has  been  found  that,  so  far,  the  natural  method  of 
plucking  by  the  hand  is  out  and  out  the  best. 
Everything,  I may  say,  depends  on  the  plucking.  Leaf 
should  be  taken  off  jnst  irhen  ready,  not  a day  earlier, 
uot  a day  later.  If  taken  oil  just  whan  ready  it  makes 
all  the  difference  in  the  outturn.  A ripe  leaf  ia 
doubtful,  an  overripe  o.vi  bed.  dticidediy  bal.  It  is  an 
utter  impossibility  to  make  tea,  much  lessgmd  tea, 
out  of  leaf  tough  as  shoe-leather.  Minagjrs  and 
Assistants  know  ex.rctly  when  the  lerf  is  ready,  and 
would  gladly  pluck  it,  but  ala  i 1 t'loir  hands  are  tied, 
and  they  c.innot  do  the  things  they  wouli  do,  for 
they  have  not  the  co.elies.  Here  comes  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  labour  force,  an  ever-diminishing  quan- 
tity— but  that’s  a lother  story,  anJ  although  it  has 
everything  to  do  with  the  successful  plucking  of  a 
g.irden,  we  cannot  more  than  touc’u  on  the  fringe 
of  it  here.  The  simple  fact  remains,  that  if  tea  of 
good  quality  is  to  be  made,  the  only  way  to  turnout 
such  tea  is  to  pluck  the  leaf  eract/y  irJien  if  is  ready 
— neither  earlier  nor  later.  It  is  no  use  having 
an  extensive  acreage  if  the  labour  force  is  not  sufficient 
to  work  it.  Managers  often  get  unjustly  blamed 
for  things,  when  the  fault  is  not  theirs  at  all,  bat 
lies  at  the  door  of  others,  who  shift  the  bl.ameonto 
them  to  find  a w.ay  of  escape  for  themselves.  No 
fixed  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  the  plucking 
of  bushes.  The  mijority  of  gardens  contain 
a mixed  iat  of  plants,  and  they  require  pluck- 
ing according  to  their  class.  Planters  know 
from  experience  exactly  when  their  bushes  are  ready 
for  plucking,  and  do  their  utmost  to  take  the  leaf  off  in 
due  season.  If,  however,  owing  to  sudden  rushes  of 
loaf  and  heavy  flu=hes  they  do  fall  behind,  it  can  only 
be  attributed  to  insufficiency  of  labour.  Naturally 
the  tea  manufactured  also  deteriorates  very  consider- 
ably in  quality.  The  remedy  in  such  cases  is  not  in 
the  wr. ting  of  “stinkers”  to  already  overworked  and 
h ilf-demented  men,  but  in  the  frank  recognition  that, 
it  is  utterly  out  of  the  power  of  the  employs  to  cope 
with  the  extra  work,  wi  h a short  labour  force.  If 
there  is  anything  that  disheartens  a planter,  it  is  the 
recieving  of  a “s'iuker,”  whe  i he  is  slaving  like  a 
coolie  and  doing  his  utmost  to  pull  through  the  crisis. 
Theoretical  letter,  written  under  a punkah  in  a nice 
cool  office,  are  all  very  well  in  their  way,  and  most 
excellent  studies  for  leisure  hours  in  the  cold  weather, 
but  they  don’t  rca  1 well,  when  perused  by  a practical 
man  working  in  the  sun,  or  in  a tea  house,  with  the 
temperature  at  120.  They  have  the  most  undseirable 
effect  of  rubbing  him  up  the  wrong  way,and  instead  of 
helping  to  mend  m attera,  only  tend  to  deprive  him  of 
all  heart  and  spirits  for  his  work.  There  is  no- 
thing more  depressing  at  such  times  than  one 
of  these  “ extinguishers  ” written  perhaps  by 
some  inexperienced  hand,  to  one  who  has  been 
through  the  mill,  and  is  a veteran  in  the 
service — to  one  at  any  rate  who  has  hia  wits  about 
him  and  knows  exactly  what  to  do  and  hoio  to  do 
it.  It  is  not,  however,  the  Manager  alone  who  suffers. 
If  there  is  a Tea-maker,  or  tea-house  assistant  in 
charge,  he  comes  in  for  his  share  of  “ the  beans.” 
All  hands  on  the  garden  suffer  more  or  less,  noses 
are  put  out  of  joint,  aud  the  air  is  thick  with  any- 
thing but  blessings,  and  all  because  the  loaves  will 
not  stop  growing,  but  insist  on  going  bhanji  aud 
turning  into  leather.  I have  s .ated  What  the  remedy 
is  not,  the  question  as  to  what  the  remedy  fs,  quite 
a different  matter.  Solutions  without  number  have 
been  put  forward  aid  discussed  from  time  to  time 
but  the  problem  .las  uot  yet  been  solved,  for  year 
after  year  the  same  difficulties  crop  up,  the  same 
leaf  is  plucked,  and  the  Stame  “ undesireable  ” teas 
arc  made.  Clardons  with  an  adequate  and  ample 
supply  of  coolies  to  meet  all  exigencies  are  not  in 
the  category.  I do  not  allude  to  them,  for  they  in- 
variably send  down  good  teas  to  the  market.  It  ia 
foL  gardens  short  of  labo.ir,  and  pr.actically  with  no 
labour  at  all  when  most  wanted,  that  the  problem 
has  to  be  solved,— How  to  pluck  with  a short  labour 
force  and  yet  make  good  teas  ? This  is  the  question, 
and  doubtless  the  answer  will  work  itself  out  in  time 
but  at  bitter  expense.  Yearly  new  gardens  are  being 
opened  out  aud  large  extensions  made,  but  the  supply 
of  coo  ies  is  not  equal  to  the  dem.and,  and  in  proportion 
the  supply  of  the  class  of  1 ibourers  suitable  for  garden 
work  i.s  dwindling  do, vn  gradually  butsurely.  Coolies, 
more  coolies.  This  is  the  cry.  Who  will  give  us  mors 
coolie i,  and  where  are  they  to  com^  from  ') 
