7o6 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [April  i,  1897. 
the  reanlt.  “Some  leaves  good  colo\ir,  want-, 
ii'g  brightness — very  little  tlavour is  the  bro- 
ker’s report.  Good  tea  is  made  cvcniwkcvc. 
in  pruning,  in  plucking  and  in  factory — work 
must  be  good  all  round  to  make  good  tea- 
even  then  you  can  only  keep  flavour  if  it  is 
there  ; you  cannot  make  it. 
.5.  Simrtiiess  of  Labour  has  no  doubt  had 
its  efiect.  it  prevents  pruning  being  done  well, 
amt  at  the  right  time,  prevents  leaf  being  plucked 
e.xact  ly  when  it  is  ready  ; and  when  you  arc 
behind  your  llu'h,  makes  it  impossible  to  get 
the  plucking  done  as  carefully  as  it  should  be. 
An  adequate  sujjply  of  labour  would,  I believe, 
raise  the  price  of  ' eylon  tea  Id  per  lb. 
GUSTOS  PAUPERIS  HORTI. 
XVI. 
(1)  I don’t  think,  as  a rule,  planters  do  pluck 
coarser  ! I sliould  rather  say  flner. 
(2)  I think  it  a mistake  on  any  estate  to 
manure  good  tea  for  the  sake  '.f  a<lditional  yiehl  ; 
old  land  can  often  only  be  made  to  i>ay  by  manure  ; 
good  laud  does  not  require  it.  CatiiC  manure,  I do 
not  think,  deteriorates  leaf  ; though  artificial  may. 
(3)  Fiom  what  I do,  and  what  I .see  my  neigh* 
hours  do,  tea  is  not  nearly  so  severely  pruned 
as  it  was  a few  years  ago. 
(4)  More  attention  is  paid  than  ever  before  to 
manufacture  ; but  a great  many  estates  have  ab- 
solutely inadequate  withering  accommodation  and 
also  rolling  posver  1 Things  are  done  too  much  on 
the  cheap  by  the  proprietors  of  estates  and  they 
lose  thereby. 
(5)  Shortness  of  labour  would  not  affect  Factory 
work,  but  in  plucking  ; short  labour  means  coar.se 
plucking  and  coarse  leaf. 
(6)  There  is  no  wintering  of  the  bush  as  in 
India,  and  any  tree  that  has  no  rest  must  de- 
teriorate, whether  it  produces  leaf  or  fruit.  In- 
dian teas  are  stronger,  though  not  of  so  good 
flavour  ; and  strength  is  w hat  seems  to  be  wvanted 
at  present. —Yours  faithfully, 
W.  I.  G. 
No.  XVII. 
Medium  El'-vation  District. 
Dear  Sir,— First  ami  foremost  the  chief  cau.se 
is  that  the  present  production  is  above  the  pre- 
sent requirements.  Taking  your  questions  in  order. 
1.  I don’t  con.sider  that  such  coarse  plucking 
is  now'  in  vogue  as  previously. 
2.  Though  manuring  m.yself  one-third  of  the 
estate  yearly,  I cannot  see  there  is  any  falling- 
off  in  quality.  I am  continuing  the  same  sys- 
tem as  I did  6 years  ago,  both  in  plucking  and 
manufacturing. 
3.  Tea  occasionally  require^  a heavy  pruning, 
but  this  is  often  very  much  overdone.  No  doubt  the 
leaf  plucked  from  this  is  inferior  to  tea  taken 
from  tea  pruned  higher. 
4.  There  is  very  little  doubt  that  a quantity 
of  the  tea  now  manufactured  has  not  the  efficient 
supervision,  and  machinery  that  it  should  have; 
even  given  good  leaf  it  is  not  treated  properly. 
r>.  Labour  Supply  has  no  doubt  something  to 
do  with  the  (luality  of  the  leaf,  as  if  a flush  once 
gets  behind,  the  tea  thus  made  is  inferior  to  a 
tea  made  from  .a  flush  taken  at  the  proper 
time.  - INCOti. 
No.  XVIIT. 
Ublaimssellawa,  Feb.  IG. 
Sir, — A non-teamaking  neighbour  has  handed 
nie  your  circular  and  askeil  me  *^0  answer  the 
nue.stions.  , , . , 
I.  1 do  think  Coarser  Flmdang  has  deteriorated 
the  quality,  and  No.  II  is  more  closely  con- 
nected with  No.  I than  appears  at  first,  because 
manured  tea  flushes  quicker,  and  the  flush  is 
over-grown  on  the  manured  field  if  taken  in 
regular  routine  as  it  generally  is,  especiallj' 
now-a-days  when  few  estates  have  suttii  ient 
labour  to  kee]*  the  llu.sh  in  hand  always  and  the 
eflbct  is  more  noticeable  in  the  busy  months.  I 
don’t  believe  that  manured  tea  really  gives  a 
worse  quality  of  leaf  if  the  Hush  can  be  plucked 
when  it  is  leady,  and  the  same  rule  apidies  to 
severe  pruning,  as  the  flush  comes  quicker,  and 
too  ofien  w'e  are  not  able  to  put  cjolies  on  the 
day  it  is  read}',  and,  of  course,  a quick  growing 
field  suffers  more  through  being  left  a few  days, 
and  the  effect  of  this  becomes  more  noticeable 
every  year,  as  when  only  half  the  estate  wasin  bear- 
ing, the  whole  labour  force  w.as  available  to  pluck. 
IV.  I don’t  think  the  teamakers  an*  any  worse 
now,  than  they  were  ; but  many  factories  are 
more  crowded  than  they  should  be,  to  do  full 
justice  to  the  leaf. 
V.  Tliis  question  seems  to  strike  ai  the  root 
of  the  trouble.  With  a plentiful  supply  of  labour 
and  plenty  of  room  in  our  factories,  I Ixdieve, 
as  good  te.as  are  made  now  as  were  ever  made, 
but  in  the  majority  of  cases,  wc  have  to  do 
the  best  w'e  can,  not  the  best  possible  and  do 
indirectly.  I believe  the  application  of  manure 
does  affect  the  price  of  tea. — Yours  faithfully, 
J.  A.  0.‘ 
NO.  XIX. 
Uva  side,  Feb.  loth. 
Dear  Sir, — Overproduction,  or  rather  I should 
say  ample  production,  is  tlie  first  and  chief  cause 
of  the  fall  in  prices,  as  it  ahvays  is  and  must 
be  in  the  case  of  all  products.  There  can  hardly 
be  said  to  be  overproduction  of  tea  yet,  as,  I 
believe,  stocks  in  hand  are  not  increasing. 
Ahvays  excepting  above  reasons  I will  answer 
your  questions  seriatim. 
1.  Yes  ; Coar.ser  plucking  has  certainly  a great 
deal  to  do  with  it  in  two  ways  : a larger  quantity 
is  thrown  <n  the  market,  and  what  is  gathered 
makes  weaker  and  inferior  tea,  and  too  often 
a greater  quantity  comes  into  the  factory  than 
there  is  room  to  give  to  it  for  withering  pro- 
perly and  manufacturing  carefully.  This  coarser 
plucking  has  been  forced  upon  those  who  were 
at  first  unwilling  to  go  in  for  it.  The  hunger 
after  big  profits  by  proprietors  resident  in  England, 
or  in  the  case  of  Companies  by  the  shareholders, 
forces  the  resident  managers  to  pluck  coarse 
whether  they  like  it  or  no ; prices  once  brought 
low  by  this  cause,  others  found  their  profits 
diminishing,  and  took  to  coarse  plucking  for 
their  own  protection. 
2.  Matruring  gives  larger  yields,  arrd  throws 
more  leaf  on  the  market,  arrd  ofteir  puts  rrrore 
leaf  into  the  factory  than  the  latter  has  proper 
capacity  for-.  It  rrray  also  cause  a greater  rush 
of  leaf  in  the  heavy  flushing  rrroirths  than  ther-e 
is  labour  enough  to  phrek,  and  the  coarser  leaf 
resirlting  is  seldonr  thrown  aw'ay. 
But  manure  irtay  be  dir-ectly  trtjurious  to  the 
outturn  of  the  tea,  if  it  is  done  willr  iirdiscretion. 
Manuring  with  artilreial  often  destroys  the  flavour 
and  this  opcirs  another  question  which  it  would 
be  of  service  to  thor-ougirly  thrash  out,  i.c.,  what 
kiirds  of  tttauure  tend  to  destr-oy  llavoirr  arrd  the 
re.a.son  of  it.  I do  not  thiirk  that  bulky  nranure 
ilestroys  llavo  ir.  Too  forcing  a rnarrure  tends 
to  nrake  the  resulting  tea  weak,  but  there  is 
