712 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRlCULTURtST.  [^'pril  i,  1897. 
while  proprietors,  w ho  own  plantations  in  districts 
of  hij;hest  elevation,  are  naturally  ambitious  of 
maintaining  tlie  juices  which  have  given  their 
places  luomiuence  Of  course,  there  may  be  ex- 
ceptions in  lowcountry  estates  plucking  tine, 
ami  high  estates  going  in  for  quantity  ; but,  as 
a rule,  a hot  steamy  climate  favours  quantity, 
ami  the  rarer  air  of  the  highlands  imparts  a 
delicate  tlavour  to  tea.  We  are  unable  to 
illustrate  this  explanation  by  reference  to  particular 
letters,  as  some  of  our  correspondents,  no  doubt 
for  good  cause,  prefer  not  to  mention  the  district 
fiom  which  they  write,  or  to  indicate  the  estate 
or  estates  whose  system  they  record  ; but,  we 
think,  it  will  be  found  that  the  apparent  discrepancy 
in  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses,  who  have  favoured 
us  with  replies,  is  explicable  by  the  different  stand- 
])oints  from  which  they  write.  The  same  explana- 
tion ajtplies,  though  not  to  the  same  extent,  to 
the  varying  answ'ers  to  some  of  the  other  questions. 
But  to  proceed,  “North  of  Kandy”  from 
Madulkelle  reports,  not  only  better  plucking 
than  ever  before,  but  an  improvement  in  pluck- 
ing every  year.  “ O.  Y.  A.”  on  the  other  hand, 
in  our  issue  of  the  1 1th,  admits  that,  if  quality 
has  not  been  maintained  in  particular  instances, 
it  is  probably  due  to  coarser  plucking,  whose 
object  is  a higher  yield,  or  irregular  plucking 
through  lack  of  labour;  while  “ N.  A.”  thinks 
tiiat  coarser  plucking  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  fall  in  prices.  He  avers  that  it  is  the  en- 
deavour of  every  superintendent  who  takes  an 
interest  in  his  work  to  harvest  fair  leaf  all  the 
year  lound,  but  the  style  of  plucking  is  affected 
by  the  w Gather  and  the  laboui  supply,  though 
generally  the  .system  has  remained  the  same 
for  the  past  ten  years.  “ W.”  agrees  that  the 
leaf  plucked  is  no  coarser  than  it  used  to  be, 
though  he  is  silent  on  the  different  results 
which  must  follow  from  making  the  round 
of  an  estate  in  7 or  8 days,  and  from  inabi- 
lity to  get  through  the  fields  before  10  to  12  days, 
if  not  moie.  Uf  these  tour  correspondents, 
two  hold  manuring,  and  severe  pruning  to  maintain 
yield,  responsible  for  deterioration ; while  a third 
is  silent  on  these  operations,  and  the  fourth 
denies  that  they  are  general  enough  to  supply 
the  explanation.  Over-production  is  the  cause 
which  strikes  all  ; and  while  one  dismisses  the 
suggestion  of  the  need  of  greater  care  in  the 
fae.ory  with  the  dictum  that  good  tea  is  made 
in  the  held,  another  denies  it  laconically,  a third 
holds  a trained  teamaker  an  ample  equivalent 
for  less  time  in  the  factory  by  the  superinten- 
dent, and  the  fourth  rejiorts  that  manufacture 
receives  more  attention  than  ever  before  ! 
Two  of  the  four  letters  in  our  issue  of  the 
1.3th  instant  are  dated  from  “The  Country 
Oenerally”  ! They  should  be  useful  as  illustrat- 
ing how  opinions  differ  throughout  the  country 
generally,  and  establishing  that  there  are  two 
faces  in  a shield.  “ H ” declares  that  plucking 
is  finer  in  all  the  districts  he  has  seen,  than  it 
was  a few  years  ago  ; but  “S”  is  convinced  that 
what  is  callcil  coarser  plucking  is  really  sensible 
plucking,  aiul  that,  if  100  million  lb.  of  the  same 
lea  had  been  exjjorted  as  once  distinguished 
Ivookwood,  Heoloo  .and  Agar’s  Land,  the  fall  in 
price  would  have  been  the  same  as  now'.  Fine 
plucking,  in  his  view,  produces  only  a fancy 
article,  insipid  and  unsuitcd  to  the  taste  of  the 
million.  Here,  it  seems  clear  to  us,  is  a radical 
difference  of  opinion  on  paper,  as  to  what  con- 
stitutes line  ])lucking  ; and  w-e  should  not  be 
surpri.sed  if,  in  practice,  “H”  and  “S”  agree  as  to 
w hat  constitutes  fair  and  sensible  plucking.  “P.” 
from  Passara  plucks  the  same  as  he  did  three 
years  ago  ; neither  manuring  nor  heavy  jmuniug 
is  practised  extensively  in  Uva,  so  that  they 
cannot  be  held  responsible  for  deterioration,  if 
such  is  the  effect  of  these  two  operations  ; but 
what  does  tell  on  prices,  he  considers,  is  tlie 
absence  of  sufficiently  close  supervision  in  the 
factory.  In  India,  he  says,  the  practice  is  dif- 
ferent ; but  too  much  is  left  here  to  the  native 
subordinate,  whose  intelligence  and  knowledge 
are  less  than  his  master’s,  and  who  would  natur- 
ally follow  his  master  in  taking  things  easy  in 
the  factory.  “ 1.”  from  Pussellawa  differs  from 
the  three  correspondents,  who  have  preceded  bin), 
in  regarding  coarse  plucking,  not  only  as  a fact, 
but  as  a curse  too  in  its  effect  on  the  market.  Here, 
then,  are  four  planters,  each  of  whom  takes  a dif- 
ferent view  of  plucking — one  insists  that  it  is  finer, 
wherever  he  has  been,  than  it  was  a few  years  ago  ; 
the  second,  that  he  himself  plucks  the  same  as 
he  did  three  years  ago,  and  he  evidently  know's  no 
change  in  others  ; the  third  lauds  what  people 
call  coarse  plucking  as  sensible  plucking  ; w’hile 
the  fourth  spells  coarse  plucking  curse ! Then 
as  to  the  causes  of  tlie  fall  in  prices,  we  have 
seen  that  “P”  holds  the  lack  of  supervision  in  the 
factory  responsible.  “ H.”  thinks  the  secret  is  in 
the  soil  which,  without  the  recuperation  of  winter- 
ing, is  helpless  to  produce  the  same  leaf  it  did 
w'hen  the  bushes  were  young,  while  manure  can- 
not bring  back  the  flavour  ; “ S.”  exonerates 
manures,  which  affect  only  quantity,  and  severe 
pruning  which  tells  only  on  the  life  of  the  bush, 
but  blames  preparation,  and  the  quantity  of  red 
leaf  and  muck  sent  into  the  Colombo  market  ; 
“ I”  too,  fears  that  the  increased  quantities  put 
out  of  the  factories  now-a-days,  render  care  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible,  in  the  factory,  though 
he  holds  both  manuring  and  hard  pruning  pre- 
judicial to  quality.  With  regard  to  red  leaf  and 
muck,  it  is  really  a question  for  the  producer 
whether  they  leave  any  profit  at  all,  and,  even  if  they 
do,  whether  they  would  not  be  more  profitable  di- 
rectly as  manure,  and  indirectly  by  reducing  the 
quantity  of  low  grade  teas  thrown  on  the  market 
^ 
The  Kola  Nut. — Most  of  our  readers  are 
familiar  with  the  name  of  this  product,  and  we 
have  done  our  best  to  arouse  a practical  inter- 
est in  its  cultivation  by  distribution  of  seed  and 
deligently  publisliing  all  the  information  we  could 
collect  concerning  it.  Briefly,  it  will  grow  any- 
where where  Liberian  coffee  will  grow,  but  the 
hotter  and  moister  the  climate  the  better.  The  trees 
planted  from  are  ten  to  twenty  feet  apart.  The  re- 
tnrns  compare  favourably  with  even  the  best  of 
coffee  land.  The  chief  difficulty  hitherto  experienced 
in  India  was  the  enormous  price  demanded  for 
the  seed  by  the  few  firms  from  whom  it  was 
obt.ainable.  We  aie  glad  to  announce  that  the 
great  colonial  seedsman,  Mr.  Thos.  Chii.sty, 
states  in  reply  to  a query,  tliat  he  can  deliver 
a basket  of  about  1001b.  f.o.b.  London  for  about 
£0.  As  perhaps  ten  nuts  go  to  the  pound,  this 
counting  freight,  makes  the  cost  j)er  hundred 
about  K12-8-0  on  the  estate.  Allowing  400  trees 
per  acre,  and  the  liberal  margin  of  twenty-five 
per  cvnt  for  failures  in  germination,  tlie  initial 
cost  in  seed  runs  to  about  sixty  rupees  per  acre. 
If  half  a dozen  men  clubbed  togetlier,  it  would 
probal)Iy  come  a greater  deal  cheaper.  We  have 
an  idea  that  the  kola  plants  might  be  first  put 
out  tentatively  as  a species  of  shade  tree  among 
the  coffee  itself,  say  at  the  rate  of  100  trees  per 
tkVcc.—lHantinq  Opinion,  March  6. 
