768 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [May  i,  1897. 
Your  letter  of  12th  inst.  : — 
In  niy  opinion  the  teas  turned  out  now  are 
much  better  than  formerly.  People  have  more 
experience  and  all  the  coolie.-?  and  tea-makers  are 
thoroughly  trained.  My  opinion  is  that  most  of 
the  people  pluck  finer  than  they  did  a few  years  ago. 
Severe  pruning — cutting  low  down — aiids  to  the 
yield  but  not  to  the  quality  of  tea ; the  tea  made 
from  low  pruned  bushes  is  not  in  my  opinion  so 
good  for  a considerable  time  as  tea  made  from 
bushes  with  a good  tap  on  them. 
I manured  oO  acres  ; it  was  pruned  in  January 
and  February  and  I commenced  to  apply  the 
manure  on  1st  July  and  finished  by  15th  August  : 
for  the  year  from  1st  January  to  Jlst  December, 
it  gave  467  lb.  per  acre  for  the  year,  and  from 
1st  July  to  31st  December,  the  date  on  which  I 
cowmeMceef  to  apply  the  manure  to  the  end  of  the 
year,  the  yield  was  27S) lb.  per  acre  for  tlieGmonths: 
10  year  old  tea  on  old  coffee  land.  This  was  the 
first  trial  of  manuring  tea  on  the  estate  : this  is 
the  result  of  a carefully  kept  record. 
Now  if  you  advocate  manuring  of  tea  uitli 
markets  as  these  are  at  present  1 should  sa^'  it 
would  be  a ca.se  of  looking  for  a millstone  to 
put  round  one’s  neck.  I would  say  take  what 
can  be  got  without  manuring  until  the  demand 
exceeds  the  supply  and  any  fields  of  old  tea  are 
falling  off  in  yield.  If  people  all  go  in  for 
manuring— in  place  of  119,000,000  the  output 
will  soon  reach  140  or  150  million-  then  the 
•luestion  will  be  the  outlet  for  the  extra  quantity  ; 
there  will  be  more  demands  for  coolies,  advances 
will  reach  IllOO  per  head  and  prices  will  fall  still 
lower. 
There  is  no  fault  in  the  factory,  the  appliances 
are  much  better  than  they  were  some  years 
ago,  and  the  people  in  the  Factory  have  more 
experience.  If  the  leaf  is  fairly  good  and  v:ell 
withered  there  is  little  chance  of  its  being  spoiled 
in  after  work  : the  fault  is  not  in  the  factory. 
My  shortne.s3  of  labour  supply,  as  far  as  my 
experience  goes,  has  not  affected  the  work  either 
in  field  or  factory.  The  last,  and,  I believe,  the 
main  cause  of  falling  prices  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  over-produetion.  1878. 
No.  XLI. 
Maskeliya. 
The  market  is  glutted  with  tea.  Overproduc- 
tion is  the  cause  of  the  fall  in  prices,  ^yere  the 
output  to  drop  fifty  per  cent,  up  would  go  the 
prices  again ! 
1.  Plucking  receives  as  much  attention  as  ever 
it  did.  The  leaf  is  no  coarser  than  8 or  10 
J'ears  ago.  1 am  sure  this  cannot  be  blamed  for 
ow  prices. 
2.  Manuring  has  little  if  anything  to  do  with 
it,  if  the  leaf  is  plucked  in  time. 
3.  Severe  pruning — that  is  cutting  ihe  buslies 
down  to  a foot  or  so — is  only  done  once  in  8 
or  9 years.  The  quality  of  tea  made  from  re- 
cently pruned  tea  is  always  inferior  for  6 months 
after  the  pruning,  but  I can’t  say  that  leaf  from 
cut-down  fields  is  worse  in  this  respect  than  from 
the  ordinary  pruning. 
4.  Manufacture  is  as  carefully  <1one  as  ever 
it  was.  Coolies  get  expert  at  uus  work  and 
take  an  interest  in  it.  Most  factories  are  now 
very  well  equipped  with  machinery,  and  the 
withering  accommodation,  as  a rule,  is  amide. 
5.  Shortness  of  labour  does  not  affect  the 
work  in  the  factory,  although  it  does  so  |iretty 
often  in  the  field  during  the  heavy  flushing 
months;  for  few  estates  are  so  well  supplied  with 
labour  that  an  additional  force  of  30  to  .50 
coolie.s  would  not  be  welcome  in  April-May  and 
November- December. 
Tll.AMWAY, 
No.  XLII. 
North  of  Kandy. 
1.  Coar.se  plucking  is  too  palpable  a cau.se  in 
many  cases  to  be  disputed  ; and  as  this  obtains 
largely  in  the  lowcountry,  the  proportion  of  tea 
from  which  districts  is  increasing,  the  average 
for  the  whole  island  is  naturally  affected  ; where 
hard  practical  men  find  it  pays,  it  is  ridiculous 
for  Clitics  to  condemn  ! 
2.  Not  enough  manuring  has  been  done  to 
affect  injuriously  the  island’s  average. 
3.  Severe  pruning  in  the  majority  of  cases  is 
only  adopted  where  thought  absolutely  necessary 
— and  it  affects  ijuality  for  a year  or  so  after-- 
so  that  it  may  partially  account  for  fall  in  prices. 
4.  A good  (leal  may  be  debited  to  half-trained, 
and  badly  trained  tea-makers,  wlio  are  far  too 
common.  “ Kamasamy”  well  trained  often 
proves  more  trustworthy  ; because  he’ll  carry  out 
master’s  orders  a,ud  not  think  ! 
With  regard  to  your  parenthetical  query  here, 
good  tea  begins  farther  back  than  the  field— for 
jat  ot  seed  is  important  too.  But  it’s  like  to- 
bacco, care  must  be  exercised  right  through  from 
seed  nur.serie.s  to  packing  and  shipment  (ex  apples!) 
5.  Not  affected  here  by  short  'abor. 
9.  a.  Insufficient  withering  space  when  rushes 
of  leaf  come  in. 
h.  Too  rapid  firing. 
c.  Night  work  and  over-heated  factories. 
d.  \arieties  of  jilt  and  consequent  uneven 
withering  through  different  textures  in 
leaf. 
e.  The  packet  trade  at  home  ; no  one  so  far 
has  remarked  on  this  cutting  down 
business. 
^ H.  Much  of  the  Broken  Fekoe  of  today  is 
Broken  Pek.  .Sou.  Ask  the  brokers  about  this  ’ 
nc.  w ROKD. 
z .0.  VV e have  yet  to  discover  w-hat  special 
element  in  the  .soil  gives  flavor  and  point.  Many 
have  notice  1 in  tasting  at  their  factories  that 
leaf  from  young  tea  in  new  land  ha.s  more 
flavor  than  that  from  old  ( ? or  young)  tea  ii, 
old  land. 
ff  estates,  with  new  clearings  in  fore.st  or  old 
chena,  would  manufacture  a separate  break  from 
this  young  tea  fields,  I feel  sure  above  would  be 
found  correct  almost  universally.  Then  let  the 
chemist  find  out  what  manure  will  re.store  the 
best  element  to  old  lands,  and  let  the  machinery 
inventors  perfect  a cool  fermenting  chamber,  and 
quality  will  improve.  Saith  the  cynic  : “ And  the 
quomtity  of  good  teas  will  incre.-ise  . . . and  prices 
will  woi  increase  proportionately  ! Soil’s  supply 
and  demand  after  all  !!  ”—T.K. 
XLIII. 
1.  Coarser  plucking  on  the  part  of  many  at 
medium  and  lower  elevations  particularly,  1 think- 
have  probably  reduced  pi  ices  and  on  these  estates  it 
IS  said  to  2>ay  best. 
2.  I think  it  is  generally  admitted  that  manur- 
ing increases  the  yield  without  adding  flavor 
t)  the  teas  and  perhaps  in  some  cases  is  Ihou'dit 
to  reduce  t e flavor.  ^ 
3.  If  trees  are  cut  dowm  low-  they  are  forced 
into  heavy  flush  at  the  exjiense  ot  flavor. 
4.  Fvery  care  should  be  taken  with  the  manu- 
facture of  tea  in  the  factory,  but  coarse  or 
indifferent  leaf  cannot  be  made  into  fine  teas, 
