834 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
Tliifj  deficiency,  coupled  witli  ni^ht  work  and  lack 
of  experience  to  keep  pace  with  the  }frowin<j 
demands  for  teainakers  has  had  an  evil  influence  ; 
and  the  remedy  should  he  etlicient  and  close 
supervision  in  both  field  and  factory.  “W.  A.”, 
however,  is  sceptical  about  less  care  being  res- 
ponsible in  any  way  for  prices,  seeing  how 
much  better,  and  more  elaborate  is  the  machinery 
now  used  in  factories  ; but  may  not  too  much 
be  left  to  improved  appliances  by  those — only  a 
few,  it  is  to  1)6  hoped, — who  are  inclined  to  take 
things  easy?  “8.”  evidently  thinks  this  happens 
in  many  factories  in  which  the  coolies  and  the  tea- 
maker  are  not  aderpiately  supervised.  On  the 
whole,  “ W.ll.J.”  is  not  inclined  to  think  our  pre- 
sent teas,  from  any  well-ordered  factory,  worse  than 
those  of  previous  years  ; and  accepts  the  larger 
profits  now,  or  recently,  earned  on  most  estates 
as  evidence  that  the  most  profitable  system  is 
being  pursued.  But  is  that  conclusion  inevitable? 
Home  jilanters  hold  strongly  that  a reduced  out- 
put would  benelit  not  only  individual  est.ates, 
but  the  local  tea  industrjg  generally,  by  inducing 
keener  competition.  But  eacli  must  judge  for 
himself. 
{Letters  Continued.) 
No.  BXI. 
[Home  Colombo  opinions,  from  Brokers  and  Mer- 
chants ; — ] 
1.  There  seems  to  me  no  doubt  tliat 
the  coarser  plucking  in  Ceylon  has  in  a great 
measure  been  the  cause  of  the  gradual  decline 
of  the  average.  Of  course,  a planter  knows  wliat 
pays  him  best  and  he  naturally  ivdopts  that 
policy,  but  it  looks  almost  as  it  he  were  killing 
the  goose  with  the  golden  egg. 
Cejdon  used  to  more  than  liohl  its  owm  with 
India,  but  now  India,  with  a larger  export,  has 
lately  had  a much  higher  average,  which  is 
due,  in  a great  measure,  I understand,  to  im- 
proved quality  caused  by  liner  plucking.  Nos.  2 
to  6 are  questions  whicii  sliould  be  answered  by 
planters  themselves,  and  I do  not  think  that 
a mere  expert  on  the  value  of  the  tea  should  pre- 
sume to  criticise  planting  work.  LEDCEK. 
No.  JAIL 
I am  strongly  of  opinion,  and  have  been  so 
for  .some  time,  that  the  value  of  our  teas  is 
greatly  depreciated  by  want  of  sufficient  atten- 
tion to  preparation  in  the  factory. 
The  Huperintendent  of  a large  estate  spends 
very  little  of  his  time  in  the  factory,  and  the 
prejiaration  of  the  tea  is  left  to  a native  tea- 
maker  wlio  simply  works  by  rule  of  thumb. 
This  is  w'here  India  beats  us:  no  Ceylon  teas 
come  up  to  Indians  in  make  and  appearance. 
There  iCuro))ean  Factory  Huperintendents  are  largely 
enqiloyed. 
Inadequate  factoiy  woik  will  certainly  spoil 
the  best  leaf  that  comss  into  a factory. 
MERCHANT. 
No.  LXIII. 
1.  1 do  not  think  coarser  plucking  has  had 
much  to  do  with  the  lower  prices. 
2.  No,  certainly  not. 
3.  This  not  to  a large  extent. 
4.  Yes,  certainly  a meat  deal  is  ilue  to  this. 
Everytliing  is  left  to  the  Temnaker.  In  old 
days  men  employed  Kanacapulleys  on  R15  per 
month,  and  bossed  him; — 50  per  cent  of  the  new 
generation  of  planters  emirloy  teainakers  who 
boss  the  durai  !.  Not  fine  i>lucking,  but  careful 
[June  i,  1897. 
))lucking  such;  as  is  carried  out  by  Mr.  Meggin.son 
on  Ht.  John’s;  round  the  estate  once  in  9 days 
at  outside  ; and  far  more  attention  to  tlie  bush 
for  the  first  six  months  after  pruning,  and  much 
more  attention  to  the  factory  will  remedy  our 
i)oor  prices  provided  w'e  can  obtain  coolies  to  do 
the  work.  iMEKCHANT  No.  II. 
No.  LX IV. 
Coarser  plucking  undoubtedly  has  a lot  to  do 
with  it;  but  pla5'ed-out  .soil  and  tlie  ab.sence  of 
manvre  is  telling  on  the  plants  and  will  con- 
tinue to  do  so  until  more  attention  is  given 
to  it.  T. 
No.  LXV. 
Overproduction  and  higher  exchange  account 
for  most  of  it.  Ho  long  as  producers  can  get  re- 
munerative ]jrices  for  low  grades  they  won’t 
leave  of!  going  in  for  quantity. 
No  doubt,  Indian  planters  have  gone  in  for 
finer  iilncking  and  tliey  have  certain  advantage.s 
— better  soil,  better  weather  for  withering  and,  1 
think,  better  withering  accommodation.  I think 
Indian  tea  wdll  always  beat  Ceylon  tea  in  re- 
gard to  leaf.  W.  H. 
No.  LXVL 
In  reply  to  your  questions  as  to  the  causes 
which  have  brought  down  the  prices  for  Ceylon 
teas,  my  humble  opinion  is  as  follows  : — 
1st.  Coarser  ))lucking  is  not  the  rule  on  es- 
tates, but  (|uite  the  exception  ; greater  care  is 
taken  in  the  field  the  last  few'  years  than  for- 
merly. When  very  coarse  leaf  comes  into  the 
factory  it  will  seldom  have  any  bad  efl’ect  on 
the  best  teas  as  it  all  comes  out  in  the  sifting  and 
is  sold  as  congou  and  red  leaf. 
2nd.  Manuring  old  tea  and  when  unpruned, 
will  not  have  any  bad  effect  on  the  leaf,  but 
manure  applied  to  pruned  trees  does  undoubtedly 
give  a w’eaker  tea  in  the  cup  for  several 
pluckings. 
3rd.  Pruning. — This  is  a w'ork  that  does  not 
receive  the  attention  it  should.  Trees  are  not 
pruned  in  our  days  ! — they  are  cut  down.  An 
order  is  given  to  cut  a field  a foot,  or  15 
inches  or  18  inches — the  lower  and  more  severe 
it  is  cut,  the  weaker  the  tea  in  the  cup  is  for 
several  pluckings.  I have  .seen  ten-year  old 
tea  cut  down  9 inches  to  a foot.  The  reason 
given  was  : “ to  get  good  strong  healthy 
branches  ” — well  it  took  three  years  to  grow 
the  size  the  trees  were  w'hen  ]>runed,  the 
pluckings  all  that  time  have  been  a loss, 
and  the  trees  have  not  such  good  stems 
as  they  had  previous  to  the  heavy  pruning. 
My  humble  opinion  is  that  tea,  ten  years 
old  and  over,  should  never  he  pruned  down  below 
rw'o  feet  aiid  when  pruned  that  height,  every sJiiall 
twig  should  be  cut  off  carefully  and  cross  branche* 
tliinneil  out  A’C., — that  is,  the  tree  should  be 
]iru.ncd  and  not  merely  cut  dow  n and  this  can’t  be 
done  pro])erly  under  R9  to  RlO  per  acre.  Hlashing 
away  at  the  trees  the  severe  way  now  cariieil 
on  gives  ))oor  leaf  till  tbe  tree  lias  recovered 
its  liranches  and  foliaife. 
4t  h. — Preparation  in  Factorie.s.  There  is  greater 
care  taken  in  factories  than  formerly.  In  fact 
sometiii'es  too  trreat  a zeal  is  shewn,  and  the 
teas  may  slightly  deteriorate  in  consequence. 
AV'hat  1 mean  is  this  : Young  Planters  are  far 
too  ready  to  be  everlastingly  tasting  their  teas, 
and  they  will  then  go  to  the  teamaker,  who 
goes  to  the  cooly  rolling  and  the  cooly  firing  and 
give  fresh  instructions ! This  goes  on  daily  in  -some 
