June  i 1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
S39 
LXXVIl. 
Nawalapitiya,  March  15. 
Dear  Sir,— I have  noted  tlie  opinion  of  some 
writers  tliat  we  are  jducking  now  no  worse  than 
we  were  wont  to  do  G or  7 years  back  ; this  is  not 
so.  Some  may  who  can,  hut  there  are  others  wlio 
have  no  other  altern.ative  left  tliem  and  tliese  are 
in  tlie  majority.  7 or  8 years  ago  we  had  an 
ample  labour  force  to  cope  with  our  crojis,  and 
a gathering  in  of  the  harvest  every  9th  day  the 
rule,  not  the  exception.  At  present  time  the  exi- 
tiencies  arising  from  an  unavoidable  source— a crip- 
pled supply  of  labour  with  extended  cultivation — 
makes  it  an  almost  impossibility  to  gather  in 
green  leaf  more  than  once  a fortnight,  and  u hen 
the  rush  comes  on  for  .3  weeks  or  more  with  the 
inevitable  result.  This  is  what  makes  the  pluck- 
ing coarse.  I do  not  say  that  we  jiluck  or 
take  oil' much  more  than  we  did — bud  1st  and  2nd 
leaf  and  ^ 3rd  leaf  as  of  yore — but  these  same 
leaves  which  come  off  every  9th  day,  now  come 
off  every  15th,  or  in  some  instances  every  21st 
day.  Mark  the  difference  of  ([uality  from  such 
leaf  manufactured!  Here  is  where  I come  iu  with 
the  remedy  : those  estates  which  cannot  cope  with 
all  their  crop  for  want  of  labour  must  resort  to 
prune  down  to  keep  in  touch  with  a 9-day  jjluck- 
ing.  When  this  is  done,  and  which  ouglit  to  be 
done,  the  question  of  over-production  and  glut- 
ting the  market  with  rubbishy  teas  is  practic- 
ally solved.  If  we  are  to  place  119,000,000  lb.  of 
tea  on  the  market  now, — with  a 9-day  plucking,  we 
cannot  do  much  more  than  101  or  109  million. 
With  this  diflerence  Hashed  across  to  Mincing 
Lane,  up  goes  the  market.  We  may  put  in  120 
or  even  200  million  of  rublush  predominating, 
but  with  thepipsent  labour  supply  we  cannot — 
decidedly  cannot — put  in  a tea  from  a 9-day 
plucking. 
Apart  from  this — factories  purchasing  leaf  from 
natives  ! What  an  amount  of  injury  is  being 
done  ; in  most  ca.ses  it  is  left  to  a native  to 
receive  this  leaf  from  Dick,  Tom,  and  Harry, 
and  the  results  can  be  better  imagined  than 
described.  I have  seen  leaf  in  purchasing  factories. 
It  made  me  wince  to  think  of  our  primitive 
days  wlien  we  had  to  depend  on  manual  power 
to  roll  our  leaf.  The  quality  of  leaf  I see  and 
saw  will  no  more  roll  under  Kamasami’s  greasy 
hands  and  fingers  than  a desiccator  fire-brick 
would.  Thanks  to  heavy  macliinery  (if  it  can  be 
only  withered) — the  whole  tea  bush  might  be 
transported  and  rolled  into  tea,  with  results  of 
overproduction  ! A.nd  no  margin  of  prodt,  but 
a large  debit  in  the  no  distant  future  and  with 
it  the  ruin  of  a flourishing  enterprise.  It  will 
be  no  use  to  individually  try  to  rectify  these 
evils.  All  must  join  hands  to  save  Ceylon’s  repu- 
tation by  manufacturing  no  more  muck. 
C.  T, 
LXXVIII. 
Pundaluoya,  March  19th. 
Dear  Sir, — I can  only  repeat  the  opinion  of 
the  greater  number  of  your  correspondents  that 
plucking  and  manufacture  are  carried  on  as  care- 
fully today  as  ever.  Manuring  ds  not  sudiciently 
general  to  liave  appreciably  affected  prices.  Heavy 
pruning,  doubtle,ss,  affects  quality  for  the  time; 
but  this  has  been  a factor  moie  or  less  from  the 
beginning ; and  the  general  opinion  appears  to  be 
that  the  increased  yield  more  than  balances  the 
reduction  in  quality.  How’ever — as  I do  not 
manufacture  my  own  teas — I am  really  scarcely 
qualified  to  give  an  opinion. 
There  is  another  question  that  I should  like 
to  see  sifted  out,  viz  : — the  benefits  or  otherwise 
to  be  derived  from  the  burying  of  primings. 
One  of  your  correspondents  ridicules  the  practice 
on  the  ground  that  a plant  could  not  make  u.se 
of  its  own  uaste  products.  This  might  be  true 
(though  it  is  an  open  question)  in  the  case  of 
loaves,  &c.,  shed  naturally  after  the  reabsorption 
of  the  sap.  But  in  the  case  of  primings,  the 
leaves  ai  d blanches  are  cut  oil  in  tlieir  full 
vigour  and  must  contain  a large  amount  of  plant- 
food  capable  of  reassimilation.  And  then  there 
is  the  question  of  “ soil  ferments,”  to  which  .‘--o 
much  attention  is  now  being  paid  by  scientific 
agriculturists.  It  has  been  clearly  demonstrated 
that  many  substances,  while  not  themselves  avail- 
able as  plant -food,  may,  by  their  decay,  set  up 
fermentation,  liberating  the  .so-called  “nitrifying 
organisms”  and  gases  which  help  to  make  the 
inert  nitrogen  iu  the  soil  available  for  the  use 
of  plants.  It  is  at  least  possible  that  the  fer- 
mentation of  buried  prunings  may  do  good  in 
this  way. 
We  have  always  heard  that  lime  is  prejudicial 
to  the  health  of  the  tea  plant.  Has  this  been 
pro])erly  tested?  It  appears  fiom  recent  papers* 
on  the  subject,  that  “the  introduction  of  lime 
into  the  soil favours  in  a high  degree  the 
evolution  and  development  of  the  nitrifying  fer- 
ments ” which— in  the  absence  of  lime — are  liindered 
by  the  accumulation  of  free  nitric  acid  resulting 
from  their  action.  It  .seems  possible  that  the 
had  effects  said  to  have  sometimes  followed  the 
burying  of  green  prunings  may  be  due  to  this 
want  (f  lime. 
There  is  at  any  rate  one  very  appreciable  ad- 
vantage in  the  practice— if  properly  carried  out, 
and  that  is  the  check  that  it  gives  to  insect 
pests  of  all  kinds.  For  this  purpose  it  is,  of 
course,  essential  that  the  work  should  be  effected 
as  soon  after  the  pruning  as  possible.— Yours 
truly,  E.E.G, 
[We  have  heard  of  a little  lime  being  used 
with  buried  prunings  with  most  satisfactory  re- 
*ults. — Ed.  7. a.] 
LXXTX. 
Peradeniya,  March  30. 
Dear  Sir, — 1.  I don’t  think  that  coarse 
plucking  has  much  to  do  with  the  decrease  in 
prices,  but  no  doubt  many  estates,  which  used 
to  go  in  for  fine  teas,  now  make  a medium 
quality. 
2.  I have  no  experience  of  manured  tea  myself, 
but  the  general  impression  seems  to  be  that  manirr- 
ing  is  rather  inclined  to  detract  from,  than  improve 
the  quality  of  the  leaf. 
.3.  I don’t  think  the  pruning  usually  adopted 
is  so  severe  as  to  damage  the  average  quality  of 
Ceylon  tea. 
d.  I think  as  much  care  is  bestowed  on  manu- 
facture as  ever.  No  doubt  finest  leaf  can  be  spoilt 
by  careless  withering  or  manufacture,  but,  on  the 
other  hand  it  is  impossible  to  make  good  tea 
from  coarse  or  uneven  leaf— the  great  secret  of 
making  good  tea  is  to  have  even  leaf  and  a good 
and  even  wither. 
5.  We  have  never  been  so  short  of  labour  as 
to  aflect  our  work  seriously  in  field  or  factory 
* Bulletin  of  the  Botanical  Department,  Jamaica, 
Nov.  96,  p.  211.  “Soil  ferment  important  in  Agri- 
culture,” by  Dr.  W.  H.  Wiley. 
