840 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICUL I URIST. 
(June  i,  1897. 
and  have  always  had  sutlicient  factory  accoin- 
inodation. 
6.  Here  we  have  niamifactiired  a similar 
quality  of  tea  since  1891  ; and  so  far  as  our  ex- 
perience {gained  in  Mincinff  Lane,  goes,  our  teas 
are  intrinsically  the  same  as  ever.  I am,  there- 
fore, inclined  to  think  that  apart  from  overpro- 
duction and  similar  causes,  the  only  cause  that 
can  he  given  for  the  average  of  our  teas  dropping 
below  tliat  of  Indians  is  a change  of  taste  in  the 
London  market.  • 
LXXX. 
(1)  Coarse  plucking  of  leaf  has  got  little  to 
do  with  it,  except  in  the  heavy  Hushing  months. 
(•2)  Manuring  with  good  tillage,  in  my  opinion, 
improves  the  (quality  of  the  tea. 
(3)  Severe  pruning  affects  quality  adversely 
for  a few  months. 
(4)  I don’t  think  the  manufacture  gets  less 
attention  than  it  did  years  ago  : good  tea  cannot 
he  made  out  of  bad  leaf,  hut  good  leaf  may 
be  spoiled  by  careless  manipulation. 
(5)  Shortness  of  labour  lias  affected  the  field 
work  at  times,  especially  in  April  and  May. 
(())  Supply,  being  in  exce.ss  of  demand,  is  in 
my  opinion  the  jirincipal  cause  of  the  falling-off. 
A.  C. 
LXXXI. 
April  3. 
Dear  Sir,— It  is  difficult  to  say  what  tlie 
exact  reason  is  which  has  brougfit  down  the 
average  price  of  Ceylon  tea,  but  I have  little 
doubt”  in  the  lowcountry  coarser  plucking  has  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  it,  as  so  many  estates  find 
quantity  pays  better  that  quality,  though  in 
Assam  and  Darjilituf  I have  never  seen  finer  and 
more  regular  plucking  than  is  now  carried  on  in 
most  npeountry  Ceylon  estates. 
(2)  The  amount  of  manuring  gone  in  for  in 
Ceylon  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  sufHcient  to  reduce 
the  average  of  the  whole  output  of  Ceylon. 
(3)  No,  severe  pruning  will,  of  cour.se,  give 
weak  liquored  teas  for  a good  niany  months 
after  the  bush  has  come  into  plucking  ; but  this 
wears  off  the  farther  away  the  bush  irets 
from  pruning,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  India,  too,  severe  pruning  is  gone  in  for, 
when  the  bush  requires  it,  and  the  same  fall 
has  not  occurred  in  Indian  prices. 
(4)  As  one  of  those  who  hold  tliat  the  tea  is 
made  in  the  field,  I still  believe  a great  deal 
could  be  done  by  the  Manager  or  Superinten- 
dent, as  he  is  called  in  Ceylon,  being  more  m 
the  factory  himself  and  being  able  to  drop  in 
every  now  and  again.  At  present  this  is  inqios- 
sible  owing  to  the  distance  the  bungalow  very 
frequently  is  away  from  tlie  factory,  ami  the 
numerous  duties,  compared  to  those  of  an  Indian 
man,  he  has  to  perform— field  work,  factory  work, 
accountant  and  clerk.  In  India  it  is  an  unheard- 
of  thing  for  the  Manager  to  be  his  own  clenc^ 
a native  writer  is  kept  on  a small  salary  of  1H5 
to  K20  per  mensem,  tlie  Manager’s  more  valuable 
time  and  energies  being  given  wholly  to  his 
work.  The  distance  tlie  bungalow  is  very  fre- 
quently away  from  the  factory  at  once  strikes 
an  Indian  planter,  where  if  it  was  found  neces- 
jfary  to  build  the  factory  some  distance  from  the 
bungalow,  the  latter  would  at  once  be  removed 
to  within  a stone’s  throw  of  the  factory. 
(r>)  Not  at  all.— Yours  truly, 
LX-INDIA  planter. 
LXXXII. 
1.  Nothing. 
2.  Notliing. 
3.  Nothing. 
4.  Everything.  You  bet. 
.0.  About  10  iier  cent  leaf  lost. 
6.  Sport ! Sport  ! ! Sport  ! ! ! 
The  above  ought  to  be  of  more  value  than 
all  that  has  been  written  on  the  subject  because 
it  is  undiluted.  V.  A. 
LXXXIII. 
April  25. 
Dear  Sir,— In  reference  to  the  interesting  cor- 
respondence in  your  paper  re  tea  prices,  will  you 
allow  me  to  suggest  a solid  though  unpalatable 
reason  for  the  recent  dejireciation  of  prices  : — In 
former  years  pure  Ceylon  tea  was  extensively 
advertised  and  “ boome<l  ” in  Great  Hritain  ; this 
with  the  comparatively  small  supply  created  a 
rise  of  prices  above  the  normal  value.  Now  ad- 
vertising of  Ceylon  tea  at  home  seems  to  have 
practically  ceased  and  the  supply  being  larger, 
prices  have  gone  down  to  their  proper  level — it  is 
merely  a case  of  supjdy  and  demand. 
In  my  experience  plucking  has  been  finer,  prun- 
ing as  good,  and  manufacture  more  carefully 
attended  to  than  formerly;  still  prices  h.ave 
decreased. 
Indian  teas  were  not  “boomed”  by  bogus 
auction  sales,  etc.,  as  ours  were,  so  they  have  not 
had  the  rapid  rise  and  fall  in  indces  ; their  better 
soil,  of  course,  gives  them  the  advantage  in  the 
long  run. 
Can  you  inform  us  if  the  Comjiany  for  the 
sale  of  pure  Ceylon  tea  in  packets  is  still  in  ex- 
istence and,  if  so,  how  it  is  prospering? — Yours 
faithtully,  HAH  III. 
lxxxivl 
Manuring  Tea. — I consider  every  owner  of 
manure  applied  to  our  tea  bushes  helps  to  increase 
the  yield,  hut,  the  tea  plant  being  unlike  coffee, 
in  that,  it  is  a deep  feeder,  the  best  w,ay  to 
manure  it  is  to  dig  a deep  narrow  hole,  say 
2|  by  6 ft.  as  near  the  tap  root  as  pos.sible, 
particularly  in  lowcountry  where  the  oulk  of 
the  manure  applied  to  the  surface,  either  by 
digging  or  holing,  is  devoured  by  white  ants 
who  eat  up  as  well  every  jiarticle  of  organic 
matter,  as  a rule,  within  6 inches  of  the  surface. 
Coffee  simply  refused  to  grow  in  such  land,  and 
went  out,  long  before  leaf  disease  appearetl  in 
Ceylon,  and  no  wonder  when  the  white  ants 
devoured  everything  but  the  tap  root,  and,  in 
many  instances,  the  very  bark  of  the  coffee 
trees  was  eaten  by  them.  This  accounts  therefore, 
I think,  for  tea  ilourishing  where  coffee  refused 
to  grow.  Seeing,  therefore,  that  tea  has  practi- 
cally no  surface  feeding  roots,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  apply  our  manure  as  near  the  tap  root 
as  possible,  particularly  at  low  altitudes  ? 
OLD  TEA  HUSH. 
[This  concludes  the  correspondence  in  answer 
to  our  two  circulars  and  the  same  will  now  be 
published  in  a separate  form  for  easy  reference. 
— Eu.  T.A.] 
^ 
PLUCKING,  PRUNING  AND  PRE- 
PRATION  OF  TEA  : 
REVIEW  OF  LETTERS  LXXI  TO  LXXXIV. 
W li  have  now  to  deal  with  the  concluding 
letters  of  the  series,  on  the  important  questions 
whiidi  wc  had  placeil  before  our  readers,  beginning 
