June  r,  1897.] 
TFIE  TROPICAL 
841 
AGRICULTURIST. 
with  the  “ II.”  from  Pas.sara,  while  admitting  that 
rotigli  ^lacking  must  give  rubhi.sli,  bdieve.s  that 
meilium  phickiiig  .should  give  good  results  if  only 
there  is  withering  space;  “ W.H.M.”  from 
Kotagala  does  imt  believe  that  coarse  plucking 
is  snliieiently  general  .seriously  to  all'eet  the 
general  average  ; ■'  Manager  ” from  Ivahitara 
conn.sels  ([uantity  oil  Hat  lands  in  the  lo^v-country, 
wiiicli  cannot  produce  gualiljg  ieaving  ([unlity 
and  quantity  combined  for  liilly  |da(!es  ; while 
“ C.T.  ” from  Lower  Ambagamuwa  reckons 
coar.se  i)lucking  as  umloubtediy  responsible  for 
lower  prices,  and  refuses  to  l)e!ieve  that  the 
bigger  gross  yields  really  c.ompeiisate  for  a lower 
average  price.  His  experience  is  that  coarse 
plucking  gives  about  5 per  cent,  of  red  leaf,  and 
reddish  leaf  in  a break  “does  for  you.”  He 
has  ceased  to  sin  after  his  experience  ! Of 
manuring  he  speaks  favourably,  ,ns  giving  a rich 
strong  li([Uor  from  the  sappy  leaf  it  produces, 
without  injuring  llavour  ; ami  in  this  opinion  he 
dilVers  from  “ U ” who  coiuieinns  manuring,  because 
he  thinks  it  spoils  quality,  through  hastening 
llnsh  and  producing  a sajjpy  leaf  —which  ought 
to  be  iui  ob  ject,  one  shouhl  tliink.  “ W.  H.  M.”  does 
not  believe  manuring  general  enougli  to  affect 
prices  one  way  or  the  other  ; while  “Manager” 
deprecates  light  artilicial  manures,  as  lending  to 
the  big  crops  in  which  proprietorsdelight  and  which 
he  considers  equivalent  to  “killing  tlie  goose.” 
Pruning,  too,  as  generally  practised,  he  regards  as 
too  heavy  ; and  “W.H.M.”  agrees  with  him,  as  it 
spoils  quality  for  some  time  ; and  they  are  both 
supported  by  “ C.T,”  who  pins  his  faith  to  medium 
pruning,  but  with  the  reservation  that  once 
in  seven  years  the  white  wood  has  to  be 
cut  into.  This,  however,  is  different  from  the 
hacking  down,  wlTich  is  practised  in  some  places, 
and  which  is  unreservealy  condemned.  Jmw 
pruning,  even  when  judicious,  delays  crop,  as  the 
white  wood  takes  long  to  respond  ; hut  when  it 
does,  say  about  the  third  montli,  the  bush  pre- 
sents quite  a virgin  look.  We  -can  (luite  see 
that  this  result  is  hastened  and  aided  by 
manuring  g and  herein  “C.T.”  dilfers  from  some 
of  the  earlier  correspondents  who  strangely  held 
the  tonic  responsible  for  weak  liquor.  “ R.”  holds 
that  severe  jiruning  would  not  spoil  quality,  if 
the  bushes  were  not  plucked  too  soon  ; and  he 
has  proved  that  “if  10  leaves  were  left  and 
then  knifed  across,”  qualily  would  not  he  pre- 
judiced. In  the  opinion  of  the  last-named,  pro- 
prietors make  a great  mistake  in  not  securing  well- 
paid  Europeans  for  the  factory.  Tlie  manager 
cannot  be  dispensed  witli  for  general  oversight, 
hut  an  assistant  will  not  consent  to  be  stewed 
in  a factory  on  UloOa  month.  If  tlie  estate  be 
large  enougli  to  maintain  tAvo  assistants,  as  is 
the^case  in  fiidia,  they  might  lie  .set  to  held 
and  factory,  turn  about,  with  best  results.  “C.T.” 
holds  that  we  have  advanced  greatly  in  tea 
preparation  during  the  past  10  years,  but  more 
care  is  necessary  in  the  ([uality  of  Ihe  leaf  that 
is  manufactured  ; and  on  that  shortness  of 
labour  tells.  The  remedy  is  to  pluck  only  such 
acreage  as  can  be  comfortably  conqiassed,  and  to 
prune'" tlie  rest.  “R.  ’ agrees  that  it  is  better  to 
abandon  some  fields  than  to  harvest  14  day.s’  flush, 
and  “ Manager  ” leans  to  the  same  view— his  e.x- 
perience  with  Sinhalese  being  that  they  hang  b.ack, 
and  only  come  when  there  is  heavy  plucking 
A larger  force  of  'I'aimls  is  neco.ssary  to  cope 
with  thisdilliculty.  “W.H.M.”  desi  derates  care  and 
judgment  in  the  factory,  and  an  e.xpeit  to  in- 
quire into  the  cause  of  the  deterioration  of  tea 
as  tii«  bush  ages  and  into  the  best  means  of 
!•? 
overcoming  this  drawback.  “Manager”  holds  that 
the  idea  that  everything  that  should  be  known 
about  manufacture  has  already  been  learnt, 
is  a serious  drawback,  and  that,  if  it  is  true 
that  good  tea  cannot  be  made  of  bad  leaf,  it  is 
equally  true  that  good  leaf  can  easily  be  spoilt 
by  injudicious  iminipulation.  He  is  inclined  to 
take  a pessimistic  view  of  the  .situation,  caused  by 
the  application  oi  stimulating  manmes  to  en- 
feebled Imshes,  i.i  an  exhausting  climate  on 
jioor  soil  ; but  is  not  the  generalisation  hasty  ? 
There  are  bushes  in  the  island  20  years  old  and 
more,  which  seem  none  the  wor.se  for  continuous 
plucking. 
“P.  A.”,  from  a high  district,  denies  the  evil  in 
II  uenceof  coarse  plucking  which  is  re.sorted  to  only  by 
aminority  in  the  lowc.ountry  ; he  has  no  experience 
of  manuring,  but  his  neighbours  whopracti.se  manu- 
ring maintain  old  prices;  severe  pruning  ali'ects 
qualily  for  a time,  and  therefore  plucking  should 
be  deferred  till  the  bush  has  recovered  itself  ; 
both  plucking  and  manufacture  need  eon- 
stant  oversight,  and  neglect  of  it  at  once  tells 
on  price.s ; so  does  shortness  of  labour  ; so  do 
too  many  cricket,  tennis  and  race  meetings,  and 
too  many  horse.s  to  exercise;  while  the  growth  of 
lowcountiy  plantations,  which  produce  quantity, 
rather  than  quality,  tells  on  the  average. 
“ C.T.”  returns  to  the  charge  [is  it  the  same 
“C.T.  ”?]  with  a strong  indictment  against  delayed 
plucking.  The  system  of  plucking  may  be  the 
same  as  of  old,  but  there  is  a ilitference  between 
flush  taken  off  eA ery  ninth  day,and  leaf  plucked 
every  15th  or  21st  ; and  the  resulting  tea  can- 
not Ire  the  same.  With  deterioration  in  quality, 
is  accompanied  avoidable  excess  in  quantity.  The 
restriction,  by  one  man  alone,  to  plucking  only 
the  Hush  he  can  properly  overtake,  will  not  stay 
the  outturn  of  muck.  United  action  alone  can 
tell  by  reducing  quantity,  and  thus  helping 
juices.  The  mischief  is  aggravateil  by  the  purchase 
of  leaf  from  natives,  whose  only  object  is  quantity ! 
“E.E.G,”  from  Pnndaluoya  holds  that  plucking 
and  manufacture  have  the  .same  care  now 
as  ever  before  ; that  manuring  is  not  suHiciently 
general  to  tell  appreciably  on  the  average  ; tliat 
heavy  pruning,  though  it  tells  on  quality  tem- 
porarily, makes  up  lor  it  by  an  inijuoved  yiehi. 
On  the  burial  of  primings  he  offers  some  interest- 
ing and  suggestive  remarks  which  deserve  atten- 
tion, and  on  Avhich  Ave  should  like  to  have  the 
oj)inion  of  competent  authorities.  We  have 
never  been  in  symjiathy  with  those  Avho  express 
distrust  of  the  Avaste  j)roducts  of  a tree  as  food 
for  that  tree,  as,  in  nature,  the  proce.ss  of  such 
assimilation  must  be  of  constant  occurrence  ; 
but  we.  can  (juite  understand  dead  leaves  and 
tAvigs  harbouring  fungi  and  insects  which  may 
prove  injurious  to  a shrub,  and  also  the  utility  of 
sul)stances  Avhich,  Avhile  guarding  against  these 
dangei-s,  Avould  hasten  decomposition  and  other- 
Avise  render  the  jilant  food  more  easily  assimi- 
lable by  the  bush.  That  lime  can  be  injurious 
to  plant  life  is  Avell  known,  hut  it  is  so  only  in 
excess,  or  in  sjiecial  conditions  of  soil.  In  a stiff 
clayey  soil,  for  instance,  Ave  do  not  see  how  it 
can  be  injurious  to  a tea-j)lant  ; and  as  a matter 
of  fact  Ave  knoAv  it  has  been  used  Avith  the  best 
results  in  the  case  of  buried  primings. 
The  last  six  letters  do  not  suggest  many 
neAV  points,  but  illustrate  rather  the  diA-ersity 
of  vicAvs  and  the  diffcieucc  in  ju-actice  which 
the  seventy-seven  letters  Avhich  jn-eceded  them 
exhibited.  “V.A.”  hoAvever,  arrests  attention, 
alike  by  his  brevity  and  his  decision.  Coarser 
plucking,  manuring,  severe  pruning  have  had,  in 
