Essay on the Cultivation and

ESSAY CULTIVATION & MANUFACTURE OF TEA, LIEUT.-COLONEL EDWARD MONEY, FOR WHICH THE PRIZE OF THE GRANT GOLD MEDAL AND Rs. 300 WAS AWARDED BY THE AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF INDIA IN THE YEAR 1872. SECOND EDITION, Corrected and. much enlarged, PRICE R S. 4-. WYMAN & Co., PUBLISHERS, 5, COUKCIl HOUSE STREET, & 10, HAKE STREET. 3827 1874- CALCUTTA : A. ACTOS, CALCUTTA CENTEAL PBESS COMPANY, LIMITED, 6, COUSCIL HOUSE 8TEEET. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter. of Tea ... ... I- Past and present financial prospects Labor, local and imported ... ... ... II. Tea districts and their comparative advantages. Climate, soil, &c., in each ... ... HI. Soil ... ... - - IV. Nature of jungle ... ... ... V. Water and sanitation ... ... ... ... VI. of land ... ... ... ... ... VII. i Lay Laying out a garden ... ... ... ... VIII. Varieties of the ... ... IX. Q Tea-plant ' Tea seed ... ... ... ... ... X. \ Comparison between sowing in nurseries and in situ ... XI. ^ Sowing seed in situ, id. est. at stake ... ... ... XII. Nurseries ... ... ... ... ... XIII. V Manure ... ... ... ... ... XIV. \DistancesaparttoplantTea-bushes ... ... ... XV. ... ... ... XVI. ^> Making a garden ... , Transplanting ... ... ... ... XVII. ^ Cultivation of made gardens ... ... ... XVIII. "Pruning ... ... ... ... ... XIX. ^ White-ants, crickets, and blight ... ... ... XX> Filling up vacancies ... ... ... ... XXI. Flushing and number of flushes ... ... ... XXII. Leaf-picking ... ... ... ... ... XXIII. Manufacture. Mechanical contrivances ... ... XXIV. Sifting and sorting ... ... ... ... XXV. Boxes, packing ... ... ... ... XXVI. Management, accounts, forms ... ... ... XXVII. Cost of manufacture, packing, transport, &c. ... ... XXVIII. Cost of making a 300 acre Tea garden ... ... XXIX. How much profit Tea can give ... ... ... XXX. The past, present, and future of Indian Tea ... ... XXXI. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. THE following Essay was written with, firstly, the object of cornDdtingTor the Gold Medal and the Money Prize offered by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India for - the best treatise on the cultivation and manufacture of Tea ; and, secondly, with the view of arranging the hundreds of notes on these subjects, which, in the course of eleven years, 1 had collected. During all these years I have been a Tea Planter, making first for myself and others a garden in the Himalayas, and for the last six years doing the same thing for myself in the CliHtagong^ktr.ict. Whenever I have visited other plantations, (and I have seen a great number in many districts), I have brought away notes of all I saw. Up to the last, at every such visit, I c*%<fê^ tflf have learnt something, it. rarelyJ /nothinor to follow, some- ax t^vtW**^; fttJiAtjfef thing at least to avoi^T I 'nave now tested/all and every- thing connected with the cultivation and manufacture of Tea by my own experience, and I can only hope that what I have written will be found useful to an industry, destined, yet I believe, in su?t^Df the late panic, the natural result of &#*&+< JJLV*fjt. fe>M? . / wild an in speculation, toTpJay1 J impoimnt part Indian ff /+ aXn^&bt' aêî^f^-rik^fi^' ^fiJttAf^^' I have/ endeavored to/adapt this Essay to the wants or a as there are of beginner, many that class now, and may yet be more in to days come, who must feel, as I often have, the want of a really practical work on Tea. To have Tea in ihosg^who properties unlikely climates and unlikely si%s, I'would say two words. No view I have taken of the of different advantages localities, can in any way affect the results of ent erprêjah'e^dvêntered upon. But if the note of warning, soutSfeaffi the following pages. ii PREFACE. ^*^ a^+^^Jfrt-f***^ / checks further lossesîn Tea v already/? so vast, while it fosters -ê* &hf^*~n&^. A-J&kfjiJ^ the cultivation on remunerative/ sites, I shall not have written in vain. EDWARD MONEY. SUNGOO RIVER PLANTATION ; CHITTAGONG, November 1870. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. THREE years' further experience, and visiting two- Tea districts I had not seen before, has enabled me to amenowhat- ever was faulty in the 1st Edition. The whole has been and much new added revised, matter^js> throughout. A new Chapter at the end on the past, the present, and the future of Indian Tea will, it is hoped, be found interesting. An Index (a great want in the 1st Edition) is added, so that all information on any point can be at once found. The manufacture of Green Tea, which I was ignorant of when I last wrote, is given, and the advisability of that manufacture is discussed. In its present form I hope and believe this little work will be found useful and interesting to all connected with Tea. EDWARD MONEY. DARJEELING, May 1874. ADDENDA. SINCE iliis second and enlarged edition went to Press, some facts and information have been met with by me, and I give them here. DISSOLVED PERUVIAN GUANO, This is a manure highly spoken of in England, and for which Messrs. Ede and Hobson are the Agents in Calcutta. It appears to be a highly concentrated article, and it may be that it will beneficial to 'the It should cer- prove very> Tea-plant. rgafsn+t.Yt' tainly be /tried' by planters; I am trying it myself, but regret that as I have only just applied it I cannot speak as to the results. The following is the description given by the manufacturers : DISSOLVED PERUVIAN GUANO, PBEPARED BY OHLENDOEFF & Co., LONDON, ANTWEKP, HAMBUBG, AND EMMERICH-ON-RHINB, GUARANTEED TO CONTAIN : Nitrogen equal to 10 per cent, of non-volatile ammonia, 20 per cent, of soluble ) , , , > Guano Phosphate. 4 per cent, of insoluble J Our Guano since we Dissolved/Peruvian has, firstîutroduced it ten years/ago, met with such unqualified success^ on the and more in that we are ConfeinenJ, specially Germany, /îtfaced to come forward with it before the British public, and ii ADDENDA. with this purpose in view we have errected works at Plaistow, near Victoria Docks, London. General character of the Peruvian Guano. Dissol^jgl This manure is prepared from genuine Peruvian Government Guano, treated with sufficient, sulphuric acid to fix the ammo- ?r>J*&tC&* 4?nrfr<r4'Vftsut- trt*tG/vfeaev*stKs&i~^cie* nia, and to convert the insoluble, fertilizing constituents oL^the 'fftûi Jf<*.+**e+* +/*C~~~-ill , ** CtHVtJSi/irJL. 4**4ts&40sue. <rib<t>* f 9 raw Guano into readily available soluble compounds. It sup- plies the farmer with the means of deriving the greatest econo- mical advantage from the use of Guano. " It is offered for sale as Dissolved Peruvian Guano" in a nicely-prepared and dry condition, and of an uniform strength, guaranteed as above. Peculiar merits of the Dissolved Peruvian Guano. The following are some of the merits of the Dissolved Peru- vian Guano which have, been -fully recognised by all persons, -fc^^7x-^ &cJijt-& *f*î&* &* -fafot^\<>{ who have had fair onjrortjimties to become practically acquainted with this valuable and concentrated manure : 1. It contains a very high percentage of ammonia the most valuable fertilizing constituent of most natural and artificial manures. 2. All the ammonia occurs in Dissolved Peruvian Guano in a fixed or non-volatile, and at the same time readily soluble and /? "A a-vaiTable condition. Dissolved Guano for this reason loses,,, , , .. 4*^*Ze&^~. nothing whatever by exposure to the air, nor even by exposure (/ to a burning sun. If kept in a dry vplace its fertilizing pro- K*~ 07<*esr~ T *^~' / perties remain unimpaired for years in all climates. 3. It is as rich in soluble phosphate as good superphos- phates and most dissolved bone manures, and thus combines the fertilizing properties of phosphatic manures with those of raw Peruvian Guano, and of other ammoniacal manures. 4. In addition to a high percentage of non-volatile ammonia and of a large percentage of soluble G uano phosphate, Dissolved Peruvian a us ef of insoluble Guano Guanoco^tai.^ demount, pltosphates to supporOhe healthy gr^vthof cultivated plants at tli/ later tlieir and it further con- stages/pt development ; tains soluble silica, a large proportion of nitrogenous organic ADDENDA. Ill and a of soluble salts, of potash, / matters, considerable/amount * Ket 644-0% <**< **! ^<zvftx^*r eb ff-K&Ast.C&c-fSC eoda, and magnesia. It thus embodies ap/the essential organic and mineral elements of plant-food which are required to encourage the healthy and luxuriant growth of our crops. 5. Inasmuch as Dissolved Peruvian Guano contains all the elements of nutrition to favor the abundant yield of all kinds of agricultural produce, it is more useful as a fertilizer for than artificial manures, general agricultural purposes special whose efficiency depends entirely upon the amount of soluble phosphate, or of potash, or of ammonia, or of any one particular fertilizing constituent, for which many artificial manures are recommended./? / / v specially / <*f*-<t * x a ^Ctftf^tr' /CJra-*>y~* 6. It is and sold of/ prepared ujrfform strength guaranteed to contain Nitrogen equal to 10 per cent, of non-volatile ammonia, 20 per cent, of soluble ) ... ... > Guano phosphate. 4 per cent, of insoluble ) In respect of this guarantee we hold ourselves bound by the result of Analyses of the Chemists to the three great National Agricultural Societies, i.e. DK. AUGUSTUS VOELCKER, Consulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, London. PBOF. THOS. ANDERSON, Chemist of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Glasgow. DK. JAS APJOHN, Chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, Dublin. 7. Dissolved Peruvain Guano is a ^7 anjJ finelyvprepaml Z t manure, which no ^ requires. ^pre^Dus'*breaking/,^p, si|mig/aucf siipHar manipulation, before it can be applied beneficially to the crop for which it is intended. -/SLâ^nof- 8. It may be sown brpadcastfand left on the surface of the land exposed to the air and su.n, without losing any of its/er- j.^.-_:_.

Load more