Fornzing a Tea-garden.—The first step will usually be to cut and burn the jungle, much in the same way as already described for coffee (see p. 692), a few large trees being left here and there (say 1 on every 2-3 acres) for aheltering the workmen, and shading picked leaf before it goee into house. Lining and holing are performed as in the case of coffee (see p. 693), the holee being 10 in. diam. and 15 in. deep. A garden of 100 acree is ugually quite large enough to commence with. This ahould be divided into plote of 5-10 acrea each, by means of paths or prominent stakee, the main object in view being to make eeparate sections for each portion of the orop that manifeats any peeuliarity in the number of its " flushes " or the quality of its leavea, many advantagea arising from treating the orop in a piecemeal fashion, as the forwardnese or backwardneee of any section may require. Close planting is recommended by the beat authorities, any 4-4i ft. apart each way on flat ground, and ft. between the lines and 2 ft. apart in the lines when on slopes, to prevent wash. Close planting gives a greater number of bushes per acre, and keeps down weeds ; but sufficient space must be left for digging between the bushes and picking the crop. Col. Money givea the following useful table showing the number of plante per acre, and the area covered by one lakb of seedlinge, at the distances named : Planting.—About a fortnight before setting out the seedlings, they are " tipped " by pinching off the closed leaf' at the head (see Fig. 1430), which makes them hardier. The removal of the seedlings is much facilitated by flooding the bed with water, as described for cinchona (p. 803), and similar care should be taken to have a good mass of soil around the roots. A good plan in taking up is to cut a trench below the bed, and then turn over line after line of seedlings by inserting a prong behind. The plants are carried in baskets to the garden, and there placed in little holes made with the hand or a narrow kodalee within the soft soil which has previously (p. 1994) been filled into the pit. The planting rnust be done so that the tap-root shall not turn up, that the rootlets shall preserve their lateral position, that the " collar " of the plant (where it issued from the ground in the nursery) shall be in. higher than the surrounding surface, and with so much pressure that the soil shall not cake about the plant, and shall be equally close at all depths. Cloudy and rainy days are the best for transplanting, but very wet weather is highly objectionable. In India, the operation is best performed by mid-June, and should not in any case extend beyond the end of JulY. Jeben has recently introduced some new tools for transporting and transplanting, which are highly approved of.
Cultivating and Pruning.—The soil overlying the roots of each plant should be repeatedly lightened up for the admission of air. This is best done by digging round the bushes with the kodalee, beginning at about 9 in. from the stem, and extending 2 ft. in all directions after the second year, taking care to use the blade of the tool so that it follows the line of the roots. A wide hoe is perhaps as useful a tool for this purpose. Till the plants are 1 year old, the soil for 6 in. round is only opened up about once a month with the koorpee. Weeds rnust be rigorously kept down, which is best done with a Dutch hoe. The weeds may be buried in trenches between the lines.
As it is only young wood and shoots that give leaf, pruning is essential to produce large crops. It must be done while the sap is down, and should be as soon as possible after the sap has gone down. It can only be performed in a rough and ready way, as the time is limited and the number of bushes to be treated is very great. Pruning-knives and hedge-bills, such as supplied by Brooker,
Dore, & Co., London, are the best instruments. The same care in pruning the large branches must be exercised as with all other plants : the cut must be clean, sloping upwards, and not near enough to a bud to injure it. Such care cannot be taken with the numerous twigs. The plant should be induced to grow laterally, but not to exceed 4 ft. high. All branches less than 6 in. above ground should be pulled off downwards with a. sharp tug. The centre of the bush must be opened out. No plant should be pruned for 18 months after transplanting, or the tap-root will not descend sufficiently. After that, all must be pruned, but some more than others. Two-year old plants over 2-1 ft. high may be reduced to 20 in., and their thick wood to 11-18 in. It is better to prune too inueh than too little. The prunings are buried while green between the lines, and form good manure.
Other tools supplied by Brooker, Dore, & Co., to Indian tea eidates are the solid hodalee (Fig. 1427), the cast-steel wedge-axo weighing 3 lb. and upwards (Fig. 1428), and the steeled Assam fork, with either 3 or 4 tines, weighing 4-5-1 lb. (Fig. 1429).
Filling up Vacancies.—Filliug up the vacancies loft by the failing of some plants is usually a hopeless undertaking in the case of tea, as the young seedlings get destroyed by the weeding, and are starved out by the surrounding mature plants, consequently Indian tea-gardens have 12-40 per cent. of their area wasted by vacancies. Jeben's transplanter may perhaps succeed in overcoming the difficulties encountered. Meantime Money recommends a plan of planting in pots and staking the young plants, which has answered well. Earthenware pots 7i in. diam. and 7i in. deep, with a 2-in. hole in the bottom, are filled with soil from the garden ; 2 or 3 seeds are put into each near the centre and in. below the surface ; and the pots are placed near water and under artificial shade. When germinated, the best .etidling is left in the pot to grow till the rains, being watered occasionally, and gradually deprived of shade. After the first rain, the pot is removed to a hole prepared at the vacancy ; the bottom of the pot is knocked off, the sides are broken and partially removed, and the whole is planted and earth is filled in round. With care, the rootlets are not disturbed, and the growth is not checked for a day. Bamboo baskets do not give such good results. Money proposes to modify this plan so as to avoid destruction of the pots, as follows :— The pots are made larger, and provided with a tin lining about 1 in. less in diameter, the inter vening space being filled with sand ; the tin lining is then removed, and the layer of sand permits the subsequent extraction of the plant with mould caked around it without breaking the pot, which may thus be used indefinitely. A somewhat similar plan is adopted with cinchona (see p. 802).
Manures.--Judicious manuring nearly doubles the yield of tea, and at the same time improves its flavour and increases its strength. An excellent manure available on all tea-gardens consists of the prueings of the bushes themselves, and the weeds and general garden rubbish. Of animal manures, the best are nightsoil and bird-droppings, and the next best is cattle-manure ; horse-dung is heating, and needs to be used with care. Artificial chemical manures will probably come into extensive demand, as they have done for coffee, sugar, and other tropical crops. One highly spoken of is known as Money and Ponder's, and is manufactured by J. Thompson, Booshtea, Bengal.