TEA CULTIVATION

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20334, 26 October 1937, Page 3

TEA CULTIVATION

INDUSTRY IN CEYLON WAIKATO RESIDENT’S VISIT Writing from Colombo to a friend in the Waikato. Mr P. J. Mourant. of Orini, gives some interesting particulars regarding tea cultivation in Ceylon. He visited a factory where the leaf was prepared for export and also saw the plant growing on the 'hillsides, the cultivation of which was explained to him. The writer describes the tea plant as something like a camelia busli that lias been completely plucked of its new leaves and consequently had grown umbrella-shaßed. It was from three to five feet in height. The area on which the plant was grown was hilly country and of an elevation of GOOO feet or more. The tea was introduced to Ceylon from Assam in India, being extremely hardy growing on hillsides which appeared to be devoid of soil and moisture. The land was prepared for planting by being hoed. All Hie cultivation was done b> hand and no implement but the band hoe could be used on the mountainous country. A white man wearing boots could* not obtain a hold in some places but Hie Tamils, who went barefooted, found the work comparatively The methods of planting the tea plants were three in number, by seed, cutting, and by attaching the shoot to a piece of wood. This operation was carried out during the monsoon period, when the rainfall reached about 90 inches in nearly live months. Thus |lie plant obtained a good start. the plantation and these helped to check the scouring ol the soil by the heavy rains. Plucking Operations Plucking commenced when the plant was about throe years old. continues the writer, lie stated that tea. such as was used in New Zealand, was the lender shoots of the plant, baked and rolled. Every day the pickers nipped .iff Hie top bud and two leaves uf Hie lea plant, and every eight days or so thereafter new shoots a ppea ri'< I. only the very tender shoots wore used. \ shilling a day was paid to the workers. They carried large cane baskets suspended by a band, which passed across their foreheads, and Hie baskets were held on their backs. The pickers nipped off the shoots and threw them in handfuls over the shoulder into the basket. When full, cacti basket was emptied and the pickings taken to the factory, where it was spread out and examined, each worker being credited with liis or her amount of good leaf. The tea was then dried on trays in a room. The following day. Hie withered leaf was removed to machines, where rolling was carried out for half-an-liour, and finally the wbyle amount was sifted into various chorees of fineness.