I shall therefore beg the question that manure is an advantage. If any planter doubts, let him try it, and his doubts will soon be solved.
Any manure is better than none, but I believe one of the best manures for the Tea plant (always excepting night-soil and the excrements of birds, which cannot be procured) is cattle manure. It is not heating, like horse-dung, and may be applied in large quantities without any risk. The fresher it is applied, in my opinion, the better, for it has then far more power. If mixed with any vegetable refuse, the bulk being increased, it will go further, but I do not think it is intrinsically any the better for it.
There are several chemical manures advertised for Tea plants. “Money and Ponder’s Chemical Manure,” lately patented by Mr. Ponder and myself, is said to have been very successful on several gardens. It is manufactured by Mr. J. Thompson, Kooshtea, Bengal, who will supply all details.
All garden refuse should be regarded as manure and buried between the plants. I allude to the prunings of the bushes and the weeds at all times from the land. To carry these off the ground, as I have sometimes seen done, is simply taking off so much strength from the soil. The greener, too, all this is buried the better.
When it is considered how much is taken from the Tea plant, it is evident the soil will be exhausted, sooner or later, if no means are adopted to repair the waste. Where manure cannot be got the waste must be made up, as far as possible, by returning all other growth to the soil. But manure should be got if possible, for it will double the yield of a garden; and highly concentrated chemical manures will, I am sure, be eventually much used on Tea gardens.
The best way to apply it, if enough manure is procurable, is round each plant; not close to the stem (the rootlets by which the plant feeds are not there) but about 1 foot from it. Dig a round trench with a kodalee, about 9 inches wide and 6 inches deep, at the above distance from the stem, lay in the manure, and replace the soil at top. If the plants are young the trench should be narrower, shallower, and 6 inches, instead of 1 foot, from the stems.
If enough manure is not procurable for this (the best) plan, the most must be done with what can be got, as follows:—If the plants are full grown, and there is say 4 feet between the lines, dig a trench down the centre and lay in the manure. The plants will then be manured on two sides. If the plants are young lay the manure near them on two sides, if possible, but failing that even on one side. The principle is to lay the manure at the distance the feeding rootlets are, and the older the plant the greater distance these are from its stem.
As to the quantity of cattle manure. Say for plants four years old and upwards (if younger, less will be an equivalent) one maund to 20 trees is a moderate dose, one maund to 15 trees a good dose, and one maund to 10 trees highly liberal manuring, and as much as the plants can take up.
Say in round numbers each acre contains 2,500 plants (4 by 4—a usual distance—gives 2,722 plants, as shown at page [72]), and say the manure is procurable at three annas a maund.[22]