CHAPTER XXII.

FLUSHING AND NUMBER OF FLUSHES.

The Tea plant is said to flush when it throws out new shoots and leaves. The young leaves thus produced are the only ones fit to make Tea, and the yield of a plantation depends therefore entirely on the frequency and abundance of the flushes.

The way a flush is formed is fully explained under the head of “leaf picking” (pages 103, 104, and 107).

The number of flushes in different plantations varies enormously, owing, _first_, to climate; _secondly_, to soil; _thirdly_, to the pruning adopted; _fourthly_, to the degree of cultivation given; and _fifthly_, though not least, to the presence or absence of manure.

How to secure all these advantages to their fullest extent is shown under those heads, and we have here only to consider what is a low, a medium, and a high rate of flushing per season.

In doing this we must speak of elevated (as Himalayan) gardens separately. The cool climate of heights makes it impossible for Tea to flush there as on the plains.

Speaking generally of elevated gardens (the higher they are the shorter the period, and _vice versâ_), seven months may be considered as the average producing period, viz., from beginning of April to end of October, and during that time twelve to fifteen flushes may be obtained, which, I believe, with high cultivation and liberal manuring, can be increased to eighteen.

In all localities, with favourable Tea climates, the plants flush both for a longer period and oftener. Speaking generally also, in this case, of the five best localities, viz., Assam, Cachar, Chittagong, the Terai below Darjeeling, and the Western Dooars (for even in these districts many advantages exist in one garden which do not in another), the following is an approximation to the flushing periods:--

_Upper Assam._--February 25th to November 15th.

_Lower Assam._--February 20th to November 20th.

_Cachar._--February 20th to November 20th.

_Chittagong._--March 10th to December 20th.

_Terai below Darjeeling and Western Dooars._--March 1st to November 20th.

The opening period is a little late in Upper Assam on account of the cold, and closes a little earlier for the same reason.

Lower Assam and Cachar are much alike.

The opening in Chittagong is later than in the two just mentioned from want of early rains, but the season continues longer on account of the low latitude and consequent deferred cold weather.

Roughly, then, rather more than nine months may be assumed as the flushing period for these districts. The next point is how _often_ do gardens in these localities flush in that time.

Not very many planters can say, certainly, how often their gardens have flushed in a season, because they are picked so irregularly, and no account of the different flushes kept. Enquiring on this point, when I was in Cachar some thirteen years ago, 9 to 24 were the minimum and maximum numbers given me at different gardens, showing how little was really known about it.

Such knowledge as I have on the subject is mostly derived from carefully kept records of my own garden in the Chittagong district. The plantation is all worked in sections, in the way described previously, and the dates given in the table below are the days each flush was finished (that is, the picking was finished) during the seasons 1869 and 1870; 1869 being carried up to the end of the season, 1870 up to the date I wrote the first edition of this Essay.

In the table it will be observed there is a great difference between the two years. The section for which the dates are given was planted from seed beds in the month of June, 1866. In 1869 it was therefore only three years old. This will partly account for the first flush occurring a month earlier in 1870, as it was then a year older; but fortunate early rains in 1870 had also much to do with it.

--------+-------------+----------+-------------+------------- | 1869 | Interval | 1870 | Interval Flushes +-------------+ in days +-------------+ in days | Dates | | Dates | --------+-------------+----------+-------------+------------- 1 | March 22 | .. | February 22 | .. 2 | May 6 | 44 | March 30 | 35 3 | „ 29 | 23 | April 13 | 10 4 | June 11 | 12 | „ 25 | 12 5 | „ 23 | 12 | May 5 | 9 6 | July 5 | 11 | „ 14 | 9 7 | „ 17 | 12 | „ 25 | 11 8 | „ 31 | 14 | June 4 | 9 9 | August 10 | 9 | „ 12 | 8 10 | „ 21 | 11 | „ 22 | 10 11 | Sept. 2 | 11 | July 1 | 8 12 | „ 12 | 10 | „ 8 | 7 13 | „ 25 | 13 | „ 16 | 8 14 | October 9 | 13 | „ 25 | 9 15 | „ 22 | 13 | August 2 | 7 16 | Nov. 2 | 10 | „ 11 | 9 17 | „ 11 | 9 | „ 21 | 10 18 | „ 19 | 8 | „ 29 | 8 19 | Dec. 4 | 14 | Sept 7 | 8 20 | .. | .. | „ 18 | 11 21 | .. | .. | „ 27 | 9 22 | .. | .. | October 5 | 7 --------+-------------+----------+-------------+------------- Average intervals | Nearly 14| |Very little between Flushes. | days. | .. |over 10 days. ----------------------+----------+-------------+-------------

In 1869 there was no flush between March 22nd and May 6th, a period of 44 days; and in 1870, none between February 22nd and March 30th, a period of 35 days, a very long time in both cases, which is entirely accounted for by the dry weather prevailing at Chittagong in the spring (see under head of Climate), for in Cachar, Assam, and the Western Dooars two or three flushes would have occurred in that time.

There were 19 flushes in all in 1869, and 22 in 1870, up to the time I wrote, so there were probably in all 27 in the latter year.

In the table I give the intervals between each flush. It shows an average of 14 days in 1869 to 10 days in 1870; the difference is due to the increased age of the plants, and the liberal manuring given in the cold weather 1869-70.

Such a result as is shown for 1870, and the probable result of 27 flushes to the end of that season, could not be obtained without high cultivation and liberal manuring. The land in question had been manured every year since it was planted, but an extra dose was given in the cold weather of 1869-70. The ground was therefore very rich.

I think, therefore, 25 flushes in the season may be looked for on gardens in good Tea climates, when high cultivation and liberal manuring are resorted to. Where manure cannot be obtained, I think, even if in other respects the land is highly cultivated, more than 22 flushes will not be obtained. Where neither manure nor high cultivation is given, above 18 flushes will not be got.

It seems to be a general idea with planters (see diagram, page 104) that when a flush is picked the succeeding flush, at an interval of say seven to ten days, consists of shoots from the axis of the leaf down to which the previous flush was picked. Thus in the diagram, supposing the shoot to be picked down to the black line above 2, the idea is the next flush will be a shoot springing from the same place, viz., the axis of leaf _d_. But it is _not_ so. In the above case it will take a whole month, after the said shoot has been picked, before the new shoot from the base of the leaf _d_ is ready to take, probably six weeks in Himalayan gardens.

’Tis true the flushes in favourable Tea climates follow at about seven to ten days from each other, but these are _other_ shoots. The replacement of the actual shoot taken is a whole month in developing. I have carefully watched this, and am sure I am right.

With similar treatment, gardens in Cachar, Assam, and the Western Dooars would probably give two or three more flushes in the season than Chittagong, because there the spring rains are much more abundant; and I am very certain that, if the day ever comes that manure in large quantities is procurable in those districts and is applied, the yield on those gardens will be very large.[33]

The difference between very small and very large profits is represented by 18 and 25 flushes, so I strongly advise all planters to cultivate highly, and to get all the manure they possibly can. If even procured at a high figure, it (the manure) will pay hand over hand.

FOOTNOTE:

[33] Where new gardens are made on rich virgin soil, to manure them at all for the first few years is, I think, unnecessary. But the richest soils on Tea gardens get exhausted in time, and manure should be applied _before_ this point is arrived at.