and during
the rains, and until the end or middle of November, depending on the
season.

In transplanting, four parties ought to be employed; viz., one
person to dig holes, a second to remove plants, a third to carry
them to the ground where they are required, and a fourth to plant.
By this means, not only time is saved, but the plants have a much
better chance, when thus treated, of doing well. When the seedling
beds are extensive, so many of the plants ought not to be removed,
that is, a plant left every 41/2 feet, and these beds added to the
plantation.

_On pruning, best season and mode_.--The plants do not require to be
pruned until the fifth year, as the plucking of leaves generally
tends to make the plants assume the basket shape, the form most to
be desired to procure the greatest quantity of leaves; if, however,
the plants show a tendency to run into weed, from central branches
being thrown out, this ought to be checked by removing the central
stem. In the fourth year a quantity of the old and hard wood ought
to be removed, to induce the plants to throw out more branches. The
best season for pruning is from November to March.

_On irrigation_.--To keep the tea-plants healthy, irrigation for two
or three years is absolutely necessary, and no land ought to be
selected for a tea plantation which cannot be irrigated.

On the other hand, land liable to be flooded during the rains, and
upon which water lies for any length of time, is equally detrimental
to the growth of the plant. This applies to a small portion of the
Kooasur plantation, which receives the drainage of the adjoining
hills, and the soil being retentive, keeps the water. Deep trenches
have been dug in order to drain it off--these, however, owing to the
lowness of the surrounding country, act badly. Three successive
seasons plants have been put into the ground, and as often have been
destroyed on the setting in of the rains, showing the necessity of
avoiding such kind of land for tea plantation.

To facilitate irrigation, &c., as already stated, in the Deyrah
Dhoon, I have limited the tea beds to three feet in breadth. This is
particularly requisite in land so constituted as that of the Deyrah
Dhoon, it being so porous, as mentioned by Major Cautley in his
"Notes and Memoranda of Watercourses." This is