old bushes
p. 148 · Read in the full issue
More tea from old bushes
“Ceylon in 1965 achieved a record tea production and number one position among the world's tea exporters. Most of its tea is grown on bushes planted before 1900, and now giving at least 50 per cent, more tea than they did in their youth. Average return over the whole of Ceylon today is about 900 lb per acre, but any well-found Ceylon estate will give well over 1,000 lb.
Current theory is that by using the right fertilisers, by careful cultivation and perhaps removal of shade, yields can be made to rise to as much as 2,000 lb per acre, even from old seedling tea”.
From “A Hundred Years of Ceylon Tea, 1867-1967.”