Studies in the Yield of Tea. II. The Seasonal and Sampling Variation in Yield and Mineral Composition of the Tea Leaf. (With One Text-figure.)

Extract

1. Samples of tea leaf from different portions of the same field were analysed for ash, nitrogen, potash and phosphate on thirty-five consecutive plucking rounds extending over a period of seventeen months for which yields were also recorded.

2. The significant variations obtained are shown to be partly due to seasonal differences which affect all the constituents and to persistent differences between portions of the field in the case of yield, ash and potash. No significant differences were detected between the nitrogen and phosphate status of different portions of the field, although the sampling errors were not larger than those of the former category.

3. These results indicate that the sampling technique is satisfactory, a point of some importance in view of laboratory investigations on tea manufacture, and confirm the finding from other considerations that the standard of plucking can be maintained at a reasonably high level.