The first to go ahead and cut out the thick wood (here judgment is necessary, so let them be the best men) to varying heights, from about 11 to 18 inches. The second gang to follow, each with a rod 20 inches long, to cut down all the light wood left to that level. All plants, how low or how young soever they may be, must be pruned somewhat.[27] The lower their stature and the less their age the less pruning they require. Of the two extremes, at least with the Tea plant, it is probably better to over than to under-prune. The treatment of the plants, with reference to the leaf to be taken in the spring, must be a good deal regulated by the way, or rather the extent, to which they have been pruned. On this point see page 103. The cost of pruning depends on whether it is high or low, and whether the plants are large, middling, or small. The greatest cost is about Rs. 6, the least about Rs. 3 per acre. Let all prunings be buried between the lines of plants, if possible, before the leaves have even withered. They make capital manure, but much of the virtue escapes if they are allowed to lie on the ground any time before they are buried. FOOTNOTES: [25] In a 500-acre garden the number is 1,250,000, which _ought_ all to be pruned in two months! [26] The best plan with the lowest branches is to _pull_ them off, with a sharp downward action, as then they will not grow again. [27] But not before the end of 18 months after transplanting, as the object at first is to get a long tap-root to draw moisture from low down, and this is best attained by allowing the plant to grow as it will. I look on this as all-important. I care not how high a plant may grow, for 18 months I would in no way interfere with its growth. CHAPTER XX. WHITE ANTS, CRICKETS, AND BLIGHT. These insects (for blight, too, is said to be an insect) are very destructive to the Tea plants. The cricket, however, only injures it when quite young, so we will consider that little pest first. When Tea seed germinates, and the young seedling is 2 or 3 inches high, the cricket delights to cut the stem and carry, or try to carry, the two or three green leaves attached to the upper part into its hole. Even after seedlings are planted out, if the stems are slender, it cuts them. To the young seedlings, in nurseries or planted “at stake,” they often do great harm, killing in some places one-third or so. It is much easier to prevent their ravages in nurseries than in this latter case, simply because the spot in which they must be sought and destroyed is circumscribed in the one, almost unlimited in the other.