274 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October r, 1883. 



In all the Indian tea districts there are great changes of 

 climate (luring the year, to which we have no parallel down 

 south. In Octoljer tlie approach of the cold weather begins 

 to be felt, and in November and December there is a verit- 

 able winter characterized by snow on the upper Darjiling 

 gardens, which causes a universal stoppage of all growth. 

 In March and April there is a commencement of growth 

 again, but this is not fully started till May. The con- 

 sequence of this is that whereas in Ceylon we have growing 

 and consequently pluckiug weather all the year round, in 

 India they have only five really good crop-mouths. During 

 these months their growth of leaf, and of weeds too, is of 

 coiu-se far more luxuriant than ours. The unhealthiness of 

 the Terai and Assam climate in the rains is proverbial, and 

 1 will not enlarge on it but merely point out that with expens- 

 ive imported labour an epidemic means ruinous loss in every 

 way, feat with local labour it means wholesale desertion, and 

 that it also meaus high and costly remuneration to Europeans 

 and other employes. 



In the matter of Jat we are behind India. The fatal error 

 of planting China and low-class hybrid was originally made 

 in all the Indian districts ; hul now public opinion has run 

 to the other extreme, and in tlic plains none but indigenous 

 seed,at R1.50per maund,is bought, and on the hills a good 

 high-class hardy hybrid is gone in for. And here I would 

 warn everyone agamst being induced toplaut China or low- 

 class tea at any elevation in Ceylon. Hybrid of the right 

 kind will grow well, and inferior j4t means a decreased 

 yield and a comparatively weak tea. On Oononagalla this 

 year I manufactured the two separately, and sentthem to the 

 London market; at a recent sale the hybrid tea was well re- 

 ported on and averaged Is 4id all round, whilst the China 

 averaged ls2h(\ and was spoken of as a poor tea. Very fine 

 tea is°made from China plant in Darjiling no doubt, but that 

 from hybrid bushes is in every case finer when the two are 

 grown together . 



And not (miy this, amongst hybrid i)Iants, the nearer the 

 i;\t apiiroachos tlie indigenous type, the stronger and more 

 teUing is the liquor and the better the tea. 1 have proved 

 bv exp'^rience that this rule holds good for both Ceylon 

 and India. Plant, therefore, the best tlass of hybrul you 

 can get hold ol in these districts, even though it entails 

 an extra cost, which after all, spread over your acreage, 

 amounts to a very trifling additioual expense in opening, 

 and you will never regret it. Coming fresh .as I do from 

 ■I country where I have seen old low-class tea being rooted 

 out to give place to a better kind, I emphasize this 

 statement. i • , j j 



As regards L.\BOtJR facilities, Ceylon has a decided ad- 

 vantace" The rate of pay in India is coiKiderabiy less,R3 

 to R6 a month for wom.n and men; but then in Assam every 

 imported labourer costs upwards of lilOO for a tln-ee years' 

 ■iTeement, at the end of which a bonus has to be given 

 for its renewal, whilst there are numerous costly and vex- 

 atious Government restrictions. (Refer to copy of forms) In 

 DarUlin.' and theTevai, all the work is done by local laboui- 

 which h verv cheap, but here it is necessary m many cases 

 to ff ve over" large areas of valuable laud to the coohes 

 for Indian corn cultivation (in one place I .saw as much 

 as 100 acres or more .so treated); and this item one 

 which does not appear in any accounts, is a matter of some 

 moment. , _ , , 



In Th-vnsport, the many advantage^ posssessed by 

 Cev on over Asskm are evident, but Darjiling in this 

 respect as in .he matter of labour, is more on terms of 

 cauilitv with us. At present, the ouly means ofcommumc- 

 Xu with Assam is by a steamer-service on the Brahma- 

 ^!^h., which charges the most exorbitant rates for 

 &i up and whiSh is scarcely moi.> equitable in ts 

 cha?e"s for tea down, to Calcutta. About three cents per lb., 

 <=""S-:/r,',,ic lowest aver.-ige co.st for tea down fromUpper 

 seems t»J"l,'; ^. '^.^^"J^a this would be higher when much 

 Assam *» ^a k itta, an« {,,.iyht upon tea lead, 



'^"^i'^raU facto y'^quirements is'lioweier the most 

 nails and aU iactory ^^^^^.^^^ _^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ 



''JTso expensive when lauded on the gardens Dai- 

 -r wifh its railway up into the district, is much better 

 'Tt ; s^"t. -i 'were i. not for its small yield 

 would be a dangerous rival to Ceylon 

 di 



The Dooars, a 

 similar to the 

 same 



woum ue a, -■"■>' , f ^ f the hills, simdar to ■ 

 distnc situated at^he toot ^^^^^^^_^ ^^_^^^^^ ^^^^ 



antages of transport a.ul labour as Darjiling, and 



Id 



better circumstanced in the matter of soil than the Terai. 

 This is undoubtedly the rising district of India, ami the 

 one which will run us the closest in the future. 



The Indian methods of Planting and CnLTiv.\TiON are 

 very different from ours. Nurseries cover a mucli larger ex- 

 tent of ground, the seed being generally put in five inches 

 apart to allow of ball planting which is universally practised. 

 It was the general opinion that plants put out in the 

 Ceylon way, without any earth about the roots which 

 are sometimes lightly pruned, would not stand a chance 

 owing to the excessive power of the sun when it does 

 show duriug the rains. The general planting distance for 

 hybrid bushes is 4 x 4, indigenous plants in the best 

 laud in Assam being put 5x5 and some times even 

 6x6. The first distance mentioned is by far the most 

 general, and the one suitable for adoption in Ceylon, 

 though very poor land of course might be planted closer. 



As regards Planting, Mr. Armstrong has anticipated all 

 that I had purposed saying on the subject. I have found 

 by experience that attempts to suit lining-distances to 

 that of the coffee is a great mistake. It is far better to 

 line the field de novo, without any regard to the coffee 

 trees, the lining rope being stretched along the ground. 

 As to holing, I would always make the holes 15 in. deep, 

 and have found that a deep hole does best, breadth is 

 of little consequence ; nine inches, about sulHcient for the 

 cooly to work in, is enough. A good lining-distance 

 through coffee is 3h ft. up the lines and 4 ft. between them, 

 and this latter dis~tanee should not be decreased except in 

 very poor land. 



Various schemes have been suggested as to the best 

 way of combiniug Coffee and Tea Cultivation until tlie latter 

 begins to yield. Now I would strongly dissuade anyone 

 from attempting to raise certain lines of tea before others 

 as sure to lead to trouble. For instance, some people 

 plant lines of tea up between the rows, with a plant 

 between each pair of coffee trees up them, intending in 

 two years' time to uproot the coffee and put a tea plant 

 in instead. This or any eimil.ar method will infaUibly 

 give great trouble, and prob.ably result in a patchy garden. 

 AVhen supplies abound, the difficulty and trouble of keeping 

 pruners and pluckers from touching theiu is inconceivable 

 to those who have not experienced it. 



Steep land in India is very commonly terraced. The lines of 

 plants are made across the face of the hill and not up and 

 down it, and the terraces are formed by a. succession of hoe- 

 ings along the lines. On stiff land terracing is dispensed with, 

 and though no drains are cut there is remarkably little wash. 

 The ground is always kept covered with a thick growth 

 of weeds, which in the fiats are kept down by constant 

 hoeings, on the hills by sickleing. The land is so thoroughly 

 impregnated with weed seed and the growth of all veget- 

 ation is so rapid during the rains that cle^n weeding is 

 an impossibility, and these methods of cultivation are the 

 (uily ones possible. Draining, too, is impracticable in many 

 places when there is not a stiff sub-soil to cut into. The 

 result of observation is to convince me that, whilst our 

 present system of cultivation is the right and proper one 

 and incapable of improvement as far as India is concerned, 

 that adopted there is the only practicable one under their 

 circumstances. Their system is of course a much more 

 expensive one than ours, and, in spite of the fact that no 

 cultivatiou whatever is reqiured during the cold weather, 

 the rains being the only time when hoeing is necessary, 

 its cost is upwards of three times as much as that of 

 clean weeding from the first. The growth of plants under 

 the most fav lurable civcumstanees in Assam is about on 

 a par with that in the Ceylon low-country, but under 

 ordin.ary conditions I think it is hardly as satisfactory. 

 This method of comparison is, however, a very uns.atisfactory 

 one and in view of the facts and figures now at our command, 

 it is uuuecessarv. Suffice it that, broadly speaking, a 

 two rear ohl plant will he much the same size on a good 

 Assam garden as on a Ceylon low-country plantation, 

 whilst on the hills it is impossible to make any compari- 

 son between India and Cej^lon, the advantage in favour of 

 the latter being so astonishingly great. 



The great point is, of course, Yield. How does the 

 Indian yield compare with that of Ceylon gardens? 

 Amongst the numerous Assam gardens I visited, the 

 best in every way, cultivation, jat and soil, was the Borelli 

 Compa.ny's, and it is known as one of the best in Assam. 



