JuLr I, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



acquainted witli the virtues of tea, iutroduced the 

 plant to Cliiaa, his own ooimtrj'men should not 

 have adopted the use of tlie beverage. This is a 

 real ditRoultj' in the way of the theory, but it is nol 

 conclusive against it, for many nations have failed 

 to recognize the merits of indigenous products, wliich 

 when exported htive been prized and l.irgely used. 

 The probability seems to bo that tea existed in its 

 indigenous state along the range which connects 

 Assam with the north of I'hina. Found on the plain? 

 tho plant is always a cultivated one : never indiaenous. 

 We recollect seeing in Cooper's travels a notice of 

 arge tea ireen in the north of Cl)iua, which the 

 people stated were five hundred yi-ars old ! 



With reference to what is stated about a lessened 

 immigration to Assam, something must be laid to 

 the account of the rapid and large introduction of 

 roUinw, drying and other machinery calculated to 

 super.-ede manual labour. With one-tenth the number 

 of coolies, rolling and firing are now better and 

 more quickly performed ; and what is true of India 

 ou"ht to be and speedily will be true of Ceylon. 

 Jackson's Tea ivoUer and Davidson's Sirocco Drier 

 are to the tea planter what Walker's almost per- 

 fect pulping nuaohinery was to the coffee planter. 

 The dit'ti'rence is that coffee planfing was pretty old 

 before it was helped by the best machinery. Tea 

 planting has this aid at its very beginning. If only 

 consumption goes on as experience leads us to hope, 

 the success of the tea enterprize ought to be pro- 

 portionately great. 



TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA : 

 "GHEE" FROM AUSTRALIA TO INUIA. 



A writer in the Axian, in concluding some papers 

 on the operations of the Indian Revenue and Agri- 

 cultural 0'"parlment, remarks: — 



following up tlic knowledge which has befu derived 

 from tlie recent Melbourne Exhibition of tlie require- 

 ments iu, and present capabilities of, Australia, the U. 

 and A. Department has lately, among other measures, 

 been considering tlie feasibility of raising an import 

 trade in dairy produce from that colony. The fact 

 exists that wo send an appreciable quantity of various 

 kinds of produce to Australia ; and our exports thithir 

 have during the last three years largely increased, thus: — 



'V^aluc of exports. 



In iSTO-SO R45,7(j,210 



,, leSO 81 R52,98,699 



,, 11 months of 1S81-82 ... R75,29,32i; 

 But Australia sends us little or nothing, and the object 

 is to secure a return trade from thence. At present 

 that colony does not seem to be able to send us any 

 produce that reriuires manual labour. Fruit and a few 

 other articles have been tried, but without any vi ry 

 encouraging results. Dairy produce is the only article 

 which apparently has a chnnce of being successfully 

 placed in the Indian markets. In considering the pro- 

 ject I he now dep.artment has borne in mind the necessiiy 

 in any endfavdur 10 proniiitK such a trade, of suggest- 

 ing that the article be imported iu such a foi m aswill 

 imet the tastes of the natives. The only form in wliic'i 

 natives iu India u«e dairy produce is ghrr. Cnerefore 

 the new depariment has set on foot measures for the 

 promotion of a trade in g/iee. The necessary p.vrticulars 

 were placed before tomo farmers lu Ausirali.H, and, 

 having elicited a requeet for the services of ghee- 

 luakers, "two cxptricnceil men in the industry were 

 Bent from this couuti-y iu February last. InforrautiOn 



has now been received of their safe .arrival in Aii.itralia, 

 and experiments in the making of i/Jiee in that e 'lony 

 according to the Indian fashion have already coiu- 

 mcuced. It is much to be desired that this important 

 and interesting measure will prove successful. No de- 

 lails seem to have been forgotten which can eusuie 

 succfiss. Explanation has been sent of the pxact way 

 iu which the article is packed and presented in the 

 ludian markets, enquiries have been made of the rate 

 of freight and the margin of prolit that would ensue, and 

 reports havi^ been obtained from the difterent l^rnvincial 

 Governments as to the prices ruling in tho various 

 markets in Indin, and the probable quantity of .//we 

 conenmed iu the country. The result of the euquiries 

 under this last head shows that a quantity something 

 Idee 14 to 1.5 millions of maunds of glfe is annually 

 used ill India. Thi5 may be said to repr; sent a value 

 of .3.5 crores of rupees. No detailed analysis is re- 

 quired to establish the importance, in an economic 

 sense, of the measure which the R. and A. Dopartment 

 has taken. In a country like India wheie pasturage 

 and fodder reserves have so greatly diminished as we 

 have already mentioned, any action which will help 

 the population at large to feed their cattle properly 

 and to reduce the price of dairy produce so largely 

 consumed a* milk and ghee, and so necessary in a 

 hygienic point of view owing to their olcageuous pro- 

 perties, must incoutestably prove a real blessing con- 

 ferred on the people. — L. 



Ghee, as our readers are aware, is cow butter pre- 

 pared after a peculiar manner, clarified so as to be 

 readily available for curries, &c. 



ASSAM TEA CULTIVATION. 



The Assam administration report for the year 

 IS'O-Sl cannot be said to possess much general 

 interest : nevertheless there are points therein worthy 

 of notice. Assam may be a small province, but it 

 produces a very big report. It evidently must be 

 getting -on ; for, whereas in the days when a simple 

 commissione" was sufBcieut to govern it, its annual 

 history could be told in the few manuscript pages of 

 foolscap to which a revenue coiiiniissiuner's report 

 extends, that history now requires a volume of 270 

 pages large octavo, with 138 pages of appendices, 

 printed (and very well printed) mi, the Assam secret- 

 ariat press, with a French ^rey binding and the 

 royal arms stamped thereon all conip ete. The pro- 

 vince, however, only comprises nine districts with a 

 revenue of less than 82 lakhs of rupees, a cultivated 

 .area of 0,14.5 square miles, a^d a population of under 

 five millions. The Chief Commissi uier is also the proud 

 master of no less than twenty feudatory states. These, 

 however, are not of great importance; ftir iusiance 

 the state of Maodon has a population of 305 persons 

 and a revenue of R8-8. 



The great feature of the province, that upon which 

 it mainly dependsfor its coining greatnei". is its tea 

 industry. The area planted with tea ani'uinted in the 

 year under report to 1.53 057 acres, and, notwithstand- 

 ing a great depression in the industry during that 

 year, none of the gardens were closed, nor was the 

 outturn of tea diminished. The export of tea to 

 B'-ngal in ISSO-81 was no less thaa 37,71", liOO pounds, 

 the t tal number of gardens being l,0'i.'i. The de- 

 pression referred to, however, markedli checked the 

 appropriation of wa.ste land for tea cultivation ; for 

 whena-iiii 1878, 69.000 acres of new land were taken 

 up, and iu 1879, 43,000 acres, in 1380 the area of 

 new grants wis only 10,000 acres. The importation 

 of labourers for tea cultivation naturally fell in a 

 similar proportion. In 1879 it was 44 per c>nt h-ss th.an 

 187^^, and iu ISSO, 36 per cent less t!n,n in IJS79, 

 amounting in the latter year to only 16,000 sdnl.s. .Such 

 a depression of the tea industry, if penijanent, would 



