346 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [November i, 1884. 



indigenous preferred. The consequence is that a number 

 of gardens are now being planted with a view to 

 produce seed. Very shortly the supply will he considerable , 

 and prices will fall. This will enable all gardens eventually 

 to procure the very best seed. At present the price is as 

 big has R200 per maund. Ceylon and .Java get nothing but 

 the best seed. During the year one maund of best indi- 

 genous tea-seed was sent from this district to New Cale- 

 donia, under the orders of the local Government. 

 Manipur or Munnipore is famous for its fine type of 

 indigenous plant. It was from a plant grown on 

 Somerset estate, Dolo9bage, from seed received from 

 this district that the famous leaf was plucked and 

 sent to us, measuring exactly 1 foot in length — the 

 largest we ever saw or heard of. The Deputy Com- 

 missioner of Cachar, after showing that, the average 

 yield of that district is a li'tle over 3 maunds, 258 lb. 

 writes : — 



This is very low, indeed, and unless the outturn can 

 be increased, many gardens will have to close before 

 long. Kamrup, as usual, shows the lower yield, with 

 1711 lb. only per acre of cultivated plants ; the reason 

 is that many of the gardens of this district are worked 

 by natives who prefer cheap management and an inferior 

 outturn. 



In regard to cost of cultivation and production, the 

 estimates vary exceedingly, as our readers will see 

 from the following extract : — 



Cost of adtivation and production. — The district reports 

 contain the following remarks on the subject :— 



The Deputy Commissioner of Oachar writes :— " The 

 cost per acre of a well-managed garden is estimated by 

 experienced planters at R80, and the cost of manufacture 

 at four annas per pound : of course, this cost of manu- 

 facture includes the cost of cultivation and all other 

 local expenditure ; the Calcutta and the London charges 

 are not included. Hitherto, the cost of cultivation and 

 manufacture had been estimated at a much higher figure. 

 Some reduction has undoubtedly been effected by the 

 Ftrict economy observed now-a-days in the management 

 of gardens. If every pound of tea produced in the 

 district cost four annas to manufacture, there was 

 an expenditure of R3,15",036 on the industry during 

 the year under report. This would give an average 

 yearly expenditure of R17,500 per garden, or Rl,460 per 

 mensem on each garden. The average expenditure is 

 undoubtedly higher than this. The treasury accounts 

 show that just over 24 lakbs of supply bills were cashed 

 for gardeus. It would be more correct, I consider, to take six 

 annas per lb. as the local cost of manufacture per pound 

 of tea. In a garden yielding 4 maunds per acre, the oost 

 would be R80 per acre of cultivation, and RIO per maund 

 for actual manufacture, making a total cost of R120 per 

 acre, i- <-., 6 annas per pound of tea." 



The Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet writes : — " The cost 

 of cultivation, as reported, may be anything up to a max- 

 imum of R190 per acre. The average cost of this and the 

 preceding years is compared below : — 



R. A. P. 



1880 ... ... 71 8 



1881 ... .. 49 



1882 ... ... 59 11 



1883 ... ... 53 14 2 



The cost of manufacture may be set down as about 5 



annas." 



The Deputy Commissioner of Goalpara says : — " I think 

 that in round numbers R50 per acre would cover the C06t 

 of cultivation and 2J to 3 annas per lb. the cost of manu- 

 facture." 



In Kamrup " the cost of cultivation during the year 

 ranged from R30 to R120 per acre. The cost of manufacture 

 varied from 5 to 9 annas per lb." 



The Deputy Commissioner of Darrang says : — " I should 

 estimate that the average cost per pound throughout the 

 district would be between 4 and 5 annas." 



In Nowgong " the cost of cultivation is said to be about 

 R70 per acre, and of manufacture about 7 annas per pound. 

 These figures were returned last year. The cost of cultiv- 

 ation is perhaps, correct, but I think the cost of manufact- 

 ure is put down at too high a figure ; I think 4 to 5 annas 

 would be a fair rate." 



The Deputy Commissioner of Lakhimpur writes as fol- 

 lows : — " The cost of cultivation and manufacture has been 

 variously returned by the planters from R40 to K66-5-8 an 

 acre, and from 4 annas to 8 annas a pound. 1 think 5 

 annas to 6 annas per pound would fairly represent the cost 

 of manufacture in the district." 



In summing up the character of the year, hail is re. 

 ferred to as having damaged the young Hushes in 

 March in Cachar, while the Hoods of May upset all 

 previous calculations. 



The "blight" spoken in the following extract was 

 undoubtedly Helopeltis Antunii ; — 



The rice market ruled high throughout the year, the cron 

 having been a partial failure especially lower down from 

 whence much of the district food-supplies are drawn All 

 this tended to interfere seriously with the tea industrv 

 The Assam bug blight, and other pests were lL nuS' 

 ous and destructive than in other years. Th e damage done 

 bv > e .ifr ? C -V >. sa8noth t m S compared to that wrought 

 by bhght, and it is a matter for great satisfaction that 

 the year under review was particularly f ree from £M« 

 calamity. The floods possibly destroyed the gerrns hTdrown" 

 ing he plants whereon they grow. Therage for Xr?t- 

 lug low swampy lauds which has prevailed for the past 

 two or three years was greatly checked by the unpreced- 

 ented floods of May, which overflooded all such lands 

 and did much damage to tea." 



Sylhet suffered much from heavy rins and floods 

 VVoat is said ot the capricious habits of "blight" 

 with reference to Darrang i a worth, of much atten- 

 tion: all pe,ts seem to be intermittent, except the 

 cottee leaf fungus : — * 



In Darrang " owing to the prolonged drought at the 

 beg.nmng o the year the season was a very" late one 

 Mosquitoe bhght, which was confined in the previous years 

 to the gardens east of the Boreli, made its appearance 

 on some of the gardens to the west of this river while 

 it was also bad on some to the east. It, however, proved 

 itself, as usual, very capricious in its course, visiting one 

 or two neighbouring gardens, and then appearing In 

 others some distance off, passing over those between. 

 Several gardens in North Lakhimpur tuff red from 

 mosquito blight. We now come to a very valuab'e 

 table of the rainfall of the principal tea-growing 

 districts of Assam. We give the figure- for 1883 

 and th averages for the previous five years : — 



A statement of rainfall at the head-quarters stations of 



the tea districts for the last six years is given below : 



Average for the 

 1883. previous 5 vears. 



• 160-44 ng-51 



• 14836 167-32 

 70 37 107-39 



. 59-21! 70-69 



- 72-24 8(i-08 



- 72-32 77- fi8 

 85-44 93-33 



.. 104-26 114-78 



seen that in the very home 

 the average ra ; nfall varies in 



Silchar 



Sylhet 



Dhubri 



Gauhati 



Tezpur 



Nowgong 



Sibsagar 



Dibrugarh 

 It will thus be 

 of the tea plant, . 

 an ascending scale, thus : 



70-69 inches. 



77-68 



86 08 „ 

 93-33 „ 

 107-39 „ 

 114-78 „ 

 118-51 „ 

 16732 „ 

 It will be observed that four of the districts 

 receive less than 100 inches per annum and that 

 four receive over that amount. The first four re. 

 present fairly various districts in Uva, while the 

 other four correspond closely with the rainfall of 

 the young districts, D mbula, Dikoya and Mas- 

 keliya ; but the case of Darjiling. with a rainfall 

 ranging up to 250 inches, shews that excellent tea 

 can be grown with a mueh higher rainfall pre- 



