October j, iSSj,] THE TROPICAL AQtttCVttVJiaS't, 



267 



Thi3 great superiority of the one valley over the 

 other in the number of gardens is not maintained 

 when the acreage under tea and ttie outiuru of 

 tea is compared. Whereas the gardens ot the 

 Surma Valley number less than one-third of the 

 total number of gardens in the province, the 

 acreage under tea in the Surma Valley— which, 

 incUidiug hoth mature and immature plants, 

 amounts to 83,195 acres — is not less than two- 

 fifths of the acreage under tea in the whole 

 province (189,852 acres). Moreover, the ana under 

 mature plants in the Surma Vallvy shows an 

 iucrease over that returned last yciir, whereas 

 ihe same are;i in the Bruhmaputra Valley is 

 decreasing ; besides which the area under immature 

 tea in the Sunua Valley greatly exceeds that in 

 the Brahmaputra Valley, chowiug thereby that 

 more capital aud energy is being expended on 

 the new bidi lauds in Silhet than on the older 

 gardens of Assam proper. Similarly the outturn 

 of the Surma Valley is more than one-third of 

 that of the whole province, t':e figures given by 

 the Tea Association, and contirmed by the Tea 

 Report, showing an outturn of slightly over 17 

 million lb. in the Surma Valley, as against a 

 total of 31i millions lb. in the Brahmaputra 

 Valley. The moral to be drawn from these hgures 

 is that the tea trade of the Surma Valley is 

 rapidly increasing in importance, aud that before 

 long the bhils of SUhet will be formidable rivals 

 to the slopes of the northern hills. After an 

 elaborate explanation of how the apparently large 

 diminution in the area of land held by tea- 

 plauters in the province is raoscly due to a careful 

 overhauling of registers and correction of statistics, 

 the compiler of tne report comes to the conclusion 

 that there has been a merely nominal diminution 

 in the number of gardens, and that, although 

 land has been relinquished, it has been relinquished 

 only in small and really uuimportaut quantities. 

 In this the author of the report is almost 

 certainly right, as, while many a ;;ardeu has 

 struggled against much adverse fortune of late, 

 the maaagers are stiii hoping againtt hope that 

 there is a good time coining, and have uoc got 

 to that stage in which large retreuchmtnt is 

 absolutely necessary in order to carry on business 

 at all. This question of area ,s treated ut very 

 fully in the report, aud as the Tea Association 

 contiues itself mainly to statistics of outturn 

 and sliipment, and the endless reports of brokers 

 are wholly concerned with these matters, it may 

 be Worth while to look into thim somewhat more 

 closely. A. comparative statement of the laud 

 under mature and immature plants for the last 

 six years shows that there has been more planting 

 out done in the past ytar than in any year since 

 1880, the total acreage undo;- immature plants 

 amounting to no less than 31,694 acres. At the 

 ■•me time the acreage uuder mature plants has 

 really inorea«ed (ihe figures fi r the Lakhinipur 

 district being set aside by the author of the report 

 as untrustworthy) which thows, as is remarked 

 in the report, that the relinquishments of tho year 

 have not been sufficient to counterbalance the 

 extensions. Taking the figincs of the various 

 districts separately we see that K.-ichar stands 

 above any other district so far as the area under 

 oultivat on is concerned, having 52,3:;3 acr^auader 

 both kiudj of plaut, and is followed in the list 1 

 by Sibsagar, which has 43,882 acres under culti- | 

 vatioQ, Silhet come third on the list, aud Lakhinipur ; 

 lOJrtb, tiie otner districts following at a very 

 reapecfai distance behind the lait-named. On the 

 vexed question of outturn we have s^eval sets ' 

 of figures given in the report, from various j 



sources, for purposes of comparison, and ,by 

 combining figures given by district officers with 

 those shown iu the trade returns and with those 

 given by the Indian Tea Association, we should 

 be able to attain to sume cousiderablo degree 

 of correctness. The estimate made by thu Tea 

 Association, on May Srd, 1SS4, of the crop of 

 the year, gave 33i million lb. as tha probable 

 outturn in the Biahmaputra Valley, and 18.+ 

 million lb. as that of the Surma Valley, This 

 estimate was reduced on various subsequent dates, 

 and on May 4th, 18S5, tlie actual outturn was 

 announced to have been 31J million lb. in the 

 Bialimaputra Valley, and rather over 17 million 

 lb. iu tho Surma Valley. The figures given by 

 the Assam Government Trade Rsturus show 

 smaller totals than the^e, but on the whole 

 attest their cmrectness. The returns furnished 

 by district oflicera give a higher total, fouuded 

 in many cases on somewhat optimistic estimates 

 by sanguine managers. On the whulo the figures 

 given by the Tea Association are probably the 

 nearest to the truth, erriug, if at all; on tlie tide 

 of caution. The crup of 1883 was returned by 

 the Tea Association as something over 29 udlliou 

 lb. in the Brahmaputra Valley, aud feomethiug 

 over 17 millions lb. iu the Surnia Valley. Thu.--, 

 while the outturn in tha Brahmaputra Valley has 

 increased, the other valley's production is stationary 

 for the present, although the rap.d maturing of 

 many acres of immature plants will probably soon 

 produce a chauije in this respect. The total out- 

 turn shows an increase of two million lb. ever 

 that of ISS3, an increase less thau that of former 

 years, but one that shows that the demand lor 

 Assam teas has not yet been substantially checked. 

 The wonderful development of the Assam trade 

 in the past few years is demonstrated by the 

 fact that an outturn of about 33 million lb. in 

 IS80 has increased to one of over 43 mllliou lb. 

 iu 1884. 



Taking the outturn of tho various districts 

 separately, we hud Sibsagar heading the list in 

 the position held in 1883 by Kdchar, with an 

 outturn of over 13 million lb., Kdchar comes 

 next with 12J iiuUious lb., and Lakhinipur next 

 with II J. After them loivjo interoullo, come 

 Silhet snd Darrang. The outturn in K.lcliar 

 has fallen from 284 lb. pir acre to 272, and the 

 total is diminished by 261 per cent. Sibsagar 

 has increased its outturn by 4'96 per cent., and 

 Silhet by no less than 8'08, another proof that 

 the last-named district will become before long 

 one of the most important in the manufacture of 

 tea. The figures for Lakhinipur are uns^itisfactory, 

 giving as they do au outturn of 4371b. jier acre, 

 any may be rejected as fabulous. Of the other 

 districts, those in the Brahmaputia Valley show 

 an average outturn of about 324 lb. per acre, 

 and in the Surma Valley Kdchar produces at the 

 rate of 272 lb. per acre, and Silhet at 298. 

 These rates are all higher than that taken by 

 the Chairman of the Indian Tea Aesooiation iu 

 his statement at the meeting of the 26th February 

 1SS5. In that statement he gave his reasons for 

 putting the average outturn at 257 lb. per acre, 

 but the present report would seem to show that 

 by an overestimate of the land actually under 

 tea he was led to reduce his estimate per acre 

 uuduly. In calculating such an estimate the area 

 under immature plaut should not be included, 

 as it produces no tea at all, and consequently if 

 that be excluded the figures of actual outturn 

 given by the Tea Association will show an out. 

 turn per acre of 305 lb. This is probably a more 

 oorreot figure than tlie one of 'iid lb., given in 



