.\?nii 1, 1886.J THE tROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



67i 



TEA PLANTIKU AS A CARREl!. 

 (Fi-OM thr ■•Field.") 



No doubt casual visitors to Assam duriug the winter 

 months, seeiug pluutiiig life uutler the nlo^t f;ivourable 

 auspiees. are apt to take the optimist vie«' ot matters ; 

 heiiix'. uii their return home, in relating what they 

 have seen, they unwittingly uiisleaJ the younger 

 members of their aeiiuaiutance by glowing accounts 

 of the jovial life led by the planting commtmity. 

 Though I would not deter anyone from visiting 

 Assam v.ith the idea of engaijing in commercial 

 avocations therein, it is as well to place before those 

 whose thoughts turn in that direction the eviilence 

 g eaned by a twei.ty years' residence, and subsetpieiit 

 visits to the scenes of one's early labours in senreh 

 of a ruupetency; for I presume that, now tea has 

 found its level, none possessing the slightest ac- 

 quaintance with the industry wW] dream of realising 

 the large fortunes acquired by thitst^ early sp'-eul- 

 afors who were first in the field some five aud-lsveuty 

 years since. Hut I would t:aruestly counsel anyone 

 who thinks of plantuig, before deciding finally, to 

 spend one entire year among the plantations, to judge 

 for hiuiself as to his bushiess capacity and piiysical 

 capability. Planters are but only too glad of the 

 chance of entertaining strangers, and willingly afford 

 all information ; while knocking about in the rains 

 and hot weather will sulliciently test one's stamina, 

 although the climate — if ordinary prudence and care 

 in living be adhered to — is suitable to most Eu- 

 ropeans of average health and constitution. The cost 

 of a years nsit will be amply covered by £150, 

 plus the expense of the journey and outfit; the latter 

 had better be obtained in India, or from oni' of the 

 firms in London accustomed to provide purely Ind- 

 i.au requirements Flannel should form the wliol.' 

 ol the clothing both by d.iy and night; boots, shoes, 

 and saddlery being procured in t'alcutta The best 

 time to reachjthc gardens is the lieginnin^ of Nov- 

 ember, as the rains are then over, tli- country 

 easily traversable for ponies, ami. as a rule, manu- 

 facture has ceased, and the most enjoyable weather 

 for lully four months has set in. 



.Vn impres-ion prevails that all the land suitable 

 for tea in the southern province of Assam has been 

 taken up ; but nothing can be further from the truth. 

 True, the most eligible sites as to communication 

 with the main rivers have been secured, but there 

 a're still thousands of acres available, though such 

 arc situated veritably in the backwoods; but. from 

 the rapidity with which the establishment of a tea 

 plantation, even in the remotest corner of the district, 

 tends t.i open it up by attracting settlers to the low 

 lands suitable for rice in the vicinity, either on the 

 grant or waste lauds adjoining, Bengali or Munni- 

 poorie homcsteails quickly spring up, and, before the 

 plantation is in bearing, the approach to it lies 

 through civilised cultivation. 



The earliest tea pLintations in the Surma Valley 

 were formed on the amphitheatre of low hills that 

 lie north of the station of Sylhet ; and a visit to 

 them will at once show the uovice one of the greatest 

 mistakes of the early planters. These hills, steep, 

 and in places of conical formation, are mere heaps 

 ot soft sandstone, covered, very superficiallv, with a 

 deposit of vegetable mould formed from the droppings, 

 for ages, from the light for«st with which they 

 were orijinally covered. The pioneers looked more 

 to site than soil, and, as the gardens here were 

 opcnerl for speculation, the operators had no need 

 to trouble themselves as to the future. I suppose 

 at least two thousand acres upon this particular 

 range of hills, that for a couple of years ])resented 

 a handsome vista of thriving tea plants, have had 

 to be thrown up; the friable nature ot the soil ivhen 

 disturbeil by hociag causing wash to such an extent 

 that the plants, what was left of them, soon retiin- 

 e<l the hold of the ground merely by the long tap 

 roots, yielding less and li-ss as years went on, until 

 they caseii to give sufficient to pay for the up- 

 keep. The more recent plantings have been properly 

 tjrrace.l— the terrace shqiing imvard— and now the 

 remaining portiou of this laud, even in the most 



precipitous part of the range, can be brought under 

 cultivation and profitably worked; im reover. the l!at 

 space occupied by the plant admits of deep ••uitiv- 

 ation by pick. Hence these once ilespiscd .Sy:het 

 " teelahs" will yield a profitable return for many 

 yeais to come, and mayhap, when the iron hor^. runs 

 Lower through tlic Kurma ^'alley, and throws sutticient 

 more be labour into the cour.try from over-populated 

 Bengal, the abandoned baru slopes may uuce replanted. 

 A well-torraccd tea plantation, when the line has 

 been properly kept, presents an e.xceediugly pretty 

 sight, although just at this sea30n of the year, when 

 nearly every bush has been denuded of almost all 

 its leaves in the process of severe pruning, the few 

 that remain being scarcely visible from the dust 

 deposited upon them in the course of the deep hoeing. 

 the sight resembles long lines of well opened bifcli 

 brooms than aught else. Hut as the visilnr proce^-d.-i 

 eastward the <liversily of land brought under tea 

 is most remarkable. Here, in the nciglibourhuod >■! 

 the Lnbah river, we have a profitable gardeji plautc d 

 on hummocks of boulders, portions of which ground 

 are so strong ihat cultivation by pickaxe has to be 

 resorted to; and yet the yield of made tea averages 

 upon such apparently unpromising soil nearly tour 

 inaunds of 320 lb. per acre, that is l.L'HO lb. of green 

 leaf, of merely the first four to five leaves of the 

 new shoots; the secret of this outturn lying in the 

 fact that these hills are deeply impregnated with 

 fine particles of lime stone. The .l.aintia gardens, 

 again, lie so low on flat land that half a ilozen times 

 duriug the year the bushes are for hours eight and 

 ten feet under water, which, coming down from the 

 hills, flowing over miles of liui'stnne formation in 

 its progress, not only fertilises the soil, but eliminates 

 for the time being tho.se pests of the p'anter. blister 

 blight and red spider, the bushes taking no harm 

 from the prolonged submergence. The urea of low- 

 lying land brought under of late years has greatly 

 increased, and, though errors of judgment hav^: 

 oceasinoaily bi-eu made, and land planted that sub- 

 sequently proved t n low altogether, wh re suitable 

 ground b.".s been sjlected and cHiciently drained, 

 there is little doubt that low flats yieM inoie prolifically 

 than any other, and gardens h:ive been formed upon 

 ground that, previous to drainage, took one up to 

 the kuecs. even after the moderate amount of rain 

 that falls in a March slorm. I have seen l.nud .so 

 damp and spongy as to swaim with land crabs, and 

 a year after rendered so firm by drainage that it 

 was rideable throughout the raiuy season. To see 

 the remarkable fertilising effect of lime impregiintcd 

 water, it is merely necessary to visit the orange 

 groves of Sheila, near Chattue, in the Sylhet district. 

 The trees hero are twenty feet in height, and they 

 disappear pretty often under water, yet the average yield 

 is 200 fruit per tree per annum, and neither pruning 

 or cultivation of any description is resorted to. But 

 to resume. Some gardens are planted in soil that 

 is little better than clayey .slate (shale); others, 

 again, notably the C'oochela plantation, in the open 

 Hylakaudy A'alley, conists of a heap of lava which, 

 ancient though it be, still affords sufficient nourish- 

 ment to give a profitable return. Ag.tin, plantations 

 have been estabhshed upon reefs of gravel drifts, 

 and though the plants look, upon these latter sites, 

 very unpromising for the first two years, after that 

 period they develop in the most wonderful manner. 

 It will thus be seen that the ])lant thrives, and 

 profitrbly too, in all the diversified soil of the 

 southern district of Assam, but the nearer the intending 

 planter can get to the lime formation on the norihern 

 side of the ccmntry the better, as, even if his land 

 itself does not contain the miiural, he can obtni" 

 the fertiliser if need be. 



The duties of a planter in the cold weather are 

 both manifold and onerous, although, from being 

 carried 011 without the di.scomforts incideutd to the 

 rainy season, his troubles and ])erplexities are not 

 so much api>arent. I'resurning that his last baleli 

 of tea has been despatched, lus first and ino^t im- 

 portant consideration is th" retention of his labour 

 force for the ensuing season ; and when one has 

 to deal (as is the esse on » moderately largo factory) 



