April i, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



679 



paying state, thus securiog a steady iucoinc, could 

 profitabty turn their attention to ; but such will strike 

 the intelligent observer ere ht* has been many >veeks 

 in the distriet duriog Ijis year ot" probation. 



Hicherto I have dwelt npuii tea from an iuvestor's 

 point of new, and hare now to glauee at the in- 

 ducements it olfers to the yonng m:\n without cnpit-il, 

 but who goes out as a paid assistant, deptutUng en- 

 tirely upo;i Snlary for a livelihood. In this ease there 

 can i>fc no probation, but, uules>s one goes out e.ther 

 to a relation or friend who has estab ished himself 

 as ma.iagcr, he takrs, as it were, a leap in the dark. 

 Formerly anyone was eousiilereil iit for a tea planter. 

 and the country was floodeil wiih young men unsuit- 

 able in rauay ways, lacking the remotest knowledge of 

 agriculture, an-l from previous avocations totally un- 

 fitted for the business. A certain proportion certainly 

 succeeded, and iu time rose to the highest positions the 

 industry affords, but not until mistakes culminating 

 in the crash of ISOU brought nearly half the estates 

 then opened to the verge of bankruptcy. In nearly 

 all cases in the present day it is considered a .- /if 

 yua noil that some knowledge of practical gardening 

 should be possessed by the applicant, and a man who 

 has pa.«sed through Kew or other large garden is preferred 

 to any other. There are numbers of such now receiv- 

 ing pay upon our Assam te.i plantations ranging from 

 three thou-iand to seven thousand rupees per annum. 

 All cannot of course hope to attain the higher salary, 

 but a steaily man who moans business ought, in the 

 course of three years, to he able to command UoOO 

 per //I meiii ; for, though he goes out maybe a thorough 

 horticulturist, he must serve a least a couple of years 

 ere he becomes a", fait in tea manufacture, the 

 management of coolies, and acquires the necessary 

 knowledge of the language to fit him for the charge 

 of an out factory. Being engaged chiefly in pure plant- 

 ation work, his opportunities of learning the ins-and-outs 

 of mauufactnre are by no means trequent ; but 

 the bazsuir day, wlien tea-making must go on to 

 work up the leaf brought iu the previous evening, 

 wUl give him one day per week to devote to this 

 branch, and clo.se attention to all details will .-oon 

 fit him for the higher position. The commencing 

 salary is generally RlSn the first year, R200 the second, 

 and Kl'oO the third, after which remuneration depends 

 upon character and proficiency. To those who do not 

 mind expatriation for some five-aud-twenty years, the 

 life affords a tolerably promising career, and, as 

 furlough is usually granted, on half pay, every five 

 or seven years, one need not break into his savings. 



K1.50 a month should cover all expenses of living 

 in A-isam— I mean for a person of moderate aspir- 

 atious^and, as safe interests can be had in India at 

 5 per cent., a moderate competency may be secured 

 while one is yet in the prime of life. by the 

 exercise of very little self dc.iial. The paid assistant 

 or manager has the same opportunities of relaxation 

 as the working proprietor, and, moreover, can, if his 

 cold weather duties are got through in good time, 

 obtain some six weeks' leave of absence ere the 

 manufacturing season sets iu. If we come to com- 

 pare the lot of a young man who takes to tea-planting 

 as a career, with one of similar age ami social stand- 

 ing who remains in England, and follow the comparison 

 out for, say, tivc-and-twenty year>, I am inclined to 

 think the advantages preponderate in favour of the 

 •oraier. At the outset of his engagomeut he receives 

 a salary that enables him to live in comfort, his 

 arocatious, being carried on in the open air, are 

 healthy anil invigorating, and, though there may be 

 minor climatic discomforts m Assam to be encountered, 

 that such are not iuimici! to health the death or 

 invaliding ra.e proves; accidents have been few and 

 far between, while, were the deaths attributed to 

 climate even but very cursorily investigated, it would 

 be seen that the mnjority were really due to im- 

 prudence iu living, habits, or clothing The very nature 

 of the life tends to mi (gate as-niust anyhing like 

 dissipation, but there are temptations to imprudences, 

 such as p'unging into a mountain stream when heated, 

 turning out of bed on a hot night and ,"itting in the 

 open verandah to '• c.iol down "—a pleasant indidg- 

 ence at the time, tiut certaiu to be foUowcJ sooner 



or later by unpleasant consequences — playing pole in 

 racing caps, and many other apparently trifling in- 

 discretious. whieh, h'^wever, old residents never fail 

 to warn the new comer against, liut the climate of 

 Assam has one advantage over that of the T/nited 

 Kingdom ; in the former one knows what sort of 

 weather to expect fer weeks and months together, 

 and so can adapt himself to meet what ho knows is 

 coming, and take all necessary precautions, while at 

 home wo are iiever certain lor twelve hours together 

 of what is iu stori fi>r us. Servants, in remote corners 

 of the tea districts, arc difficult to procure, tha* is, 

 really good ones, and much the best plan for a settler 

 in the backwoods is to select one or two of his agree- 

 ment coolies — Dhangers if possible — and train them 

 for domestic duties ; there are of course inconveniences 

 attending this at first, hut once the men learn what 

 is required of them, they will be found far perfer- 

 ablo to the general run of professional district domes- 

 tics, veiy few of whom are to be relied on, either 

 for proficiency iu their duties, or honesty. The lower 

 one goes in the social scale, judged from the native 

 standpoint, in this matter, the better. With regard 

 to other surroundings, a young mau can make himself 

 very comfortable at trifling outlay iu the course of a 

 very few months. 



AH kind of European vegetables come to perfection 

 during the cold season, and from October to April 

 there need be no dearth of such, while for the re- 

 maining portion of the year an innumerable variety 

 of indigenous fruits and vegetables abound. Butchers' 

 meat, iu the warm months, is diiBcidt to procure, 

 unless one is in the immediate vicinity, either of the 

 civil station or a cluster of gardens that will admit 

 of the formation of a mutton club; but fish and 

 poultry are both cheap and plentiful throughout the 

 year, and the lighter food is certainly more conducive 

 to health in hot weather. It is perhaps hardly necessary 

 to mention fruit, aud though some people are in the 

 habit of considering aught but the most sparing use 

 of it hurtful, I do not believe one single case of ill- 

 ness in an adult has ever been fairly traceable to the 

 consumption of ripe fruit, either in Assam or any 

 other part of Insia. Milk, either from cows or goats, 

 is cheap and good, as also is that from the water 

 buffalo, to those who like it, and butter, it made at 

 the bungalow each morning, to ensure cleanliness, can 

 he had in any quantity. Wine, as a rule, is not much 

 used on the tea gardens, though good claret, at 

 moderate cost, can be had from any of the French 

 houses iu Calcutta or Madras. Spirits, though pro- 

 curable of decent (luality, are priced excessively high, 

 and as the consumption, to those who have any regard 

 for their health, .should be limited, it is far better to 

 get one's requirements iu this line direct from home, 

 say once or twice a year. Beer is cheap, good, and 

 wholesome, anil to many men, who have been some 

 years in the country, may be looked upon as a necessity, 

 though exercise, especially when beer is used in the 

 cold weather, is absolutely essential to health. It may 

 here be mentioned that east aud west of the plateau 

 on the Xorth Cachar Hills, that is to be traversed 

 by the Assam Chittagong Railway, special facilities 

 are afforded for tlie establishment of a brewery, the 

 slopes on the north, from their comparative freedom 

 from stone, being well adapted for the cultivation of 

 barley; while on the higher ranges, the forests coutaiu 

 a vine that is nothing more or less than an indi- 

 genous liop. the special qualities of which for inducing 

 sleep are well known to both Nagas and Meekies. Both 

 private proprietors and eii)pJoycs — the latter when in 

 the service of a substantial firm, and reasonably sure 

 of being located upon the same planiatiou for a term 

 of years— should lose no time in making themselves, 

 as fat as possible, independent of local bazaars (markets) 

 in the food line, by ■ erecting poultry imd sheep houses 

 — which building must, however, be pretty substantially 

 bnilt, to resist depredations from such midnight mar- 

 auders as leopards, wild cats, suakes. kites, and, in the 

 north, that bold plunderer, in the cold weather, the 

 golden eagle — as it not uufrcqueutly happens during 

 the tloo.'s that he may be cut off, for days together 

 from the source of supply. This precaution is abso- 

 lutbly ut'ceesary iu remote dietriots. 



