_ 1901-1902. ] Tea: Its Cultivation, &c. 269 
posed in June 1898); Australasia, 7°70 lb. (partly estimated) ; 
Dominion of Canada, 4°72 lb. The latest figure for Russia 
is 0°82 lb. in 1898. Of the per capita consumption in this 
- country, approximately 3 lb. are Indian tea, 2 lb. Ceylon tea, 
_ and the remainder is foreign—principally Chinese. 
The United Kingdom is the centre of the tea industry, in 
the year 1899 no less an amount than 289 million pounds 
being imported, the declared value being over 104 millions 
sterling. Of that large amount 86 per cent came from British 
_ possessions, the small balance from foreign countries. This is 
somewhat remarkable when one considers that 65 per cent of 
the tea imported in 1884 was of foreign origin, and only 35 
per cent the produce of British possessions. 
The official report on tea-growing in Assam for 1900 
showed that there were 804 tea gardens, embracing an area 
of 1,059,624 acres. Of that large tract 337,327 acres were 
under tea cultivation. Over 97 per cent of the area under tea 
is in the hands of Europeans, while less than 3 per cent is 
owned by the natives of India. More than half a million 
of people find employment in cultivating tea in Assam— 
nearly 470,000 of that number being permanently and 35,000 
temporarily employed. 500 million lb. of uncured leaf were 
plucked, yielding 141,118,644 Ib. of the manufactured article. 
The amount exported was 107,241,760 lb., and the yield per 
acre averaged 468 lb. 
_ I have referred to a moist atmosphere being necessary to 
the tea plant. The following figures, taken from the Report 
on Tea Culture in Assam for the year 1900, will convey some 
idea of the rainfall :— 
i Average for 
Station. the previous 1899, 1900. 
five years. 
Silchar : 5 5 110°85 138°17 108-06 
Sylhet ‘ a : 140°73 179°78 125:87 
Dhubri e : ‘ 97°77 99:03 83°44 
Gauhati : ; ‘ 68°96 78°12 52°61 
Tezpur 2 3 ‘ 68°74 84°61 67°18 
Nowgong . 3 = 66°19 101°83 59°03 
Sibsagar . : i 100°81 94°58 89°45 
Dibrugarh . ‘ ; 118°12 124-35 86:01 
- 
To show what such a heavy rainfall really means, our City 
Astronomer has kindly allowed me the use of the figures 
