37 



CHAPTER VII. 



LAY OF LAND. 



THE first idea prevailing about Tea was that it should be 

 planted on slopes. It was thought, and truly, that the 

 plant was impatient of stagnant water, and so it is, but it is 

 not necessary to plant it on slopes in consequence. Pictures 

 of Chinese, suspended by chains (inasmuch as the locality 

 could not be otherwise reached), picking Tea off bushes 

 growing in the crevices of rocks, somewhat helped this 

 notion ; and when stated, as it was, that the Tea produced 

 in such places was the finest, and commanded the highest 

 price which was not true intending planters in India 

 went crazy in their search for impracticable steeps ! Much 

 of the failure in Tea has arisen from this fact, for a great 

 part of many, the whole of some, gardens have been planted 

 on land so steep that the Tea can never last or thrive on it. 

 This is especially the case in parts of the Darjeeling district. 



Sloping land is objectionable in the following respects. 

 It cannot be highly cultivated in any way (I hold Tea will 

 only pay with high cultivation), for high cultivation consists 

 in frequent digging, to keep the soil open and get rid of 

 weeds, and liberal manuring. If such soil is dug in the 

 rainy season, it is washed down to the foot of the hill, and 

 if manure is applied at any time of the year, it experiences 

 the same fate when the rain comes. As it cannot be dug, 

 weeds necessarily thrive and diminish the yield by choking 

 the plants. 



The choice is therefore of two evils: "low cultivation 

 and weeds," or "high cultivation which bares the roots of 



