LAY OF LAND. 39 



Where only the lower parts of slopes are planted, the 

 plants do very well. The upper part being jungle the wash 

 is not great, and the plants benefit much by the rich 

 vegetable matter the rain brings down from above. I have 

 often seen very fine plants on the lower part of slopes, 

 where the upper has been left in jungle, and I should not 

 hesitate to plant such portions if the slope was moderate. 



Where teelah land, in Eastern Bengal, or sloping land 

 in the Himalayas, Chittagong, or elsewhere, has to be 

 adopted, aspect is all-important. A good aspect in one 

 climate is bad in another. In Assam, Cachar, Chittagong, 

 and all warm places, choose the coolest ; at high elevations 

 (temperate climes), the warmest. 



In the Himalayas, moreover, the warmer aspects are, as 

 a rule, the most fertile ; vice versa in warm localities. Many 

 a garden, which would have done very well on the moderate 

 slopes chosen had only the proper aspects been planted, 

 has been ruined by planting all sides of teelahs or hills 

 indiscriminately. The southern and western slopes of 

 plantations in warm sites are generally very bare of plants. 

 Not strange they should be so, when the power of the 

 reflected rays of the afternoon sun is considered. Again, 

 in cold climates plants cannot thrive on northern aspects, 

 for their great want in such climes is heat and sunshine. 

 Let the above fault, then, be avoided in both cases, for 

 though doubtless a garden is more handy, and looks better 

 in one piece planted all over without any intervening jungle, 

 even patches of jungle look better, and are decidedly 

 cheaper, than bare cultivated hills. 



Of flat land, after what I have written, I need not add 

 much. It is of two kinds, table and valley land ; the former 

 is very rare in Tea districts, at least of any extent, which 

 makes it worth while to plant it. There are two gardens 

 in Chittagong on such flat table land, and they are both 



