8 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



sive way it was done, was the seventh hindrance to successful 

 Tea cultivation. 



Often in those days was a small garden made of 30 or 40 

 acres, and sold to a Company as 1 50 or 200 acres ! I am not 

 joking. It was done over and over again. The price paid, 

 moreover, was quite out of proportion to even the supposed 

 area. Two or three lakhs of rupees (2O,ooo/. or 3o,ooo/.) 

 have been often paid for such gardens, when not more than 

 two years old, and 40 per cent, of the existing area, vacan- 

 cies. The original cultivators 4 retired ' and the Company 

 carried on. With such drags upon them (apart from all the 

 other drawbacks enumerated) could success be even hoped 

 for ? Certainly not. 



I could tell of more difficulties the cultivation had to 

 contend with at the outset, but I have said enough to show, 

 as I remarked, ' that it was not strange Tea enterprise failed, 

 inasmuch as it would have been much stranger if it had not.' 



Do any of the difficulties enumerated exist now ? And may 

 a person embarking in Tea to-day hope, with reasonable hope, 

 for success ? Yes, certainly, I think as regard the latter 

 the former let us look into. 1 



People who understand more or less of Tea are plentiful, 

 and a good manager, who knows Tea cultivation and Tea 

 manufacture well, may be found. It will scarcely pay to 

 buy land of the Government at the present high rates, but 

 many people hold large tracts in good Tea localities, and 

 would readily sell. 



There is plenty of flat land to be got, so no evil from slopes 

 need be incurred. 



Tea seed is plentiful and cheap. 



1 Note to third edition. Since the above was written, teas, both Indian and 

 Chinese, have had a heavy fall, due to the simple fact that the supplies have 

 exceeded the demands. But with increased knowledge and experience, producers 

 can afford to sell cheaper, and the present absurdly low prices ruling will, I think, 

 work their own cure. 



