5O CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



Cachar, and Chittagong the plantations vary much, but all 

 have some indigenous and high class hybrids, while many 

 gardens are composed of nothing else. 



It is evident, then, that the value of a garden depends 

 much on the class of its plants, and that a wise man will only 

 propagate the best. Only the seed from good varieties should 

 be selected, and gradually all inferior bushes should be rooted 

 out and a good kind substituted. When this shall have been 

 systematically done for a few years on a good garden, which 

 has other advantages, the yield per acre will far exceed any- 

 thing yet realised or even thought of. 



Government action in the matter of Tea has been pre- 

 judicial in many ways, but in none more so than when 

 they were doing their best to foster the cultivation by 

 distributing Chinese seed and seedlings gratis. No one 

 can blame here (would the Government were equally 

 free from blame in all Tea matters !) but the mischief 

 is none the less. It will never be possible to undo the 

 harm then done. 



The seed of indigenous, hybrid, and Chinese, is like in 

 appearance, and cannot be distinguished. Thus, when seed 

 formerly was got from a distance, the purchaser was at the 

 mercy of the vendor. 



High cultivation improves the class of a Tea plant. Thus, 

 a purely China bush, if highly cultivated and well manured, 

 will in two or three years assume a hybrid character. High 

 cultivation will therefore improve the class of all the plants in 

 a garden ; but the cheapest and best plan with low class 

 Chinese plants is to root them out and replace them with 

 others, as will be explained hereafter. Low class seedlings 

 should also be rooted out of nurseries. 



I cannot conclude this chapter better than by giving 

 an extract from the ' Government Records ' alluded to in 

 a previous chapter, and I add a few remarks at foot, as 



