38 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



the plants in a twelvemonth." Of the two, the first must be 

 chosen, for if the latter were pursued, the plants, getting 

 gradually more and more denuded of soil, would simply 

 topple over in two or three years. But choosing the lesser 

 evil, the mischief is not confined to the bad effects of low 

 cultivation. Dig the land as little as you will, the great 

 force of the rains washes down a good deal of soil. The 

 plants do not sink as the soil lowers, and the consequence 

 is that all Tea plants on slopes have the lower side bare of 

 earth and the roots exposed. This is more and more the 

 case the steeper the slope. These exposed roots shrivel up 

 as the sun acts on them, the plant languishes and yields 

 very little leaf. 



Attempts are made to remedy the mischief by carrying 

 earth up from below yearly, and placing it under the plant ; 

 but the expense of doing this is great, and the palliation is 

 only temporary, for the same thing occurs again and again 

 as each rainy season returns. 



The mischief is greater on stiff than on sandy soils, for 

 on the former the earth is detached in great pieces and 

 carried down the hill. I know one garden in Chittagong, a 

 large one, where the evil is so great, that the sooner the 

 cultivation is abandoned the better for the owners. 



A great many gardens in India, indeed the majority, 

 are on slopes ; a few in Assam, the greater number in Cachar, 

 some in Chittagong, and almost all the Himalayan planta- 

 tions. Such of these as are on steep slopes will, I believe, 

 never pay, and instead of improving yearly (as good gardens, 

 highly cultivated, should do even after they have arrived at 

 full bearing) such, I fear, will deteriorate year by year. 



Plantations on moderate slopes need not fail because of 

 the slopes. The evils slight slopes entail are not great, but 

 the sooner the fact is accepted that sloping cannot vie against 

 flat land for the cultivation of Tea the better. 



