16 TEA PLANTING IN 



is a fact that the tea-plant will grow in a poor soil and 

 where but a scanty supply of water is obtainable. This 

 permits of the cultivation of tea in spots where water 

 is difficult to obtain, and prevents the tea-plant from 

 displacing, in the fruitful, well-irrigated valleys, the 

 various cereals that are required for the subsistence of 

 the inhabitants of the soil ; thus, hitherto waste land 

 has become of great value. But although the tea-plant 

 will grow on a poor soil, and without much moisture, 

 there is little doubt that in a rich soil, and with a 

 reasonable amount of irrigation, the crop of leaves is 

 much increased, and that a system of high cultivation is 

 not incompatible with a highly-flavoured tea. A tea- 

 plant in a very high situation, with little moisture, and 

 an indifferent soil, does not grow with that luxuriance 

 which characterizes a more favoured plant, lower down, 

 in alluvial soil, and where no deficiency of water exists. 

 The leaves of the former are not only less in quantity, but 

 they are more bitter and harsher flavoured, and unless, 

 like some wines, that growing in certain spots are much 

 sought after by the public, these teas meet with par- 

 ticular favour, and thus command a higher price, 

 growers will find it more profitable to ensure a large 

 supply of leaves by procuring a moderately elevated and 

 rich land, leaving the flavour to be brought out by 

 careful manufacture. 



A rich, light, and moderately deep soil (the plant 

 has a tap root), in a sunny situation, about 10,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea, not choked in or shaded by 

 rank vegetation or surrounding trees, and where the 

 necessary amount of moisture falling permeates equally 



