38 TEA PLANTING IN 



Fifty acres would be the very smallest amount of 

 land that a settler could hope to live on, while to realize 

 a fortune from one thousand to two thousand acres 

 would be required. To clear and plant the latter 

 amount at once, a very large sum would be needed ; 

 but this fact need not deter a settler from purchasing a 

 good tract; for in the first instance laying out the 

 balance of his money, after purchasing the ground, in 

 the cultivation of a portion merely, he would be able, 

 out of the profits, to gradually cultivate the whole. 

 Government have hitherto generously supplied seeds 

 and plants gratuitously to settlers, and in the event of 

 a Government plantation being sold, it is probable that 

 one of the conditions on the purchases will be the free 

 distribution of a certain quantity of seeds and young 

 plants yearly. 



To illustrate the value of a tea-planter's property, 

 we may mention that, on a rough calculation, the pro- 

 bable price that an acre of cultivated tea-plants of eight 

 years old would fetch, may be estimated at from about 

 30/. to 40/. Adding to this sum the net profits from 

 an acre from the third to the eighth year, which we 

 roughly, and within the mark, reckon at about 90/., and 

 then deducting from 15/. to 251. as the price of the 

 buying, clearing, planting, and cultivating from the 

 first to the third year inclusive, a surplus of from 951. 

 to 115/. per acre of clear gain would exist to the culti- 

 vator. 



With a large number of acres, it will readily be seen 

 that a large fortune would be the enviable result. 



