be : How can the vitality and yield of the bushes, together with 

 the quality of tea produced, be kept up for a longer period than is 

 at present the case ? Whether the cause of this deterioration 

 which, though only suspected at the time of Dr. Watt's tour in 1895, 

 is now obvious on almost every garden be exhaustion of soil on 

 the one hand, or old age of the bush on the other, or a combination 

 of both, is left for experiment to solve, There is, however, little or 

 no doubt in my own mind, even now, that exhaustion of the soil 

 plays a very great part in the matter, and this is confirmed by the 

 fact that in those gardens which possess soil of an exceptionally 

 favourable and lasting character, or in which means have been 

 adopted for keeping up its fertility, the deterioration of the bush 

 and consequent loss is much less than in other cases. This con- 

 clusion, 1 am afraid, involves the belief that manuring, in one form 

 or another, will have, in future, to be a regular adjunct to tea culture 

 on all but the youngest gardens." 



To every word of this opinion I still adhere. There is absolutely 

 no doubt that the gardens in Assam do deteriorate as they get older, 

 with very rare exceptions, and it is only according to reason that they 

 should do so unless an attempt is made to keep them up to their original 

 fertility. As a rule, however, no such attempt is made except by means 

 of very deep cultivation, which is only a method of staving oft' the evil 

 day ; or by topdressing with bheel or hullah soil, which if correctly 

 done with good material is one of the best operations which has 

 become at all general in the valley in the past few years. Even here, 

 as I shall show later, a vast amount of expense and labour has been 

 employed in putting absolutely useless material on to the land, and 

 I can only urge very great caution in deciding whether or not it is 

 worth while to spend a large amount of money in lifting any parti- 

 cular material. 



I cannot consider that for many years to come any but a com- 

 paratively small quantity of the manure required will be in the form 

 of artificial manures, unless it be to a certain extent as phosphates. 

 In other respects as far as most places in the province are concerned, 

 Assam is abundantly capable of supplying, if means were taken to 

 utilise it, practically the whole of what is needed. I have yet to 

 see any place where the vast amount of cattle manure is preserved 

 with any reasonable care, and yet each cow will produce 2,000 Ibs. 



