41) 



soil (and a much larger quantity if very high quality tea is to be 

 produced) is demanded, if tea is to be at its best, and the following 

 table showing the average amounts (from my analyses) in the gardens 

 from which I took samples in the several districts. 



These figures show several interesting points. The gardens 

 whose soil was analysed were chosen as typical of the districts, and 

 so one may, I think, rely on the substantial relative accuracy of the 

 figures. They indicate (i) that the land producing the highest yield 

 of high class tea are those in which the Phosphoric Acid is in large 

 proportion combined with a large percentage of Organic Matter and 

 Nitrogen ; (2) that the cause of the permanently high quality and large 

 yield of the Upper Assam districts may be found in the composition 

 of the soil, as well as in the ideal tea climate they possess. Of course in 

 considering questions of quality one cannot eliminate the difference 

 in styles of plucking, but taking this as far as possible into considera- 

 tion, there still remains the undoubted fact to explain that a flavour 

 and a pungency is produced in Upper Assam it is impossible to 

 obtain elsewhere, and this is intimately connected with the presence 

 of a high concentration of Phosphoric Acid combined with an ample 

 quantity of Organic Matter.f It has been pointed out for Ceylon teas 



* Omitting Koliabar, wheie the conditions are somewhat unique. 



t The case of Mangaldai appears, as would be expected, as an exception. Here the 

 climate is distinctly inferior to the Upper Assam districts, the plucking is decidedly coarser, 

 and no attempt is made to obtain very fine teas. The figures given are chiefly obtained 

 from the rich, all but virgin, grass lands under the Himalayas. 



