118 TEA. 



enough when it is moist or during the rains. It rests upon a gravelly subsoil, 

 consisting of limestone, sandstone, clay-slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks 

 as enter into the composition of the surrounding mountain ranges. The surface is 

 comparatively flat, although it falls in certain directions towards the ravines and 

 rivers. 



The plants are arranged neatly in rows 5 feet apart, and each plant is about 

 4 feet from its neighbour in the row. A long, rank-growing species of grass, in- 

 digenous to the Boon, is most difficult to keep from over-topping the tea-plants, 

 and is the cause of much extra labor. Besides the labor common to all tea 

 countries in China, such as weeding, and occasionally loosening the soil, there is 

 here an extensive system of irrigation carried on. To facilitate this, the plants 

 are planted in trenches, from four to six inches below the level of the ground, 

 and the soil thus dug out is thrown between the rows to form the paths. Hence 

 the whole of the plantation consists of numerous trenches of this depth, and five 

 feet from centre to centre. At right angles with these trenches a small stream 

 is fed from the canal, and, by opening or shutting their ends, irrigation can be 

 carried on at the pleasure of the overseer. 



3. Appearance and health of plants. The plants generally did not appear to 

 me to be in that fresh and vigorous condition which I had been accustomed to 

 see in good Chinese plantations. This, in my opinion, is caused, 1st, by the 

 plantation being formed on flat land ; 2nd, by the system of irrigation ; 3rd, by 

 too early plucking ; and 4th, by hot drying winds, which are not unfrequent in 

 this valley from April to the beginning of June. 



GUDDOWLI PLANTATION (NEAR PAORIE). 



1. Situation and extent. This plantation is situated in the Province of Eastern 

 Gurhwal, in latitude 30 deg. 8 min. north, and in longitude 78 deg. 45 miu. east. 

 It consists of a large tract of terraced land, extending from the bottom of a valley 

 or ravine to more than 1,000 feet up the sides of the mountain. Its lowest por- 

 tion is about 4,300 feet, and its highest 5,300 feet above the level of the sea; 

 the surrounding mountains appear to be from 7,000 to 8,000. The plantation 

 has not been measured, but there are, apparently, fully one hundred acres under 

 cultivation. 



There are about 500,000 plants already planted, besides a large number of 

 seedlings in beds ready for transplanting. About 3,400 of the former were 

 planted in 1844, and are now in full bearing; the greater portion of the others 

 are much younger, having been planted out only one, two, and three years. 



2. Soil and culture. The soil consists of a mixture of loam, sand, and vege- 

 table matter, is of a yellow colour, and is most suitable for the cultivation of 

 the tea-plant. It resembles greatly the soil of the test tea districts in China. 

 A considerable quantity of stones are mixed with it, chiefly small pieces of clay-- 

 slate, of which the mountains here are composed. Large tracts of equally good 

 land, at present covered with jungle, are available in this district without inter- 

 fering in any way with the rights of the settlers. 



I have stated that this plantation is formed on the hill side. It consists of a 

 succession of terraces, from the bottom to the top, on which the tea bushes are 

 planted. In its general features it is very like a Chinese tea plantation, al- 

 though one rarely sees tea lands terraced in China. This, however, may be ne- 

 cessary in the Himalayas, where the rains fall so heavily. Here, too, the sys- 

 tem of irrigation is carried on, although to a small extent only, owing to the 

 scarcity of water during the dry season. 



3. Appearance and health of plants. This plantation is a most promising one, 

 and I have no doubt will be very valuable in a few years. The plants are grow- 

 ing admirably, and evidently like their situation. Some of them arc suffering 

 slightly from the effects of hard-plucking, like those at Kaolagir ; but this can 

 easily be avoided in their future management. Altogether, it is in a most satis- 

 factory condition, and shows how safe it is in matters of this kind to follow the 

 example of the Chinese cultivator, who never makes his tea plantations on low 

 rice land, and never irrigates. 



HAWTILBAUGH PLANTATION (NEAR ALMORAH). 



1st. Situation and extent. This tea farm is situated on the banks of the river 

 Kosilla, about six miles north-west from Almorah, the capital of Kumaon. It is 



