90 



TEA. 



some tea from tlie above plants, which was considered, in Calcutta, to 

 be marketable in London at about 2s. 6d. per pound. In 1843 sixteen 

 canisters of black (Poucbong) tea were forwarded to London, and 

 although somewhat damaged on the voyage, the tea was valued at 

 from 2s. 6d. to 3s. per pound. The appearance and flavour' of the best 

 samples were unexceptionable, and fully justified the opinion that the 

 tea shrub in the Kumaon plantations is the genuine China plant. 



In 1835 the first attempt was made by Government to establish an 

 experimental plantation in Luckimpore, but it failed, and the plants 

 were afterwards removed to Joypore, in the Seebsaugor district, and a 

 garden established, which was sold to the Assam Company in 1840. 

 This company, which was formed about 1839, was the first, and is 

 still very much the greatest, concern for the cultivation of tea in 

 Bengal. It was not, however, very prosperous during its early years, 

 and in 1846-47 its shares are said by Mr. Campbell to have been 

 almost unsaleable. Its prospects began to improve about 1852, and in 

 1859 it was reported officially to have a cultivated area of about 

 3967 acres, with an estimated out-turn of over 760,000 lbs. of tea. 

 Meantime tea cultivation had been commenced in many other districts. 

 In 1850 a garden was started by Colonel Hannay near Debrooghur ; 

 and in 1853, when Mr. Mills, of the Sudder Court, visited Assam, he 

 found three private gardens in Seebsaugor, and six in Luckimpore. 

 In 1854 the first gardens were started in DuiTung and Kamroop. In 

 1855 indigenous tea was found in Cachar ; and the first garden in the 

 district was commenced in the cold season of that year. In the fol- 

 lowing year (1856) tea was discovered in Sylhet, but I do not think 

 that any attempt at cultivating it was made for some time after. 

 Attempts had been made to cultivate tea at Darjeeling previous to 

 1853, when the district was reported on by Mr. Welby Jackson ; but 

 I think that the date of the commencement of the industry may be 

 taken as 1856-57. The earliest notice of tea in Chota Nagpore which 

 I can find is in 1862 ; and about the same time the cultivation was 

 seriously commenced in Chittagong, though experiments had been 

 made in that district as early as 1840. It may be said generally, 

 however, that the foundations of the present tea industry were laid 

 between 1856 and 1859. In the latter year the labour difficulty 

 began to be seriously felt in Assam and Cachar ; but although Colonel 

 Jenkins, Commissioner of Assam, recorded a serious warning, no one 

 else seemed able to foresee the formidable dangers into which the too 

 rapid progress of the industry would bring it. Later still, in 1862-63, 

 officials as well as planters seem to have indulged in visions of 

 fabulous prosperity, which only deepened the gloom of the miserable 

 time that was so soon to come on them. 



This depreciation of tea property continued during the years 1866, 

 1867, and 1868, but about 1869 things began to look brighter. It 

 was seen that people who had worked steadily for years with a view to 

 make gardens that would yield a profit had been rewarded, while much 

 of the property of the collapsed companies had turned out well under 

 careful management. In fact, it was again found out that tea would 

 pay, and ever since it has been steadily progressing in j^opular esti- 

 mation, and, as a general rule, in profit to those engaged in it. There 



