TEA. 



107 



year, 60 inches of rain may suffice, but the most favourable rainfall is 

 from 80 up to 100 inches. With regard to Ceylon, what I have said 

 regarding the Neilgherries will hold good there — excepting that 

 owing to Ceylon being several degrees of latitude lower, tea might be 

 found to grow well up to over COOO feet. 



As])ect. — Some planters think aspect an all-important consideration, 

 and, in many cases, give apparently good reasons for doing so. Thus 

 one side of a hill may be almost denuded of vegetation, and, conse- 

 quently, get less rainfall than the other side which is more abun- 

 dantly wooded. When the monsoon is very heavy, an aspect exposed 

 to all its violence should be avoided ; though in some cases the land 

 may be sheltered by either leaving protecting belts of the forest or 

 growing Australian or other quick-growing trees for this purpose. In 

 Southern India, a northern aspect is considered by many a sine qua 

 non, on account of the sun's southerly declination during the dry 

 months of the year ; and Mr. Mclvor, for one, lays great stress upon 

 this point. In my own opinion, aspect is a question of slight impor- 

 tance in warm, sheltered, and moist situations, such as I would select 

 for opening out a tea estate. I have now tea growing here on all 

 aspects, and have noticed nothing that warrants my judging any one 

 of these better than another. If the planter has a warm, moist, 

 agreeable climate, a site well sheltered from rough winds, a good lay 

 of land, and a fair soil, he need not care much about aspect, and it will 

 be his own fault if he cannot get 400 lbs. of made tea per acre vv^hen 

 his estate is in full bearing. As a rule, the suitability of a site for a 

 plantation may very generally be determined from the nature and 

 appearance of the vegetation growing on it. Heavy forest or luxu- 

 riant scrub land is generally well watered. Wherever ferns grow 

 luxuriantly, one may feel certain there is good soil and abundance of 

 moisture. 



Soil. — On this point there have been diversities of opinion : some 

 men say that tea will grow in any soil ; others, that it will only grow 

 in the soil of the richest virgin forests. Both parties are in error. 

 The former are right as regards the growing ; but the very highest 

 cultivation will be needed to make tea pay, if grown in a poor soil. 

 On the other hand, the richest soil may, if in too cold a climate, 

 or in an unsheltered situation, turn out a failure. My own opinion 

 is, that the soil should at any rate be of moderate excellence, the other 

 above-mentioned qualifications of a site being present. The improve- 

 ment of the soil lies very much in the planter's own hands ; whereas 

 he is powerless to remedy the defects of climate, rainfall, &c. The 

 soil most suited for the cultivation of the tea plant is a light, rich, 

 friable loam, extending to a depth of at least IJ or 2 feet, vvdth a 

 good upper surface of decayed vegetable mould or humus. The 

 latter contains in itself a sufficient supply of organic matter to 

 last for the first five years of an estate's existence. In all cases, 

 there must be a good supply of organic matter in the soil, and 

 when this does not exist, the want must be supplied by manui'ing. 

 The nature of the soils of the several districts varies considerably. 

 In Eastern Bengal the soils contain a very large percentage of sand; 

 so much so, in fact, that were it not for the abundant rainfall, the 



