Edible Products. 



414 



[November, 1909. 



The total area of land comprised with- 

 in tea estates increased during the year 

 by 3-6 per cent, from 1,357,269 to 1,40(5,(507 

 acres, of which 38 per cent, is actually 

 under tea. 



Labour Employed. 

 Owing to a successful recruiting season, 

 there has been an increase of 5 per cent, 

 in the number of labourers employed 

 during the year, against a falliug off 

 as noticed in the report for 1907. The 

 number of permanent labourers rose in 

 all parts of the province, expect Kini- 

 rup. Although temporary labourers in- 

 dicate a decline for most tea districts, 

 the total for the province shows an 

 increase. Two causes operated to bring 

 in this altered condition, viz. (1) the 

 orders issued by the Government of 

 India in February, 1908, on the recom- 

 mendations of the Committee, which was 

 appointed in 1906 to enquire into certain 

 matters connected with the supply of 

 labour for the tea gardens of Assam. 

 It was urged by the Committee that 

 greater freedom should be given to the 

 labourers, and that the conditions of tea 

 garden life should be rendered more 

 attractive. (2) The second cause was 

 the existence of famine or scarcity in 

 some of the recruiting areas, specially 

 in the United Provinces, as noticed in 

 the previous year's report. 



The proportion of temporary to per- 

 manent labourers varied considerably, 

 as in past years. In the Surma Valley 

 temporary labourers formed only 6 per 

 cent, of total force, in the Assam Valley 

 7 per cent., in Chittagong 18 per cent., 

 and in Jalpaiguri 25 per cent. 



Scientific Enquiry. 

 The usual Government grant of Rs. 

 10,000 was made to the Scientific Depart- 

 ment of the Tea Association during the 

 year under review, The Association is 

 doing valuable work by its efforts to 

 add to our knowledge of the constitu- 

 tion of tea soils, the best manurial 

 treatment for tea and the preventive 

 and remedial measures which can most 

 usefully be employed against the more 

 common insect pests and blights, to 

 which the tea plant is subject. Two 

 useful pamphlets published during the 

 year were " Mosquito Blight of Tea " by 

 Mr. C. B. Antram, f.e.s,, and " Hee- 

 leaka Experimental Station" by Mr. 

 C. M, Hutchinson, b.a. Mr. Macrae from 

 Pusa made enquiries into disease at 

 Darjeeling, the results of which are not 

 yet available. 



The weather was generally dry duriug 

 the early months, which resulted in 

 a late start of the tea season, which 



also closed early in some tea districts. 

 The rainfall in all tea districts, except 

 Dibrugarh, was below the average of 

 the previous five years. On the whole 

 the season was not very favourable for 

 the growth of tea. Some gardens in 

 Jalpaiguri distiict suffered severely 

 from hailstorms. Red spider prevailed 

 in some gardens in Lakhimpur, and 

 greenfly also injuriously affected the 

 outturn of the district. In Cachar the 

 effects of the drought in the earlier part 

 of the season were a late start of the 

 season, a deficient yield, and an unusual 

 variety of tea-blights of exceptional 

 severity. On the rainfall assuming nor- 

 mal conditions, the garden flushed freely 

 in the middle of the plucking season, 

 and, but for an attack of mosquito- 

 blight of severe nature, the outturn 

 would have equalled that of 1907. 



Outturn. 



The year's crop amounted to 210,472,150 

 lbs. of black and 1,075,340 lbs. of green 

 tea, as against 209,370,931 and 1,536,507 

 lbs. repectively, of 1907, The combined 

 total of 190S comes to 211,547,490 lbs., 

 showing an increase of 640,049 lbs., or '3 

 per cent, over that of 1907. 



The season was not very favourable 

 for tea, and the outturn in most districts 

 fell off. The increase in, the total out- 

 put must, therefore, be attributed 

 partly to the increase in the area under 

 the crop, and partly to the larger labour 

 force employed during the year under 

 report. The general quality of the crop 

 must be characterised as somewhat dis- 

 appointing, and although ideas are 

 usually at variance on a question of 

 this nature, there can be little doubt 

 that the past season's manufacture has 

 been below the general standard of 

 recent years. Cachar and Syhlet were, 

 perhaps, more unfortunate than other- 

 districts in this respect, and the result 

 was largely reflected in the produce of 

 these centres ; coarse and stalky teas 

 were more in evidence than formerly, 

 and this was not compensated for by 

 any increase in yield. 



The tea produced by the Assam gar- 

 dens in the first part of the season was 

 also below the average, and subsequent 

 improvement following the rainfall 

 hardly produced a compensating re- 

 covery. 



Tea-seed. 

 Under orders of the Government of 

 India, tea-seed does not separately ap- 

 pear among the articles of trade to be 

 shown in the trade returns. Hence 

 accurate information about imports and 

 exports of this commodity is not avail- 

 able. Only 354 mauuds of the seed has 



