May, 1909.] 



131 



Edible Products, 



prices being constantly realised for 

 representative invoices. This, needless 

 to remark, is tar from the truth. The 

 comparative prices of Darjeeling and 

 plains Teas certainly show a margin, 

 often a very wide one, but it must be 

 remembered that the outturn per acre 

 in the hills is often only 2\ to 3 mauuds 

 per acre, whereas in the plains, the 

 nvorage garden, in even moderate order, 

 will usually yield at least double that 

 amount. The expenditure of an estate 

 is based upon its area, and it therefore 

 becomes obvious that the cost of the 

 crop varies directly according to the 

 yield per acte. Thus while teas from 

 Sylhet and the Dooars are often laid 

 down in Calcutta at anything from 

 as. 2-6 to as. 4 per pound, there is hardly 

 a garden in Darjeeling capable of placing 

 its crop on the Calcutta market at less 

 than as 6-9 per pound, and on many 

 estates the cost is even higher. The 

 difference in outturn between hills and 

 plains estates may be directly attributed 

 to climatic influences. 



There is no getting away from the 

 fact that the colder climate of the hills 

 is antagonistic to luxuriant growth on 

 the part of the tea bush. This is 

 evidenced by the slower growth and 

 smaller leaf obtained. Further, liberties 

 which may be taken with impunity in 

 the plains quickly produce a deleterious 

 effect in the hills, and a falling off in 

 crop is often noticeable after even one 

 season of severe treatment. The Dar- 

 jeeling planter therefore finds himself 

 compelled to consider details to a much 

 greater extent than his neighbour in 

 the plains, whose work is much more of 

 general supervision and less of individual 

 bush treatment. 



An Astonishing Fact. 



It would perhaps astonish the unini- 

 tiated to learn that the highest quality 

 is obtained in Darjeeling from leaf 

 which is actually in an unhealthy 

 condition, that is to say leaf which is 

 suffering from greenfly blight. This 

 blight generally makes its appearance 

 in June, when the best teas are 

 turned out, and it is not uncommon 

 to hear a planter bewailing the fact 

 that he has not beeu visited by 

 this friend to quality during the current 

 season. At the same time, for reasons 

 unknown, there are gardens in the hills 

 which appear to be unable to yield a tea 

 of more than medium quality, greenfly 

 or no greenfly, and this is where all in- 

 vestigations into the causes of quality 

 have hopelessly failed. In these cases, 

 soil conditions and the jat of bush are 

 often identical with those of adjoining 

 gardens of the first rank, and yet these 



' sow's ears " obstinately refuse to be 

 transformed into " purses " of even the 

 most moderate description. Their maua- 

 agers are therefore confronted with the 

 necessity of keeping their bushes in the 

 highest possible state of health, in order 

 to obtain as great a yield as possible. 



In a casual trip through the District 

 one would imagine that the pioneers of 

 the Tea Industry in Darjeeling took 

 almost special pains to build their 

 factories in the worst possible position. 

 It is not too much to say that had 

 suitable sites been chosen, there is not a 

 single garden in the hills which might 

 not have had the benefit of water-power, 

 to the saving of its fuel and the reduc- 

 tion of its expenditure. As a matter of 

 fact, however, gardens where machinery 

 is water driven are in the minority, and 

 the natural result is the present-day 

 cry of shortage of fuel with all its atten- 

 dant evils. Where water is available, 

 the turbine has in many cases superseded 

 the older-fashioned water-wheel as being 

 less cumbersome and more effective. 

 The wear and tear on bearings is, how- 

 ever, very severe owing to the action of 

 the extraordinarily fine grit presjnt in 

 hill water, and the life of a turbine cannot 

 in all probability be considered to be so 

 long as that of the water-wheel, which, 

 if made of iron, is practically everlasting. 

 Of late years, electricity has been 

 employed on some gardens close to the 

 Darjeeling Municipal generating station 

 with the best possible results. The 

 installation is by no means excessively 

 expensive, and the power, while not 

 actually cheaper than fuel, is natur- 

 ally of immense profit to the estates so 

 fortunate as to have obtained it, allow- 

 ing as it does such a very great saving 

 of forest supplies. 



Quality being always the aim in Dar- 

 jeeling, a great deal naturally depends 

 upon proper factory supervision, for, 

 given good leaf and adequate machinery, 

 a very slight falling in any of the pro- 

 cesses of manufacture may veritably 

 make or mar. This supervision is in 

 many cases complicated by the fact that 

 bungalows are built so far away from 

 factories, but the Darjeeling planter is 

 lucky in the services of the Nepali, who 

 in many cases may be relied upon to 

 obtain the best results solay for his own 

 satisfaction. 



Supervision and Cleanliness. 



Absolute cleanliness throughout the 

 factory is of course the first essential, 

 and this is fully recognised in the hills, 

 uo expense or trouble being spared to 

 ensure the impossibility of any taint 

 being imparted to the tea from the time 



