Chap. XXII. DEYKA DOON PLANTATIONS. 369 



8000 feet above the level of the sea. On the west 

 it is open to the river Jumna, and on the east to the 

 Ganges, the distance between these rivers being about 

 60 miles. 



In the centre of this flat valley the Kaolagir tea 

 plantation has been formed. Eight acres were under 

 cultivation in 1847. There are now 300 acres 

 planted, and about 90 more taken in and ready for 

 many thousands of young plants lately raised from 

 seeds in the plantation. 



The soil is composed of clay, sand, and vegetable 

 matter, rather stiff and apt to get " baked" in dry 

 weather, but free 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 com- 

 paratively 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 4i feet from the next 

 one. A long rank-growing species of grass, indige- 

 nous to the Doon, is most difficult to keep from over- 

 topping the tea-plants, and is the cause of much extra 

 labour. Besides the labour common to all tea-coun- 

 tries 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 



2 B 



