Chap. XXII. TEA-CULTURE EN IXDIA. 



385 



it has all the advantages of hilly land such as the tea- 

 plant delights in. In extending the Himalaya plan- 

 tations this important fact ought to be kept in view. 



There is no scarcity of such land in these moun- 

 tains, more particularly in eastern Gurhwal and Ku- 

 maon. It abounds in the districts of Paorie, Kunour, 

 Lohba, Almorah, Kutoor, and Bheem Tal, and I was 

 informed by Mr. Batten that there are large tracts 

 about Gungoli and various other places equally suit- 

 able. Much of this land is out of cultivation, as I 

 have already stated, while the cultivated portions 

 vield on an average only two or three annas per acre 

 of revenue. 



Such lands are of less value to the Zemindars than 

 low rice-land where they can command a good supply 

 of water for irrigation. But I must not be under- 

 stood to recommend poor worn-out hill-lands for tea- 

 cultivation — land on which nothing else will grow. 

 Nothing is further from my meaning. Tea, in order 

 to be profitable, requires a good sound soil — a light 

 loam, well mixed with sand and vegetable matter, 

 moderately moist, and yet not stagnant or sour. 

 Such a soil, for example, as on these hill-sides pro- 

 duces good crops of mundooa, wheat, or millet, is well 

 adapted for tea. It is such land which I have 

 alluded to as abounding in the Himalayas, and which 

 is at present of so little value either to the Govern- 

 ment or to the natives themselves. 



The system of irrigation applied to tea in India is 

 never practised in China. I did not obseiwe it prac- 

 tised in any of the great tea-countries which I visited. 



2 c 



