October i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
245 
munching the coarse grass of the forest. Then 
he would mount and ride home through mono- 
tonous melancholy forest. Though shikar was 
abundant I carod not to go. I hated cardamom plant- 
ing, or rather picking and weeding. There was n't much 
planting. The weeding I managed to improve. That is 
instead of once a year sickling the grasses and under- 
growth, the stuff was pulled up. When cardamoms 
were at R5 per pound the extravagant plan of set- 
ting the coolies to roam abreast and complete the 
round every twelve days was all right, but the hope 
of the old gentleman that ho could last out these 
confounded Ceylon fellows I found to be futile in 
my last visit to Ceylon. It cost on this big place 
in Mysore in a big crop something over the rupee 
f.o.b. per pound. It cost Ceylon men something 
under 8 annas per pound f.o.b., and then the 
Ceylon style is cheap for other reasons. The fields 
ore supplementary to tho other chief work. The 
cardamoms fruit all the year round, a 40-aere 
field in the care of a maistry and a few select 
coolies will give as much as all those weary dark 
and dismal expanses of forest. The deliverance 
came at last, and I left with happy heart. I had 
one little joke the whole time. It was the way 
I pulled the Ceylon fellows' legs about the thousand 
acres of cardamoms and the tons of fruit. It was 
a dismal joke, and W. F. L. and G. P. were angry 
for a while. Also about the clipping. It was a 
clipping joke ! Ceylon men, as you will see from 
Mr. Elliot's remarks, are not altogether favourites, 
but they are appreciated. A Mysore man insists 
that his brother from Ceylon shall keep the name 
of that island out of the conversation. A gentle- 
man who used to be noar Kelebokka, now in the 
north of Mysore, is finding this out. " Dry up 
about Ceylon now." Even at the meet I described 
to you in a former letter they had a piece recited 
which had for a refrain at the end of each verse, 
"That's the way we do in Ceylon." But they 
laugh on the wrong sides of their faces. I will 
stick up for Coylon and wish all there prosperity 
and success. Aueudonunsis. 
TEA CULTURE IN" ASSAM IN 1886. 
Tho unuual roport on tea cultivation in Assam for 
1880, is a most interesting document. It shows the 
great advance tnis important industry lias mado,audthe 
changes that have been introduced during tin, past year. 
We find that there were altogi ther 883 gardens at 
tho close of tho year, against 9-tl in 1885. This large 
docrcase is more apparent than real, and is accounted 
for by amalgamations of small gardens with the 
Mate* to which they are attached. There were ac- 
tually ten new gardens opened and sixteen old ones 
closed. Tho remainder of the dec rease iu numbers was 
duo to amalgations. As a mattor of fact, there was an 
braraue of 18,288 acres in the area of tea grants, as 
compared with tho previous yoar. In Sylhot alone, 
'',U7 acres woro added, while in Sibsaugor and 
Darraug 7,(>07 and :i,'J70 acres, respectively, are shown 
as haviug been mined during tho year. It is, howover, 
explained that this increase is partly owing to a re- 
vision in figures in tho case of Sylhot aud Sibsaugor, 
and to iililiati.u of oxistiug waste-land grauts, (not 
i>n vioualy returned) to tea grants. Cachar has tho 
largest tirua under tea,* viz, 2.')S,022 acres ; next 
DOmea Bibaaugor with 202,525 ; Sylhot with I"i2,-J06. 
Lakliimpore with l,i:;,Mu, and Doming with lui,:;n; 
tier..;, th.i remaining four districts having S7,39.'> 
MM between them, making ■ total of 034,131 
Korea under loa grunts, against 91.'i,HI li ucres in 18.S5. 
A pleasing feature of the report is that, of tho 883 
gardons iu tho province, the managers or ageuts of no 
» No : uot under tea, but total land held.— lib. 
less than 770 have complied with the request of the 
Chief Commissioner to supply him with statistics of 
tea culture. In the majority of cases the information 
was promptly supplied, but in a tew it was delayed. 
Tho past was trie first year iu which the definition 
of a ' mature ' plant, as one four years old and up- 
wards was adopted. From a table showing the land 
actually under tea cultivation for the last six years, 
we gather that tho area under mature plants increased 
from 133,293 acres in 1881 to 170,138 acres in 1886 ; 
while that under immature plants rose from 25,134 
iu 1881 to 37,634 acres in 1885, but which fell to 
33,855 acres in 1886. Thus by takiug the figures 
under mature and immature plants together, a true 
comparison will be obtained of the area under cultiv- 
ation m the last two years. The increase under 
mature will then be balanced by the decrease under 
immature plants. 
A noticeable feature of the past year's record is 
that iu the Cachar district the total area held by 
planters decreased, while the area under cultivation in- 
creased. The tendency in this district is to extend 
the planting of tea upon low-lying lands formerly 
grown with rice, and to abandon hilly lands on which 
tea is found to be, less profitable. This is rather an 
important point, as it has been generally held that 
tea co dd not bo grown upon rice lands. With regard 
to the generally accepted policy among managers, 
viz., to increase the area as much as possible with- 
out increasing tho labour force, the opinion of a Mr. 
Milne of Cachar is quoted. This is to the effect 
that, in order to produce the crops as cheaply as 
possible, old worn out parts are being gradually 
abandoned, and the best soils available are being 
planted out with the class of seedlings which may 
reasonably be expected to yield belter result, with 
the same expenditure of money ana labour. " This," 
says Mr. Milne, "explains the curious fact that, in 
spite of low prices, constant large additions are being 
made to the area." The total area returned as under 
cultivation is 203,993 acres, against 197,510 acres at 
tho close of 1885. The largest increase occurred in 
the districts of Cachar, Sibsaugor and Lakhimpore. 
In these three districts the expansion is steady. 
Tho outturn of leaf, as reported by district officers, 
amounted to 61,719,678 lb., or an increase ol over 8 
million lb., when compared with tho returns of 1885. 
These figures do not agree with those published by 
tho committee of the Indian 'Tea Association, which 
states the outturn to have been 59,320,512 lb. The 
year 1881 was generally recognised as a bad one 
for tea: In lbS."> the industry barely recovered itself, 
but last year tho reaction was very evident. The 
rate of outturn of leaf per acre shows it to have been 
an average of 317 lb. in 1886, against 219 lb. in 
the previous yoar. Most Deputy (Jommissioners con- 
cur in stating that the increase iu the yield per 
acre is due to the extensions of former years coming 
into full beariug. The largest yield per acre, viz., 
5 US ll>, occurred in Lakliimpore; Goalpara conies next, 
with 403 lb; then come Sjlhet, Sibsaugor aud Darraug. 
With these figures before us, we are somewhat surprised 
to find the Deputy Commissioner ot Lloulpura taking 
a despairing view of tho prospects of tea iu that 
district but the Commissioner ot the Assam Valleys 
districts remarks : " Tea is so successful iu the Western 
Dooars, that I am surprised no one has tried tho 
Eastern Dooars; they are beautifully drained." Hero 
is a hint that might be taken advantage of by intend- 
ing tea planter-;. 
The quantity of tea exported during the financial 
year, ending 31st March 1887, according to the figures 
furnished by tho steamer companies in whose vessel* 
it is farmed down to Calcutta, amounted to 53,240,091 
lb., against 49,763,816 lb. for tho previous year. Hardly 
auy tea is madu before April, aud sumo that 
is made duriug tho lust mouths of tho working 
season is carried down duriug tho first quarter of the 
uoxt year. 
Turning now to tho cost of cultivation and manu- 
facture, it may bo stated at ouce, that anything lika 
roliablo figures are out of tho queiliou. Tho following 
average* of tho coat per lb. iu the Calcutta salu-r^oui, 
