Sept,  i,  1892-] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
167 
or  black.  The  difference  is  in  the  degree  of  fer- 
mentation. 
He  who  takes  tea  for  breakfast  swallows  what  is 
brought  about  by  fermentation  aB  much  aa  the  man 
who  drinks  beer  to  his  tiffen  or  red  wine  when  he 
sups.  Tea  is  a manufactured  article  ; and,  before  the 
leaves  are  capable  of  yielding  a potable  draught, 
they  have  to  be  subjected  to  four  main  processes — 
the  withering,  the  rolling,  the  fermenting  and  the 
firing.  The  most  important  by  far  of  these  is  the 
fermenting  ; the  two  first  being  in  preparation  for 
it,  and  the  last  being  to  check  it.  Certainly,  it  is 
not  alcoholic  fermentation  to  which  the  tea  leaf 
is  subjected,  nor  am  I able  to  say  by  the  action  of 
what  special  ferment  it  is  brought  about.  I am  not 
aware  that  anybody  can  yet  tell  this.  But  fermenta- 
tion is  bejo"d  question — fermentation  of  the  putre- 
factive sort,*  whereby  vital  changes  are  produced  in 
the  constitution  of  the  leaf,  its  color  altered,  new 
powers  induced,  and  essences  created  that  were  not 
in  it  before.  Mayhap  it  is  akin  to  the  fermentation 
that  takes  place  when  grass  is  made  into  silage. 
Anyhow,  it  is  this  manufacturing  process  towards  an 
efficient  fermentation,  neither  too  little  nor  tto  much, 
which  in  recent  times  has  altered  the  whole  tea  in- 
dustry as  regards  the  making  of  the  marketable  com- 
modity. Handrolling  and  all  other  direct  manipula- 
tion by  hands  and  arms  will  soon  be  altogether  a 
thing  of  the  past ; and  already  a factory  is  by  far 
the  most  important  and  expensive  part  of  a tea 
plantation.  The  multiplication  of  machinery,  and  of 
expensive  machinery  too,  is  steadily  on  the  increase, 
and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  none  will  have 
the  chance  of  starting  life  as  a tea  planter  uuless  he 
be  a trained  mechanic. 
Another  word  about  the  tea-plant,  which  is  one 
of  the  hardiest  members  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
and  which  endures  an  annual  slaughter  by  the  prun- 
ing knife  and  a weekly  plunder  by  tho  nimble- 
fingered co.lie  picker,  which  I doubt  may  be  piralleled 
in  the  whole  range  of  cultivated  plant-life.  Provided 
that  the  necessary  conditions  of  climate  are  present, 
will  the  tea-plant  grow  on  any  soil?  One  might 
almost  say  so.  I have  seen  the  tea  plant  growing: 
among  the  boulders  on  the  rugged  mountain  sides  of 
Coylon— growing  where  the  coffee  grew  till  it  was 
blasted,  and  where  no  coffee  would  at  any  time  grow. 
I have  seen  it  spreading  its  green  heads  over  the  far- 
reaching  plains  of  Assam  on  land  as  flat  as  the 
open  palm  of  a lady’s  hand.  I have  seen  it  thriving 
astonishingly  in  the  dried  up  fens  of  Sylhet,  nothing 
better  than  draiued  peat. bogs.  And  here  I see  it 
in  Oachar,  where  for  a generation  it  has  clothed 
the  teelahs  or  little  hills  that  are  set  as  thick  in 
the  land  as  the  manure  heaps  carted  out  for  the  top- 
dres'iog  of  an  English  meadow.  Now  it  is  a fair 
question  to  ask  ; Will  tea  continue  long  to  thrive 
equally  well  on  Boils  so  diversified,  so  varied  in  their 
aspects,  and  so  different  in  their  composition  ? Even 
outsiders  are  permitted  to  have  au  opinion  ; and  it  is 
mine  that  it  will  not.  Already  the  Oaohar  planters  see 
the  soil  of  the  teelahs  in  an  advanced  stage  of  exhaus- 
tion. Its  Bubstance  is  being  sapped  by  the  evergreen 
perennial  which  fills  our  teacups,  and  which  is  rendered 
doubly  greedy  of  nutriment  by  the  treatment  to  which 
it  is  subjected.  And  the  soil  itself,  so  often  loosened 
by  the  cadally  or  great  hoe,  is  being  gradually  washed 
down  into  the  valleys  by  the  tropical  downpourings  in 
the  wet  season.  In  consequence,  the  ultimate  aban- 
donment of  the  teelahs  is  now  the  talk  of  Cachar,  and 
they  are  thought  happy  who  have  bheei  or  fen  land  for 
the  extension  of  tea  cultivation — that  is,  land  in  the 
hollows  sufficiently  raised  for  the  preservation  of  the 
plants  from  floods.  Will  not  what  is  taking  place  in 
Cachar  sooner  or  later  oome  to  pass  in  Ceylon — in 
Ceylon  where  the  lea  plant  gets  practioally  no  rest, 
where  the  plucking  goes  on  the  round  of  the  year, 
where  I have  seen  pruning  and  plnoking  going  on  at  the 
same  time  on  the  same  estate,  where  the  soil  on  the 
mountain  slopes  is  a skin  of  the  thinneBt,  * and  whero 
the  tropical  downpourings  are  not  more  merciful  than 
in  Cachar  ? Will  the  tea  plants  lately  set  upon  the 
hills  of  Ceylon  endure  for  a loDg  time  upon  next  to 
nothing  ? It  is  more  improbable  that  they  will.  Cey- 
lon has  many  advantages  over  other  tea-growing 
regions  in  facilities  for  getting  its  tea  to  the  ships,  in 
nearness  to  the  great  markets,  in  cheapness  of  labor, 
in  the  greater  number  of  flushings,  and  in  the  advertis- 
ing enterprise  of  its  proprietors.  It  lacks  nothing  in 
the  temperature  and  moisture  which  the  tea  plant 
requires.  But  it  lacks  the  matchless  soil  of  the 
Valley  of  Assam — the  saDdy  loam,  rich  in  vegetab'e 
mould,  with  the  lighter  sub-strata.  Hence  it  is  ibat 
the  uniform  high  qualities  of  the  teas  of  Sibsagar  and 
Lakhimpoor  have  never  yet  been  possible  in  Ceylon. 
When  the  flood  oomes  down  opon  the  tea-growing 
levels  of  Assam,  instead  of  carrying  away  substance,  it 
leaves  a fresh  depo  it;  because  the  Brahmapootra 
does  in  a measure  for  the  great  Valley  of  the  North- 
East  what  the  Nile  does  for  the  Delta.  As  it  is  the 
native  country  of  the  tea-plant,  so  it  promises  to  remaiu 
the  foremost  oount  y for  tea  in  all  time  to  come.  The 
future  of  Ceylon  as  a tea  producing  country  is  most 
uucertaiD.  And  Cachar,  barring  its  bheei  lands,  is  also 
uocertain.  The  flats  ofSylhet  promise  always  to  pro- 
duce abundantly  their  coarser  kind.  — Newcastle  Daily 
Chronicle. 

OUR  LABOUR  QUESTION. 
(From  our  South  Wynaad  Correspondent.) 
Time  has  been  in  which  sundry  small  Joves  shook 
their  thunderbolts  at  the  very  name  of  tea  in  Wynaad. 
Fortunab  ly  for  us,  progressionists,  all  but  a very 
few  of  these  deities  have  unscrewed  their  conductors 
and  packed  away  their  tbunde.  bolts,  but  the  one 
which  is  still  occasionally  held  aloft  is  tint  called 
“labour.”  How,  say  these  obj  ctors,  do  you  pro- 
pose to  arrange  ab.  ut  labour  ? What  will  you  do 
when  your  Canarese  insist  on  gob  g to  their  country 
during  the  hot  months?  aud  when  your  Chermas 
leave  ou  in  the  lurch  to  atteud  their  innumerable 
feasts?  Tea,  you  know  very  well,  requires  labour 
a'l  the  year  round  ; bow  is  snch  a difficulty  to  be 
met?  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  it  possible  in  Wynaad, 
and  so  on.  To  prove  the  possibility  seems  to  me 
a question  of  such  nice  and  even  vital  interest  in 
our  presont  crisis,  as  to  be  worthy  of  some  serious 
consideration.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  Canarese 
leave  us  in  the  hot  months,  and  that  the  Cherma 
and  his  feast  are  not  to  be  separated.  But  there 
are  others  beside,  and  we  may  at  least  look  these 
ever,  and  see  if  material  for  our  requirements  are  not 
obtainable  by  thought  and  patience.  We  have,  for 
instance,  Canarese.  Chermas,  Coimbatore  Tamils  and 
Moplahs ; as  outsiders,  locally,  there  are  Ourrumbas, 
Moopers  and  Panniahs.  I propose  taking  each  of 
these  classes  in  rotation  and  considering  their  several 
capabilities  for  meeting  our  difficulties. 
Canarese. — Formerly  our  estates  were  almost  en- 
tirely worked  by  Canarese,  I think  the  famine  of 
1877  was  the  first  oause  of  the  thinning  in  theic 
gangs.  Then  came  the  gold  mania,  the  abandon- 
ment of  estates,  and  consequent  less  demand  for 
labour  ; so  many  of  the  Canarese  went  off  to  other 
districts.  However,  fresh  openings  being  made, 
more  coolies  were  required,  and  here  the  Cherma 
Btepped  in,  and  in  spite  of  further  abandonments  on 
account  of  borer  and  leaf,  the  Cherma  has  steadily 
made  his  way,  and  the  Canarese  finds  himself  con- 
siderably out  of  it.  But  the  Canarese  bring  up  their 
women.  Women  pick  deftly  and  are  marvellously 
cheap  labour.  There  can  be  no  donbt  that  with  the 
inducement  of  plenty  of  work  we  should  with  little 
difficulty  coax  our  Canarese. 
Chermas. — Chermas)  perhaps,  are  the  pleasantest 
labour  we  have:  always  patient,  cheery,  willing,  and 
hard-working,  and  by  no  means  slow  to  learn.  They 
do  an  honest  day’s  work  for  their  four  annas,  which 
alas  ! cannot  always  be  said  of  the  Canarese.  They 
* Is  this  certain  ? Oxygenation  is  a better  term 
for  the  chemioal  change  undergone  by  rollai  tea 
leaves.— Ed.  T.a, 
* Not  generally  true,— Ed.  T.A. 
