Feb,  r,  i8g6.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
5'35 
PROGRESS  OF  INDIAN  TEA 
CULTIVATION. 
Mr.  J.  E.  O’Conor,  Director-General  of  Statistics 
to  the  Government  of  India,  has  drawn  up  the  fol- 
lowing statement  : — 
The  area  under  tea  in  India  at  tho  end  of  1894 
extended  over  422,551  acres,  a little  less  than  two- 
thirds  of  this  area  (nearly  64  per  cent.)  being  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Brahmaputra  and  Surma,  which  con- 
tain as  much  as  268,796  acres,  154,281  in  Assam  (the 
Brahmaputra  Valley)  and  114,512  in  Oachar  and  Sylhet 
(the  Surma  Valley).  In  extent  of  cultivation  Bengal 
comes  next,  though  the  acreage  is  much  smaller  than 
in  either  of  the  divisions  of  Assam,  the  area  under 
tea  being  121,121  acres,  or  about  29  per  cent,  of  the 
whole. 
The  cultivation  of  tea  is,  therefore,  to  the  extent 
of  between  92  and  93  per  cent,  of  the  whole  area, 
limited  to  tho  two  provinces  of  Assam  and  Bengal. 
The  relatively  small  extent  of  the  remaining  acreage 
is  divided  tolerably  equally  between  Northern  and 
Southern  India,  thus 
NOBTHERN  INDIA. 
North-Western  Provinces 
Acres. 
- 7,6.52 
Punjab 
- 8,921 
Total 
- 16,573 
IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 
Madras 
- 6,102 
Travancore  and  Cochin  - 
- 9,079 
Total 
- 15,181 
There  is  besides  a small  area  of  880  acres  in  Burma. 
Examining  the  localities  a little  : 
more  closely,  we 
find  tea  cultivation  thus  distributed 
in  the  different 
provinces' — 
IN  ASSAM. 
Surma  Valley  : 
Acres. 
Cachar 
59,586 
Sylhet 
54,926 
Brahmaputra  Valley  : 
Sibsagar 
59,925 
Lakhimpur 
. . 44,477 
Darrang 
33,101 
Nowgong 
11,837 
Kamruk  . . ... 
4,. 534 
IN  BENGAL. 
Darjiling 
70,038 
Jalpaiguri 
43,133 
Chittagong 
. . 4,501 
Lohardaga  and  Hazaribagh 
3,349 
IN  THE  NORTH-WESTEEN  PROVINCES. 
Kumaun  . . . . . . 3,140 
Dehra  Dun  . . . . . • 4,512 
IN  THE  PUNJAB. 
Kangra  . . . . • • 8,826 
SOUTHERN  INDIA. 
Nilgiris  . . . . • • 5,697 
Travancore  . . • • • • 9,022 
In  Burma  the  cultivation,  which  is  (piite  trill- 
ing, is  carried  on  in  the  Upper  Chindwin  and  Katha 
Districts,  There  are  a few  small  areas  also  in 
Goalpara  and  the  Khasi  and  Jaintia  hills,  in  the 
Chittagong  hill  tracts,  in  Simla,  Malabar,  and  Cochin. 
Where  tho  acreage  is  largest,  there  also  is  the  yield 
of  leaf  to  the  acre  the  largest.  It  is  evident  that 
tea  cultivation  in  India  has  been  mainly  concen- 
trated in  those  places  where  a heavy  rainfall  and 
a humid  and  equable  climate  permit  of  repeated 
plnckings  and  flashings.  In  the  valleys  of  the 
Brahmaputra  and  Surma  the  yield  averages  about 
420  pounds  to  the  acre,  and  in  Bengal  about  .330 
iiounds,  the  yield  in  .Jalpaiguri  (the  Duars)  being 
exceptionally  large.  In  Dehra  Dun  and  in  Travan- 
core the  yield  is  about  the  same  as  in  Bengal,  while 
elsewhere  it  is  much  lower.  The  area  under  tea  has 
expanded  from  year  to  year  without  a pause  during 
the  decade  comprised  in  these  tables.  In  1885  the 
area  was  283,925  acres;  in  1894  it  had  increased  to 
422,551  acres,  the  increase  being  in  the  ratio  of  48  8 
per  cent. 
68 
The  number  of  acres  added  to 
each  year  was  : — 
the  tea-growing  area 
Acres. 
Acres. 
1886 
14,294 
1891 
17,610 
1887 
14,584 
1892 
12,432 
1888 
11,.525 
1893 
20,970 
1889 
9,374 
1894 
26,712 
1890 
11,126 
in  the  last  five 
acres)  than  the 
The  average  of  the  acreage  added 
years  was  very  much  larger  (17,770 
average  increase  (12,444  acres)  in  the  four  preceding 
years.  The  largest  increase  of  all,  it  may  be  observed 
in  passing,  was  in  the  two  years  1893  and  1894,  the 
former  of  these  being  the  year  in  which  the  Mints 
were  closed,  an  event  which  was  regarded  by  some 
as  the  herald  of  disaster  to  the  tea-planting  in- 
dustry. 
PRODUCTION. 
The  quantity  of  tea  produced  has  increased  in  the  de- 
aede  in  much  greater  ratio  than  the  area  under  culti- 
vation for,  while  the  area  has  increased  by  less  than  49 
per  cent,  the  increase  in  production  has  been  over  88  per 
cent.  Taking  the  area  and  production  in  1885  as  being 
in  both  cases  represented  by  100,  the  subjoined  table 
shows  the  ratio  of  increase  in  each  compared  with  that 
year.  The  figures  of  the  actual  increase  of  produc- 
tion each  year  over  the  production  of  the  preceding 
year  are 
also  added 
— 
Quantity 
Actual  in- 
Area. 
produced. 
crease  an- 
nually in  lb. 
1885 
106 
100  ' 
• • • • 
1886 
105 
115 
10,899,835 
1887 
110 
129 
9,826,270 
1888 
114 
139 
7,540,462 
1889 
117 
149 
7,250,331 
4,993,531 
1890 
121 
156 
1891 
127 
173 
11,831,496 
1892 
132 
170 
—1,873,628 
1893 
139. 
184 
10,253,626 
1894 
149 
188 
2,465,144 
Cachar  de- 
In  1892  the  production 
in  Assam  and 
dined,  the  decline  in  Oachar  and  Sylhet  especially 
being  so  considerable  as  to  affect  the  general  results, 
though  there  was  a large  increase  in  Bengal  and  else- 
where. In  1894  there  was  again  a decline,  but  a 
smaller  one,  in  Oachar  and  Sylhet,  and  in  Bengal 
there  was  but  a small  increase. 
PERSONS  EMPLOYED. 
The  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  tea) 
industry  in  1894  is  returned  at  383,505  (permanently 
and  156,120  (temporarily),  or  altogether  a little  over  half 
a million  people  (539,625),  which  would  work  out 
to  about  1’28  persons  to  the  acre.  The  accuracy 
of  the  figures  is,  however,  open  to  question. 
EXPORTS  AND  CONSUMPTION. 
The  tea  produced  in  India  is  exported  mainly 
to  tho  United  Kingdom,  to  the  extent  of  about  96 
per  cent  on  the  average  production.  The  subjoined 
figures  give  approximately  tho  quantity  of  tea  con- 
sumed in  India,  the  figures  representing  the  average 
of  the  last  five  years  : — 
lb. 
( Produced  . . 124,971,905 
Indian  Tea  t Exported 
( Left  in  India 
120,439,095 
4,532,810 
6,789,337 
4,341,044 
2,448,293 
of  all  tea  in  India 
I Imported 
Foreign  Tea  j Re-exported 
(Left  in  India 
Thus  the  average  consumption 
seems  to  be  about  seven  million  pounds,  of  which 
4J  million  are  Indian  and  2^  million  are  foreign.  It 
may  be  added  that  Ceylon  provides  India  with  nearly 
a million  pounds  of  the  foreign  tea  imported. 
This  consumption  comes  to  only  0 0241b.  per  hea 
of  the  population  according  to  the  census  of  1891,  or  say 
one-fortieth  of  a pound,  a quantity  .which  contrasts 
strongly  with  a consumption  in  the  United  Kingdom  of 
from  5i  to  SMb.  per  head.  Broadly,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  Indian  consumption  of  tea  per  head  is  exceeded  by 
the  United  Kingdom  more  than  two  hundred  times. 
Indeed,  such  as  it  is,  the  consumption  of  tea  in 
India  is  to  a substantial  extent  due  to  the  European 
population,  for  more  than  one  million  pounds  are 
