A large quantity of tea is now imported from this island, and new plantations, it is reported, are being made every month; day by day more of the primeval forest goes down before the axe of the pioneer, and before another quarter of a century has passed it is anticipated that the teas of our Indian empire will become the most valuable of its products. The cultivation of tea in India, and the processes to which it is subjected after the leaf is gathered, differ from those of China. According to Dr. Jameson, the great difficulty of the Indian tea-planter arises from the wonderful fertility of the soil and the strength of the tea-plant. As soon as the plants "flush" the leaf must be plucked, or it deteriorates to such an extent as to become valueless, and at the next "flush" the plant will be found bare of the young leaves. The delay of even a single day may be fatal. The leaf when plucked must be roasted forthwith, or it ferments and becomes valueless, as is also the case in China. There, however, the tea-harvest occurs only four or five times a year, but in India once a fortnight during some seven months of the year. The number of work-people required on a tea-farm may be estimated from the figures given by Dr. Rhind, who says that to manufacture eighty pounds of black tea per day twenty-five tea-gatherers are requisite, and ten driers and sorters; to produce ninety-two pounds of green tea, thirty gatherers and sixteen driers and sorters. From "A Tea-Planter's Life in Assam" we take the following account of work in a tea-garden:--