The Cultivation and Manufacture of TeaMoney, Edward
Science
The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea
Money, Edward
Tea
When this was written, the experience detailed related to Dehra Dhoon,
the Kumaon, and Kangra gardens, and we see that five flushes or
gatherings are thought good. It however makes matters in this respect
(far from a general fault in the said “Records”) worse than they are.
Ten and twelve flushes, with _high_ cultivation, can be got in the
North-west. But what is this as against twenty and twenty-five?
Labour is plentiful and cheap. The great distance from the coast makes
transport very expensive.
KANGRA.
This is a charming valley, with a delightful climate more favourable
to Tea than the Dehra Dhoon, still it is not a perfect Tea climate. It
is too dry and too cold. The soil is good for Tea, better than that
of the Dhoon, but inferior to some rich soils in the Himalayan oak
forests. Local labour is obtainable at cheap rates. Distance makes
transport for export very difficult; but a good local market now exists
in the Punjab, and a good deal of Tea is bought at the fairs, and taken
away by the wild tribes over the border. With the limited cultivation
there, I should hope planters will find a market for all their produce.
Manure must be obtainable (manure had not been thought of for Tea when
I visited Kangra), and if liberally applied, it will increase the yield
greatly.
Kangra is strictly a Himalayan district, but the elevation is moderate,
if I remember right, about 3,000 feet, and the land is so slightly
sloping it may almost be called level. A great advantage this over the
steep lands, on which most of the Himalayan gardens, many in Cachar,
and some in Assam and Chittagong, are planted.
Kangra is _not_ the best place for a man who wants to make money by
Tea; but for one who would be content to settle there, and content to
make a livelihood by it, a more desirable spot with a more charming
climate could not be found. Land, however, is not easily procured.
The Teas produced in Kangra are of a peculiarly delicate flavour, and
are consequently highly esteemed in the London market.
DARJEELING.
This, too, I have seen since I published the first edition of this
Essay. The elevation of the station, 6,900 feet, is far too great;
but plantations lower down do tolerably well (that is, well for hill
gardens). The climate, like all hill climates, is too cold. As regards
transport the Darjeeling plantations will be well situated when the
railroad now constructing is finished. Like elevations in Darjeeling
and Kumaon are in favour of the former, _first_, because the latitude
is less; _secondly_, because Darjeeling has much more rain in the
spring. I believe, therefore, that the hill plantations of Darjeeling
have a better chance of paying than the gardens in Kumaon, but, as
stated before, no elevated gardens, that is, none in the Himalayas,
have any chance in the race against plantations in the plains, always
providing the latter are in a good Tea climate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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