[10] Is it possible that the continued deception (it was nothing less) was owing to the fact that Government had gardens to sell there? They were advertised for sale a long time at absurd prices. [11] The rainfall given for the Western Dooars cannot be relied on. Perhaps more than the average fell in 1869, but anyhow, I should think 83 inches registered for August is an error. I know the yearly fall there is _not_ 252 inches. CHAPTER IV. SOIL. To pronounce as precisely on soil as to climate is not easy. The Tea plant will grow on almost any soil, and will flourish on many. Still there are broad general rules to be laid down in the selection of soils for Tea, which no one can ignore with impunity. When first I turned my attention to Tea, I collected soils from many gardens, noting in each case how the plants flourished. I then sat down to examine them, never doubting to arrive at some broad practical conclusions. I was sadly disappointed. I found the most opposing soils nourished, apparently, equally good plants. I knew not then much about Tea, and judged of the Tea bushes mostly by the size (a very fallacious test); still, after-experience has convinced me I was more or less right in the conclusion I then came to, that several soils are good for Tea. Nothing, then, but broad general rules can be laid down on this point, for I defy anyone to select any one soil as the best for Tea, to the exclusion of others. A light sandy loam is perhaps as good a soil as any _out_ of the Himalayas. It ought to be deep, and the more decayed vegetable matter there is lying on its surface the better. If deep enough for the descent of the tap-root, say 3 feet, it matters not much what the subsoil is, otherwise a yellowish red subsoil is an advantage. This subsoil is generally a mixture of clay and sand. Much of Assam, Cachar, and Chittagong is as the above, but, as a rule, it is richest in Assam, poorest in Chittagong. Where the loam is of a greasy nature (very different to clay), with a mixture of sand in it, it is superior to the above, for it has more body. All good Tea soils must have a fair proportion of sand, and if not otherwise apparent, it may be detected by mixing a little of the soil with spittle and rubbing it on the hand. If the hand be then held up towards the sun, the particles of sand will be seen to glisten. The soil so common in Kumaon, that is, light rich loam with any amount of decayed vegetable matter on it, and with a ferruginous reddish yellowish subsoil, is, I consider, the finest soil in the world for Tea. The rich decayed vegetable matter is the produce for centuries of oak leaves in the Himalayan forests, and, as all the world knows, oak only grows in temperate climes.