The manufacture of Tea (though still progressing) is simple, economical, and more or less known. Anyhow a beginner now will commence where others have left off. Of course to buy a made garden cheap is better than to make one; but the result in this case is of course no criterion of what profit may be expected from Tea cultivation. As many of the items to be calculated under the heads of cultivation, manufacture, and receipts will be better understood after details on these subjects are gone into, I shall reserve the consideration of “how much profit Tea can give” to the end of this treatise. FOOTNOTES: [1] Since the Second Edition went to press, further Rules for Waste Lands have been enacted. Generally speaking, they are only now leased to applicants. [2] I need scarcely observe it is impossible to define lands from maps alone without the field-book. [3] Note to Third Edition.--Since the above was written, Teas, both Indian and Chinese, have had a heavy fall, due to the simple fact that the supplies have exceeded the demands. But with increased knowledge and experience, producers can afford to sell cheaper, and the present absurdly low prices ruling will, I think, work their own cure. CHAPTER II. LABOUR, LOCAL AND IMPORTED. When the very large amount of labour required to carry on a plantation is considered, it is evident that facilities for it are a _sine quâ non_ to success. Assam and Cachar, the two largest Tea districts, are very thinly populated, and almost entirely dependent on imported labour.[4] The expense of this is great, and it is the one, and consequently a great drawback to those provinces. The only district I know of with a good Tea climate and abundance of local labour is Chittagong.[5] Several other places have a good supply of local labour, but then their climates are not very suitable. Each coolie imported costs Rs. 30 and upwards (it used to be much more) ere he arrives on the garden and does any work. After arrival he has to be housed; to be cared for and _physicked_ when sick; to be paid when ill as when working; to have work found for him, or paid to sit idle when there is no work; and in addition to all this every death, every desertion, is a loss to the garden of the whole sum expended in bringing the man or woman. Contrast this with the advantages of local labour. In many cases no expense for buildings is necessary, as the labourers come daily to work from adjacent villages, and in such cases no expense is entailed by sick men, for these simply remain at home. There is no loss by death or desertions. When no work is required on the garden, labour is simply not employed. All this makes local labour, even where the rate of wages is high, very much cheaper than imported.