I will now endeavour to draw up a tabular statement of the respective advantages of the various Tea districts as regards climate, labour, lay of land, soil, facilities of procuring manure and transport.

In importance I regard them in the order given. I place labour before soil, because the fact is in all the provinces suitable and good soil for Tea can be found somewhere; and therefore while soil is all-important in selecting a site, it is secondary to labour in deciding on a district. Lay of land comes after labour. When my information on any point is not sure I place a note of interrogation. Where advantages are equal, or nearly so, I give the same number, and the greater the advantage of a district on the point treated in the column the smaller the number. Thus, under the head of climate Assam is marked 1.

As the following table gives no information as to which of all the districts possesses the greatest advantages, all things considered, but only gives my opinion of each under each head, and the subject closed in this way would be unsatisfactory, I may state that, in my opinion, the choice should lie between the three first and the last on the list; and my choice would be the last.

Comparative advantages of the Tea Districts in India as regards climate, labour, lay of land, soil, manure, and transport.

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.

It was long believed that Tea would thrive best on poor soil. The idea was due to the description of Tea soils in China to be found in the first books that treated of Tea. But the fact that Tea, as a rule, is only grown in China on soil which is useless for anything else quite alters the case. If a soil is light and friable enough, it cannot be too rich for Tea.

Ball's book 'On the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China' has much on Tea soils, but the opinions the author collected are sadly at variance, and on the whole teach nothing.

In conclusion I will attempt to point out the qualities in soils in which the Tea plant delights, as also the qualities it abhors.

It loves soils friable, that is, easily divided into all their atoms. This argues a fair proportion of sand, but this should not be in excess, or the soil will be poor. The soil should be porous imbibing and parting with water freely. The more decayed vegetable matter on its surface the better.

To be avoided are stiff soils of every kind, as also those

which when they dry, after rain, cake together and split. Avoid also black coloured, or even dark coloured earths. All soils good for the Tea plant are light coloured. If, however, the dark colour arises from decayed vegetation that is not the colour of the soil, and, as observed, vegetable matter is a great advantage. Judge of colour when soil is dry--for even light-coloured soil looks dark when wet. Soil which will make bricks will not grow tea, and though I have sometimes seen young plants thrive on stiff soil, I do not believe in any stiff soil as a permanence.

Stones, if not in excess, are advantageous in all soils inclined to be stiff, for they help to keep them open. But then they must not be large, as if so they act as badly as a rocky substratum preventing the descent of the tap-root.

The reason, I take it, why Tea thrives best in light soils is that the spongioles or ends of the feeding roots are very tender, and do not easily penetrate any other.

There is more nourishment in stiffer soils, but for this reason the Tea plant cannot take advantage of it.

If a chosen soil be too stiff, it may be much improved for Tea by mixing sand with it. However, even where sand is procurable near, the expense of this is great. When done, the sand should be mixed with the soil taken out of the holes in which the plants are to be placed (see Transplanting), and it may be done again later by placing sand round the plants and digging it in. All this, though, is extra labour and very expensive, so none but a good Tea soil should ever be selected, and it is very easily found, for it exists in parts of all the districts discussed.

CHAPTER V.

NATURE OF JUNGLE.

I have heard many

I HAVE not much to say under this head. opinions as to the kind of trees and jungle that should exist in contemplated clearances, but I attach little or no weight to them, at all events in Bengal.

In the Himalayas it is somewhat different. There oak trees should be sought for; their existence invariably makes rich soil.1 Fir, on the contrary, indicates poor soil. At elevations, however, the desideratum of a warm aspect interferes, for the best oak forests are on the colder side. I speak of course of elevations practicable, say three or four thousand feet; above this it is a waste of money to try and cultivate Tea,

In Bengal I do not think the nature of the jungle on land contemplated signifies much. As a rule, the thicker the jungle the richer the soil; but in seeking for a site large trees should not be a sine quâ non. Much of the coarse grass land is very good, and large trees add enormously to the expense of clearings. It is not.cutting them down which is so expensive, it is cutting them up and getting rid of them by burning, or otherwise, after the former is done.

2

I have discussed soil fully already, and need only add here that if the knowledge to do so exists, it is better to judge of soil from the soil itself than from the vegetation on it, though doubtless a fact that luxuriant vegetation indicates rich soil.

1 The oak tree leaves cause a rich deposit of vegetable matter.

2 The Western Dooars are in many parts covered with this coarse grass, and nowhere is there better soil.

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