In two respects, however, Darjeeling is behind Kumaon. The soil is not so good, and the land is much steeper. It is more than absurd, some of the steeps on which Tea is planted in the former; and such precipices can, I am sure, never pay. Gardens, barely removed above the Terai (and there are such in Darjeeling), can scarcely be called “elevated,” and for them the remarks applied to the Terai are more fitting. As a broad rule it should be recognised that the lower Tea is planted in the Himalayas the better chance it has.
All the plants in the Darjeeling gardens, with but few exceptions, are China.
The China plant makes by far the best Green Tea, and I believe the Darjeeling gardens would pay much better than they do if they altered their manufacture from black to green. (See further on, under the head of Hazareebaugh, what has been done in this way.) All Himalayan gardens should, in my opinion, make Green Tea (Kumaon has awoke to the fact), for all have China plants, and can therefore make far better Green Tea than can be produced from the Hybrid which is so general in plain gardens.[9]
It was in this district (a charming climate to live in, with magnificent scenery to gaze at) I first planted Tea in India, and I much wish for my own sake, and that of others, I had not done so. I knew nothing of Tea at the time, and I thought a district selected by Government for inaugurating the cultivation must necessarily be a good one. No hill climate _can_ be a good one for Tea; but the inner part of Kumaon, very cold, owing to its elevation, high latitude, and distance from the plains, is a peculiarly bad one. Yet there it was Government made nurseries, distributed seed gratis, recommended the site for Tea (see the “Records” alluded to), and led many on to their ruin by doing so. The intention of the Government was good, but the officers in charge of the enterprise were much to blame, perhaps not for making the mistake at first (no one _at the first_ knew what climate was suitable), but for perpetuating the mistake, when later very little enquiry would have revealed the truth. I believe it was guessed at by Government officials long ago, but it was easier to sing the old tune; and a very expensive song it has proved to many.[10]