I could tell of more difficulties the cultivation had to contend with at the outset, but I have said enough to show, as I remarked, “that it was not strange Tea enterprise failed, inasmuch as it would have been much stranger if it had not.”
Do any of the difficulties enumerated exist now? And may a person embarking in Tea to-day hope, with reasonable hope, for success? Yes, certainly, I think as regard the latter--the former let us look into.[3]
People who understand more or less of Tea are plentiful, and a good manager, who knows Tea cultivation and Tea manufacture well, may be found. It will scarcely pay to buy land of the Government at the present high rates, but many people hold large tracts in good Tea localities, and would readily sell.
There is plenty of flat land to be got, so no evil from slopes need be incurred.
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.
[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.
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.