Method of gathering Tea Leaves.—The season for gathering leaves generally commences about the beginning of April, and continues until October; the number of gatherings varies, depending on the moistness and dryness of the season. If the season be good, that is to say, if rain falls in the cold weather and spring, and the general rains be favourable, as many as five gatherings may be obtained.
Three general gatherings.
When this was written, the experience detailed related to Dehra Dhoon, the Kumaon, and Kangra gardens, and we see that five flushes or gatherings are thought good. It however makes matters in this respect (far from a general fault in the said “Records”) worse than they are. Ten and twelve flushes, with high cultivation, can be got in the North-west. But what is this as against twenty and twenty-five?
Labour is plentiful and cheap. The great distance from the coast makes transport very expensive.
Kangra.
This is a charming valley, with a delightful climate more favourable to Tea than the Dehra Dhoon, still it is not a perfect Tea climate. It is too dry and too cold. The soil is good for Tea, better than that of the Dhoon, but inferior to some rich soils in the Himalayan oak forests. Local labour is obtainable at cheap rates. Distance makes transport for export very difficult; but a good local market now exists in the Punjab, and a good deal of Tea is bought at the fairs, and taken away by the wild tribes over the border. With the limited cultivation there, I should hope planters will find a market for all their produce. Manure must be obtainable (manure had not been thought of for Tea when I visited Kangra), and if liberally applied, it will increase the yield greatly.
Kangra is strictly a Himalayan district, but the elevation is moderate, if I remember right, about 3,000 feet, and the land is so slightly sloping it may almost be called level. A great advantage this over the steep lands, on which most of the Himalayan gardens, many in Cachar, and some in Assam and Chittagong, are planted.
Kangra is not the best place for a man who wants to make money by Tea; but for one who would be content to settle there, and content to make a livelihood by it, a more desirable spot with a more charming climate could not be found. Land, however, is not easily procured.
The Teas produced in Kangra are of a peculiarly delicate flavour, and are consequently highly esteemed in the London market.