This, too, I have seen since I published the first edition of this Essay. The elevation of the station, 6,900 feet, is far too great; but plantations lower down do tolerably well (that is, well for hill gardens). The climate, like all hill climates, is too cold. As regards transport the Darjeeling plantations will be well situated when the railroad now constructing is finished. Like elevations in Darjeeling and Kumaon are in favour of the former, first, because the latitude is less; secondly, because Darjeeling has much more rain in the spring. I believe, therefore, that the hill plantations of Darjeeling have a better chance of paying than the gardens in Kumaon, but, as stated before, no elevated gardens, that is, none in the Himalayas, have any chance in the race against plantations in the plains, always providing the latter are in a good Tea climate.
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]
Kumaon.
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]
I need scarcely, after this, add that I do not approve of Kumaon for Tea. An exhilarating and bracing climate for man is not suited to the Tea plant. The district has one solitary advantage—rich soil. I have never seen richer, more productive land than exists in some of the Kumaon oak forests, but even this cannot in the case of Tea counter-balance the climate. Any crop which does not require much heat and moisture will grow to perfection in that soil. Such potatoes as it produces! Were the difficulties of transport not so great, a small fortune might be made by growing them.
Could any part of Kumaon answer for Tea it would be the lower elevations in the outer ranges of the hills, but these are precisely the sites that have not been chosen. Led, as in my own case, partly by the Government example, partly by the wish to be out of sight of the “horrid plains,” and in sight of that glorious panorama the snowy range, planters have chosen the interior of Kumaon. Some wisely (I was not one of them) selected low sites, valleys sheltered from the cold winds; but even their choice has not availed much. The frost in winter lingers longest in the valleys, and though doubtless the yield there is larger, owing to the increased heat in summer, the young plants suffer much in the winter. The outer ranges, owing to the heat radiating from the plains, are comparatively free from frost, but there again the soil is not so rich. Still they would unquestionably be preferable to the interior.
Labour is plentiful in Kumaon and very cheap—Rs. 4 per mensem. Transport is very expensive. It costs not a little to send Tea from the interior over divers ranges of hills to the plains. It has then some days’ journey by cart ere it meets the rail, to which 1,000 miles of carriage on the railroad has to be added.
Since the above was written, Kumaon has secured a good local market, and I believe sells most of its Tea unpacked to merchants who come from over the border to buy it.