{ -a
T
IN
DARJEELING
BY
A PLANTER.

Axwrjerling

Printen By N. L. Roy, AT LOCHNAGAR, DARIET-
LING, IN THE SCOTCH MISSION ORPHANAGE PRESS,

-F

PREFACE,

eh Ee

Turse few Notes are published with the
belief that they will be of some assistance
to the young Tea Planter, The inform-
ation has been gathered from observation
and actual experience. And although
much has been written about tea, many of
the notions have not before appeared in
print. That these notes may prove of
some little help is the earnest wish of

A PLANTER.

aniaceeeemnieemmmmeet ee

INDEX.

Subject,

_ Assam Bushes...
t

Bangy Flushes
Beetles ...
Bhotias... .
Blending ii
Blight ,.. wee
Borers ~..
Box-covers
Bricks an
Building
Building Timber
Bulking a

Caddis.

Carpenters Rates
Caterpillars...
Challenge Roller
Charcoal vee
Climate esi

Cockchafer Grub
Contracts °,.,
Coolies Tie
Crickets
Cultivation ,,.

Deep Hoeing

Page.
a G

v 8I
eb

Subject, Page.
Distance to plant .. 15
Drains ie va 23

Duffadars ... tee 74

Engines Sa w 67
Estimates . ,.. iss. LOE

Fermentation ka 62
Ferns ee +e 23
Fire-wood ... 66, 69, 94.
Firitig Of 4: ve 63
Flushes im is 37
Fly-Green ... sae 49

Forest wa 94
Fork Hoe aS 21
Forking ise ae 19
Forks af 85

Gambling... oon 73
Garden Diary sae 89
Garden Implements 84
Grass-hoppers vee 55

Hail . ase 43, OF

Hand- ‘weeding sre 5r
Hoeing vet vee 19
Hoes... eee , 85
Holing ive ’ 7

Subject.
Jackson’s Roller
Jats of Nepalese
July Pruning

Kinmond’s Roller ...

Kyehs

Land...
Lepchas
Land Slips .

Machinery ...
Management
Manure
Manufacture
Mason’s Rates
May Pruning
Medicines
Mildew
Mortar
Mosquito

Nelsons’ Roller

Kales ee: “ñ
Plants per acre
Planting Tea
Plucking

Pony Allowance
Private Gardens
Pruning

Putty

Rain-fal ..;
Rats ..:

Subject, Page.

Red Leaf ~ ..; A 65
Red Spider ... wi 48
Reid’s Cutter na 69
Roads e n 83
Rolling ia m 64

seed ... isi w 79
Seed-beds ... ut 14
Seedlings... vas II
Shingles `.. cat 82
WICKING 9 G24 ii 2I
Sickles iii ih 85
Sieves iu ie 66

SIvGecOS ai w 68
SA tis bia si I
Solder sis toe 86
Soot Blight .., ie 52
Staking os a 4
| Strikes eae se 75
| Survey a w 9
| Sun-grass ... oes 97
Temperature of Factory 60
Lerracing “i. is 3
Ticcas a ree 74
Transplanting aa 17
| Treatment of young tea 12
Trees. iie san 98

Turbines ~... cy 66
Victoria Dryer oi 68

Water-wheels i 67
Withering

CHAPTER I.

Stak thn en eel

SOIL AND LAY OF LAND.

Nxaxkty all the good land in the Darjeeling
District has been either planted with Tea or
eultivated by the Natives and the few pieces
which are still available are generally covered
with Bamboo jungle, Bamboo jungle is so ex-
pensive to clear, and the bamboos themselves are
so valuable, that it is better to plant land that
has been under cultivation, unless the supply of
bamboos is unlimited, and plenty of money is
to be allowed for the new garden or extension

Tea will grow in almost any soil, but a black
loam with a fair amount of sand in itis to be
preferred ; if the subsoil is clay, it will not do so
well, except when the drainage is exceptionally
good, in which case gardens situated on dry

2 Soil and lay of Land.

ridges often give a very fair first flush (which
they would not do if the subsoil was sand), al-
though if the rainfall afterwards is very heavy,
they get clogged and blighted badly. Soil,
which has many rocks: in it, is always good, as
the rocks keep it open, and some gardens, which
are full of rocks, pay very well. . Although tea:
rushes up quicker in flats, lying close to the bed
of the river, a good slope is better. The flats
want a great deal of drainage, and although they
have. a splendid topsoil, the rocks are almost
always very near the surface and very often
directly the tea gets its roots well down, it begins
to die off in patches, through the roots having
got on to rocks. The flats are generally closed
in, and shut off from the wind, the heat thus
caused makes the tea grow very fast, but causes
blight. Some gardens have put out all their
good land and are now extending on land that
is positively precipitous and really dangerous to
cross. This will never pay, as the soil will soon
bo washed away when cultivation begins, (leav-
ing the roots bare). I saw a piece of new

4

Planting Tea. 3

extension, the other day, which was too steep to
terrace and grooves about 4 inches deep had been
cut. Tea with a southern aspect never comes on
well. Indian corn is the chief crop grown by the
Natives. The roots only go down a few inches and
do not do much damage to the soil. But where
rice has beon grown a very deep hoeing is
wanted as the topsoil is sour. Land of this sort
ought to be allowed to lie fallow for a year at
least.

PLANTING TEA.

All jungle should be cut and burnt and land
boed if possible and all steep pieces terraced.
There are two ways of terracing,—Ilst. By cutting
your terraces directly the land is cleaned and
making them the required breadth at once}
Leave all roots and stumps in to hold up sides
of terraces; And start from the highest point.
Work, along as if a road was being made, following
the curves of the land. When the first man has
got about 2 yards along, start another coolie under

4 Planting Tea.

his terrace ; this man cuts down at the lower side,
"leaving required breadth and follows the run of
upper terrace, and so on placing one man under
the other. II. The other plan is to line out for
terraces and then plant, only cutting a groove at
first and every time the extension is hoed throw-
ing the soil so much further back. This mode
has many advantages, It is cheap. The plant gets

the benefit of the good topsoil, and there is less .

risk of slips the first year. The lines of the
terraces are not so good, and the plants are too
near the outer edge. After the terraces are done,
coolies should not be allowed, on any account, to
fouch the sides of the terraces with hoes, but
Jungle should be allowed. to grow, and when it
gets long, cut with a sickle. The great advantage
of terracing is that it prevents wash to a great
extent. But terraces are more expensive to
keep up, as instead of one gang of people on
hoeing, two gangs have to be kept at work one
sickling and one hoeing. Directly the land ig
cleaned, it will have tobe staked up. The terraces
are very easy to stake, as the coolies measure from

Planting Tea. 5

one stake to another and drive in on upper side of
levelled face. The non-terraced piece will have
to be lined out with ropes. The best way is to
strike a square with carpenter’s square and run
two ropes down and one across, and then measure
from each stake, pieces of cloth in the rope are no
good, as the rope will stretch. If the lines
are straight up and down, it will be sufficient,
but if the lines are to be planted straight,
everyway, some few inches extra will sometimes
have to be allowed for the dips in the land, and
where the hill slopes two ways, except on flats
or very gradual slopes, it is scarcely worth
while making the lines straight each way, as the
coolies never do good work when working across
a hill. Terraces ought to be planted very closely,
say 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches apart. The bushes on
terraces, particularly on steep land, run up very
much trying to get above the edge of upper
terrace, and it will be found difficult to get such
level surfaces as can be done on a good lay of land,
For this reason, plant closely, and a thick hedge of
bushes along each terraces will be the result,

6 Planting Tea,

Many new extensions, in the hills, are being put
out 4x4 and 5x5; this is too far apart. 3x3
is quite far enough, and even then it will be years
before the bushes are touching. All bad soil,
steep pieces and tops of ridges ought to be put
out 2x2. This keeps the soil from washing down
and gives a much better result. A private garden
in this district was all planted out 2x2, and the
result has been a great success. Very little of the
land is good and some of it very steep, but the
yeild is 5 mds. an acre now, and the proprietor
said the other day, that he hoped to work it
up to8 mds. an acre, within the next 3 years,
Very few gardens, in this district, give even 4 mds.
and even the present yeild is a sure sign
that the system is right. Plants up here take so
very much longer to grow, and it takes so many
years to get a garden (planted even 3x3)
touching, that before long all extensions will
be planted much more closely, and the ones now
planted far apart be filled in again. It takes
about 6 years for an extension, planted 4 by 4, to
even pay expenses; whereas one planted closely

siii

Planting Tea. 7

would do so in 4 years for certain. After the
stakes are fixed, the coolies have to make holes for
the seed, not on any account touching the stake,
but making the hole close up. These holes
ought to be cut about 15 to 18 inches deep and
all stones taken out, and the holes filled in again
with surface soil, and pressed down a little. Never
leave the holes open too lung, as the soil cakes.
Have one gang of people making the holes, and
another, following on the next day, filling them
up; then the manager or man in-charge of work
Gan see every evening and morning that the holes
are cut to the proper depth and all rocks taken
out. There is a great rush just at present for
high Jat Assamand Hybred Seed for planting up
here. This rush will not last, and it is a mistake,
The Assam Seedling does not stand the cold well.
Has to be treated very tenderly and even when it
grows intoa fine big bush, does not give anything
like the yeild one would expect. The bushes, when
you look into them, have really very little real yeild-
ing wood, and al! the shoots come from a few stems
and the teas although stronger than China, arè

8

Planting Tea.

| | nothing like what the real’ Assam grown leaf would
give. Sometimes, if an exceptionally cold month
is experienced in the rains, the bushes stop flushing
altogether until warm weather returns. Besides |
this, the seed is very expensive, and after its long ;
journey from Assam, rarely arrives here in good |
condition and lots of vacancies are the result,
The China plant, although it does not look so well,
yields much better, and comes on in any soil, It
takes longer to grow than the Assam does, but
gives a much better yield, often 5 or 6 maunds an
acre. Whereas, I do not think there is a garden
up here with much Assam Plant that gives more |
than 4 maunds per acre, The China leaf makes
pretty and flavoury teas, and the gardens, which
get the best prices up here, are (with one excep- |
tion) all China gardens, Any one opening up |
a garden in this climate, should plant all
his land with China, If he has any very low lying
flats Assam will do fairly, but even then Hybrid
is best. If a fixed area is to be planted, a pro“
fessional survey should be made. Extensions

are generally measured by the stakes and a

Planting Tea. 9

12 ft. Bamboo, but mistakes occur and very often
the acreage is yery short. Messrs. Kinney &
Sons of Calcutta survey cheaply. and their maps
are most useful, as no measurement will be
required afterwards, either in hoeing or jungle
cutting, as it can be told at a glance, what
coolies will! be required to clean a particular
piece. Plant two seeds, to a tully, that is, if
the seed is good, If bad, plant 4 or 5 and
where ever the plants come up too thickly, draw all
but two, and use the plants to fillin the other
vacancies. 8 or 10 seeds are sometimes planted in
each tully, and all, except 4 left at the corners of a
square drawn at 6 months, If the seed is very
plentiful this insures the extension being full of
plants and other of the seedlings can be drawn
afterwards, although if left in these 4 seedlings
make a very good plant. Seed, if it comes from any
distance, should be planted directly it arrives,
as it will deteriorate rapidly. Even with seed
plucked on ones own garden, it is advisable to
plant as soon as possible, and the sooner seed
is planted the better it will germinate, If the

10

Planting Tea.

seed has to be kept in bulk, never pile it up, lay
if out in layers and turn over every other day.
If you lay it in heaps it ferments and rots. Do
not put it in the sun, but keep it in some cool
place and damp it occasionally. Sow the seed 1 inch
deep in damp soil, 2 inches deep where the sun
strikes very strongly. Do not plant theseed too
deep, as it will spoil the seedling. 2 inches is deep
enough for anything. After planting, put some
jungle over each tully, to keep the damp in the soil
Another advantage of this is that any soil, which is
washed down hill, falls on to the top of the jungle,
and when this is taken off, the earth is thrown
off at same time. Take the jungle off in May,
directly the seedlings begin to show above the
surface, and loosen the soil of the tullies with
a small fork, as in some oases it will have got
caked and hard and prevent the seedlings showing
up. If possible do nothing but hand weeding
for the first year, but if the jungle gets at all,
long -sickle it and hand weed the tullies, If
long jungle is allowed to remain, (even for a few
days) it draws the seedling up, and if there is

Planting Tea. 11

any hot sun, directly after the jungle is cut, `
the plants wither down and in many cases die.
Germinated Seed gives so much trouble that it is
not a good thing to use. The coolies, unless
most carefully watched, break off the tender root
and in some cases, even plant the root upwards,
It is impossible to watch more than a very few
people, and great loss will occur through the seed
getting damaged, In the 1st week of August,
if possible, fill in all vacancies with 6 months
seedlings. Very large seed-beds ought always to
be made, so that the lst year 6 months seedlings
can be used, and 2nd year 18 months seedlings,
thus keeping the young tea as level as possible,
If in the cold weather, it is found that many of
the seedlings are weedy straggling plants, prune
them back to about 6 inches. Many extensions
are put òut with 6 months plants and in some
cases with 18 months plants, in the latter case,
unless the plants are pruned down low, the first
cold weather they will take another year to recover
the shock before they begin to grow again,
There can be no doubt that the cheapest way to

12

Planting Tea.

extend is to plant 18 months seedlings, as it saves
1} years expense of cultivation, but there is more
risk of vacancies and most gardens want all their
Jabour during the rains and cannot spare enough
coolies to plant any large area. In the 2nd year,
the work will be easier, that is, if the tea has
been well filled in, more sickling can be done
and a hoeing in May and another in October
will be found very beneficial. It is a good plan
to leave a little jungle on the land during
the cold weather, as it helps to shade the
plant. Of course only in the lines between
tullies, All tullies should be kept clean.
Many pieces of new tea are hoed in November or
December after the jungle has stopped growing,
do not do this, as the soil gets very dry and as the

little plants’ root is only a very short way

down and it suffers accordingly. Whereas, if you hoe
in September or October, some jungle springs
up again. If your plants are China, keep them
down very low 18 inches to 2 feet is quite
sufficient for a full grown plant. But if they are
Assam, prune back second year to 16 inches, 3rd

Planting Tea. 18

year 20 inches, leaving as much wood as possible
at the sides of bushes. * Pluck very lightly for the
first 4 years, It is better not to pluck 3 year old
tea until June, by when the bushes have put
on a lot of wood. Do not touch the sides, and pluck
all the hushes with a measure. In many cases the
plants are allowed to ran up for 8 years and cut
back heavily in the 4th year, This plan does very
well. Another good idea is to prune heavily in the
cold weather, and cut back to 5 inches of growth
in the beginning of J uly. The yield from the plant
is less, but it gets into grand order and will make
up for the loss of leaf the next year. ` Never try

to plant out tea too cheaply, it does not pay. An

extension will probably cost 40 Rupees per acre
Ist year, 30 Rupees 2nd year and 15 to 20 Rupees
for 3rd and 4th year, per acre. Tea scarcely ever
pays in Darjeeling, until it is at least 5 years
old. Many agents and proprietors give a com-
mission per acre on all extensions, if there are not
10 per cent vacancies. This is a good plan, as it
ensures extra care; the only objection to it is
that the old’ tea may be neglected for the new,
2

14 Seed- Beds,

but this is not likely as most probably the manager
is drawing commission on his profits,

CHAPTER II.
SEED-BEDS

should be made on level or nearly level pieces of
ground and a plentiful supply of water should be
handy. All bamboo roots should be cleared out,
and the ground hoed very deeply, the deeper the
better. Hoeat least two feet deep and clear out all
rocks, stones and pieces of root. The beds should
not be more than 3 feet or 3 feet 6 inches broad,
as if they are, the children will not be able to weed
the beds properly, without treading on them.
Make the drains, between the beds, about 18
inches broad. All beds ought to run with the
slope of the hill. When the seed-beds are very
4 large ones, make bamboo nullas to bring the water
| across: the bed, and cut deep holes at intervals, so

that the water can be run into them, and always
be handy for the coolies watering. After the bed
has been hoed twice, send another gang of coolies
over the land, breaking up all clods with clubs

Seed-Beds. 15

and levelling the soil down. The seed ought to be
planted at least 4x4: inches, or even farther than
this apart. But the great difficulty in the hills
is to geta ny fairly level land, and 6 x 6 takes up
so much room, that itis very hard to find land
to plant any large amount of seed. If the seed
is planted too closely, the plant comes up a
miserably weak, whippy, seedling, and is very often
scarcely worth putting out. Whereas, if the seed-
lings ave a fair distance apart, they get good strong
healthy stems, and are always a success, On
many gardens, seed is planted broadcast, and the
worst seedlings weeded out, but this is a bad
plan, Always choose good soil for your seed-
beds, but it is not necessary to manure it. Earth
from the roots of Bamboo clumps may be added, or if
the soil is too heavy, a little sand mixed with it,
Ina seed-bed, made on a flat, where cattle had
been standing, not a seedling lived, as everyone was
eaten off by Koomlas (cockchafer grub), In many 7
cases the beds are shaded during the cold weather
with sun-grass or mats. ‘Chis saves labour in water-
ing, but all shade should be taken off by April, and

Seed- Beds.

16
if there are any overhanging boughs from trees,
they ought to be lopped. For, although the seed-
lings will look healthy and run up under the shade,
still, if they get any hot sun after being trans-
planted, they will die at once. Many planters
prefer very bad soil for their seed-beds, saying
that when the plants are removed into better
soil, they get a grand start, but although the
theory is good, as a matter of fact, a weedy sickly
seedling nearly always turns out a sickly plant,
The seed should be planted 1 inch to 14 inches deep,
and on no account, deeper, Seedlings never come
on so wellin beds, that have been planted before,
unless fresh soil is carried. If there is very little
land available for seed-beds, you may plant twice,
carrying some soil the second time, but after this
stake up bed and leave plants to stakes, thus
making a small extension, and this small extension
can be utilized as a seed garden and grown accord-
ingly. By this, I mean letting them run high
and not picking leaf, but only seed. Seed is
ready for plucking, when it turns brown and be-
gins to crack. Only pluck bushes, that are very

Transplanting. 17

healthy. All seed-beds should be made in October
or November, and planted in December. Any
_ gaps or large vacant spaces in old cultivation may
be utilized as seed-beds, In this case plant your
seed 6 inches by 6 inches.

TRANSPLANTING,

This is most trying work and simply end-
less. On old Cultivation, where the lines are
anyhow and vacancies 25 to 30 per cent, double
stake all your seedlings and do not fill in too much
at once, but go over each piece several times, until
you are sure each seedling will live. 18 months
seedlings are best. Start transplanting in June and
keep on all the rains. Dig holes for the plants,
place two plants in the hole, and gradually fill in the
soil until the plant has a good grip, Never drill in
anything except 6 mouths seedlings. Hoe the filled
in piece regularly, and do not let any heavy jungle
get on to it, as if it does the coolies will cut many
of the transplants, Old seedlings are not to be
despised, if they have good stems. Cut them
down to the ground in the cold weather after they

18 Cultivation,

have been planted and they will come on well
and soon form bushes. If you leave them high,
they take years before they start growing again.
If roots of seedlings are very long, cut taproot
with a knive, the same if they are slightly broken.
Always carry the plants with as much as possible
of the soil attached to their roots. If you water
the beds well before transplanting, the soil will
hold better. If seedlings are very long, cut back

_afew days after they have been transplanted

particularly if they appear to have felt the sun,
Cutting transplants right below the ground, and
earthing up over the cut is a good plan,

CHAPTER III.
CULTIVATION.

One deep hoeing and two or three light hoe-
ings are all that are required by a hill garden. The
garden ought to be hoed deeply in November, and
as big clods as possible turned up and left un-
broken thus letting as much light and air into the

Cultivation. 19

soil as possible. No more hoeing should be done
until May, as no jungle will show in this district
until then, Many gardens are hoed 5 or 6 times
in the cold weather, this does no good and is a
positive waste of money. Many other Planters
hoe deeply, during the cold weather, and go over

the land in Mareh, breaking up all clods, the real
reason in many cases, why this is done, is that the
agents have ordered the manager to hoe the gar-
den a fixed amount of times, and this is an easy
way outof it, The best thing to do is to wait
until the Ist Flush is off, and then run over the
garden lightly hoeing and tullying the bushes up
well. Hoe again lightly in June and not again
(except on very flat pieces) until September or
October when a light hoeing gives a fillip to the
last flushes. Many managers now fork entirely.
Forking is no doubt better than hoeing, as the
soil is not pulled down so much, but it takes
more labour, and is naturally more expensive. A
coolie should start at the top of a hill and work
steadily down, placing all the soil above him and
drive his fork in all round each bush, and gently

20

Cultivation.

stir the soil, not dragging it out, as if he does so
he will break the laterals. If the steeper por-
tions of the garden are hoed or forked once a year,
it is quite sufficient. As if much hoeing is done, in
the rains the topsoil is soon washed away, all
the laterals exposed and the bush stands up from
the soil with nothing but its tap root to feed upon
pieces of tea of this sort, can be seen on any of
the older hill gardens, and of course the yeild
from these pieces is miserable and scarcely worth
plucking. The best thing to do is to sickle all the
steep pieces, and earth up all the bushes, as much
as possible, and whenever you have spare labour
carry soil and place it round roots. If the cross
lines of the trees are fairly straight, terrace
wherever it is possible, and build up walls in all
the very steep portions to prevent wash. On
many gardens which have been badly cultivated,
the soil two inches under the surface is as hard
as bricks, and the coolies will be only able to do
very little work. But if you can afford to spend
the money on deep cultivation, do so and the
return in yeild of leaf will much more than repay

Cultivation. 21

the expense. If the deep hoeing is done in
October and November, it will be done much
more cheaply, as the ground has not got hard.
But if this is found impossible, it is a good plan,
to make the women with children do most of the
hoeing, as they will dawdle a great deal if put
to pruning, and only delay the other coolies.
Whereas, if they are put to the hoe, they have a
fixed amount of work to do, which they must
do or get fined. Hoe forks do well for hard
soilas the prongs get into the soil better than
the blade of the hoe will, the only objection
being that the prongs will often break off if
they hit upon stones beneath the surface. In
hoeing in the rains the blades of all the grass
jungle should be covered up, as if portions of
the grass are left above the surface it will begin
to grow again at once. In kandweeding pull all
the jungle up by the roots, (do not break it off)
and lay the jungle down between the lines of
bushes, In sickling cut all jungle right down to
the ground and hand weed round the bushes. ‘The
only way to eradicate sun grass is deep hoeing,

Cultivation.

followed by hand weeding. Ferns give a lot of
trouble, as the coolies break the leaves off, leaving
the roots in the bushes, and although they may
place a pile of ferns at the end of each days work,
for you to see, still they leave two-thirds of the
roots in the bushes. It is just, as well, where
ferns show very thickly to give some boys small
forks to take out a’ fixed number of ferns every
day, these are counted up in the evening and
looked at to see that the root has been properly
extracted. There are several sorts of creeping
jungle which climb all over the bushes these
ought all to be pulled out by the ruots. Bamboo
soil or soil from marshy places makes very good
manure and gives good results But cow-dung is
not good, it always seems to bring blight. Some-
times after having it put down at great expense the
only result has been swarms of small red beetles
and white grubs. The beetles eat off all the shoots
and the grubs kill all the seedlings that had
been filled in. Horse-dung is very little good

and if a place is once manured it has to be kept
up. A piece of tea under some stables, used to

eS aie ore

Cultivation. 23

flush splendidly, but directly the stables were
removed left off yielding and only gave a very
poor return, There is very little doubt that
the better a garden is cultivated the better it will
yield, but on steep hills it is best to get a steady
medium quantity of leaf than it is, to hoe and
get a rush of leaf for a year or two and after-

wards scarcely any return at all and so ne should do

nothing but sickle the steep portions of the
garden, after the rains have begun. In draining
your flats cut cross drains as well as long ones

- about 3 feet deep and where embankments and

raised drains are made kill off all crabs that are
to be seen as they bore through the walls and
sometimes flood the flats. If it is only water
from Jhorasor Springs you want to drain, embank-
ed drains are much the best, as deep drains will
drain the little moisture, there is in the soil in
April off, and every drop is then wanted, so do not
cut unnecessasary drains. If you have to hoe
round your plants and cannot handweed, only hoe
very lightly and be very careful of the laterals,
if the weeds are just scraped off that is all that is

\

Cultivation.

wanted. The great advantage in forks is that
the coolie is bound to handweed the plants and
cannot tear his fork tbrough the roots without
exerting himself. The disadvantage of earthing
up round a bush is that the bush at once throws
out laterals, which are exposed if the soil is taken
away again, On many old gardens where the
tea is planted across the hill instead of down,
the upper sides of the bushes are earthed right up
and have thrown out laterals close to the surface,
The lower side of the bush is generally a hollow,
consequently the upper side of bush flushes well,
lower badly, but if you try to draw the soil down
the laterals are cut at once. This is a question
to be decided whether it is better to leave the
bushes as they are or level the earth.

Plants per acre.

2ft. < 2ft. — 10,890.
Sit. x ot, = 4840.
A ft. x 4 ft. = 2,722,
D ft. x 5 ft. = 1,742,

peas

ey E e

CHAPTER IV.
PRUNING.

This is really the most important operation
of the whole year and one about which there is great
difference of opinion. Nearly all Darjeeling gar-
dens are pruned from 20th November to be»
ginning of March. No doubt, it would be better
if the pruning could be begun in January and
finished about end of March, but very few gar-
dens can afford to put off their pruning so late,
as they have not a sufficient supply of labour
to risk it, and the gardens have all sorts of
work which has to be done before the plucking
commences. A manager ought always to know
beforehand whether quality or quantity will be
required and in exactly what state every por-
tion of his charge is, what yield he got from,
and what growth there is on the different pora
tions. Where blight (if his charge is subject
to it) appears, and which pieces are most attack-
ed, and by what blight or blights. What por-
tions of the garden flushes first and bests, The

Pruning.

yield he gets from the different portions in each
separate flush and causes of it. What was the
result of different kinds ‘of pruning on the
several pieces. The labour he will have. And
what money he can afford to spend on the pruning,
i When the pruning is to be started the Mana-
ger should prune a dozen bushes himself both
good and bad, and not pick out a good bush or
two and leave the coolies to prune the bad ones
without any sample. After he has pruned as he
wishes the work to be done he should teach the
| Chuprassis and Duffadars who will be in charge of
| the work and make them each prune for a day or
several days until he is satisfied with their work,
Then a small muster of coolies should be started at
work and gradually increased until the whole
muster ison. THis work requires a great deal of
supervision and the coolies should never be left
until the manager is positive that every individual
coolie knows what he has to do.

il Light pruning is done in several ways Many
gardens are only just shaved with a knife and each
coolie prunes 500 to 600 bushes, the result of this

Pruning. 27
sort of work is a very heavy first flush, medium
second flush and scarcely any tea made after the
beginning of July.

The best light pruning is expensive but with
China bushes gives a very good return, About
5 inches of new, healthy wood must be left, all
knots cleared out and all twigs and rotten wood
cut away, a fair amount of leaves should be left
all over the bush but not enough to prevent the
free passage of the wind, Where trees suffer bad-
ly from red spider take off the leaves in the lower
parts of the bush, and leave a fringe at the top
chiefly on the new wood, Many planters do not
allow the sides of the bushes to be more than
tipped, or in some cases leave the sides altogether.
What does quite as well, if not better, is to prune
the sides back to decently strong wood and then
make the coolies leave them alone, not even
plucking open leaf for the first 2 flushes. This
results in strong wood at the sides of the bushes
which yields as well as the centre does. All
branches trailing on the ground must to be cut
off as they give no leaf and only take a large

Bo _ Pruning.

amount of the sap which would otherwise go to
make leaf at the top of the bush. On no account
leave too much of the new wood, 3 or 4 inches is
plenty. Do not trouble to level all your bushes,
at any rate, do not cut away strong, young wood
(leaving only 4 inch wood) for the sake of a flat
surface, Cut the good wood 3 or 4 inches above
the former years pruning make the coolies cut each.
twig separately and not slash at them anyhow.
Do not allow the coolies to carry away the old wood
that is cut out of the bushes, as if you do, many
of them will cut off good branches for fire-wood.

Cup shaped pruning is done on many gardens,
This is cutting heavily in the centre of bush and
lightly at sides. The idea being that the bushes
always grow strongest in the centre and will rush
up quickly to a level.

Stick pruning may pay on gardens much sub-
ject to red spider, or with a clay subsoil, It
is cutting to straight wood stripping the bushes
of leaves and leaving the bare stems. One rarely
sees a really satisfactory piece of work of this
sort,

Pruning, 29

Cutting heavily is pruning back to about 2
feet cutting off all knots and only leaving the
healthy stems. After cutting heavily the bushes
have to be left unplucked until June or July.

Cutting down is a very extreme measure and
is only resorted to when the old bushes have twist-
ed gnarled ‘hard old wood all through them, which
of course, gives a most unsatisfactory yield. In
some cases the bushes have to be cut right down
to the ground, when this is done the plot of tea
must be well hoed and all bushes earthed up
even if soil has to be carried for that purposee
Occasionally the bushes can be left 18 inches
high. But with very old China plants the lower
they are cut the better as they are nearly always
one mass of knots twisted wood and lichens right
down to the ground, If any lichen is left on
after pruning send some children round with
brushes (old horse-brushes) or anything rough to
scrape it off, In heavy pruning all bushes should
be cut from the centre, and the coolies ought to
work round as they prune, so that each portion
of the bush is cut out towards them from the

30 Pruning.

centre. The year after heavy pruning or cutting
down all the work must be done with a measure
and about 6 inches of new wood left, cutting the
middle of bush first and then working round
levelling the bush. Another system which pays
very well is to leave about 10 inches of wood the
year after heavy cutting, pluck very hard and
the bush will give an enormous yield. Then in
the 2nd year cut back again leaving about 6 inch-
es of the straight wood and only tip long shoots in
Ast and 2nd flushes. Ona dry garden the best
time to cut downisin May. Prune very lightly or
not at all in the cold weather, pluck the Ist flush
sharp, very hard and down to the eye, and then
prune down. The result is a big yield of good tea
from 1st flush and if May is a fairly wet month
the bushes are fit to pick again by end of June.
As hill gardens make very little tea in May, little
or no loss in outturn is made and the bushes are
wonderfully improved, as having plenty of rain
the shoots are very strong. A piece of tea that
always suffers badly from Green Fly in second
flush, will make a large increase on outturn if

Pruning. 31

you begin cutting on lowest portion of affected
piece, thus driving fly up hill. If there is a piece

of tea blighted with green fly under the portion

you cut, the fly will work up and attack the new

shoots directly they show. Trees on the tops

of dry ridges will come on very much better if cut

in May than they will do if cut in cold weather
July is also a good month to cut back in on dry

gardens, but no plucking will be done again until
the end of September and the manager must be
very careful that the piece cut is not subject to
mosquito blight. Any pieces of tea cut in May or
July must be kept very clean, either hoed or sickled,
as if the jungle once gets up to the top of the
bush the young shoots will be weak and in many
cases shrivel up when the sun gets to them. On
many gardens there are pieces of tea that were
cut down years ago and then pruned in the old
style, I mean leaving 12—15 inches growth,
these pieces if cut back in May into the straight
wood leaving about 6 inches above former heavy
pruning will come on splendidly. China bushes
will bear more thinning out than Assam will and

32 Pruning.

Assam bushes which have been heavily thinned
out take a long time to recover, at least they do
in the hills. On many gardens one sees fine great
Assam bushes and is surprised to find they only
yield 2 to 8 maunds an acre. The bushes are

probably 4 or 5 feet high and on looking into
them you find they are a mass of knots, crow’s

feet, and twigs, with 3 or 4 healthy shoots on the
whole bush. But from a short way off they are
quite show bushes, Cut all these kind of bushes
back to 18 inches and let them gradually recover
their size, they will not look so big for a year
or two, but bushes are not grown to look at, but
to pay, and an Assam tree will yield better and
stronger leaf at 3 feet than it will do at 5 or
6 feet high, and the coolies will be able to pluck
them much more easily. China bushes only 18
inches off the ground yield lots more leaf
than bushes 38 feet 6 inches high do. And
any bush whether China or Assam that has
good straight wood will yield more than a bush
double its size and all crow’s feet. A good many
managers now prune their gardens with very big

Pruning. 33

pruning knives and give heavy ticeas but clumsy
work must be done and although the gardens may
do well for a short time before long they will begin
to suffer for it. Some men prune heavily year after
year. Some lightly year after year. But the best
way is to give your bushes a rest once in a way.
If you believe in heavy pruning, once in 38or 4
years prune lightly and give the bushes a chance, or
if you have been pruning lightly for years, ‘Cut
heavily once in 5 years and get some good wood in-
stead of all the knots thatare forming. The chief
objection to Heavy Pruning is that it weakens the
teas but this is only because you have to let the
shoots run very long before you pick them. The
bushes will flush much better the 2nd year and
tea be very nearly or quite as strong as ever, and
bushes easier to prune, and easier to pick. The best
way to prune is lightly on yielding pieces of tea
and heavily on badly yielding pieces. When
pruning lightly and only cutting out very bad
pieces, cut these bad stems nearly down to the
roots so that the coolies cannot finger the new
growth (without putting their hands right inside

Pruning.

the bush) until the shoot is well up and nearly
level with the rest of bush. When the garden is an
ordinary hill garden, chiefly China plant and is
pruned fairly lightly, it will cost from Rs. 6-8
annas to Rs, 7 an acre, If cut down or heavy
pruned, much less, about Rs. 4 an acre. The
pruning the year after cutting down will cost
about Rs. 4 an acre. Sometimes portions of
gardens are not pruned at all and let run until
July, in some cases where the plots aredamp,
the result will be very satisfactory. Pieces burnt
down to the ground come up splendidly from the
Toots, this is well-worth trying on ridges, and
very bad pieces. Another system is to cut right
down to ground and earth up over the cut. Tho
shoots force their way through the soil and look
like new bushes, Always start pruning on the
shady side of a garden and if you begin pruning
early, on the highest part. The sap going down
sooner in the colder places. If pruning is begun
on the sunny side an early Banghy flush is sure
to be the result,

It is a curious circumstance, that several of

Pruning. 85

the gardens which have been cut rather heavily
year after year are those which suffer most severe
ly from green fly. Whereas some of the gardens
which are pruned very lightly have no green fly
at all. his shows that it does not do to prune
heavily too many years in succession.

Never prune all your garden in the same
way, as if you do the rush of leaf will come on
all over the place at the same time, whereas if
two-thirds of the garden is pruned lightly and
one-third heavily, two-thirds of the place will
flush tremendously at the beginning of season,
and the flush from one-third will be heaviest in
July and August, and the garden will be able
to be worked with much fower coolies. If too
much of the garden is pruned heavily, all the
teas will be weakened, but if a small portion is
treated this way every year, the other tea will
bring up the strength, and a steady increase will
be made every year instead of an uncertain crop.
If the garden has to be worked with a very small
force of coolies, very light pruning will do best, as
when the rush comes in April no other work is

86 Plucking.

on hand, and`so many coolies will not be required
for picking during the rains; so that more coolies
are available for cultivation and transplanting.

CHAPTER V.
PLUCKING.

Of course every thing depends on what sort
of pruning has been done. And what sort of Tea
is wanted and whether Fine Teas, Medium Teas,
or a large quantity of coarse tea is to be made.

In any case directly the bushes begin to
shoot have a gang of coolies on taking out all the
open leaf which shows. Puton a good many coolies,

„as if once the leaf 1s allowed to get ahead, it will
be almost impossible to catch it up again and
even then a good deal of the open leaf will be
hard and make very poor stuff. Whereas this first
open leaf if taken sharp enough makes very fair tea.

If you have pruned very lightly and intend
cutting down in May, or mean to make one-
third of the tea from Ist Flush, in the old

Plucking. ƏT

style, pluck the shoots hard and only leave one
eye. This system is radically bad as the garden
very soon gets nothing but wire, and although the
surface of the plants may be large the total yield
is miserable,

The best system is to keep most of the coolies
on at the open leaf, and have a few of the old
coolies going round as sharp as possible and pluck-
ing the shoots when long and where 2 leaves can
be left. Two leaves and bud ought to be picked,
but sides of bushes on no account touched until
they get to level of rest of the bush,

In the 2nd Flush again have the best people
going round taking off longer shoots and leaving
an extra two leaves. A larger gang will be re-
quired as the leat will run better, if the bushes
have been well cleaned out,

In the 3rd Flush leave one leaf again making
5 in all (if the growth is stunted) if it has run up
well 4 leaves will be sufficient. Let the leaf run
well on all parts of the garden where the two
first flushes were bad and where more growth is
required, After this pluck as hard as possible

88 Plucking.

taking off the leaf as soon as two leaves and a bud
show. The advantage in leaving so much growth
is that the pruning will be much more level and
following years crop good
The result of this style of picking will be.
1st Flash, rather small quantity and only moder-
ate teas 2nd Flush—Good quantity and very
fair quality. 3rd Flush.—Very large quantity
and good quality, and afterwards for the rest of
the year very fine teas, as good leaf makes good
tea. Thin out bushes as much as you can and
on no account leave too much growth from any
particular flush, as the longer the growth you
leave, so much longer will it take to harden up
and if the weather is cold, the next flush may be
delayed for weeks. What is left, on as open leaf
only goes to choke up the bushes, and every lb. of
tea, that can be made will help to pay expenses.
Do not leave a lot of leaf on the bushes because
it is slightly hard, it may bring down the
average, but surely it is clear profit if made into
tea, as the coolies will have to be kept and
work found for them. This applies particularly

ee

Plucking. 39

to the Ist flush, when sometimes hundreds of
maunds of leaf are left on the bushes, and the
coolies are only doing unnecessary work. The
reason that the leaf was left on being the average
(sale price) which the Manager was afraid of bring-
ing down. Many planters will say that leaving 4
or 5 eyes, is a waste and the extra growth ought
all to be in the tea boxes. But they will find that
nothing is really lošt in the long run by a little ex”
tra wood. After Heavy Pruning or cutting down,
the bushes should be allowed to run up until the
new shoots are nearly a foot long, when some care
ful coolies should be sent round to tip the long
shoots with a measure, If they are China bushes
that have been cut down to the ground, 1 foot will
be sufficient measuring from ground. If Hybrid,
pruned back to 18 inches, pluck 27 inches from
ground; or if unevenly pruned, with a 9 inch
measure from centre of bush. Do not touch
the sides until they have run slightly longere
By this system one gets strong healthy wood
to prune on. If a piece of tea has suffered
badly from Red Spider or green fly, leave the

40 Plucking.

flush after the blight has left longer, and do.
not pluck hard at once; as if the tree is not
treated too severely and given time to recover, it
will make up for the former loss of leaf during
remaining months of the year. When the garden
is attacked by green fly very pretty teas ought to
be made, and “a fair flavour can be got. Pluck
the little hard shoots as soon as possible and do
not be put out because the coolies only bring
in 4 or 5 Ibs. leaf. The tea ought to make
up in price for the loss in quantity, if there is a
lows.” In the Hills, Assam and Hybrid bushes
have to be treated much more tenderly than
China plant. With Assam plant do not trouble
to thin out, and let the bushes havea very easy
time of it at the beginning of the year.

Many planters advocate picking half the 3rd
or Pekoe Souchong leaf, and say the flush comes
on sharper if this is done, It may be so in
the plains, but it is not the.case up here, as
it has been tried repeatedly ; in one case this
year on alternate lines of bushes, and the trees
from which the extra half leaf was taken did

Plucking. 41

not come on so quickly as the others. Very
often in the 3rd Flush and after, it is found
possible to pick a 3rd and even 4th leaf. In
this case have a leaf sieve erected, and sieve all
your leaf (after rolling) to get out any particularly
coarse leaf. In Darjeeling there is always
a long wait after the 1st Flush, and very little tea
is made for about 3 weeks. But after that the
coolies ought to go over the garden picking long
shoots, once.in every 8 days. Very often when
there is a very heavy flush, pice are paid to coolies
for extra leaf. This must never be done in the
first two flushes, and only in exceptional cases in
the 3rd flush. The coolies pull the leaf off anyhow,
unless watched for the whole day, duffadars
pick for their wives, and neglect their work, any
amount of damage is done to the garden,
and a lot of coarse tea made for a certainty.
The only time when it is actually necessary to
give pice is when a garden is very short of
Jabour, and the Manager finds a flush has got
away from him, Audin that case he ought to
be continually through the coolies, and look

- Plucking.

at every basket before weighing up, and fine
heavily for bad leaf. Even then the result will
not be satisfactory. In hot steamy weather the
leaf in baskets should be continually turned over,
or it will heat, ferment, and go sour—this is
particularly the case in hot steamy flats. Always
look through leaf that is being picked, at least once
a day. One will very soon get to know who are
the bad coolies, and who are likely to pick badly ;
and by walking across the work behind the
coolies can at once see if the bushes have been
torn to pieces, or left unpicked, or open leaf
scamped over, and left on the bushes. Have
all your leaf baskets made with wide bottoms ; as
thus made, there is less probability of the
leaf fermenting in the baskets ; and never let the
coclies ram the leaf down into their baskets unless
it is absolutely necessary—for instance, if they
having picked so much leaf that it will not go
into the baskets without forcing. Always clear
a Banghy flush right off, whether it occurs
after hail or from any other cause. Sometimes
the first two flushes are plucked very hard, and

Plucking. 43

third allowed to run for new wood. But the
wood thus made is very thin, and this system
is not a good one. It is a common thing to
hear that such and such a garden has lost some
hundred maunds of tea through hail, In most
cases this loss is much over-estimated, as if
the bark of the bush is not damaged the 2nd
and 8rd flushes will be very strong, and nearly
if not quite make up for loss, Even if the
2nd flush comes on Banghy, it is so thick that
a tremendous lot of tea is made, and if well
thinned out, the 38rd flush will rush up
splendidly.

Occasionally in very dry seasons, the first flush,
through want of moisture in the soil, is a failure
and scarcely runs at all. When this happens
many planters tear off every leaf that shows,
make a large amount of tea in April, and trust
to 2nd and 8rd flushes for the new wood. This
system, to say the least, is risky, as if the bushes
are blighted in 2nd or 8rd flushes, scarcely any
tea is made and at the end of the season, the
wood being very weak, a good deal of the gar-

44 Blights and Tea Pests.

den will have to be cut heavily, This may be
worth trying where the flush is entirely Banghy,
but every shoot that shows ought to be left to
run, If the little leaf that grows ia November
can be ealled a flush, there are seven flushes in the
year, in the Darjeeling district. Although a
few gardens at high elevations may lose one
flush, through want of sun, either in August or
September. Up to the beginning of September
a coolie ought to pick 20 Ibs. leaf a day, if the
flushes are not blighted badly, but after then the
plucking tiecas will have to be reduced as the
leaf will get much lighter.

CHAPTER VI.
BLIGHTS, AND TEA PESTS.

Every year the amount of different insects
which attack tea, seems to be increasing. Some
12 years ago, the Darjeeling district scarcely
suffered from blight at all, and now many gar-
dens are most seriously affected, The three

Blights and Tea Pests, 45

worst blights are :—
Red Spider.
Green Fly.
Mosquito,

Thoso three blights seem to attack the toa
in turns. Red Spider comes on in the hot dry
days ‘of May, but dies off directly heavy rain
falls, and is succeeded by Green Fly which
flourishes in very rainy and cold misty weather.
Mosquito then comes and lasts until end of the
season and it is no unusual thing to hear of a
garden suffering from all three blights in turn,
when (ofcourse) the crop is very small. The
cause of these blights has been argued out many
times, but no satisfactory conclusion has been
come to. Years ago, Red Spider was shown as
a curiosity at a meeting of planters in Darjeeling
and there was quite an argument as to whether
it attacked young seedlings or not. Nowadays,
it attacks every sort of tea and is common on
secd-beds. Some gardens look perfectly red from
the distance, and suffer very severely for about
6 weeks, others are only attacked on small patchs

46 Blights and Tea Pests.

es of tea. Red Spider, generally, seems to start
near bamboo clumps and in hollows, but rapidly
runs over the rest of the garden. Wherever,
there is a good draught of wind, it soon disap-
pears, but, stops much longer on shaded places,
Green Fly is getting worse every year. It was
scarcely known 7 years ago, but is rapidly spread
ing, and will probably be much worse in a year
or two. It does not generally get seriously bad
until the rains are well in, and if the garden is

kept clean, is soon killed off by a few bright hot —

days, A curious thing about green fly is the
way, it disappears when it gets to the top of
ridges and sometimes even af a road. This Fly
genorally first attacks pieces of tea close to sun-
grass or light jungle. It never works down hill,
but always up. The Mosquito is much the worst
blight and has already ruined several estates in
the Terai, and at the foot of the hills. It is now
rapidly spreading in Darjecling, and all the low-
er lying gardens are suffering more or less. It
generally starts in marshy flats or near heavy
jungle. This blight is much the most to be

Blights and Tea Pests. 47

dreaded and will probably be the only blight
talked about in a few years. It is not bad in
Darjecling until about September, but plenty of
trees may be seen slightly attacked even in May,
and as it multiplies every year, it is sure to come
on sooner year by year. Of course, one reason
of those blights is the gradual thinning of the
jungle and their natural food, but may not heavy
pruning and heavy plucking have something to
do with it by weakening the trees? If a garden
suffers very badly from Mosquito, it might be a
good idea to revert to the old style of pruning,
and only just shave the bushes, as the trees when
treated this way, flush most at the beginning of
the season, and a larger proportion of crop would
be made before the Mosquito appeared. Aphides,
or plant lice, are not included in the list of
blights which follows, as they really do no damage
to the shoots and in no way retard the flush.

CHAPTER VII.

RED SPIDER.

Rep spider is the first blight to show. It
occasionally attacks the first flush, but does not get
bad until May. It is a very minute spider,
but quite perceptible to the eye, and if a leaf is pick-
ed, and the finger run down, a bright red stain will
be seen. This blight is not really half so bad
as supposed, as if the bushes are in fair order it
only retards the flush slightly, And it is only the
sickly bushes that suffer so very badly. The
remedy for red spider is good cultivation and
careful work, and it can soon be (to a great extent)
got rid of. Hot scorching weather brings on the
spider, and rain prevents its increase, or at any
vate retards it. All the remedies, Lime, Sulphur,
&c., are more or less useless—let alone the expense.
Tea has sometimes been burnt to the ground and
then cut heavily, and in the 2nd year the red
spider has showed up again. The stronger the
bushes are the less damage the spider will do, so

Green Ely. 49

get the garden into good order, and the spider will
not do much harm. Forking seems to have a better
effect than hoeing on plots of land subject to spider,
Where there is a free passage for the wind the
blight is not so bad. Titea Part has been tried as
a remedy, it was cut and laid between the bushes,
but the result was not satisfactory.

Green Fry.

This is much more serious, but. still scarcely
so bad all round as it might be, but it is spread-
ing every year, It used not to come until well
on in the second flush, but last year it was in the
bushes nearly all the cold weather, and came out
in swarms during the pruning. Cold, rainy, sun-
less weather suits the green fly, especially during
the months of June and July; and it spreads over
acres a day. The effect on the bushesis, that the
shoots stop growing, leaves shrivel up, and only
grow to 2 inches long, showing little eyes at every -
inch’ the length of shoot being perhaps 2 inches,
and having 6 or 7 eyes breaking on each shoot,
Pick it as quickly as possible taking leaves as small
as can be picked. The coolies will only pick 3 or

50 Green Fly,

4 Ibs, but that cannot be helped. In some casesthe
leaf gets so hard that the coolies get sore fingers
from picking it. But the leaf makes very pretty tea
and fetches very good prices. It is a known fact
that green fly always goes uphill, and never down.
Hoe and clean all pieces affected, and all pieces
just above. Do not allow any shade in the
shape of jungle: green fly cannot stand hot
sun, and if apiece of tea is kept thoroughly
clean, will soon disappear, or any how work up
hill and when it gets to the top of the ridge
disappear, And if the tea has been properly
treated a splendid flush will come out directly
it leaves, which will nearly make up for the loss,
unless the blight is really exceptionally bad.
Pieces have been left unpicked ; but the flush takes
longer to come through, and the result is not so
good, besides loss of good tea. Bushes are very
often regularly shrivelled up, the leaves half black,
one month, and looking as healthy as possible
the month after. And sometimes, a cut-down
plant, without a shoot 3 inches long, one month,
directly the blight leaves will come on splendidly,

Mosquito. 51L

This is of course after good cultivation, ££ you
do not hoe the pieces above the blighted piece, the
green fly when it moves up will stay there.

Mosquito.

This is very much the worst blight. The
leaves are regularly dried up, and the shoot is
attacked directly it shows, and tea made on the
bushes. In fact, in many cases gardens are per-
fectly shut up (as far as leaf plucking goes) for
months. There is no doubt that the Mosquito
is spreading in the hills. It invariably first
attacks the low-lying hot flats near the bed of
the river, and then works up. This year the blight
has spread more than ever, and many gardens never
before attaked have suffered badly, It is a curious
circumstance that sometimes a piece of tea is
black with blight on one side of the road, and
the other side not touched. All sorts of remedies
have been proposed: lighted torches carried through
affected parts at night, children catching mos-
quito &., but nothing willstop this plague when.
it once starts, There is a smelling bug which
has identically the same effect, but the bug is

52 Soot Blight.

fortunately rare. Up to the present Darjeeling
gardens have not been badly attacked until the
middle of September.

BEETLES.

There is only one beetle generally known
which attacks tea, This is a small reddish yellow
insect, which always turns up if cow-dung has
been put down, and sometimes on new extensions,
probably from the same cause. This beetle seems
to attack heavy pruning or young tea more than
other pieces. It bites the shoot low down, and tho
shoot withers or rots away. If there is Sun-grass
near the tea, the beetle goes to the grass, instead
of the tea. When these little pests appear, put
some children to pick them off, and give 1 anna
a 100 if the beetles are plentiful. Tho worst of
this is the coolies soon find out that they crowd on
sun-grass, and will go uff the tea to catch them,
if not well watched.

Soort Brieur.

This is a black blight. Partly brought on by
damp. It is a small insect with a sooty cover-

Caterpillars, 53

ing, which makes the trees look fearful, and
stops all flushing. Luckily, this is not common,
and as a rule only one or two trees will be found
on a garden. On one garden a whole flat was
black, but this was a marshy enclosed flat, and the
whole tea was originally in a very bad states
Remedy,—cut down, or pluck leaves and wash
stem,

Mitpew Briaur.

This is also rare, and shows up as small white
spots on stem of tree. The leaves fall off, And
in many cases the tree will die. Cause,—pro-
bably damp. Remedy,—Cut below spots.

CATERPILLARS

very seldom attack tea when there is"other jungle
for them to eat. ‘There are only two kinds:
a black prickly caterpilar 1 inch long, the larva
of a small slow flying yellow and black butterfly.
They do very little damage. The other kind is
much worse, and sometimes clears every leaf off
patches of 30—40 acres. This is the larva of a
small white moth. It is a black caterpillar about

54 Borers.,

4 inch long.

Cappis, |
another insect which takes all the leaves of a
tea plant to make acoccoon. It generally does |

this in the cold weather. Children can easily
pick these off the bushes, which can be seen at
once as they are generally denuded of leaves,

COCKCHAFER GRUB—KOOMLAS,

A white grub with yellow head. Generally
found in very rich soil, or where manure has beet
put down, or much jungle has been buried.
This is fearfully destructive to young cultivation
and seed-beds, and eats off the roots of the young
seedlings before they harden up, in some cases
killing off nearly every plant in young cultivation
Only remedy digging up. Plants attacked by
Koomlas generally die slowly, first getting
yellow at the top and gradually dying down.
Never fill in a vacancy thus caused without digging
the insect up,

oe

Borers.

Two sorts. One a scaly worm, not common.

Rats. 55

Bores a hole through the center of stem. Some-
times starts near root, sometlmes high up. The
other is a small white grub which generally bores
into new wood. Remedy, —cut down below where
boring begins and destroy worm.

CRICKETS

do a great deal of damage to young tea, eating
the plant off, near the collar: There is no remedy
if many are about; if only a few, they may be
caught by children.
GRASSHOPPERS
eat the leaves of the bushes and damage young
tea, Cause, —clearing away all the jungle,
their natural food, and forcing them to eat the
tea. Remedy,—leave a little jungle on roads and
sides of terraces.
RATS

sometimes attack the roots of plants and kill
them off. But these are not common in the hills.
They are generally fonnd where coolie lines have
been demolished for extensions, Remedy,—poison,

Dn n e as E mn

CHAPTER VIII.
MANUFACTURE,

On all large estates, it is better to have an
European assistant to look after the factory work,
as the natives, if not well supervised, will very
likely under-wither or only half ferment the leaf
if they can get their work done earlier in the
evening. And 1 anna a tb. on the teas will make
a tremendous difference to the profits. It is im-
possible to lay down any fixed rules for manufac-
turing as the climate and elevation makes so much
difference to the teas. And as different sorts of
teas are wanted in various years, it is very hard
to tell what kinds will be in demand. Several
private gardens have done well by finding out
whether most gardens were ordered to make
quality or quantity and working on the contrary
system. Some gardens always make their best
teas at the beginning of the year, but fall back
afterwards, this is through plucking too hard at
the beginning of the year and having to leave
the leaf on longer to make growth in 2nd and 3rd
flushes. Another question is, whether it is better

Manufacture. 5T

to sell teas in Calcutta or London. Of course, the
Brokers have to make a profit, but the margin
is so small and the market fluctuates so that in
many oases when Calcutta valuations have been
refused the owners of the gardens have made a
heavy loss by sending teas home. It is probably
best to sell any very fine teas in London and
medium or coarse grades in Caloutta. Young
_ gardens invariably make good teas and in many
cases the owners have thought that the use of
Machinery has lowered the quality of their teas,
when the true reason has been that the garden
was not so vigorous. Nowadays strong teas are
generally demanded, but some estates which
make mild, flavoury and pretty teas get splendid
prices, whereas many gardens which make ex-
oeptionally strong teas only get miserable prices.
If any mark gets known as making a flavoury
tea the demand soon rises and good prices are the
result it is simply useless for Darjeeling to try to
compete with Assam for strength, and a flavoury
tea will often be drunk without mixing with
China teas. The following mixtures and remarks

58 Manufacture.

are takon from (The art of tea blending).
Low-priced Teg.
Paklum.
Darjecling (Broken Tea or Souehong.)
Kintuck.
arjocling to point up flavour.
Medium.

4 Kintuck.

4 Oonfa,

1 Darjeeling.

$ Indian Broken,
Darjecling must possess character.

Fine.

2
B
3
8
1
1
D

nee

Kintuck.

4 Ning Chow,

is Foochoo Pekoe.

ig Assam Pekoe. (Assam Pekoe must
be pungent.)

Darjeeling Broken Pekoo. (Darjee-
ling Broken must be thick.)

Darjeeling teas are full and flavoury, but are

oe

Process of Manufacture. 59

not so pungent as Assams. The infused leaf is
tender and bright. Tho dry leaf is blacker, but
taking the average, is scarcely as tightly twisted
as that of Assam teas. Occasionally Darjeclings
are found that do not possess the flavour for
which the district is justly famous. The tea is
then soft, and insipid and is useless for increasing
the flavour of a blend.

This shows plainly that flavoury teas are
wanted by the grocers.

`

m D L a

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.

When the leaf is brought in by the coolies
in the evening it should at once be laid out in the
trays and on the floor to be withered. Assam
and China leaf should be kept separate, as if mix-
ed the fermentation will be very uneven. The leaf
should be put out in very thin layers in some
‘dry place. Build a fow chulas below to slightly
heat, and a chimney at the top of the withering shed
to take off the excessive moisture, Well withered

60 Process of Manufacture.

leaf can be told at once by the soft clinging
feeling it has when taken in the hand. It is
much better to over-wither than under-wither, as
a really pretty tippy tea can be made from
over-withered leaf, and a fairly dark infusion

got, although the liquor will be rather dull.

In fact many planters slightly over-wither on
purpose when they want tippy teas. And it is
certainly worth while, when one has’ a large
quantity of strong and flavoury but not good-
looking teas, to over-wither afew maunds to make
the tip to mix with them. The only excuse for
under-withered leaf is in the rains, when the
Factory is crammed with leaf. When very often
the manager is bound to roll off. the leaf under-
withered or else sacrifice a great deal of tea, on

some of the cold rainy days that occur in July and

August, it is simply impossible to wither leaf
properly, but in this case the leaf can be generally
kept over for one or two days) A rather im-
portant matter escapes the notice of most men.
When firing up on the chulas in the morning
the heat of the factory often rushes up to

Process of Manufacture. — 61

140—150 and then after a short time down again.
This ought not to be allowed, and all windows
should be opened before firing, and heat kept
steadily at say 100—105; this is now done in
several factories. The effect of very great heat
is that half the leaf above is scorched not
withered, On most estates more withering sheds
are required. A cutcha house with mat walls,
which can be pulled up or down is the thing, as
much light and air as possible is obtained, and
_ the air cannot get steamy to the same extent as it
does in the pucca factories. One often sees leaf
put on the iron roof of the factory, this is a bad
plan, the leaf is only scorched and the tea is never
good, and very red. Of course most leaf withered
in the sun is red more or less, but not to the same
extent, and probably the leaf put on the roof is
not really withered at all, but only dried up by
the great heat of the iron. Directly the leaf
is withered, roll. If pretty teas are wanted, roll
lightly for say 20 minutes in the machine. But
if strong teas are wanted, roll heavily for 40 minutes
and put ina larger amount of leaf, In many cases

62 Process of Manufacture.

the leaf is rolled twice. Rolled once, taken out,
allowed to cool, and rolled again, The best idea
is to roll first flushes heavily even to smashing
leaf up in roll, and get strong teas. And after
the fine plucking has begun, begin rolling gently
and for a much shorter time. In some cases too
much leaf is thrown down from the withering
loft and is left lying in heaps on the ground as it
will not go into the rolling machines, This must
not be allowed as the leaf overwithers, ferments
and gives a disagreable taste to the teas. When
the leaf is rolled, run it through leaf sieve, If
fermented to bright salmon, fire off at once; if
not, place in some cool place until the desired color
is attained. Fermentation is a subject we know
very little about; but we can be sure that either
putting in very hot or very cold places to ferment is
a mistake, as the ferment is only artificially forced
on or delayed. If you over-ferment, your teas
will be dull, weak and soft. In fermenting the best
way is to spread the leaf evenly 2 inches thick,
and cover up witha blanket or thick black cloth.
It is not a good thing to ferment in balls or

Process of Manufacture.

cones as the leaf will often get quite black on the
outside of the balls before it starts colouring in-
side them, Fire off your teas directly they
are ready and donot leave it lying about. If
there is too much leaf ready at the same time,
half fire the tea. Fire the leaf very thinly
and do not give a tea-maker too many trays to
dry, as it may result in some tea getting fired
or burnt. If the leaf is put too thickly on
the trays soft teas will be the result., The
sharper you fire the brisker the teas will be.
Of course in every garn of leaf there are some big
coarse leaves and also leaves from inside of bush
—generally light yellowy-green in appearance.
These leaves will not either wither or ferment
properly, and only make red tea, but when
cleaning the teas these can be thrown out
Sift at once. Most men sift through 10 and 8
mesh for Pekoe and Pekoe Souchong. 9 is small
enough for the Pekoe and this mesh is used with
advantage on several gardens. If three kinds of
tea were made, it would be quite sufficient, vie.—
Broken Pekoe, Pekoe, and Broken Pekoe Sou-

64 Process of Manufacture.

chong. The Broken Pekoe Souchong containing
the broken tea and Souchong, is cut up, un-
til it will all go through 8 mesh. In some
cases, the Broken Pekoe and Pekoe are mixed, but
it is doubtful if this pays. All teas should be
bulked by the manager in factory before sending
away. An easy system is to pile in one big heap,
cut a trench round, throwing all the teas up
round a circle until nothing remains of original
heap. Then work the tea back by making each
man walk round, throwing the tea from the
circular wall into a heap again and as far over
the top of mound as possible. The tea is then
slightly refired and is weighed out to each man;
he starts pressing it into the chest, throwing
in a few pounds at a time, and pressing
steadily round, shaking the box slightly to
get the tea into the corners, When the box
is nearly full, he puts a cloth onthe top, and
gradually tramples it in with his feet until he
has got the whole amount in. Then another
coolie solders up box, and carpenters close. The
boxes are marked with garden mark, grade,

Machinery. 65

weight, and number, and despatched.

One often sees a garden getting splendid prices
regularly, but on enquiry finds that a very smal
crop is being made, and perhaps, in spite of the
high average a serious loss on the years working.

In some cases, when a large proportion of
red tea and dust has been made, it is thrown away
to manure the bushes or given to the coolies,
This is an extremely stupid idea, as if the tea
only fetches 3 annas a 1b., it will give a very good
profit and although the agents or proprietors may
be angry at the quantity made still the profits
will be larger and consequently manager’s com-
mission bigger,

CHAPTER IX.

MACHINERY,
Any garden that can make 200 maunds tea
will find machinery necessary ; as although hand-
rolled leaf may look very well aud the prices be

66 Machinery,

good, still the expeuse is so great and there is so
much difficulty in getting men on an estate, that
it is better to get machinery as soon as possible,
The sooner, the machines are bought the sooner
they will pay for their cost. On small places
only making 500 or 600 maunds tea, Thomson’s
Challenge Rolling Machine is all that is wanted.
This machine gives very good result, it can be
worked by hand and rolls extremely well, but only
takes a small fill. In buying an estate, or land to
plant tea, one of the most important things to
look to is the available water power. The great
advantage in having water power is the saving
effected in fuel. If there is plenty of wood on the
estate, it will cost from Rs. 9 to Rs. 10a 100
maunds, according to distance from factory, if
cut in the Government Forest, the Government
Royalty is Rs. 6 a 100 maunds, and the cutting
and carriage will bring it up to Rs. 14—15 a 100
maunds, so that for a large estate requiring 5,000
or 6,000 maunds, the expense will be very great,
Where the water supply is small, a Turbine is best
as it takes much less water to drive, but the pipes

Machinery. 67

are expensive and have burst on several estates in
this district. Wrought Iron pipes are more ex-
pensive than cast iron, but there is not the same
risk of them bursting, and the carriage will be less.
Gilbert Gilkes Vortex Turbine does not require
much water, is very compact and noiseless, and
works extremely well. Waterewheels are very
easy to work and never get out of order, but take
more water, the Iron wheels are really the cheap-
est and do not cost much to carry, being made up
in small pieces which are easy to fit together.
Marshall’s engines are most used, and are the best.
Where economy in space is necessary, a Vertical
engine should be indented for, but in other cases,
nothing can be better than Horizontal Engines
and Locomotive type of boiler, As to rolling
machines, many planters believe in the Excelsior,
his machine takes a very large fill and rolls
fairly well, but rather flattens the twist of the
leaf. The old original Jackson gives as good
results as anything and rolls off both soft and
hard leaf splendidly. The new machine with
springs above the table is supposed to be a slight

68 Machinery.

improvement on the old. machine and is coming
into use in this district.

The double-action Jackson is not well spoken
of, and Kinmond’s rollers seem to be going out
of use. Nelson’s roller of the mangle type with

bags is still used with great success on several
estates,

Kinmond’s dryers give very good results, but
the Sirocco’s require no driving power. Severa]
gardens have improved their averages l or 2
annas a Ib. since they have used drying
machines, and they savea great deal in labour and
although the first cost is large, this is soon paid
for by the smaller consumption of fuel. Jack-
son’s Victoria dryer has been well spoken of in
Assam, but has not been much used in this dis-
trict although it is now ordered for a large estate.

Sieves all seem to give good results if well
looked after and there is very little choice, the
Only secret being the right size of wire for the
dierent qualities. If one of Jackson’s old sieves
is used, a leaf sieve can be attached to it, This

ais

memes

Machinery, 69

- extra sieve takes very little extra power and does

very good work. Reid’s cutter is a really good
machine for cutting young teas, all the other
machines are breakers and create a lot of dust and
smash the tea, whereas Reid’s cuts clean with
little dust and is used by several of the gardens
which get the best prices in the district. The
clean cutting enabling them to get a large pros
portion of the original Pekoe Souchong and Sou-
chong into the Pekoe, whereas if it was smashed
it would only go into the Broken Tea. As to fuel
it would be a good idea to work out the average
amount of wood used per maund, and give the
engine-man a bonus of Rs. 4 or 5 for every 100
maunds, he saves, All wood or coal should be
kept under cover as the wood gets heavy and
does not burn well, and the coal deteriorates very
much if left in the open. In case of a careless
engine driver allowing the water to get too low
in the boiler, it is always better to smother the
fires with earth than to draw it. If engines and
machinery are varnished over the paint, it will
save a lot of trouble in cleaning and preserve the

70 Coolies.

paint longer. Although very few gardens or
companies can afford to have an engincer on the
estate, there are several engineers in the dis-
trict who will look after and keep the machin-
ery in order for small pay. This is a great
advantage as amateurs invariably come to grief
if they try to look after their own machinery,
Some few Planters by long experience have got
to know how to repair any ordinary breakages
and on some gardens native mechanics who havé
been in the railway shops are employed, but the
majority of men know very little about engineer-
ing work, so it is much better to employ a com-
petent engineer, as a break down in the busy
_ Season means a very serious loss,

CHAPTER X,
COOLIES,

It is most important to know exactly with
what coolies your garden can be worked and not
have too many in the cold weather and too few in

a oaauaagaall

Coolies, 11

the rains. Every winter a great many coolies
come in to work for a few months, but go away
again in March, These people are very handy for
opening out new land and doing any extra hoeing
that may be wanted, but unless there is extra
work to be done, they ought not to be allowed on
the garden. The usual effect is that all cold wea-
ther work is done by the beginning of March and
there is no work for the old coolies, if the muster
is lowered very likely, some of these leave and go
to other gardens, Itis very difficult to tell what
coolies will be on the garden for the rains and many
gardens have more coolies than they can possibly
do with forsome 4 months and not enough to get
their leaf off afterwards. If old coolies caa be
kept on a garden it makes things easier for every
body as they get to know the manager's system
of work and can be depended upon (to a great
extent) for any very careful work that is wanted.
The coolies are too well paid in Darjeeling, and
if they were paid a lower rate, they would turn
out to work better. As Indian corn is sold
at 80 Ibs, for the rupee, if one child turns out

7% Cooties,

to work every day, he can earn enough to feed a
family of 4 or 5 people. Of course, if they want
extra clothes or jewelry, it is different, but
many of the coolies are covered with jewelry
either gold or silver and are altogether too well
off, There may be a few gardens where the
lalsour supply is scarce, through being close to
Darjeeling or the manager being disliked, or in
unhealthy situations where it is necessary to pay
highly, but if a few gardens would combine the
rates could be reduced all round. Some few gar-
dens are always short of labour for some reason
and coolies bolt in the most unaccountable way.
Where kyehs live on the estate the coolies are
invariably in debt and when their debts get very
heavy always run away to Nepál. It is a mis-
take to allow the kyehs on the estate at all, as
it is a great temptation to the coolies to buy un-
necessary clothes &ec., if they have not to pay
ready money, Theso shop-keepers charge most
exorbitant rates of interest, generally 1 anna in
the rupee per month, or 75 per cent., and work
the interest up in an extraordinary way, so that

Coottes. 78

very often a coolie finds that after paying Rs, 50
on an original debt of Rs. 10, he still owes 20
rupees or more, and as the Nepálèse are always
afraid of going to Court, the Kyah does as he
likes. Another reason of Sirdars losing their
coolies is gambling; a Nepalese Sirdar thinks
nothing of losing or winning Rs. 300 in a night
when he is only getting Rs. 25 a month, and
if he looses, he has to appropriate the coolies
pay to settle his debts with. It is little or no
good making the Sirdars sign agreements to
give a fixed number of coolies, as unless the cold
weather muster is allowed to be very high, they
always have the excuse that they wero not
allowed to put on the coolies when they could got
them. Itis easy to make a garden liked by
coolies. Particularly if there is plenty of native
cultivation on the estate or waste land they
can make use of. Always pay and advance on
a fixed day, never varying, and never try to
make them do extra work on their holidays,
Tt is no good if you do, as they hear other gar.
den’s gongs go and do nothing or else purposely

74 ` Coolies

do bad work. | Make them always do a fair
amount of work, that is, look at the ground
they are to hoe and if it is in jungle or the
ground very hard, reduce the ticca, if easy work,
increase. Do not try to make them do an extra-
vagant amount, as if you do, the coolies will prefer
to work until 5 o'clock and do less work. Whereas,
if by working until 3-30 they can finish their
task, they will work their hardest to do it and
get away, It is very easy to find out what ticcas
neighbouring gardens are doing, and in the
whole district there is really very little difference
in the amount of work done. Of course, allow-
ance must be made for quality, and weather.
A 10 feet or 12 feet measure is used or the work
is done by lines. For measuring work have
battens cut 12 feet 6 inches and stamped at both
ends with garden mark. Promote from your
own coolies as the Duffadars will work much
better if they think they may get increased’
pay by doing so. Make each Duffadar respons-
ible for the work of a fixed number of coolies and
the Chuprassis responsible for the whole work.

Cooltes, gi

One will, in this way, soon find out which men are
worth anything and which are useless. Duffadars
are not as a rule appointed by the manager but
by the Sirdars, who employ them to keep their
coolies in order, and in return for bringing cooli-
es to them, The result of this is that nine-tenths
of the duffadars are useless for work. One very
seldom hears of strikes; in a few cases the coolies
have some serious grievance, but sometimes it
is got up by one or two lazy brutes who get the
other coolies to follow their lead. If you can
find out the leaders of these strikes turn them
out neck and crop, and never mind what coolies
they take with them. When a coolie really does
bad work, fine heavily and punish severely, but
never on chance, coolies will often go off in a
batch for a fancied grievance, but never if they
know, that it is their own fault that they have
been punished.

There are innumerable jats of Nepélese :—

1. Bowan, Thugro,—High caste, chiofly
beggars, no good on gardens,

76 Cooltes,

9. Chetros.—Men very seldom work, keep
large herds of cattle.

3. Gurung, Mungar, Bhotia Mourme.—
Nearly equal in caste. All good coolies and work
on most gardens. 3

4. Nowar, Jarme, Hiu, Cumbu, Measur,
Lurungs, Limbo, Sunwar:—The Newars are gene-
rally shop-keepers or traders. Cumbu or Jemdars
are very fair coolies; a few gardens work almost
entirely with these people. Lurungs are good
workers, but very clannish and quarrelsome, and
often leave a place in a gang for a fancied griev-
ance. Limboosintermarry with Lepchas in many
cases, very clumsy pickers, but hoe well, Sun-
wars, jewellors; fair coolies; there are plenty at
Kurseong.

5. Oarmio, Dhirzeo, Sarkie, Girtie.—All low
castes. Carmies jewellers or blacksmiths, Dhirzoe
dress-makers. Sarkie, boot-makors, workers
in leather. Gerties or Guellames, the slave caste
of Nepál, not any of these coolies can eat or
drink with the higher castes. Bhutias very sel-
dom work on gardens, but sometimes carry boxes

Coolies. fe

or loads.

Lepchas are good ‘people for clearing land,
but do not work well in the rains. This race ig
dying out fast through disease and intermarriage.
Very few are to be found on gardens, and in
Sikkim, there are only a few on the lower ridges.

Although most gardens have a Doctor, who
visits when called for, the coolies will, in most
cases, have to be doctored by the Planter. For
coolies only a few simple remedies are gene-
rally employed and in most cases, if they are
not cured by the Ist and 2nd dose, they will not
come again, and the following list will be found
quite sufficient. A thing to be remembered is
that the stronger a remedy is the more a coolie
will believe in it.

MEDICINE. USED FOR.
Carbolic Acid, Disinfectant, Ulcers, Sca-
bies, with oil for burns,
Chlorodyne, Dysentery, Diarrhoea.

Castor Oil, Purging.

C ontinued.)

MEDICINE.

USED FOR,

Cholera Mixture.
Camphor.

Antidysenteric Pills,
Tincture of Kino.
Epsom Salts.

Jalap.

Alum,

Friars Balsam.
Aconite.

Arnica.
Phenyle.
Podophyllin.
Spirits of Nitre,
Quinine.

Santonine.

Zinc Ointment.
Sulphur Ointment.
Simple Ointment.
Paregoric,
Tpecacuanha,

Ammonia.

Borax.

Cardamoms.
Bicarbonate of Soda.

Glycerine.

Cholera, Dysentery.

Cholera, Diarrhoea, keeps
away fleas, Toothache.

Dysentery.

Diarrhcea and Pyrosis,

Purging.

Dropsy and Purging.

Astringent, good for leech
bites, Emetic.

Cuts,

Rheumatism, Neuralgia &
Toothache.

Bruises and Sprains.
Disinfectant, Slight sores.
Sluggish Liver.

Dropsy & Kidney diseases.

Fever and Tonic, Neural-
gia.

Worms.

Ulcers, Foul sores.

Itch,

Mild sores, Dressing.
Colds,

Emetic, Coughs, Dysentery,
stings of insects.

Headache, Bronchitis, Hor-
net or snake stings.

Sore Throats, skin diseases

To prevent Griping.
Dropsy, Stings of Mosqui-
toes’ and Wasps’.
Dressing for wounds, slight

sores,

CONTRACTS.

Aut contracts should be given out either to
Sirdars on the garden or contractors known to
your Sirdars, or to men for whom a Sirdar will be
responsible. Give good advances and pay up as
soon after the contracts are executed as you can, as
a man will charge hetivier rates if he has to get
advances from money-lenders and the garden.
will have to pay the interest as he will put it
on in some way; in some cases contracts are not
paid until the year after they are finished,
The only consequence of this is that the manager
has to pay higher rates and has more trouble
than any one round him. And the only advant-
age, that he can keep over the account until
the following year and make the profit look better
than it really is.

CHAPTER XI.
BUILDING.
Trn building that a planter has to do is in

80 Building.

most cases of a very simple kind. In building
cotlie lines one has ve ry little check on the
workmen, and many managers let all the coolies
sit on full pay for 3 or 4 days and build their
own lines; others give a fixed amount to each
Sirdar to build and thatch all his houses.
Most gardens are now building pucca lines, and
unless the bamboo and sun grass is very near
and plentiful, this is much the best plan. Pucca
lines should be built in the cold weather, say tho
beginning of November when work is slack, you
can utilize all the coolies to cut sites and carry
stones for the foundations. The nominal cost of this
is large, but actual cost very small, as the coolies
would have to be kept employed and probably

they would only be put on to some useless work.

If cutcha bricks are to be used make them large,
12x 6x4 is a fair size. If the houses are to be
built pucca make the bricks smaller, the English

measurement 9x4}x21 inches is the best size,

if they are larger the loss in tho kilns through

half-dried bricks will be much worse; as it is it

is as well to allow for 10 per cent. loss in any

Building. 81

kiln. A 100 foot long by 16 feet wide cutcha
brick coolie line will cost about Rs. 550, includ-
ing masonry, timbers, and carpenters work, but
exclusive of iron. If thatched the pitch of the
roof ought to be about 40°, if less it will leak,
and rot very quickly. Do not employ the
plains masons, they want 9 annas a day, pay,
and do very little work and always require a
coolie to wait on them. Any ordinary garden
coolie will soon learn to do any of the simple work
required in building the usual lines and the work
will not cost one-third the amount, The chief
thing to be careful about is that they do not use
too much mortar between the layers of bricks or
stones to fill up the small gaps. The ordinary
rates for bricks are :—

Pucca Rs. 4 8 annas per 1,000.

Cutcha ye 28. 4s p 1,000.

Masons building rates are :—
i Rs. As,
Building per 100 cubic feet... 2 8... Brick work,
Do. Do. u 3 Ove Stone, work,
Plastering & white-washing do. 1 14
Carpenters Rates :—
Roofing iron per roo sqr. feet ... 1 8
Cleaning and fitting Posts &c. ... 0 2 per foot,

82

building.

To mix lime use two-thirds sand, one-third
lime and one-third its bulk of water. In making
the mortar allow for a loss of one-third in bulk.
Do not use iron mails or lime when putting on
Zine roofs as they corrode the Zinc. And allow
for 2 corrugations, and 6 inches at each end of
sheet.

If you intend to shingle the roofs use Cara
touche or Bangey shingles, they last for 4 or 5
years, whereas Utese rots in about 2. The shingles
should measure about 16x4 inches, and 1,000
will cover 100 square feet, allowing for broken
and damaged shingles; coat the shingle with a mix-
ture of 1 Tar 14 Pitch, or wash it with a solution
made of lime, salt and sand, this latter mixture
acts as a preservative and makes the roof very
nearly fire-proof. At low elevations a thatched
roof is much preferable as it will not get as hot
as an iron roof. When shingles get old they
can always be covered with iron. The pitch of
roof should be about 400. Contractors rates for
shingles cut on the estate are Rs. 2/8 per 1,000.

Where bamboo is scarce Mullotar planks will

Roads. , 83

do for walls of coolie lines and will last 3 or 4
years.

Receipt for putty— Whiting 9, White lead 1
Linseed oil until stiff, to keep soft add Lucca oil
(Spons).

CHAPTER XII,
. ROADS,

In repairing roads always slope them in to
the hill and have cross drains at intervals. If
the roads are sloped out the ponies often slip off
them in the rains which is no joke, as there is
often a bad drop on the outside. Stone all
bridges, it is cheaper 10 do so, as stone bridges
last for years, whereas wooden bridges are al-
ways breaking in. It is always safer to close
your roas once ina year to prevent there being
a right of way claimed. Repair the roads in
November, so that they all get well trodden
down before the heavy wash of the rains com-
mences, Any landslips should be stoned up and
planted with bamboos or semul, and all jhoras

84 Garden Implements.

kept clean as if they are blocked, and there is
a sudden heavy fall of rain, many of the bridges
will be washed away, In making new roads
line them out, with a very slight rise and
stake up every 20 or 30 yards. A Kuropean’s
and Native’s idea of a good road is very differ-
ent, always remember that it depends chiefly on
the roads whether your work is hard or easy,
as if the roads are very bad, it takes as long
again to get from one part of the garden to
the other, and steep roads will wear the ponies out
in no time, so always give as much time and
trouble as you can to make new roads.

CHAPTER XIII.
GARDEN IMPLEMENTS.

A large quantity of tools of all sorts should
be kept in stock. It is a great mistake to try to
economise by making old tools last for years as
bad implements mean bad work. Pruning knives
eught to be renewed every other year, the extra

Garden Implements. 85

work a coolie will do with a good knife will very
Boon pay the knife’s cost, Big pruning knives
will be wanted for cutting down. In buying
these knives, get them with very long handles,
as they give more purchase. Small knives will be
required for light pruning. There are 8 or 4
sorts of hoes used up here, the Elephant hoe is
too big, and the narrow hoes used on some
closely planted gardens do poor work. A medium
sized hoe, not too heavy, is most used for general
work. Four pronged forks are best. The fork
hoes are useful when opening new land, but if
used on closely planted gardens tear the roots out
badly. Old worn out hoes can be always utilized
for tullies and holeing. Although many gardens
have given up hoeing and gone in for forking
entirely, it is doubtful if the forking makes so
much difference as is imagined, and on sandy
ridges they are nearly useless, as all the soil falls
between the prongs instead of being lifted up
bill. B. Y. hooks are the best for sickling. The
sickles must be frequently renewed, as when they
get worn down they do not cut properly, and in

86 Garden Implements,

consequence, half the jungle is only trodden or
beaten down instead of being cut; one reason,
why sickles wear out so soon is that the coolies
use them to cut their fire-wood. Neither English
nor American axes are much good up here, as the
coolies cut very well with their own wedge shaped
ones. In Chota Nagpore the coolies have to
provide their own tools. There is no reason why
this should not be down here. At present
any amount of tools are lost through coolies
bolting with them, and the only remedy is making
the sirdars buy new implements to replace those
lost, but most of the sirdars manage to get hold
of some of the worn out articles, and give these
in when the tools are called for. Two baskets and
two ghooms will have to be given to each coolie,
the first ones at the beginning of the year, the
Qnd about the end of July. A complete set of
tools will be wanted for the engine room and
spanners, duplicate piston rings, guages glasses,
plugs, packing, &., should always be kept ready.
Watering cans can be made om’ the estate from
old paint tins. Solder should also be made on
the estate, Receipts,—(1.) 1 Part Lead, 1 Part
Tin: (2) I Lead, 2 Tin: (8) 2 Yin, 25 Lead,
The cuttings from the box lead can be utilized
Box covers can be made by the garden Dirzees
if a pattern is given them, waterproof the box
covers by soaking in a solution of water and 20
parts soap, afterwards in a solution of water and

Climate. 87

20 parts Sulphate of Copper.

CLIMATE,

Tra seoms to grow in any climate, and some
of the gardens in Darjeeling which are at an
elevation of 6,000 feet still pay well and give 4
maunds an acre, the frost and snow seeming to
do very little damage to the China plant, although
the Assam plant suffers badly. One reason of
these gardens doing well is the tremendously
heavy rainfall they get, but the liability to get
hail will more than counteract this advantage,
and if cold weather is experienced in the rains
the flushes will be delayed or lost. The hot
steamy climate of the Dooars is specially suited
to tea, and very large outturns are made. In one
or two cases, 12 maunds per acre, The most un-
healthy climates are those in which tea does best
Hot steamy days and rainy nights suit tea better
than any other weather. Hail, except in very
exceptional cases, does not do half the harm, it
is supposed to do; if it takes off the first flush,
the 2nd flush is always vory heavy and will nearly
make up for the loss of the Ist; of course, if it
barks the trees, or if there is anothor fall of hail
during the 2nd flush, tho damage is irretrievable,
But as a rule the damage done is exaggerated
and in many cases in spite of the hail more than
the estimated yield is made. A large rainfall is
wanted, say, from 95-120 inches,

No. 1.
Acreage, u 120
Yield of Tea | 600 mds.
Average per acre| _6 mds.
How pruned | Medium,
well clean-
ed out,
Gost of pruning} Rs. 960
Average per acre} Rs. 8
Hoed a. | 4 times,
Bickled «| O tlmes,
Blight ... | Red spi-
der in
June,
Boil «| Black
Loam,
Lay of Land |Good slope
Best Flush ...| 8rd.
Vacancies .,, |6 per cent,
Seedlings
planted, ve

No. 2.
130
§20 mds,

4 mds,
Lightly.

Rs. 650,
Rs. 6.
4 times.

3 times,

Green Fly
badly july

Marshy
Clay sub-
soil,

Fair
slope,
Ist & 2nd
10 per

cent,

No, 3.

50
300 mds,
6 mds.
Up and
down left
4 inches
wood,

Rs, 300.

Rs. 6.
4 times,

3 times,

No blight.

Fair soil.

Good
slope,

8rd.

5 per cent,

Heavily.

Rs. 280,
Rs, 4,
Once,

6 times
hand
weeded,
Red spider
April May
Mosquito
August.
Soil much
washed.
away.

Very
steep.

8rd & 4th,
20 per

No, 5.

80
240 mds,
3 mds.
Cut heavi-
ly in May,

Rs, 820,
» 4
3 times,

5 times,

No blight,

Very
rocky good
soil,

Rather
steep,

lst & 3rd.
25 per

cent,

42,000.

cent,

60,000

Weather fairly favourable. Little drought at beginning of season and
very heavy rain during July and August, beginning of scason a, little too cold,

Total rainfall 102 inches,

FOR 1887,

No. 6. | No. 7. | No. 8 | No.9. | No. 10. TOTAL,

40 100 Ayrs, old | 3 yrs. old | 2 yrs. old
| wi 50 Eo 740 acres,
| 320 mds. | 260 mds. | 150 mds. | 25 mds. n 2,645 mds,

8 mds, 2} mds. | 3 mds. $ md. w | 3 mds, 16 srs,
Levelled | Thinned | Cut back | Cut to 1 | Cut to 10
leaving |out & bad] to 2 feet. | ft, 6 inch.| inches,

two good | work cut

eyes, low, Rs, As. P,
Rs. 400 | Rs, 800} Rs. 100} Rs, 60] Rs. 12 | 3,872 0 0
” $ 10 39 8 ” 2 ” ” 5 3 8
6 times, Once, Once Once
8 times. | hand } hand }
weeded weeded,
ese 6 times 4 times, Once Hand
hand hand weeded,
weeded. weeded.
Mosquito | Red spi- | No blight,| No blight. A few Red
at end of | der, green beetles,

Sept. and | fly badly,
in October, :
Sandy | Very little} Good soil Soil fair to) Olayey

Loam, | top soil, | sandy |goodRocks| subsoil,
subsoil, |under sur-
face.

Nearly Steep Good Medium | All terrac-
flat, Rocky. | slope, |land 10 a-| ed steep.
cres terraced
Brd &4th.| ist. |2nd & 3rd] 3rd & ath. wi
Full, 20 per |6 percent.| 10 per 20 per

cent, cent, cent,

ae 10,000 14,000 20,000 40,000. 186,000

Total cost of hoeing «e «. Rs. 6,250.
Total cost of jungle cutting ... 5, 3,400,

CHAPTER XIII.
MANAGEMENT.

To manage a Tea Estate properly it is neces-
sary to have some slight knowledge of many
trades, As although in many cases assistance
will be given willingly by neighbouring planters,
still it often happens that in cases of emergency
the manager has to depend entirely on himself.
A European ought to be able to look after a gar-
den which produces 1,000 maunds without help
or with assistance from a Moonshee or Baboo.
These Natives have often been doing nothing but
Tea work for 20—25 years and are quite as
useful as an ordinary European assistant, and
an aséistant’s salary makes a great deal of
difference in the yearly expenditure. When a
garden’ produces over 1,200 maunds an assistant
will be necessary and on large estates making
over 3,000 maunds, a regular European Tea House
assistant should be employed. Four rupees a
maund is a very fair allowance for European
Establishment. Most hill gardens give pony

Management. g1

allowance, this is much cheaper for the proprietors
as the wear and tear of the ponies is great on
steep gardens. The allowance is generally Rs, 25
a pony a month, some few estates allow Rs.
8l. A regular garden Diary should be kept
by every manager or what is better a sheet like
the one on reverse. In event of the manager of
a garden going on leave or joining another estate, .
the new manager is at a very great disadvantage
until he gets to know his new charge thoroughly
and it often happens that a planter who has been
successful on his former charges, does badly for
a year or two, through not knowing the peculiar-
ities of the garden he joins, Certain patches of
tea may be particularly subject to blight, the soil
vary much in different portions, or rainfall be
very short. So if on taking over charge of a gar-
den he finds a proper account of all the work that
has been done for years with the results attained,
it is a very great help to him. On some estates
the manager looks after garden, and assistant fac,
tory, and on others assistant garden, and manager
factory, In either case if the work is being done

92 Management.

well, interfere very little with the assistant and
on no acconnt give orders to Natives if the
assistant is on the spot as it only lowers him in
the eyes of the coolies. Of course, sometimes
it is necessary for the manager to take entire
charge of the work himself, but this will only be
if orders are not carried out properly or the work
is really bad, both managers and assistants should
have one day’s holiday a week, the man in charge
of Factory always being able to take Monday.
In slack seasons it is as well do go a round of
as many gardens as you can, the paying estates
being well looked over, as different styles of pruning
are done on most gardens and there are often
new ideas in sifting or in drying teas, and as new
machines are brought out all these things can
be looked into and compared with one’s own
system, and very often a good deal is learnt. Do
not have too many different sorts of work going
on at the same time and keep the coolies as much
together as possible, A manager should always
go round the work once a day. On very large
estates this may not be feasible, but can be done

Pnivaté Garden. 93

anyhow every other day. Even in the manufac-
turing season one can always manage to go round
a large portion of the garden before the leaf is
ready to be fired. In the pruning season have all
coolies counted up in the evening as well as the
morning. During the plucking season there is al-
ways a check on coolies by the amount of baskets
weighed, but many of the pruners will go to
their houses after the morning muster is taken.
All accounts and books should be kept by the
manager, and pay or advances given out by him
personally to sirdars, this being a good time to
redress any grievances, or settle disputes. Keep
a daily account of expenditure as items may be
forgotten.

PRIVATE GARDENS.

Prrvate gardens (if they are not financed)
invariably pay well. The chief reasons being
that the agents’ changes are loss, and that no use-
less buildings are erected, and that if the owner
is manager he has what labour he likes and is
not limited to a fixed expenditure, it being im»

94 Forest Conservancy.

possible for anyone off the garden to tell what
labour will be required, Also that advances are
given on contracts in October or November, by
this getting charcoal and wood at cheaper rates.

Another reason is that the managers and
assistants are very seldom changed, if they work
properly, and as both men get good pay and good
commission they stick to the work,

REED: GERI

CHAPTER XIV.

FOREST CONSERVANCY,

Tue supply of timber in this district, for
either firewood, charcoal, or building purposes, ig
getting low, and on most gardens represents
large amount in the estimates. In most cases
the wood has to be out in Government Forests,
but the demand is so enormous round the station
(over 6,00,000 maunds) that the Forests will be
unable to bear the strain for long. When this
Aupply ceases most gardens will be placed most

Forest Conservancy. 95

awkwardly as the timber left on the estate will
only last for a few years, and only in a few cases
will water power be available to work the machin-
ery. Every planter ought to plant 5 or 10 acres
of trees yearly. The question is what trees had
better be planted. Quick growing ones should
be chosen, Semul (Bombax Malabaricum) grows
very quickly, strikes readily from cuttings and
comes on well from seed. The wood is very soft
but does very well for tea boxes and for planks,
which will only be used for a short time. All
cuttings or seedlings should be planted at as low

an elevation as possible.

Mullotar (Macaranga) another very fast grow-
ing tree is useful for tea boxes and walls of coolie
lines. Wood will not last long.

For fire-wood the Kooail (Sponia Poletoria)
would do well, it is not a large tree, but grows
very quickly and germinates well. If 10 acres
of this tree were planted 10 by 10 feet, it would
keep a garden in engine wood entirely after 3
yoars, or at most 4 years, A single tree would

96 Forest Conservancy.

not probably weigh more than 10 maunds, which
would give 4,300 maunds per acre. ‘The trees
want very little looking after, and seedlings spring
up by themselves wherever the trees have been cut
down. In many cases this tree dies off after 3
or 4 years, but even then the wood comes in for
fire-wood. The wood burns very well and gives
out a large amount of heat, but it burns quickly
and is light. It could be planted out anywhere,
in old native cultivation near the factory would
save carriage.

Tooni (Cedrela toona) has been planted on
many estates. This tree does not grow quickly
and is very subject to Mosquito blight, which
strips it of leaves, And some planters believe that
it really brings on Mosquito blight. On several
gardens it has been planted along the roads, but
many of these trees now 10—12 years old are
only about 15 feet high. This tree certainly does
not come on in the open, but might do better
if planted in heavy jungle.

Most of the trees from which building timber
is cut are slow growing. Good trees to plant

Sun-grass. 97,

would be Peplee (Bucklandia propulnea), Souar
(Betula cylindrostachys), Chelone (Schima
Wallichii), Kimbo (Morus serrata), Champ (Mi-
chelia excelsa). Bamboos. are common on most
gardens but where wanted can be planted in long
hedges in the native cultivation, a stem with
small piece of root should be planted. The three
best kinds for this district are: 1. Mal Bas (Bam-
busa nutans),—a large bamboo, grows to great
hight: for coolie lines and. cutcha roofs. 2.
Maling (Falconeri)—a smaller bamboo used for
baskets, mats and horses’ fodder. 3, Filing,—
baskets and mats.

The best trees for ornamental purposes are—

Mowa (Engelhardtia spicata), Peplee (Buk-
landia populnea), Cryptomeria Japonica,

SUN-GRASS.

Ir an acre of sun-grass is planted out every
yoar, it will save the garden a great deal of ex-
pense, The grass will grow in almost any soil
providing it is not too dry, The time to plant is

98 SUN-QVASS,

at the beginning of the rains, near the coolie lines
will save carriage. Very ‘little trouble need be
taken, as if the roots are} covered {over with
soil and cattle kept out the grass will spread
very quickly. Ittshould be burnt once a year
at the end of January or beginning of February.
Grass should be cut in December or January,

Appended to this is a short list of the most
common trees in this district with their uses,—

A few of the common trees of this district.

NEPALESE. Color of wood Grain. USED FOR.
Budgrat, Buk Oak, Quercus Camellosa Brown black Hard Building timbers & charcoal &e.
Sal Shorea Robusta Very hard | Building timbers, charcoal &c.&c
Kimbo Mulberry, Morus Seratta ‘Yellow brown Hard Good timber.
Okor Walnut, Juglans Regia lac i Furniture, Timber, shingles.
Champ Magnolia, Michelia excelsa Yellow > Furniture and timber,
Tuni Cedrela Toona Red Soft Boxes furniture, building, shingle
Peple Bucklandia Populnea = Hard Timber, charcoal,
Panisagh Terminalia Myriopteron White Fairly hard | Timber and charcoal, boxes.
Chelone Schima Wallichii Red Hard Posts in ground, timber, charcoal
Cartouche Chesnut, Custunia White & red a Shingles, building and charcoal,
Lumpatie Duabanga Sonneratoides White Soft Boxes and timber.
Copasse Maple, Acer hookeri + Hard Charcoal and timber,
Souar Birch, Betula Cylindrostachys ce = Timber.
Cerise Albizzia Stipulata Red Soft Fire-wood.
Semil Bombax, Malabaricum Cotton a Very soft | Thin planks.
Lava India Rubber, Ficus Elastica. White Soft India Rubber and Bark.
Hatti Pili Pterospermum Acerfolium Red n Charcoal, leaves for Ghooms.
Mullotar Molotus White 3 Fire-wood, planks for coolie lines
Goial Calicarpa i * Fire-wood, posts, small bridges,
Kooail Sponia politoria ” ” O, bark.,
Kanhya Ficus Cunia Red a Do.
Gokul Dupe Cunarium Bengaleuse White Very soft | Planks, boxes.
Uthese Alder Alnus Nepaleasis Yellow Soft Fire-wood, boxes.
Felletta Erythrina White 4 Do.
Lallie Laurel, Gironniera Thomsoni | Red Hard Timber, charcoal,
Lepcha Phul Laurel; Phoebe atienuata White = Do. Do, Fruit.
Gobira Echinocarpus dasycarpus Brown 2 Do. Do, Boxes,
Sag Terminalia tomentosa 4 z Building.
Mowa Engenhardtia spicata White Soft Boxes, planks,

There are several different kinds of Tuni, Cerise and Cartouche, but they are very hard to identify,

Estimate for 450 acre Garden,—Outturn 1,700 maunds.

Work. RATE, Cost, REMARKS,
Rs. Rs,
European Est.... 7,200 7,200 Manager Rs, 450
Assistant „ 160
Engineer are 200 200
Medical Fees ... 200 200
Native Est. ... 2,200 . 2,200

Cultivation alc—

Cultivation per
l deep hoe .,.. @3/4 P acre 1.462
10 2.1

Total cost of
{ out Rs. 19-14-10

3 light hoes ... ,,1/ ” 193
3 jungle cuttings ,,-/12 4, 1,013 Leave 4 inches
Pruning oat 3,160 new wood, thin
Transplanting... 600 out well,
Nurseries i 300 30.maunds seed
Roads Sip 260 8,968 to plant,
nt ene I neluding drains
Manufacture alc- and bridges.
Plucking „=. @1/6 9 md, 2,400 Manufactured at
Borting w 99 1B n 850 just under Rs, 6-9
Tea-makers ... 1,600 per maund of
Transport... 1,800 pucca tea,
Box-wood _ ...35,000 ft @ 50- 1,750 Tea boxes and all
Charcoal eve 2,500MGs -13 2,031 stores Boxwood §
Engine wood... 3,500 ,, 12-8 437 tooni,
Baskets, &c, ... 250 11,118 Including ghooms
— nt ei Ad Mats,

Building account—
Coolie lines... 1,160 Including sun-
Repairs to house grass & stables,

and Factory... 200 1,350 White-washing,
General «ie 160 150 plastering,

4 ponies at
Stable ei {26 a month
each, 1,200 1,200

Road-cess 820 820
Up keep 20 acres These items are

2 years pe 500 500 heayy but require

Planting 20 acres 750 750 most careful work
Lixchange act, @-/8 4P 100- 172 172
Sundries vee 60 50 Factory paper,
——— ———- cloths, stamps &c,
34,978 84,378,
l Alaere netomat

Total local Hxpenditure Rg, 20-5 annas perjmaund, pucca toa,

+e

ESTIMATE.

In making an estimate always rather under-
estimate the outturn and over-estimate the ex-
penditure. As if the proposed outtuin is not
made or if too much money is spent, the owners
are sure to be put out; whereas if an extra
amount is made for a smaller expenditure, the
manager will get kudos. The cost of cultivation
will vary much in wet and dry years and never
can be estimated for exactly, roads may want
extra repairs, more charcoal may have to be
used and a hundred things happen which may
increase the expenditure. Tea should be mado
for about Rs. 20 a maund, or less, if there is no
new cultivation. When a garden makes 44
maunds an acre, a coolie an acre will be wanted,
but when gardens can only turn out 8 maunds
per acre, 2 coolies ought to do for 8 acres. But
at the same time, if an increase is expected, it is
better to err on the side of having too many
coolies, as if the leaf once gets away, it will be
very serious loss. Nearly every garden in the

102 Estimate.

district ought to make 4 maunds per acre and |
some of the better gardens at least 6 maunds.
It is false economy to try to work a garden too |
cheap, as from want of cultivation the soil gets
hard, the jungle seeds, and the year after will
give much trouble, and what is saved one year
will have to be spent. the next, |

Tur Enb.