Edward Money

“ If only Indian Tea was once taken up, and became popular, its future would be secured. The teeming masses of people in the States would consume more Tea we should imagine than all the English public, provided Indian Tea took the place of China. Australia so far has done well, but the market there would be easily glutted, whereas, if its use became general, it would be almost impossible to glut the American market. The millions of settlers in America and in Canada all use Tea at their meals very much as an Englishman takes his beer, so that the inland consumption must be very large. ”

“ There have been many theories about pruning Tea bushes, but none, I think, worth much practically, for the simple reason that it is impossible to prune 250,000 plants (the number in a 100-acre garden, at 2,500 to the acre) [25] with the care and system a gardener prunes a favourite fruit tree. The operation must be a coarse one, done by ignorant men, in large numbers at one time, who can in a measure be more or less taught, and the nearer they do right the better: still, really careful and scientific pruning can never be carried out on a Tea plantation. ”

“ Kangra is strictly a Himalayan district, but the elevation is moderate, if I remember right, about 3,000 feet, and the land is so slightly sloping it may almost be called level. A great advantage this over the steep lands, on which most of the Himalayan gardens, many in Cachar, and some in Assam and Chittagong, are planted.
Kangra is not the best place for a man who wants to make money by Tea; but for one who would be content to settle there, and content to make a livelihood by it, a more desirable spot with a more charming climate could not be found. Land, however, is not easily procured. ”

“ The southern and western slopes of plantations in warm sites are generally very bare of plants. Not strange they should be so, when the power of the reflected rays of the afternoon sun is considered. Again, in cold climates plants cannot thrive on northern aspects, for their great want in such climes is heat and sunshine. Let the above fault, then, be avoided in both cases, for though doubtless a garden is more handy, and looks better in one piece planted all over without any intervening jungle, even patches of jungle look better, and are decidedly cheaper, than bare cultivated hills. ”

“ The above shows, if figures will show anything, that a great loss to both the producer and Customs takes place by the system in vogue. As the only object of the Customs should be to arrive at the true weight of Tea in the most expeditious and simple way, how very absurd is the system pursued! What the tare is can in no way signify to them; all they really want is the weight of the Tea. The absurdity of the system is proved by the fact (demonstrated) that the results to both producer and Customs can be altered by the addition or subtraction in the Custom-house of a few nails! ”

“ It is no secret that for some years past the losses of merchants have been serious, and that while most of the wealthy firms so long known as connected with China have either entirely ceased to import Tea, or have reduced their operations to a very small compass, the trade has been carried on by new houses possessing but little capital, who are enabled, by the competition of the banks, to do a large business by drawing bills on China, not only for the whole cost of the Teas purchased, but also for their commissions on these purchases—that is to say, for an unrivalled profit of 3 per cent. ”

“ Whether the difference was produced by climate, by soil, or in what way, no one knows, and here we have only to do with the facts that they do differ in every respect. A purely indigenous plant or tree (for in its wild state it may more properly be called the latter) grows with one stem or trunk, and runs up to 15 and 18 feet high. It is always found in thick jungle, and would thus appear to like shade. I believe it does when young; but I am quite sure, if the jungle were cleared round an indigenous Tea-tree found in the forest, it would thrive better from that day. ”

“ You can cultivate Tea at a profit only in a country where labour is at the lowest possible minimum, and so on. And so it is taken for granted that the Tea culture is to be allowed to retain its antiquated forms and systems for all time, and that the skill and intelligence of a civilized nation can do nothing to raise it to a level with corresponding branches of agriculture, such, for instance, as rice growing. ”

“ Putting aside the waste incurred in digging a whole garden when not necessary, the way the soil is then dug near the plants is, I think, objectionable. The ground is dug in a straight line up to the plant, and in doing so, if the digging is deep, roots are very apt to be cut. Again, when the work is task-work, the men shirk as much as possible digging close up to the stems under the branches, and thus the soil [82] over much of the roots, is not stirred at all. This is not easy to detect, for you must look under the branches of each tree to see how the work has been done. ”

“ To attempt to base the success of this particular industry upon any other than that of coolie labour would be foolish, as we all know that Kafirs are not to be relied upon; therefore the cost of labour has to be considered. We well know that all the Tea estates of India have to be supplied with imported coolies—the natives of the districts concerned will not work unless casually—but the cost of coolies in Natal must be more than the cost of coolies in Assam—therefore in that item the advantage must be in favour of the Indian planter. ”

“ Tea machinery is destined to work great results in India. When brought to perfection (it is far on the road now) , it will so cheapen the cost of manufacture that, though labour is dearer with us than in China, we shall, thanks thereto, be able to lay down our Teas at cheaper rates than the produce of the Flowery Land. If Indian Tea ever vies in quantity with China in the Tea-consuming countries of the world, it will be due entirely to the economy effected by our machinery. ”

“ All garden refuse should be regarded as manure and buried between the plants. I allude to the prunings of the bushes and the weeds at all times from the land. To carry these off the ground, as I have sometimes seen done, is simply taking off so much strength from the soil. The greener, too, all this is buried the better.
When it is considered how much is taken from the Tea plant, it is evident the soil will be exhausted, sooner or later, if no means are adopted to repair the waste. ”

“ The Tea is really just as good, in fact a shade better, with black than with white or orange tips, [40] but it does not sell so well, and as we cannot argue the brokers or dealers into a rational view of the case, we must humour their fancy (they are virtually our masters) and give them the Pekoe tips—if we can.
How are we to do it? The plan of picking these small leaves separately, in order to manufacture them separately, does not answer; it is too expensive; it diminishes the yield of a garden, and labour for it fails. ”

“ I have at last completed experiments with a view to do away with the use of charcoal in Tea manufacture, and I think with success.
The “Furnace Teas,” for so I purpose naming them, have in most cases been pronounced by the Calcutta brokers to be superior to similar samples of the same day’s leaf, made in the usual way over charcoal.
Nothing but the heat generated by any fuel placed in furnaces sunk under ground outside the Tea-house is used. No motive power of any kind is employed. The apparatus is very simple. It is cheap to erect and very durable in character. ”

“ It is not a little strange that the importance of effecting improvements in the present system of Tea bulking, which has exercised the minds of Tea growers and importers so much of late, should have hitherto been neglected or ignored by the proprietors of the various bonded warehouses in London wherein the Tea is bulked and stored. That Tea may be, and only too commonly is, bulked by an antiquated and unsatisfactory process is a fact which is well known to all who are interested in the matter. ”