The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea

I will divide it into two headings, “Tea Cultivation” and “Tea Manufacture.” Of course the machines for the last far outnumber the first, which are very few, but much of great i...

One misapprehension with some exists on this head. The _weighing_ is done by the Customs to ascertain the amount for duty. The _bulking_ is done at the request of the vendor, th...

To manufacture your leaf into good Tea is certainly one of the first conditions for success. It will avail little to have a good productive garden if you make inferior Tea. The...

1. Assam. 2. The Dehra Dhoon. 3. Kumaon (Himalayas). 4. Darjeeling (Himalayas). 5. Cachar and Sylhet.[8] 6. Kangra (Himalayas). 7. Hazareebaugh. 8. Chittagong. 9. Terai below Da...

Sifting is a very important item in the manufacture of Tea. Careful and judicious sifting, as contrasted with the reverse, may make a difference of two or three annas a lb. in t...

If the planter wishes to get his Tea direct into consumption, the packages must be small, to suit buyers. In the Colonies a large trade is done in 38lb. half-chests. They are wi...

Tea planting was commenced in India by the Assam Company about 1840, and the cultivation was undertaken in other districts in the following years:--Kumaon and Gurwhal, 1850; Cac...

This is likely to prove a formidable competitor. As far as I can gather, Tea plants (of both the Assam and China kinds) were introduced into Ceylon in 1841, but it is only durin...

2. Except in one or two shops in London and Glasgow, unknown to the mass of the people, not an ounce of pure Indian Tea can be bought in all England.

_Why, then, has Tea only paid during the last few years_ (?) Simply because nothing will pay, which is embarked on without the requisite knowledge; and this was pre-eminently th...

These are many, but they all arise from two species: the China plant, the common Tea-bush in China; and the indigenous plant, first discovered some forty years ago in Assam.

To a certain extent, it is true that the more a Tea bush is pruned and picked the more it will yield. It appears as if Nature were always trying to repair the violence done to t...

The following is an extract from the “Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the state and prospects of Tea cultivation in Assam and Cachar,” addressed to the Gov...

So difficult is this to do, that I have heard several planters declare they would attempt it no further, but, on the contrary, accept the vacancies in their gardens as an unavoi...

Choose a level site, with, if possible, the command of water at a higher level--anyhow with water handy. Either irrigating or hand-watering for seed beds is a necessity if vigor...

System and order, a good memory, a good temper, firmness, attention to details, agricultural knowledge, industry, all these, combined with a thorough knowledge of Tea cultivatio...

By far the best Tea boxes are the teak ones made at Rangoon. The wood is impervious to insects of all kinds, even white ants. Sawn by machinery the pieces sent to compose each b...

Several plans have at times been proposed in India with a view to make the merits of pure Indian Teas known in England. When I was last out there I saw the following letter in t...

By this I mean, so dividing it when first made into parts, that later the said parts shall be easily recognised, and separately or differently treated, as they may require it.

As manuring, which is part of this, is treated separately, we have here only to consider the best means of stirring the soil to give air to the roots of the plants, and to keep...

The Tea plant is said to flush when it throws out new shoots and leaves. The young leaves thus produced are the only ones fit to make Tea, and the yield of a plantation depends...

The first idea prevailing about Tea was that it should be planted on slopes. It was thought, and truly, that the plant was impatient of stagnant water, and so it is, but it is n...

A fortnight or so before it commences tip all the seedlings in the nursery. Take off only the closed leaf at the head of each young plant (see a leaf diagram, page 104), so that...

An idea existed formerly--got, I believe, from stray Chinamen, who I don’t think knew much about Tea in any way--that manure, though it increased the yield, spoilt the flavour o...

To elucidate a table I shall draw up in the next chapter showing the probable receipts and expenditure on such a garden for a series of years, I shall suppose this plantation to...

Having selected a site and made arrangements for the Tea seed required for the first year’s planting, you should commence operations early in October, either by constructing the...

These insects (for blight, too, is said to be an insect) are very destructive to the Tea plants. The cricket, however, only injures it when quite young, so we will consider that...

It is stated elsewhere at length (page 102) _why_ I conceive pruning to be necessary for the Tea plant. Whether I am right or not, the fact is certain that without pruning very...

To pronounce as precisely on soil as to climate is not easy. The Tea plant will grow on almost any soil, and will flourish on many. Still there are broad general rules to be lai...

When the very large amount of labour required to carry on a plantation is considered, it is evident that facilities for it are a _sine quâ non_ to success. Assam and Cachar, the...

Though there is a great difference in Tea plants (see last chapter) the seed of all is the same, and it is therefore impossible to say from what class of plants it has been gath...

The _modus operandi_ is very simple. A month before the sowing time (which should be as soon as you can get the seed), at each stake dig a hole at least 9 inches diameter and 12...

When the idea existed, which it did once, that ploughs could be used to cultivate a garden between the lines, these latter, with this object, were placed unnecessarily wide apart.

These are as follow:--They will vary more or less according to the district, rate of wages, &c., but in the form the tables are given, if not suitable to any case, they can easi...

In the one case the seed is placed in nurseries at the close of the year, and the young plants transplanted into the garden at beginning of the following rains.

Of course adjacent water-carriage is a great advantage for a garden, and it should be obtained, if possible, in selecting a site. The expense of land-carriage, where there is no...

I have not much to say under this head. I have heard many opinions as to the kind of trees and jungle that should exist in contemplated clearances, but I attach little or no wei...