The fifth drawback I shall advert to again later, _viz._, the selection of sloping land, often the steepest that could be found, on which to plant Tea. The great mischief thus entailed will be fully described elsewhere. It was the fifth, and not the least, antagonistic point to success.
Number six was the difficulty in the transport of seed to any new locality, for nine times out of ten a large proportion failed; and again the enormous cost of Tea seed in those days, Rs. 200 a maund (Rs. 500 at least, deducting what failed, was its real price). This item of seed alone entailed an enormous outlay, and was the sixth difficulty Tea cultivation had to contend with. It was, however, a source of great profit to the old plantations, and principally accounts for the large dividends paid for years by the Assam Company.
Again, many managers at that time had no experience to guide them in the manufacture of Tea; each made it his own way, and often turned out most worthless stuff. There is great ignorance on the subject at the present time, but those who know _least_ to-day, know _more_ than the best informed in the Tea-fever period. Indian Tea was a new thing then; the supply was small, and it fetched comparatively much higher prices than it does now. Still much of it was so bad that the average price all round was low.
Tea manufacture, moreover, as generally practised then, was a much more elaborate and expensive process than it is now.
This will be explained further on, under the head of “Tea Manufacture;” I merely now state the fact in support of the assertion that the bad Tea made in those days, and the expensive way it was done, was the seventh hindrance to successful Tea cultivation.
Often in those days was a small garden made of 30 or 40 acres, and sold to a Company as 150 or 200 acres! I am not joking. It was done over and over again. The price paid, moreover, was quite out of proportion to even the supposed area. Two or three lakhs of rupees (20,000_l._ or 30,000_l._) have been often paid for such gardens, when not more than two years old, and 40 per cent. of the existing area, vacancies. The original cultivators “retired” and the Company carried on. With such drags upon them (apart from all the other drawbacks enumerated) could success be even hoped for? Certainly not.