A History of Assam c24.13

c24.13

The first Government tea plantation was located on a sandbank near the confluence of the Brahmaputra and the Kundil rivers. The poor and porous soil was quite unsuitable for the purpose, and the experiment proved a failure. The plants were therefore removed to Jaipur, where a new garden was opened. This was sold in 1840 to the Assam Company, which had been formed in the previous year with a capital of half a million sterling, and which established factories at Dibrugarh and at the junction of the Burhi Dihing and Tingri rivers. Plantations were made from China seed; but for some time the leaf brought in from the bushes growing wild in the forests continued to be the chief source of supply. In its earlier years the Company was far from prosperous, but about 1852 its prospects began to improve, and in 1859 it had 4,000 acres under cultivation and an outturn of over 760,000 pounds of tea. Its local expenditure exceeded a lakh of rupees a year in 1853, by which time nine other gardens had been started—all in Upper Assam. The existence of indigenous tea in Cachar and Sylhet was soon afterwards ascertained, and in 1855 the pioneer garden in the former district was opened.