A History of Assam c24.15

c24.15

The depression continued until 1869, when it was found that well-managed gardens were yielding a good profit, and that even those which had belonged to the defunct companies were, in many cases, turning out well under careful management. This gave a fresh impetus to the industry, and during the next thirty years there was a steady increase in the number of tea gardens, the area under cultivation, and the output of tea. In 1872 about 27,000 acres were actually planted with tea in the Brahmaputra valley, 23,000 in Cachar, and 1,000 in Sylhet; the outturn in these three tracts was respectively six million, five million, and a third of a million pounds. In 1878 the total production of tea was 28½ million pounds; in 1885 it was 53½ million, and in 1901 it was close on 134 million pounds. An output of 234 million pounds was reached in 1920. In 1922 owing to finer plucking it fell to 199 million pounds, but in the following year it was 237 million pounds, *viz.*, 160 million in the Brahmaputra, and 77 million in the Surma, valley. The area under cultivation in the year last mentioned was 412,000 acres, or about one-fourth of the total quantity of land taken up by the tea planters. The capital invested in Assam tea gardens in 1903 was estimated roughly at about fourteen million pounds sterling.*