Career-Lecture Series No. 3. Tea Industry 17th January 1939

In dealing with these two points the planter has to consider the capital at his disposal, the land which is available, the soil, the rainfall, the suitability of the aspect for tea, the transport facilities actual and potential and the extent to which labour is available in the loca- lity. [...] The process of plucking is the basis and foundation of the tea crop for on the way in which this is done depend firstly the standard of the teas and secondly the weight of the harvest. [...] At the auctions the tea is bid for and bought by the tea blenders and distributors who despatch it to their customers the whole- salers who usually blend different kinds and types of tea together to suit the parti- cular tastes of the people in the different localities where the tea will be drunk. [...] Taking advantage of the regulation of supplies the tea industry has set itself to endeavour to effect a permanent improvement in its economic position by study- ing the progress or retrogression of the world's tea production and consumption and the reasons therefor and by examining ways and means for the increase of the consumption of tea in the world. [...] Many legends surround its early use. —China is accepted to be the country which launched the trade in tea. —India is undoubtedly the home of the tea plant. —Efforts made in India to establish the cultivation of tea on a commercial basis failed till tea was discovered growing wild in Assam. — In a little over 100 years India has become the greatest exporter of tea in the world. —Where tea is grown in In