WATER AND SANITATION.
These may be discussed together and shortly.
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 rail, is great, and Tea
cultivation requires all advantages to make it pay well.
But it is water for a garden that particularly concerns us now. It
is not easy to find land that can be irrigated (this is discussed
elsewhere), but no labour or expense in getting such land would be
thrown away. Irrigation, combined with high cultivation in other
respects, will give a yield per acre undreamt of.
In no case should a plantation be made except where a running stream
is handy. Water is a necessity for seedlings, and a plentiful adjacent
supply of it is a great desideratum for the comfort and health of every
soul on the garden. We all know how dependent the natives are on water,
and it is evident facilities in this respect will conduce much (whether
the labour be local or imported) both to get and keep coolies. Norton’s
tube wells--a cheap and most efficient mode of procuring water--will,
I doubt not, be eventually much used on Tea plantations.
It has been observed that, as a rule, a good Tea climate is not a
healthy one. There is no getting over the fact, and we can only make
the best of it. The house, the factories, and all the buildings should
be placed as high as possible, and not very close to each other, both
for the sake of health and in the event of fire. The locality should
be well drained, and cleanliness be attained in every possible way.
Give the coolies good houses, with raised mechans to sleep on, and
sprinkle occasionally carbolic acid powder in your own house and those
of others.
Sanitation is, however, a large subject. It can be studied elsewhere.
General ideas on it, and on the properties of the commonest medicines,
are a great advantage to any intending Tea planter.