Question

Why did tea gardens not develop in far north east in india?

Answer 1

Tea seems to have been known from very old days. It was consumed
as a beverage for many centuries in China. Tea was primarily a luxury drink
of the aristocracy. It was introduced in the Western market in early part of
the 17th century. Then almost the entire supply came from China. The position
remained unaltered for two centuries.
The story of tea in India started two centuries ago when the East India
Company started searching for an alternative source of supply to Chinese
tea. In the early part of 1820-23 in course of colonial effort of the exploitation
of the natural resources of Assam, Major R. Bruce discovered some
indigenous tea plants growing wildly in upper Assam. Iridian tea was first
introduced in World market by the British proletariat who developed a habit
of strong Indian tea.
Tea is made from the young leaves and unopened leaf buds of the tea
plant 'camellia sinesis. It grows almost every where it is wet and warm. It is
generally assumed that a minimum of 45" rainfall per annum is necessary to
grow tea. A tea estate run on modern time with amenities given to settled
labour force and only where the climate is such, big yield are possible. Tea
is a permanent crop of a tea bush which has an economic life span varying
from 50 to 80 years approximately with a great variation of location and soil
type of the plants and a large number of factors. The most basic factor of
production is land, which has a peculiarity of its own, conditioned by natural
environment which is not substitutable by any other primary or secondary
factor of production non capable of being humanly manipulated. The
commercial end product is the processed leaf of tea plant dependent upon a
large scale supply of the green leaf which in its turn depends on land. Tea
bush is allowed to grow to a height of three feet. Left to itself a tea bush can
grow to a height of about 18 feet or more but it is kept stunted at three feet
because the bush spread out best at that height, give the maximum number
of plucking points. Since the plucking is done by hand it is convenient to