172 NOTICE OF BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS. 
the mound for about 50 yards, when they disappeared where 
the soil becomes dark. Now descending to the foot of the 
mound, I found the £ea plant disappear where the soil, instead | 
of being. sandy or clayey, became rich and stiff! Again 
(p. 23), at Noadwar : * Having entered the skirts of a forest, 
which though not under water, was wet and slippery and in 
some cases deeply covered with mud, we suddenly descended 
from the very bed of an occasional water-course, and at first 
sight discovered a total change of soil and vegetation. From 
floundering in mud, we now stood on a light, red, dry and 
dusty soil, notwithstanding the rain to which it was ex 
in common with every part of thé country at the time.’ 
Still speaking of the soil at Noadwar, he continues, ‘the 
colour of the surface is dark yellowish-brown, but on being. 
opened it appears much brighter, and on looking to the depth 
of three feet, it changes progressively to a deep, pure, orange 
coloured sand, quite distinct from any of the other soils ot 
subsoils in this part of the district; and in this remarkable 
situation, the tea plants are so numerous that they constitute 
a third part, probably, of the entire vegetation of the spot- 
The red soil disappears gradually within the limit occupied 
by the tea plants. I observed the level of the waters in the 
wells in this neighbourhood, to be about ten feet below the 
surface of the ground. eh 
** * From these examples, it will be observed, that a lights 
porous, yellow, or reddish soil is the kind which this plant : 
naturally prefers, but situated in the midst of water and ! 
undation on slightly elevated moulds, supposed by Mr 
M‘Clelland to be themselves sometimes inundated. It will 
farther be noticed, that the sites always of small extent, °C 
. cupied by the tea plant, were invariably in forests under the 
shade of trees, both of which circumstances ought to be we 
attended to, in any attempts made to extend its cultivation.’ 
- “ Climate and exposure. Under this head I find it most 
difficult to elicit precise information from the authorities, be- 
fore me, owing to the contradictory nature of the detallsy 
originating, not in the want of care on the part of the writers. 
