September i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



261 



healthy. The crop will steadily increase every year, and 

 it is extremely probable that in half-a-dozen years mangoes 

 wUl be freely grown in the neighbourhood, whence they 

 can be shipped iu any quantity to Melbourne. The guavas 

 all do well; the principal varieties grown by Mr. Cheyue 

 are the cherry, the gooseberry, and the common guavas. 

 All three varieties give heai-y crops of excellent fruit, the 

 most fancied being the gooseberry guava. Several varieties 

 of the custard apple are grown, the trees yielding con- 

 siderable quantities of fruit. The Chinese date-phira does 

 so well that it is likely to become a common fruit in the 

 district. Loquats are also well represented, and gi-apes do 

 fairly well, but the wood is weaker and not nearly so 

 healthy-looking as in Victoria. The American varieties 

 appear to stand the climate better tlian the European 

 grapes, the most hardy and the best bearer being the 

 Isabella. Mulberry trees are grown in moderate quantities, 

 and yield good crops. Besides the fruits named, 3Ir. 

 Oheyne has planted a number of tropical fruits as an ex- 

 periment, with the view of ascertaining that fruits will succeed 

 in the district. Of these fruits the Lee-chu Brazilian, cherry 

 and Chinese dwarf peach have succeeded better than any 

 other. The tamarind tree' has grown to a good size, and 

 is beginning to fruit. Tlie cinnamon has thriven exceedingly 

 well, and should pay well for cultivation. Apple trees grow 

 fairly well, but owing to the climate the tree has no rest ; 

 blossoms and fruit come at aU times, but the fruit is 

 almost useless. Only one variety of pear will grow, and 

 that is only fit for cooking. Peaches do not pay for gi-ow- 

 ing, as the fruit is attacked by the flies before it is fit 

 for picking, and is thus rendered unfit for use. The Chinese 

 dwarf variety comes to maturity before the flies attack 

 the fruit, and thus escapes. This peach is worked upon 

 a common stock, and. when it has a year or two's growth, 

 it has a peculiar and very attractive appearance. The 

 orchard has a very serious enemy in the great troupes of 

 flying foxes which often visit it, when they do an immense 

 amount of damage, as they not only eat a large quantity 

 of fruit, but destroy twice as much as they eat. Near 

 the dwellingbouse are some very fine flowerbeds, wtiich 

 iu the season must present a most beautiful appearance. 

 Some very fine varieties of roses are grown, all of which 

 give splendid blossoms. The camellias have a handsome 

 appearance, with a great promise of blossom. Many varieties 

 of European flowers grow well, and there is a fine collection 

 of the flowering tropical bushes that present such an attract- 

 ive featiure in all well-kept gardens in this neighbour- 

 hood. 



Notwithstanding the heat of the weather (for though 

 it is winter time now the temperature is almost equal to 

 that of a Victorian summer), this part of the colony 

 suffers at times from frosts which, though, as judged by a 

 Victorian standard are very mild, are yet sufiicient to injure 

 many of the tender tropical plants. "When the weather 

 is at all inclined for frost the mo.st rare and tender plants 

 are protected, the pineapples being covered with ihy grass, 

 which effectually prevents the frosts from injuring the 

 fruit. If the frost once touches a pine, it is entirely ruined 

 for sale, and but for the boys, who iu ali countries are 

 ready to take damaged fruit at a considerable reduction, 

 they woidd be tln'own away. — Australasian. 



TEA IN UPPEK INDIA. 



The saying that " a good tea climate is necessarily an 

 unhealthy one for the planter," has almost acquired axiom- 

 atic force, and is taken for granted without the slightest 

 attempt at cavil. We are, however, not prepared to 

 accept it in its entirety. We are perfectly aware that 

 every tea district in Intlia has in turn been unhealthy, 

 and that many are so still, and we are even prepared to 

 admit that the best tea districts are likely to deserve a 

 bad name iu this connection. At the same time we deny 

 that there is any unalterable connection between a good 

 tea district and an unhealthy one. _ The great causes of 

 unliealthiness are incidental to a rich vegetable growth, 

 and as a rich vegetable growth is necessary to make a 

 tea garden a complete success, we can easily understand 

 how the idea has taken such a firm hold on our imagin- 

 ation. We know many gardens which in their early d.ays 

 were perfect hot-beds of fever, but which are now com- 

 paratively healthy— as healthy, iu fact, as wo can look for 



in a tropical climate. The Western Dooars district has a 

 bad name iu this way, and it is a name that will possibly 

 be diflicult to remove, because it will always be niore or 

 less deserved, but we anticipate a comparative immunity 

 from fevers, when the country is opened up, and the 

 jungle growth kept under, as will be the ca.se wlien a large 

 nuiuber of gardens are in working order. The gardens in 

 Upper India form a class perfectly free from this draw- 

 back. The climate for the greater part of the year i.s 

 about as near perfection as possible, and only during May 

 June, July, August, and September is there the slighted 

 inconvenience from heat. Most people dispense with 

 punkahs altogether. For five months in the year, fires are 

 welcome, especially in the morning and evening, and dui*- 

 ing the winter months, white frost covers the grass till 

 breakfast time. To ono accustomed to see tea cultivation 

 in the Assam districts, it seems quite impossible that it 

 should grow so as to be a commercial success ; but there 

 is the stern logic of facts to put against this idea, and 

 notwithstanding the cold and bleak feeling in the morn- 

 ings and evenings, for so many months in the year, there 

 is a splendid outtm'U obtained during the tea season pro- 

 per—from April 1st to November 15th. The temperature 

 ranges from 35 ° * to 90 ° , with a mean of 70 ° , and an 

 amutal rainfall of 85 inches. This seems to be dead 

 against another traditional axiom, viz., that tea will not 

 pay, commercially, under a rainfall of 100 inches. It does 

 not, however, run counter to it, as the saying referred to 

 must be taken in connection with a trojjieal climate. Now 

 the district we are speaking of — Dehra Doon — as typical 

 of the tea gardens of Upper India, has not by any means 

 a tropical climate. It follows, therefore, that the evapor- 

 ation is much less than iu a hotter climate, and a lighter 

 rainfall siilEces.t The rainy season lasts from the middle 

 of June to the beginning of November, and is supplemented 

 by a week's fall about Christmas, and three week's rain in 

 March. This latter starts the spring flush, which is 

 ready for plucking on or about 1st April. The season 

 then continues to the middle of November with a break 

 of about three weeks in the early part of June, just 

 after the spring crop has been gathered, and before 

 the big rains commence. The only climatic drawback is 

 the hot wiud,J this is a veritable plague, but it is fortunately 

 not an annual visitation. Possibly one year in 4 or 5 is 

 about . as often as those ivinds blow with such power and 

 duration as to retard growth. In the spring of 1876 they 

 were very .severe, and tliose gardens situated in the Western 

 Doon, near the .Jumna, suffered severely. Quite six weeks 

 were lost, during which time the leaves crumpled up like 

 singed brown paper, and tea mauufacture was an impossi- 

 bility. The wind enters the Doon from the plainsthrough 

 the wide gap in the Sewalie Kange, formed by the passage 

 of the River Jumna, and those gardens in the vicinity suffer 

 severely. The gardens further east, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of the town of Dehra, do not suffer so much, because 

 of the protection afforded by the forests intervening. Jlany 

 gardens are now being protected by belts of timber on 

 their western boundaries, and these will speedily grow up 

 and make the hot winds cease to be a bugbear. One very 

 large garden is entirely free from any evil effect of these 

 winds, from the fact of trees being planted on botli sides 

 of every main road in the plantation. The jat of plant 

 is the ordinary China (.Theu Sinensis.) There are many 

 iub-divisions of the Theu family, but for all practical pur- 

 poses the following list is sufficiently complete — 

 Thea Sinensis ... The China variety. 



Thea Assmnica ... The Assam indigenous. 

 Tliea Hi/ln-ida ... The different hybrids. 



In the early stage of tea-planting, the late Mr. Fortune 



* In DimbuJa, at 4,600 feet above sea level, only once 

 during about ten years' observations was the thermometer 

 known to go below 45°. But while our minimum is 10° 

 higher than that of Upper India, our mean in consequence 

 of our lower maxinuuu heat is about 5° lower, that is 

 if the figures in this article are strictly accurate. We 

 can say from personal experience that the cold on a 

 February evening in the Dehra Doon at 2,000 feet in 30° 

 North was bitter. But, iu the hot season, the Europeans 

 of Dehra go to Mussoorie, 5,000 feet high up.— Eu. 



t N. B.— Ed. 



J Utterly unknown iu C'eylou. — Kd, 



