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,,its natural state [he means: the Assam plant], retaining nothing of the 

 ,,variety whose name the seeds bear; it is, therefore, useless and unneces- 

 ,,sary to import from China, at a great expense and great risk, what inay 

 ,,be had, as it were, on the spot, to any extent almost, in point ofquanti- 

 ,,ty, and in a state of perfect freshness and strength for vegetating." 



As appears from this quotation, Wallich and his fellow-meinbers 

 of the Tea-commission entertain the view, that the Assam indigenous 

 tea, diiring and through cultivation by Chinese methods, will assume the 

 featnres characteristic of the Chinese „cultural variety"; and on the other 

 hand, that China tea, on being propagated by seed, will at first look 

 precisely like Assam tea ')• Hence it follows logically that the importation 

 of this variety from China may be unnecessary, but surely cannot be 

 injurious for the wild stock. Griffith also believed that the plants grown 

 from Chinese seed would „revert" to the wild Assam plant, but not to 

 such an extent as Wallich imagined, so that he at ail events considered 

 it to be a time-saving measure'^); and regarding China tea as siiperior 

 to the Assam plant as a niatter of course, he judged the importation of 

 Chinese seed to be not only unobjectionable, as Wallich reasoned, but 

 even abolutely necessary^). 



Griffith did not, however, get his will, It is true that tea seeds and 

 plants were sent from China, where Gordon had collected them in the 

 Amoy district: but thèse had been ordered before the discovery of indigenous 

 tea, and for ail 1 know, no new supplies were afterwards sent for. The 

 seeds that had once arrived, were sown in Calcutta early in 1835, and 

 the plantlets, 42.000 in number, distributed. Assam got 20000. And as 

 Wallich, in the Tea commission of 1834, had expressed the opinion that: 

 ,,a decided winter climate of six weeks or two month's duration with 

 ,,frost as well as snow, is essential to ensure final success with really 



') This iast assertion is, of course, pure fancy. As for the first idea, there is indeed 

 some plausibility in the assumption that the roiigh, large leaves of the jungle tree 

 should be refined and reduced in size, when cultivated in the open sunshine, and 

 that the constant plucking of the shoots should change the Assam tea tree into a 

 China tea bush. But this plausibility is of a deceptive nature. G. Watt (1907, p. 

 77) rightly observes, speaking on China tea: „1 hâve met with it in plantations 

 „where, although grown for years under shade and without being pruned, it had 

 ,,hardly altered any of its characteristics except in becoming larger than is usually 

 „the case when found in the tea garden." 



^) „0n the principle that improved culture improves the whole plant, it may be said 

 „that the importation of seeds from China is not necessary. But iet me ask which 

 „is the best, as well as the safest plan? By adopting the one, success is certain, 

 .,and moreover, rapidly so; by adopting the other, its attainment is postponed to a 

 „remote and perhaps to an indefinite period". W. Griffith 1838, p. 175. 



^) Crole (1897, p. 25) unjustly blâmes thèse ,,scientists" for having introduced the 

 ,,pest of Assam — the misérable China variety" (to quote J, Berry White 

 1887, p. 736). Was there any practical man as early as 1835, able to give better 

 advice? It stands to reason that then one ought to expect that Chinese plants and 

 methods, being the sole ones known, were the best as well. 



