— 205 — 



now to distinguish really wild tracts from abandoned plantations. About 

 1880, for instance, hybrid and Darjeeling tea has been planted in Tenasserim 

 (S. Burma). ') 



I will but briefly record the commencement of tea cultivation in other 

 parts of British India, because the plantations and especially the seed 

 gardens of Assam hâve by far the greatest importance for tea sélection. 

 But, for the sake of completeness, I will briefly sum up the principal facts 

 concerning the distribution of tea seed throughout India. 



We know already that the expérimental garden of 1835 in Madras 

 had been a failure; it was not until 1861 that the experiment was repeated, 

 and this time with better results, by capt. Mann, who planted Chinese 

 (imported) seeds. 



In the Himalaya, success was complète, so that there the advice 

 of the Tea Commission (Wallich, Royle, Falconer and Jameson) was 

 fully confirmed. The famé of the excellent teas from the North-West pro- 

 vinces became universal. In 1847, Dr. W. Jameson published an extensive 

 report on the tea cultivation in those districts, which made such a deep 

 impression, that, in 1848, R Fortune was sent to China in order to seek 

 the finest tea varieties and to bring skilled Chinese manufacturers, destined 

 for the Himalaya plantations. In March 1851 he returned with 8 workmen, 

 a large quantity of seed and more than 20.000 tea plants, collected in 

 the green- as well as in the black-tea districts of China. Viz., ^) green tea 

 from Whey Chow, Mooyeen, Chusan, Silver Island, and Tein Tang, 3) 

 near Ning-po, and black tea from Woo-e San, -*) Tein San and Tsin Gan, 

 in the Woo-e district. „But so similar are the green and black Tea plants 

 „to each other, and the plants from the Amoy districts [collected by Gordon], 

 „that the most practised eye, when they are mixed together, cannot separate 

 „them, showing that they are nothing more than mère varieties of one and the 

 „sanie plant, the changes in the form of the leaf being brought about by culti- 

 „vation." This journey, extensively reported upon by Fortune ^), is very 

 important for our knowledge of tea cultivation in China, and so is his 

 second visit to that country, made in 1853 6). po^ the rest there is little 

 of importance in those Himalaya plantations, which nearly exclusively 

 supply a local market at présent. 



') Ann. Rep Burma 1882, p. 7: Some years ago, tea had been found growing 



wild in Pahpoon; now hybrid and Darjeeling tea had been sent thither and to 

 Toungoo. And ibid. 1881, p. 5: Petley's plantation in the Karen Hills is reported to 

 succeed very well; ibid. 1883, p. 6: it contains as much as 25.000 plants. 



-) In a ,,Governement Record", quoted by E. Money (1878, p. 51). 



3) In other spellings: Hiii-chow (Hwéi-tschoii), Moyune (Wu-yuen-hsiën), Tschii-san, 

 Kin-tang (== Silver Isl.). 



■*) Other authors use this orthography: Wu-i-san (Wu-ji-schan = Bohea), Chung-ngan 

 (Tsung-ngan). 



5) R. Fortune 1852-— He still regards China as „the model tea-country" (p. 384) and 

 therefore recommends steep mountain sides for that culture, and the exclusive use 

 of the China plant. 



6) R. Fortune 1857. 



