136 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



Paoree that another sale of tea had taken place on 

 the 9th August, at Almorah. ' The amount rea- 

 lised for green tea varied from 10 rupees 8 a. to 

 9 rupees 4 a. (that is, more than 9s. and 10s. per 

 lh.) For black tea, the amount realised was 7 

 rupees 8 a., the maximum, and 4 rupees the mini- 

 mum.' " — " On the 4th October, he states, ' I have 

 just received orders from Government to form tea 

 plantations on the whole of the hilly districts of 

 the northwest frontier, from the Sutledge and new 

 country lately acquired west of that river, to the 

 Ravi;' and that he proceeds immediately towards 

 Kangra to inspect and select sites. The Govern- 

 or-General pronounces the tea to be as tine as any 

 Chinese tea he had ever drank. Dr. Jameson 

 concludes by stating his conviction that tea will 

 shortly become a most important article of pro- 

 duction from the northwest provinces." 



This amount of success is the more remarkable 

 when it is considered that only the inferior species 

 of tea is as yet cultivated in India, and that the 

 art of manufacturing tea, like the art. of wine- 

 making or tobacco-making, can only be acquired 

 by much experience. The samples of the teas 

 which we have tasted, both black and green, al- 

 though not equal to the finest Chinese samples, 

 were quite as good as the tea usually consumed in 

 the houses of the middle class ; and leave no pos- 

 sible room for doubt that, with experience, and a 

 better description of tea plant (which Mr. For- 

 tune is now specially engaged in China in obtain- 

 ing,) the tea trade of India will be a most formi- 

 dable rival to that of the Celestial Empire. It is 

 already a matter of official record " that, though 

 the Pouchong (black) tea sold at an average rate 

 of 6 rupees 8 a. 8 p. per seer, and that at least 

 half the quantity sold was bought by natives, the 

 coarse Bobea tea was reserved and sold to the 

 Bhoteahs at a price varying from 2 rupees to 2 

 rupees 4 a. per seer. ' It has been purchased by 

 them, in order to carry it across the passes into 

 Thibet. Nor will it be long, if the importation of 

 Kemaon tea into Chinese Tartary is not prohibited, 

 before that market is wholly supplied from the 

 British provinces." 



The quantity of tea manufactured in 1848 is 

 officially reported to be 2656 lbs. Dr. Jameson 

 states " that, of this, he had just despatched 600 

 lbs. of black and green tea to this county, and 

 that : it was finer looking than any sent in former 

 years ;' also, that, ' by the end of this season, 

 there will be 400 acres under cultivation at Kola- 

 ghir in the Doon ;' and ' at Paoree I expect to 

 have 200 to 300 acres;' and that he has 'about 

 250,000 seedling plants ready to transplant.' 

 ' Last season I sent a lac (100,000) of the plants 

 to the Kangra valley, where most of them are 

 doing well ;' while ' the seeds collected from our 

 own plantations this season amount to upwards of 

 2,000,000. From the plantation of Deyra (Kola- 

 ghir) we shall be able, in the course of eight or 

 ten years, to raise a sufficient number of plants to 

 plant the whole Doon.' " 



We heartily congratulate Dr. Royle and his 

 Indian coadjutors upon the success of their great 

 experiment ; and we cannot close these hasty re- 

 marks more appropriately than in his own words : 

 " I have been gratified to find that the inferences 

 deduced from scientific data have been fully borne 

 out by the practical results. There is no doubt 

 that if the best kinds of tea plant are obiained 

 from the northern districts of China, and with 

 them a few manufacturers from the places where 

 the teas most esteemed in commerce are prepared, 

 and which are consequently those most in use by 

 the British public, that any kind or quality of tea 

 may be prepared as good and as cheaply in the 

 Himalayas as in China. For we have an equal 

 command < f soil and climate, with cheap and 

 abundant labor, unoccupied land at a low rent, 

 with comparatively small expense of carriage 

 even to Calcutta. But India itself, with other 

 parts of Asia, will consume a large quantity of 

 tea, when it is obtainable at a moderate price, 

 and even if of a quality inferior to what has al- 

 ready been produced in the Himalayan mountains. 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Gardens about Lisbon. — "Lisbon, Jan. 14 : 

 On Saturday I went to see an orange grove be- 

 yond Belem and a little in the interior. Such a 

 road through the quinta ! that even (bold as I am, 

 and used to bad roads,) I thought of getting out 

 of the carriage. The day was like one of the 

 loveliest of May. The best thing I saw on turn- 

 ing round a corner was a group of almond trees 

 in full flower; but the flower is not like that of 

 our almonds. It looked like beautiful Codlin 

 bloom, though larger and more open. The orange 

 trees in the groves, or rather plantations, are not 

 picturesque, not being allowed to grow large, and 

 they are pruned — not forest trees like those near 

 Seville; but the walk through them and the get- 

 ting out of stuffy Lisbon was very refreshing. 

 The place was a pretty quinta once, but now 

 quite wild and neglected. I had the pleasure of 

 "fathering myself a nosegay — China Roses, Paper 

 Narcissus, the orange-coloured Bignonia, and Ci- 

 neraria, from such a bu.-h. The ground under the 

 orange trees in parts was covered with the pretty 

 yellow larged flowered Oxalis, which we grow in 

 pots, and the pretty dark purple and green siriped 

 Arum. Altogether the excursion gave me an in- 

 tense longing for Cintra, and if the weather of to- 

 day were to last, I do think I should be tempted 

 to go for a day ; but it will be wiser to wait, till 

 a few wild flowers come out. The young orange 

 trees are planted in squares, protected by hedges 

 of high reed, especially the Tangerines. Jan. 17. 

 — 'Again a splendid day, though the first of the 

 morning was foggy — window open, and my room 

 perfumed with the flowers which Madame de M. 

 sent me, and those I brought yesterday from Pom- 

 bal. where, as the boat was ordered and the day 

 very favorable, we went. We set out at 10 

 o'clock, that we might be home by sunset, as it 



