SESSION 1901-1902. 
I—TEHA: ITS CULTIVATION, AND PREPARATION 
FOR THE MARKET. 
By Mr WM. WILLIAMSON, Secretary. 
(Read Nov. 27, 1901.) 
SOME time ago the home-coming of a gentleman connected 
with tea-planting in Assam suggested to me that some inter- 
esting information might be obtained regarding the tea-plant, 
so as to form the subject of a communication at one of our 
evening meetings. The gentleman to whom I refer is Mr T. 
-M. Elliot, who has been in Assam for a number of years. 
When the subject was mentioned to him, he very cordially 
agreed to give what help he could, and this he has done by 
giving me a considerable amount of information of a practical 
nature. With the exception of the theine and tannin and the 
Chinese and Kangra Valley tea, all the exhibits have come 
from India specially for our use, and have been furnished by 
Mr Elliot, as well as the specimens of manufactured tea, 
which he obtained from the London market for us. Without 
the aid he has so freely and courteously given, I would not 
have undertaken to make the communication. 
‘The subject can be conveniently divided into four sections, 
of which the first deals with the cultivation of the tea plant 
and the manufacture of the commercial article. The second 
deals with the insect and other pests which attack the tea 
] lant, and against which the planter has to contend. The 
third section relates to the extent of the tea industry, both in 
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