GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 515 



of an enormous cultivation and trade. We are told that tea plants are now- 

 thriving over 4^° of latitude and 80° of longitude, a tract containing 35,000 

 square miles, capable of producing, were the area all planted, iipwards of 

 900,000,000 pounds of tea, and with high cultivation of doubling this high 

 figure. 



While the valley of the Brahmapootra and the slopes of the lowest range 

 of the Himalayas are being clothed with tea plantations, the cultivation of 

 coffee lias advanced with rapid strides in the highlands of southern India. The 

 introduction of the plant is by tradition ascribed to a Mahomedan pilgrim, who 

 brought seven berries of coffee from Mocha, about two centuries ago, and 

 planted them near his hermitage in the wild hills of Mysore. But it is only 

 of late years that the produce has been considerable. Under improved ad- 

 ministrations, and regulation of the modes of taking up and holding land, the 

 plant is extending over tens of thousands of acres. The number of native 

 planters is estimated at nearly four thousand, and is fast increasing in numbers. 

 In Mysore, where but little available land remains, the mountain and forest 

 wastes have been turned into rich productive gardens. From being the most 

 wild and desolate parts of Mysore, these districts have become prosperous, and 

 the people have been raised from poverty to comfort, and in many instances to 

 wealth. 



Thei-e is another plant which promises to take a high place in point of interest 

 and value among the products of India. The credit of first suggesting the 

 transplantation of cinchona trees, or those producing quinine, into India, is 

 due to Dr. Roj^le, who pointed out the Neilgherry hills as suitable sites for the 

 experiment. Here are found a climate, an amount of moisture, a vegetation, 

 and an elevation above the sea, more analogous to those of the cinchona 

 forests in South America than can be met with in any other part of India. 

 There, accordingly, the large body of plants conveyed in Wardinn cases from 

 Peru and Ecuador, where they were collected by Mr. C. 11. Markham, under 

 many difficulties and discouragements, were finally planted, to become the 

 parents of millions of future denizens of this delightful region. The many 

 varieties of cinchona, each requiring its peculiar climate as respects warmth, 

 humidity, and protection, as well as soil and elevation, were here each provided 

 with the requisites for healthy and successful growth. Already upwards of 

 1.50,000 plants of the eleven species of cinchona are growing, and permanent 

 plantations established to the number of 40,000 trees, and the prospect for the 

 extensive cultivation by private enterprise is already very encouraging.* 



Under the combined influences of liberal grants of land, wise expenditure 

 for improving the modes of intercommunication and increasing on a magnificent 

 scale the means of irrigation, and the recent planting among the agriculturists 

 of India, the productive cultivation of the staples above refened to, the torpor 

 of centuries is fast giving way before the quickening influences of science 

 applied to the practical purposes of life. In the language of the Edinburgh 

 Review : " The wheels of progress are fairly set in motion, and it demands but 

 scanty powers of observation to see that society is moving onward at a pace 

 almost Anglo Saxon in its rapidity." 



The above afford very striking examples of the value of an acquaintance 

 with the botanical peculiarities of plants combined with accurate knowledge of 

 their climatic requirements. Those only who are acquainted with botanic;) 1 

 geography could point out the most efficient methods of conducting the ex- 

 periments to a successful issue. They also furnish evidence of the grand 

 results that may follow the wise application of the power of government when 

 directed by accurate knowledge. Agriculture, trade, fortune, food, population, 

 health, may all be powerfully affected by the transfer of a little packet of seed, 



* Edinburgh Review for October, 1863. 



