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On the Tea-Plantations in India* 



We cannot conclude our notice of the January number of the 

 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, without regretting to 

 see so much of its valuable pages occupied with a report on the 

 manufacture of tea, and the extent and produce of tea-planta- 

 tions in Assam, by C. A. Bruce, Superintendant of Tea Cul- 

 ture, because we think the report is calculated to mislead the 

 public and occasion disappointment, instead of being likely to 

 clear up any of those difficulties that are as yet to be over- 

 come before the Assam Tea Company can expect to reap any 

 return for the outlay of capital. 



Mr Bruce states that he submits his report with diffidence, 

 having had something more than tea to occupy his mind ; 

 nevertheless his knowledge of tea localities is much extended 

 since he last wrote, embracing no less than 120 different tracts, 

 some of them very extensive, both on the hills and in the 

 plains. Mr Bruce does not state that this number includes 

 patches of wild tea-plants found by Mr Griffith at Cujoodoo, 

 Hookum, and other places, and those found by Captain Han- 

 nay at Jeypore, and we believe by Colonel White, Mr Bigge, 

 and Captain Jenkins at Namroop, Jeypore, Boorthath, &c., 

 or the nurseries cultivated at Suddyah by Captain Charl- 

 ton as early as 1824. We shall merely endeavour to exa- 

 mine what information the report before us conveys regarding 

 the existence of 120 tea-tracts alluded to above. 



Mr Bruce, in crossing a hill 300 feet high at Jeypore, found 

 a tea-tract which must be three miles in length, as he could 

 not see the end of it ; and at the foot of this hill he saw ano- 

 ther tract, which he had not time to explore. He next found 

 tea on Cheriedoo, a small hill close to the Dacca river, and 

 again after crossing the river, at a place called Hauthoweah, 

 near the old fort of Ghergong. Neither of these four places 

 Mr Bruce had time to examine, with a view to the collection 



* From No. 2 of an interesting Journal entitled The Calcutta Journal of 

 Natural History. Conducted by John M'Clelland, Esq. Bengal Medical 

 Service. 



VOL. XXX. NO. LX. APRIL 1841. U 



