47 



CHAPTER IX. 



VARIETIES OF THE TEA PLANT. 



THESE are many, but they all arise from two species : the 

 China plant, the common Tea-bush in China ; and the in- 

 digenous plant, first discovered some forty years ago in 

 Assam. 



These are quite different species of the same plant. 

 Whether the difference was produced by climate, by soil, or 

 in what way, no one knows, and here we have only to do 

 with the facts that they do differ in every respect. A purely 

 indigenous plant or tree (for in its wild state it may more 

 properly be called the latter) grows with one stem or trunk, 

 and runs up to 15 and 18 feet high. It is always found in 

 thick jungle, and would thus appear to like shade. I believe 

 it does when young ; but I am quite sure, if the jungle were 

 cleared round an indigenous Tea-tree found in the forest, it 

 would thrive better from that day. The China bush (for it 

 is never more) after the second year has numerous stems, 

 and 6 or 7 feet would seem to be its limit in height. The 

 lowest branches of a China plant are close to the ground, 

 but in a pure cultivated indigenous, from 9 inches to i foot 

 above the soil the single stem is clean. 



The indigenous grows quicker after the second or third 

 year than the China, if it has not been over-pruned or over- 

 plucked when young. In other words, it flushes quicker, 

 for flushing is growing. 



The indigenous does not run so much to wood as the 

 China. Indigenous seedlings require to be watered oftener 

 than China, for the latter do not suffer as quickly from 



