50 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



allowing any China seed or plants to leave the nursery, 

 which should have been a Government one. But we must 

 take things as they are. The Government nurseries in the 

 Himalayas and the Dehra Dhoon (there have never been any 

 elsewhere, and worse sites could not have been chosen) 

 were planted entirely with China seeds, the seedlings dis- 

 tributed all over the country, and thus the mischief was 

 done. The Indian Tea is vastly superior to the Chinese, 

 and commands a much higher price at home, but it is still 

 very inferior to what it would have been, had not Chinese 

 seed been so recklessly imported and distributed over the 

 country. 



The home of the indigenous Tea tree is in the deep luxu- 

 rious jungles of Assam and Cachar.* There it grows into 

 a good-sized tree. I have seen it 20 feet high. These are 

 of no use, except for seed, until they are cut down. When 

 this is done, they throw out many new shoots, covered with 

 young tender leaves, fit for Tea. They are, of course, far too 

 big to transplant, but on some sites where they were nume- 

 rous, that spot was chosen for the plantation, and some of 

 these are the best gardens in Assam and Cachar. 



The indigenous plant and high-class hybrid require a hot 

 moist climate, and will not therefore flourish in any parts of 

 India outside Eastern Bengal. I have tried them in the 

 Himalayas, there the cold kills them. In Dehra Dhoon and 

 Kangra the climate is far too dry; besides, the hot winds 

 in the former, and the cold in the latter, are prejudicial. The 

 Terai under Darjeeling suits them. In Assam, Cachar, and 

 Chittagong, the indigenous and the highest class hybrids will 

 thrive, for the climate of all three is suitable, but perhaps 

 Northern Assam possesses the best climate of all for such 

 plants. 



* It is a singular fact that none exists in Northern Cachar, that is, on the 

 northern side of the river. 



