

CULTIVATED FORMS 



CAMELLIA 



THEA 



Early Imports 



only on,- l-af nf the plant, so that the type of the species has to be accepted 

 M giv.-n l>y Hill (K.rot. Bot., /. 



It may now be useful to refer to a few recent writers ami to thus carry the Storrof 



i- to tli.' piv.-i'nt tiiiii-. John Coakley Lettsom, in the second edition 

 -pliMidid work, says that he agrees with Ksempferand Staimt'in in thinking 

 tli.it th>- ijiioation of green and block teas, as also the various qualities of these, is 

 r of soil, age of leaf used and method of manufacture, and is not due to 

 Ueing two botanically different plants. He gives, however, a coloured 

 : tlu< " Green Tea " plant and another of the Bohea Tea." Both these 

 .nirsn 1: Tiirn. Link, but by Assam planters the former would doubtless 

 rhanu ti<rised as a hybrid, with linear-oblong Initiated leaves (swollen 

 ween th-- vins). while the latter would be viewed as the typical so-called 

 ese plant, with short ovate-oblong thick, smooth, dark-green leaves. It 

 Id thus sot-in that the finer tea plant of China was Thra rii-iriin. Linn., 

 formerly was, and probably still is to-day, not unlike the Assam indigenous ; 

 hence very possibly stock of the most inferior qualities only was allowed 

 9 exported to India. If this surmise be correct it is highly likely that but 

 the discovery in India of a superior indigenous plant, the establishment 

 tea industry there might have been retarded by many years. At all 

 ts Indian planters regard the introduction of the so-called Chinese small- 



plant as having been a calamity which it has taken them years of in India, 

 expenditure to efface. It is somewhat significant that, while the question 

 m and black teas has been thus for the second time satisfactorily 

 of, it should have been allowed once more to be revived, by certain 

 bsequent writers, and to thus disfigure the literature of tea for a great 

 y years. But to return to Lettsom's most valuable work. It is referred 

 several chapters and focuses in these all the practical information brought to 

 it by the more trustworthy previous authors. The chapters are : i. Authors 

 Tea (8-18), in which reference is made to 120 separate books or reports 

 tea that had appeared between 1565 and 1799 (most if not all these have 

 in examined by me in preparing this article) ; ii. Origin of the Tea Plant 

 ) ; iii. Trade in Tea (24); iv. Soils and Method of Culture (26) ; v. Gathering 

 Leaves (29) ; vi. Method of Cutting (33) ; vii. Varieties of Tea Plant (38) ; 

 :i. Ball or Brick-tea (40), etc. This brief abstract of some of the more 

 Ttant portions of Lettsom's book must suffice to indicate its great merit 

 historic value. Staunton (Auth. Ace. Macartney, Embassy China, 1798, i., 

 ii., 464) records the exports from China in English and foreign ships, 

 76-95 a truly monumental work very largely drawn upon by Lettsom and 

 others. The quantity is there shown fluctuating between 12 and 37 million 

 unds. The King's duty on Tea between September 1784 and March 1797 

 lounted to 4,832. 18i. Barrow (Trav. China, 1806, 572), who was Secretary 

 the Earl of Macartney of the British Embassy, practically continues the 

 ord given by Staunton, and many instructive particulars will be found in 

 .burn (Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 520-42); Cooper, (Trav. Pioneer Comm., 171); 

 ay (China, ii., 337) ; Macpherson (I.e. 128-32). From these and such- 

 works we learn that in 1703 the imports were 100.000 Ib. ; in 1721 they 

 tained 1,000,000 Ib., and for the hundred years 1710-1810 the aggregate sales 

 the East India Company amounted to 750,470,016 Ib., valued at close on 130 

 illion pounds sterling. In 1722-44 the duty was fixed at four shillings a pound Taxation of 

 'i -".with in addition a customs' due of 14 per cent, on the average price. From Tea - 

 84-95 the duty was gradually remitted until it fell to 12 percent. Unfortunately 

 1795 the old course of raising money by taxing tea was again resorted to and 

 ily augmented until in 1819 tea sustained a duty of 100 per cent, and in 

 nsequence the sales stood stationary at 21 million pounds. But by an Act of 

 liament the East India Company's monopoly was abolished ; unrestricted trade 

 ulated competition and reduced the price very greatly. At the same time the 

 <1 ity was lowered to from l. &d. to 3. -a pound according to quality. In 1856 

 the duty became Is., in 1867 it was Qd. a pound, and in 1906, 5d. a pound. 



Species and Varieties of the Tea Plant. In the first days of tea planting Species and 

 in India, though the presence of a wild tea plant was regarded as an indica- Varieties, 

 tion of the suitability of the land, the wild plant itself was not viewed with 

 favour as the stock to be employed. In fact, as already pointed out, the opinion 

 was expressed most strongly by all or nearly all the experts of 1834-7 in favour 

 of imported Chinese stock. 



While that is so it may be said that for the past thirty or forty years the 



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