

CAMELLIA 



WsmvKKED IN INDI \ THEA 



RUCCH 

 Var. (<) bohea ; Thea bohen. I. am., /.<. 734; Lettaom, I.e. 41; Hayne, Hybrid Tea 



t Js ; Hoi. Mn, f .. I - i ;i;is : eta, u-. The Bohea Tea of Fortune of India, 



od others ; th.-H\bi !nli.ui t.-a-pla.nters. 



l-'..rtim- (I.e. !''T -_'-_M) I'l.iin.l this us th- dii.-t' plant in the great black-tea 



country i Knli-Uii-n. the tea which in shipped from Canrn ami Mnn^Untu;. It 



i.ill lt>aved plant with not mor< than !_' \ 1 I vi-ins mi .-ith.-r -id.- -if the 



miilrili. It is t'roely admitted by planters to be a cross between i-it-iiii* and 



la, tin' plant presently to be indicated. 

 Var. (-, ) strlcta ; this is the form represented in the Linntean Herbarium Chinese TM 



-iim-ii. Ni>. 1, but which bears no name nor any record. It is also * fcxU*- 



i. t i,, i -mi in Petiver (Altu. Rar. Nat., 1695, n. 983, in Brit. Museum); 

 ./.I. Hayne (I.e., 1821, vii., t. 27); Chinese Tea of the Indian tea-planters. 

 mil bush may be seen in Indian seed-gardens flowering and fruiting freely, 

 an<l though never pruned it preserves all its characteristics and rarely shows any 

 i iv toward uar. riritti*. The leaves are thick and leathery, from 1^ 

 tn % _M inrhi's lon^r, and vary from iV to inch in breadth. It has rarely ever 

 i. in s definite nerves, while ririaiit has 16 and /* usually 12 to 14. 



- initially a bush, and even if given the chance it rarely if ever cakes the 

 poplar- tree form of the other races. No one has recorded the existence of this 



lant in a truly wild condition; and what is much more curious, it is more 

 nndantly represented in herbaria as coming from India than from China. 

 Var. (S) lasiocalyx ; T. lasiocalyx, Planch., MS. ; T. viridis, Wall., Cat., Malacca Tea. 

 H7< ; H C. <u-ill<iri, Roxb., MS. (Bot. Reg., t. 349, for description). This 



i ng form appears to have been met with alone in Malacca and Penang, 

 id is perhaps the most tropical of all the forms of r/ii>f actually cultivated 



tea. It seems probable that it may have originated by hybridisation with 

 ni-itii* some of the better known forms of tea, such as uar. ~tt i<-t<>. In this 

 ht the suggestion above made that it may be the plant Roxburgh designated 

 ( . M-iitnri* becomes of more than botanical interest. At all events both the 

 ality and description given by Roxburgh suit uar. iaf>ior<iiyjr to a remarkable 



'gree. This is the plant seen by Griffith at Pringett near Malacca. 

 In order to obtain the true value of the characters above indicated that are 



'pendent on the veins of the leaves, it is necessary to examine the shoots which 



i -inir directly from old wood, that is to say, shoots low down on the stem. Of 

 - .Manipur and Assam plants those in most favour in India at present it may 

 said that the former is much more hardy than the latter and should accord- 

 ly be used wherever liability to drought exists. The Assam gives, however, 



thinner and more delicate leaf with more flavour, and the value of the tea made 

 in it is decidedly greater. All hybrids, so Dr. Harold H. Mann affirms, should 

 avoided ; in other words, all plants that show from 10 to 14 veins theinter- 

 tes between uar. ririiii* and stricta. [Cf. Pests and Blights (1st ed.), 42-50 ; 

 , Factors Deter. Quality of Tea, Ind. Tea. Assoc., 1907, No. 4.] 



EARLY ENDEAVOURS IN INDIAN TEA-PLANTING. 



Discovery of Tea Plant in India. Difficulties having arisen with Early En- 

 lina. the British Government realised the danger of having no other deavours. 

 >urce of tea supply than China. They accordingly interested the East 

 idia Company in an effort to produce tea in India. Sir Joseph Banks, 



1788, recommended Warren Hastings to attempt its cultivation in introduction of 

 Jihar, Rangpur or Kuch Bihar. It appears to have been discovered Tea PUnt 



Assam, perhaps originally by Major Bruce, subsequently in Manipur by 

 [r. Scott, somewhere between 1821 and 1826, but little attention was 

 iid ro that circumstance until some years later. Lord William Bentinck, 

 svernor-General of India, in a Resolution dated January 24, 1834, 

 family took up the matter of Indian tea cultivation. A Committee was 

 ippointed by him, with Dr. N. Wallich as Secretary, to report on the 

 most hopeful situations for an experimental cultivation. Mr. G. J. 

 Gordon, of the firm of Mackintosh & Co., was dispatched to China to 

 procure seed, to collect information, and to bring to India Chinese cultiva- 

 tors. He was, however, shortly after recalled because wild tea had been 

 re-discovered by Jenkins and Charlton in Assam. But had Bruce and 



215 



