46 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



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 indige- 

 nous 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 1 8 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 drought 

 The indigenous tree has a leaf of 9 inches long and more 



