VARIETIES OF THE TEA PLANT. 49 



buted 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. 1 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 numerous, 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 Hima- 

 layas, 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. 



The Himalayan gardens consist entirely of Chinese plants 

 mixed occasionally with a low class of hybrid. They were 

 all formed from the Government Nurseries where nothing but 

 Chinese was reared. Occasional importations of Assam and 

 Cachar seed will account for the sprinkling of low class 

 hybrids which may be found. The same may be said of 

 Dehra Dhoon and Kangra. In some gardens in the Terai 

 below Darjeeling a high class of plant exists. In Assam, 



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

 northern side of the river. 



E 



