43 



which has been opened up in the lower and crater 

 ranges of the Himalaya Mountains closed for a 

 century or for ever. That it helped considerably 

 to retard the cultivation, will be seen from the 

 following brief sketch of the operations undertaken 

 in that quarter, to which I shall now turn. 



It will be recollected, that of the seedlings raised 

 from the seed sent to Calcutta from China by 

 Mr. Gordon in 1835, twenty thousand were set a 

 part for the North-west ; and these, with some seed, 

 were destined to form the first stock of the Himalayan 

 tea gardens. Professor Royle had originally selec- 

 ted sites for experimental gardens in the valleys of 

 Gurwahl, at elevations varying from 2,000 to 6,500 

 feet. But Dr. Falconer selected other sites, at 

 Chejooree (4,000 ft.) Koth ^5,300) Rama Serai (5,000) 

 Ruroo (5,400) Benchir Bagh (5,100) and a few plants 

 he planted in an extra locality at 6,400 feet. He 

 afterwards selected a site lower down in the Deyrah 

 Dhoon Valley (2,500 feet.) Mr. Traill in Kamaon 

 selected Bhurtpoor and Bheemtal, in the Ghagar 

 range (4,500 feet) and Lutchmaiser near Almorah 

 (5,200 feet.) And in charge of these plantations he 

 placed a Mr. Blinkworth. All were subsequently 

 placed under the superintendence of Dr. Falconer. 



The stock of seed and seedlings sent from Calcutta, 

 however, fared little better than that sent to Assam. 

 Of the former, not a single seed germinated; and 

 of the 20,000 seedlings, but 2,000 reached their 

 destination alive. 



