44 



Not very long afterwards, Dr. Falconer was deput- 

 ed to conduct some scientific enquiries in Cashmere 

 and Thibet, and we have, consequently, no reports on 

 the early progress of these plants. Those that took 

 root, however, seem to have thrived well, for from a 

 report of Dr Falconer's in 1841,1 find that 30,000 

 tea seeds were sown in 1840, and 5184 seedlings it is 

 mentioned, were thriving vigorously in Kamaon 

 all produced . from the very small nucleus of the 

 original stock. But the central tea authorities, were 

 evidently lukewarm as regards the experiment in 

 Upper India. /The brilliancy ' wrote Dr. Falconer 

 'of the discovery of the indigenous plant in Assam 

 very naturally concentrated the attention of the 

 Tea Committee upon that quarter ; and after the 

 recall of Mr. Gordon from China but feeble 

 efforts were made towards furnishing the Himalayan 

 nurseries with fresh supplies of China seed. They 

 were left in a great measure to work on with 

 the weakened remains of the first despatch/ This 

 was exceedingly unfair to the experiment in that 

 region, and it is much to the credit of those 

 entrusted with it, that with so little practical 

 knowledge of the habits and requirements of 

 the plant, and such very scanty means of giving 

 it fair play, such respectable results were obtain- 

 ed. In a paper communicated by Lord Auckland 

 to the Horticultural Society of Calcutta, in 1842, 

 it is stated that in the Government gardens 

 near Almorah, there were 1,500 full grown trees 



