89 



have been manufactured and sold at a considerable 

 profit to Government; but as an enormous reduc- 

 tion in the yield of seed, would have been the conse- 

 quence, this was not desirable.* No comparision 

 then, can yet be fairly instituted between the 

 Himalayas and other parts of India, as tea growing 

 districts. 



The Government plantations, however, it must be 

 admitted, have not been improved in a mercantile 

 point of view, by the plants being permitted to run to 

 seed; and they will require for two or three years a 

 considerable outlay, to bring them into a condition 

 for yielding a full crop of tender leaves. Purchasers 

 therefore, must possess Capital, or they will not be 

 able to do justice to these plantations, nor to make 

 their bargains profitable. It would give the public, 

 moreover, I am afraid a false impression of the value 

 of Indian teas, to estimate the crop at the Superin- 

 tendent's valuation of two rupees (4s.) per Ib. all 

 round. Although the fine teas sold in the Almorah 

 Bazar may have fetched that price, it must be borne 

 in mind |that in the Government plantations, a large 

 portion of the season's crop has hitherto been Bohea, 

 or a coarse kind of tea fit only for the Thibetan 

 and other Native Markets; and that the Assam 

 teas, which command, on account of their great 



* Dr. Jacobson of Java, the highest authority we have on tea culti- 

 vation, says, that for this reason and bscause the plants deteriorate 

 by being 1 allowed to run to seed, the Chinese always have distinct 

 plantations for the purposes of growing seed. 



