IO2 CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 



short time when the tea consumers of these countries 

 will no longer regard China as a tea-growing country 

 indispensable to them. 



As far as can be ascertained, the first announcement 

 of the discovery of the tea-plant in India was made in 

 1833, but owing to imperfect specimens being sent to 

 botanists for inspection, it was not at the time considered 

 a true species. It was fully demonstrated, however, in 

 1835, when a plant with perfect leaves, flowers and seeds 

 was obtained which proved on analysis to be a species 

 of the genus tea allied to, but not identical with that of 

 China; Burmese and Chinese experts, to whom the speci- 

 mens were submitted, concurring in the statement. 

 The report being favorable, an experimental plantation 

 was immediately established under government auspices 

 with results not known. The first plantation for its cul- 

 tivation on a commercial scale was formed in Lukhim- 

 pore in 1836, from which the first samples were received 

 in 1839, and the first sales made in 1840. But, owing 

 to the unfavorable reports given on the first samples of 

 the tea prepared from the India leaf, it was rejected by 

 the London brokers. The propriety of introducing the 

 China species was next suggested by some planters, and 

 tons of seed were at once imported from that country, large 

 estates being formed from the plants raised from it. 

 Many of the plantations were finally composed of 

 hybrids or crosses between the China and India species, 

 which is now claimed to have been an error, as the 

 nearer each variety approaches to the indigenous the 

 higher its excellence. 



The tea-producing districts of India are widely scattered, 

 the largest Assam being situated in the extreme north- 

 east of the country bordering on the Burmese Empire, 

 the others being located on the northwestern boundary 



