MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 511 



times to manufacture tea from those on the Nilagiris, but without CH. XXIX. 

 success. It was not until some years later that Mr. Mann of i^~ 



Coonoor succeeded in producing fair drinkable tea from the 



Nilagiri plants. 



Thus encouraged, Mr. Maun brought with him from China in Mr. Mann's 

 February 1854 a good supply of seed of the best descriptions, ^^'^^^^ 

 collected by Mr. Fortune ^ from the finest plantations in the 

 country, and applied at once to Government for land in the 

 neighbourhood of Coonoor to form a nursery. After many delays, 

 during which a large number of the seedlings died (the remainder 

 was only saved by being sent to the Waindd), Mr. Mann 

 succeeded in acquiring a piece of land near Coonoor, which is 

 now known as the Coonoor Tea Estate. 



The seedlings were planted in grass land to save time, the 

 forest land not being ready. As early as 1856 the tea produced 

 from these plants was favourably reported on by the London 

 brokers. Mr. Mann, however, appears to have been disheartened 

 by the difficulty of procuring forest land to extend his estate, as 

 is shown by the following extract from a letter to Dr. Cleghorn, Dr. cieghcm's 

 then Conservator of Forests. Referring to a second importation 

 he writes in April 1855 : " I got another small supply of seed 

 from China brought round in the same way " (i.e., in earth in 

 which the seeds germinated during the voyage) " which I put 

 down in my nursery at Coonoor immediately they arrived, and 

 scarcely lost a single plant. About 2,000 of these I planted out, 

 though still very small, in the forest land in November of the 

 same year, and the remainder, about 800, remained in the 

 nursery until November 1856. I was convinced from the way 

 these plants came on that the tea plant would grow well there, 

 and applied through the Collector to the Government for a 

 suitable piece of forest land for a tea plantation, which, if they 

 had granted me, I would at once have returned to (Jhina and 

 brought over a large quantity of seed ; but I could get nothing 

 but poor grass land, on which nothing would grow without being 

 heavily manured, and to my repeated solicitations they at last 

 sanctioned two cawnies of forest land, subject to all kinds of 

 restrictions, so I gave the thing up and went on with the coffee, 

 though I still think, if given fair play, the tea plant would not 

 only grow well on the Neilgherries but pay well too." 



Dr. Cleghorn in a visit made a few months later was struck by 

 the thriving condition of the plants in Mr. Mann's nursery, and 

 called his attention to the quantity of seed falling from the trees. 

 In a letter dated August 1 859, he writes : — 



' Author of " Wanderings in China." Thia gentleman was sent by the Court of 

 Directors to China to collect plants and seed with the view of introducing the 

 culture into the North-West Provinces, 



