Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 591 



Introductory Notice of Tea. 



Tea, the now universal beverage of the civilized world, and which 

 will nltiraately be the object of much attention to the States of Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon, was but little known in Europe or America until 

 the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was carried into 

 Europe by the Dutch East India Company, and is reported to have 

 been introduced into England about the year 1666. 



The tea plant has been discovered indigenous in China, between 

 twenty-three and thirty-three degrees of north latitude ; in Burmah, 

 between twentj-one and twenty-seven degrees north latitude ; Assam 

 (India), between twenty-six and twenty-nine degrees norih latitude ; 

 and in China, between twenty-three and twenty-six degrees north 

 latitude. Tea was first introduced into the Himalayas by the _Eng- 

 lish East India Company, in 1848, under the superintendence of Dr. 

 Jamieson, and an able gentleman (Mr. Fortune), was commissioned 

 to travel through the tea growing districts of China, and through 

 his instrumentality the China tea seed, so jealously guarded hitherto 

 by the Chinese authorities, was introduced into British India, and 

 the information necessary for the cultivation and manufacture of tea, 

 was also learnt by that gentleman ; and later in the day, some Chi- 

 nese tea makers were imported to instruct in its manipulation, 

 which up to that period was known only to the Chinese and 

 Japanese. 



The extension of tea cultivation in India, promised at one time to 

 bid fair as one of its principal productions ; but like most Indian 

 enterprises (indigo to wit), it has fallen into the hands of a few only, 

 and owing to the very oppressive labor laws in that country, can 

 never, as long as they exist, be considered a remunerative specula- 

 tion. Under the regimen of the late Lord Canning, Governor-Gene- 

 ral of India, and the liberal land rules promulgated by him, the 

 European and American settlers had an opportunity of opening out 

 the resources of that country ; but, as I said before, that is a thing of 

 the past. On the face of this, let America ask herself if she cannot 

 grow tea to compete with China ? Has she no territory between the 

 before mentioned parallels ? If she has, why should a voyage of 

 from eighteen to twenty thousand miles be necessary to secure tea 

 for the whole civilized world, when the Pacific railroad would bring 

 up the young crops to market, in from ten to fourteen days, and in a 

 few years cut the throat, as it were, of all China. 



