Foreign Notices : — India. 429 



Assam only for our supplies of seeds ; for, like the seeds of all other varieties 

 of perennials, bohea seeds will, in all probability, produce nothing but the 

 common sort. A botanical deputation is going to be sent up to Assam, as 

 soon as it is practicable, in order to institute, on the spot, all the enquiries 

 that are necessary to render our information respecting the nature of the tea 

 there as complete as possible. I am to head the mission, although a more 

 fit person might easily have been found. All my arguments have availed me 

 nothing, and the committee have determined that go Waliich must. How- 

 ever, I am to be aided by one or two accomplished botanists of my own re- 

 commendation, and they will more than supply my own divers and manifold 

 deficiencies. Dr. Wight and Mr. Griffith, two of the most splendid naturalists 

 that ever came to this or any other country, I hope will accompany me ; I 

 have also named Mr. Nash, a most excellent man, recently come out. I wish 

 my friend Royle was out here ; he would be the man, and he would most 

 undoubtedly have been sent on this duty. Dr. Falconer has charge of the 

 Gurwhal and Sermare nurseries, besides the Saharunpoor garden. In matters 

 of pure botany and horticulture, I anticipate such a harvest as was never 

 seen before. Think only to herborise under the shade of wild tea trees, in 

 forests never in this world examined before ! 



I have sent to Mr. G. Loddiges the details of a very beautiful consignment 

 of growing plants, which he and his worthy brother sent me lately in a her- 

 metically sealed box (I may almost call it so). I wish you would make men- 

 tion of this most extraordinary and novel mode in your Magazine. I have 

 asked Mr. Loddiges to send you my letter, or an extract from it. — N. Waliich. 



The letter alluded to by Dr. Waliich has not yet (July 10th) been received 

 by Messrs. Loddiges. The mode of conveying plants alluded to is that prac- 

 tised by Mr. Ward for growing ferns, which is described at length by Mr. Ward 

 himself (X. 207.). We have seen a letter from Mr. Traill, the head gardener 

 to the Pacha of Egypt, in which he states that he had received several col- 

 lections of plants packed in Mr. Ward's air-tight cases, perfectly safe and 

 uninjured, which he never had done before by any mode of packing. In short, 

 there can be no doubt that Mr. Ward's mode is decidedly superior to every 

 other hitherto adopted ; and that by it living and growing plants may be sent, 

 either by land or sea, from any one part of the world to any other part. The 

 following are extracts from the pamphlet sent us by Dr. Waliich, on the sub- 

 ject of the discovery of the tea plant : — 



Discovert/ of the genuine Tea Plant in Upper Assam, — " It is with feelings 

 of the highest possible satisfaction that we are enabled to announce that the 

 tea shrub is, beyond all doubt, indigenous in Upper Assam, being found there 

 through an extent of country of one month's march within the Honourable 

 Company's territories, from Sadiya and Beesa, to the Chinese frontier pro- 

 vince of Yunnan, where the shrub is cultivated for the sake of its leaf. We 

 have no hesitation in declaring this discovery, which is due to the indefatigable 

 researches of Captain Jenkins and Lieutenant Charlton, to be by far the most 

 important and valuable that has ever been made, in matters connected with 

 the agricultural or commercial resources of this empire. We are perfectly 

 confident that the tea plant which has been brought to light will be found 

 capable, under proper management, of being cultivated, with complete success, 

 for commercial purposes, and that, consequently, the object of our labours 

 may be before long fully realised. It is proper to observe, that we were not 

 altogether unprepared for this highly interesting event. We were acquainted 

 with the fact, that, so far back as 1826, the late ingenious Mr. David Scott 

 sent down from Munipore specimens of the leaves of a shrub which he insisted 

 upon was a real tea ; and from reports to the Governor-General on the north- 

 eastern frontier, and his assistant, that a similar assertion was strongly urged 

 in regard to the existence of the tea in Upper Assam. Still we felt ourselves 

 bound to suspend our decision on the subject until we should be in possession 

 of the fruit of the reputed shrub, the only test which ought to guide us. We 



