180 On the Aptitude of the Himalayan [ApRii, 



conclusion. It is stated by Duhalde that the tract from which one 

 of the finest green teas, Song-lo-cha, is brought is a mountain in the 

 district of Whey-choo-foo of the province Kyang-nau, of no great height 

 or extent (peu de hauteur et d'etendue). Supposing that the Tea 

 cultivation reaches the height of 3000 feet above the sea, and making a 

 reduction for this altitude, the resulting mean temperature might be a 

 range of 56° to 64°. What the range of temperature between the cold 

 of winter and the heat of summer is, it may be difficult to say. The heat 

 of summer cannot be less than at Pekin, which is 10° higher north : and 

 it has been seen that the difference between a summer and a winter 

 month at Canton within the tropic is 30°, while at Pekin N. lat. 40°, 

 it is 59° Fahr. ; it may therefore be assumed that in the lat. of 28* 

 the range of the thermometer from the mean of summer to that of win- 

 ter is not less than 40° Fahr. 



In regard to the moisture of the climate, there is little precise in- 

 formation, and what is known is chiefly as confined to Canton. The rains 

 are not regularly periodical, as is the case on this side of the continent 

 of Asia, within the same parallels ; rain seems to fall all months of the 

 year, although heaviest from August till October. The mean fall of 

 rain, as entered in the above quoted Canton register, is for 1829, 

 42 inches; 1830, 50 inches ; 1831, 70 inches. Average of the three years 

 56 inches. In the tea districts the quantity must be less, excepting at the 

 greater elevations. At the northern limit, snow falls abundantly during 

 the winter. At the southern limit, in the province of Canton, where 

 large quantities of the inferior teas are produced, snow is never seen. 

 It is probable that it falls occasionally in the centre districts on the 

 higher elevations. 



The circumstances of climate therefore, in regard of temperature and 

 moisture, under which the tea plant is cultivated in China, may be 

 stated thus : that the tea is produced, over an extent of country where 

 the mean annual heat ranges from 73° to 54° 5' Fahr. : where the heat 

 of summer does not descend below 80°, and the cold of winter ranges 

 from 54° to 26° ; where the difference between summer and winter heat 

 is on the northern limit 59°, and on the southern 30° Fahr. ; that it 

 is cultivated in highest perfection where the mean annual heat ranges 

 from 56° to 64°. That rain falls in all months of the year, and that 

 the moisture of the climate is on the whole moderate. 



The foregoing remarks will apply in a great measure to Japan, in 

 some parts of which excellent teas are produced. Without entering on 

 details, it may be sufficient to say, that at Nangosa-ki the mean tem- 

 perature of the year is 60°. 8 ; the greatest observed heat in summer, 

 98°; the temperature of January, the coldest month, 35° ; that rain falls 



