THE TECHNOLOGIST. [April 1, 1864. 



416 THE EXTENSION OF 



Co.'s plantations (formerly Mr. Huxharu's), 40 miles east of Quilon on 

 the road to Curtallam, and from whence some plants were procured 10 

 or 12 yea,vs ago, which were planted at Vellymallay near Udagiri, 1,800 

 feet ; and at Athahoo, near Tinnevelly frontier, 3,200. At hoth, places 

 they are growing luxuriantly. 



" These facts are taken from General Cullen's letter to the Madras 

 Government, and I may state that some seeds received from him were 

 planted and throve on the. Nilgiris at an elevation of 5,500 feet. 



" In tea, as in all cultivated plants, there are variations, the discrimi- 

 nation of which is of the utmost importance commercially, and also in 

 an economical point of "view, but I have not materials for attempting a 

 precise definition of these differences. This, however, is known that 

 the seed having been obtained from different parts of China, the intro- 

 duced plant varies in stature exceedingly, from a bushy shrub of 3j feet 

 to a ramous tree, 25 feet high. There is a vast difference also between 

 the narrow-leaved forms and broad-leaved specimens in some of the 

 localities mentioned. 



" At present the leaves are taken indifferently from several sorts, 

 which should not be done, when preparing tea for commercial 

 purposes ; and the means of manufacture are of the rudest description. 



u The tea shrub of commerce, though long confined to Eastern Asia, 

 is now cultivated far beyond the limits of China and Japan, in Java 

 (under the Equator) in Assam, the North "West Provinces of Hindustan, 

 on the banks of the Rio Janeiro, and recently in North America. From 

 the published reports of Mr. Fortune and Dr. Jamieson, it appears to 

 prefer a climate probably of 67° to 73° mean temperature. Such is 

 nearly the mean temperature of the hill slopes near Nunur, Kotagiri, 

 and of many of the valleys in the eastern and northern slopes of the 

 Pulni and Nilgiri Hills, and also of the Bababooden range in Mysore, 

 and of Kudra Muka in South Canara. 



" It ought also to be observed, as illustrative of the hardiness of the 

 tea shrub, that the cultivation extends over a great breadth of latitude 

 (from the banks of the Rio Janeiro, 22-| south latitude, to the province 

 of Shan-ting in China, 36|° north latitude), and that as we recede from 

 the equator, the lower latitude compensates for the difference of 

 altitude. The Chinese cultivate on the lower slopes of the hills, 

 whilst, in the North-West Provinces, the culture is carried on between 

 2,000 and 6,000 feet." 



Dr. M'Pherson, Inspector General of Hospitals, writes, under date 

 13th June, 1862:— 



" I have gone over extensive fields of tea in the Dutch colon y of 

 Java, and witnessed its manufacture there on a large scale, and in com- 

 pany with Dr. Jamieson, the Government Superintendent in Upper 

 India, I have gone over the Government tea plantations and others, in 

 the Deyra Doon, paying much attention to the manufacture of the leaf, 

 and I am persuaded that it is worse than useless for inexperienced 



