April 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



TEA PLANTATIONS IN INDIA. 417 



hands to attempt to produce a marketable article from tea grown on the 

 Neilgherries and Shevaroy Hills. 



" I am acquainted with Mr. Mann's and Mr. Fischer's plantations at 

 these places, and am persuaded that a correct system of manufacture is 

 alone necessary to render the former equal, if not superior, to that 

 grown on the lower ranges of the Himalayas. 



"I send specimens of both, from which the Board will observe the 

 imperfect manufacture of the one, compared with the other. The leaf 

 of Mr. Mann's tea has evidently not passed through that essential early 

 process, without which, every other part of its delicate manipulations, 

 before it becomes a marketable article, is futile, and the acridity per- 

 ceptible in its infusion, is another proof that the first process of 

 triturating and rolling the leaf, after its first scorching has been 

 neglected. 



" The tea otherwise excels either Himalaya or Assam, and judging 

 from what I have observed elsewhere, on both the ranges mentioned 

 above in Coorg, on the Pulneys, and on Gallikonda also, there are vast 

 spaces where the plant may be propagated successfully. 



" A tea plantation is a far more certain return to the planter than 

 any coffee concern can be ; for with tea, grass lands on slopes shaded by 

 fruit trees, or capable of irrigation, are available for its cultivation, 

 whereby the destruction and expense of removing forests as in coffee is 

 avoided, and the leaf, which is alone consumed in tea, is a much more 

 certain return than the coffee berry. 



" It is utterly impossible, however, satisfactorily to carry out the 

 several parts of the process of preparing the tea for the market, by descrip- 

 tion alone. Everything relating to it is simple when acquired. The 

 character of our hills for the growth of the plant will be injured, if an 

 article such as Mr. Mann has manufactured be sent to market in 

 Europe. 



"Mr. Mann's tea plantation at Coonoor was commenced about 11 or 

 12 years ago. It was formed from seedlings brought in Wardian cases 

 from China, and seeds from the same, all these having been selected (I 

 believe) by Mr. Fortune in some of the best tea districts of the country. 



"The present state of the plantation, as far as I can ascertain, is 

 this : — 



2,400 plants, age about 11 years. 

 4,000 „ „ 8 „ 



2,000 „ „ 2 „ 



12,000 „ „ 1 „ 



20,400 say at 1,208 per acre, 17 acres. 



" The later cultivation has been from seeds produced by the early 

 trees. 



" From February to June (the crop season) of this year, tea has been 



VOL. IV. N N 



