April 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



TEA PLANTATIONS IN INDIA. 419 



knowledge, my friend Mr. Mann having asked me to direct matters at 

 his tea garden for him, on his departure for England at the beginning 

 of the year), the result of partial experiments, made in pursuance of 

 instruction gathered from books was, that some parcels of tea were so 

 good in flavour and perfume, that I found a pinch added to the ordinary 

 China tea sold in the Ootacamund market, impart to the latter a most 

 agreeable flavour. This apparent strength in the tea, if found to be 

 really present, would give it a similarity to those of Assam, whose value 

 consists in their imparting a flavour to, and improving other and 

 ordinary teas. There is in all this great encouragement to expect that 

 tea cultivation on the Neilgherries may yet prove an extended and pro- 

 fitable industry. 



" I may, in conclusion, draw attention to the fact that the 2,000 lbs. 

 of tea picked this year from Mr. Mann's garden, were so from scarcely 

 over five acres of cultivation, and that there would probably have been 

 much more, but for the failure of rain at a particular time. The quan- 

 tity actually picked, however, averages 400 lbs. per acre, which is a very 

 favourable ret urn if the tea prove of the quality that there seems some 

 show of reason in anticipating. And I may mention that I know- 

 visitors from Bengal in late years, civilians, military officers, and mer- 

 chants, officially connected with tea cultivation or directly interested in 

 it, to have expressed strong and decided opinions as to various parts of 

 the Neilgherry hills being well adapted and very promising for the 

 same cultivation. 



" This valuable plant has been found wild in Upper Assam and 

 Cachar, whilst its congeners abound on the Nilgiii aud other mountain 

 ranges of the Presidency. In the case of Captain Mann's plautat'oa near 

 Kunur, we have the opinion of four competent judges that the experi- 

 ment had entirely succeeded as regards the growth of the plant. 



" It now only remains to prove the merchantable character of the 

 leaf, and this I hope will soon be tested. 



" So far as I can judge, the aid of a few practised manipulators is 

 all that is required to conduct the manufacturing processes. 



" Much useful information will be obtained from Fortune's works, 

 especially his ' Visit to the Tea Districts of China,' and ' A Short Guide 

 to Planters cultivating Teas in the Himalayas and Kohistan of the 

 Punjab,' by Dr. Jamieson. Intending tea planters ought also to study 

 carefully Mr. Ball's excellent work on the ' Cultivation and Manufacture 

 of Tea,' and the ' Theory of Horticulture,' by Professor Lindley, a 

 knowledge of the principles of culture being indispensable to success." 



Sir Emerson Tennent, in his work on ' Ceylon,' says :■ — " The tea 

 plant has been raised with entire success on the estate of Messrs. Worms, 

 at Rothchild, in Pusilawa, but the want of any skilful manipulators to 

 collect and prepare the dry leaves, renders it hopeless to attempt any 

 experiment on a large scale until assistance can be procured from China, 

 to conduct the preparation." — Volume I, page 90. 



