TEA. 



117 



mucli facility for turning their home experiences in this industry here 

 to account. Probably neither in China nor in India can land for form- 

 ing new tea gardens be obtained at such small cash outlay as in this 

 and the other Australian colonies. The annual mean temperature of 

 Melbourne (about 58° Fahr.) is slightly higher than that of the Dar- 

 jeeling and Neilgherries tea districts (56° Fahr.), but at Assam it is 

 74°, and so at Cachar in the principal tea regions. Though we pos- 

 sess in Victoria warmer tracts of country (even so far south as Port- 

 land, the mean being 61° Fahr.) than that about the metropolis, yet 

 we cannot expect to realise tea harvests equally heavy as those for 

 which Assam is already so famed ; but, like every other crop, this one 

 cannot be grown in various parts of the world under conditions alike 

 excellent, and we must content ourselves with lesser results. The 

 rainfall at Melbourne averaged for some years 26 inches, but rose in 

 1872 to 32 inches. At the eastern boundary of Gippsland it was, 

 however, recorded in 1871 at 54 inches. At Schnapper Point it was, 

 in 1872, 43 inches; in 1874, 39 inches. At Daylesford, |1872, 42 

 inches; 1874, 40 inches. At Cape Otway, 1874, 42 inches. At 

 Hastings, 1874, 45 inches. At Warrandyte, 1872, 48 inches ; 1874, 

 41 inches. At Berwick, 1872, 51 inches ; 1874, 42 inches. In our- 

 fern-tree gullies it would in all likelihood, as a rule, be much more. 

 Want of moisture cannot militate therefore against the success of tea- 

 growing in our forest glades, although in Assam the- rainfall fluctuates 

 between 70 and 95 inches. At Darjeeling it is still heavier — about 

 129 inches ; but the enormous precipitation of moisture at the latter 

 place is acknowledged to be adverse to the best development of tea 

 there. It is quite possible that here in our colony every geologic 

 formation and every climatic tract, though otherwise not unfavourable 

 to this culture, will not yield products of equal value in flavour and 

 taste, even if the most careful methods were adopted, to secure a 

 proper curing of the leaves." 



There can be no doubt that both tea and coffee can be cultivated 

 with complete success in 



Queensland. — Tea grows luxuriantly on the coast, but the plant, in 

 order to develop the full flavour of the leaf, seems to require the 

 hibernation, or rest for a period, that cannot be had in a climate 

 where the warmth and stimulus to growth are constant. The cultiva- 

 tion and subsequent manufacture connected with the tea and coffee 

 plants require, at certain seasons, a considerable supply of light 

 labour. 



Jamaica. — In 1868 a case of tea plants was sent out from Kew to 

 Jamaica, and placed under the care of Mr. Thompson, the island 

 botanist at St. Andrew. The idea has been formed on good scientific 

 authority that the soil and climate are so well adapted that the tea 

 plant will flourish there. 



Brazil. — In 1810 a number of tea plants were introduced into 

 Brazil, with a colony of Chinese to superintend their culture. The 

 plantation was found near Eio Janeiro, and occupied several acres. 

 It did not, however, answer the expectations formed of it ; the shrubs 

 became stunted, cankered, and moss-grown, and the Chinese finally 

 abandoned them. 



