100 



TEA. 



The tea lands are for the most pait adrnntageously situated, within convenient 

 reach of Trater-carriage, either hy the 'Dickhoo,' ' Desana,' and ' Dehing' 

 rivers, or hy means of small streams leading to them. I'he Plantations of the 

 Satsohea and Eookang forests, and on the hanks of the Tingri in the Northern 

 Division, are all valuahle centres of extension in each district. The lands snit- 

 ahle for tea cultivation are ample in extent, and of the highest fertility ; while 

 the Eill Factories of the Southern and Eastern Divisions, althongh secondary 

 in importance, are, as regards extent and quality of soil, equally eligihle as 

 hases of extension. 



The prospects of the future, I entertain no douht, will keep pace with the 

 satisfactory results that have hitherto heen realised, looking to the sound organ- 

 isation that now exists in our estahlishment at Assam, '.;n organisation that has 

 already taken healthy root, and naust in its growth gain strength and perma- 

 nence. I think we may safely calculate, after the current year, upon an annual 

 increase in our production of 40,000 Ihs. of tea, until a larger system of opera- 

 tions can be matured, of which the basis is akeady laid down, in the new lands 

 cleared and sown during the past cold season, averaging 225 to 2-50poorahs ; 

 and this extended basis will be doubtless followed up hy annual extensions of 

 similar, if not larger, area. The concern is now taking a position which will 

 place it on a scale of working commensurate with the objects entertained upon 

 the first incorporation of the company, the profits now likely to be realised 

 being adequate to all the outlay necessary," 



The prices in the last two years in London have been fiilly main- 

 tained at Is. 3d. to 4s. 4d., according to sorts. Of Assam tea. the 

 sates in the London market in 1851 amounted to 2.200 prLckaa;es. 

 against 1,900 packages in 1850, and all were freely trken ii 

 accoimt 01 their great strength) at very fuU prices, S.'venty-six 

 packages of Kumaon tea, both black and green, grown by the East 

 India Company, in the Himalayas, as an experiment, were also 

 brought to sale. They were teas of high quiJiy: I ut being of 

 the light flavored class, and not duly esteemed m lids market, 

 they realised only about their relative value as compared" with 

 China teas of similar grade. The Souchong and Pouchong sold 

 at Is. lid. to Is. 3|d. ; the Hvson, Imperial, and Gunpowder 

 reahsed Is. 7|d. to 2s. Ojd. 



Mr. Eobert Eortune, who, in the service of the Horticultural 

 Society of London, gave such satisfaction by his botanical re- 

 searclies in China, was, on his return to England, in 1848, engaged 

 by the DiiTctors of the East India Company to proceed again to 

 the Celestia.1 Empire, and procure and transmit to India such a 

 quantity and variety of the tea plant, that its cultivation in the 

 north-western provinces woidd be a matter of mere manual labor. 

 Having penetrated about 300 miles into the interior, he It-fr Hong 

 Kong in the middle of 1851 for Calcutta, with a large quantity of 

 choice plants, selected in the green tea districts, and these have flou- 

 rished as well as could possibly be expected ; so that, in the court e of 

 a few years, there is every probability that tea will form a consider- 

 able article of export from oui' Indian Presidencies. Zvlr. Fortime 

 secured the services of, and took with iiim, eight Chinese, from tlie 

 district of ei-chow, under an agreement for three years, at the 

 rate of fifteen dollars a month each. Six of these are regular tea- 

 ma.nufacturers ; the other two are pewterers, whose sole business is 

 that of preparing lead casings for tea-chests. 



In the British portion of the Punjaub, it has been resolved to 



