106 



TEA. 



The following Taluabie details as to the ciiltivatiou and manu- 

 fiicture of tea in British India, are from interesting reports by 

 Dr, Jameson, Superintendent of the Company's Botanical Grardens 

 in the J>^'orth West Prorinces, published in 1847 in the Journal 

 of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Calcutta; — 

 and from Mr. Bobert Bortune's report to the Hon. East India 

 Compam' : — 



The quantity manufactured. — The quantity of tea raautifactured from j&ve 

 plantations, of 89 acres in all, amonntedin 18^5 to eiOlb. 2oz., and in 1846, on 

 115 acres, to 1,0231b. lloz. The small nurserj^ of Lutchmisser, consisting of 

 three acres of land, gave a return in 1845 of 2161b., or 2 maunds and 56 pounds ; 

 in 1846 the return was 272lbs., or 3 maunds and 32 pounds. 



The small plantation of Kuppeena, established in 1841-2, and then consisting 

 of three acres (but increased in 1844 to four), yielded in 1845, 1 maund and 56 

 pounds, and in 1846, 2 maunds and 56 pounds. Thus we have received fi'om a 

 plantation of only five years' formation, and of four acres (one of these recently 

 added), iipwards of 2| maunds of tea, and from another, Lutchmisser, of three 

 acres, "which was established in 1835-6, 3 maunds and 30 pounds, equal to 272 

 pounds. I have, in a former report, asserted that the minimum return of tea for 

 an acre of land may be estimated at 1 pucka maund, or 801b. The only planta- 

 tions that I can as yet bring forward in favoiir of my assertion, are the two 

 above-mentioned : Kuppeena has not yielded the proportion mentioned, but it 

 was only established in 1841-42, and the tea-plants do not come into full bear- 

 ing until the eighth year ; on the other hand, Lutchmisser has given more than 

 the average return. I think, therefore, that the returns already yielded are 

 highly favorable, and that thoiigh the data are small, they are very satis- 

 factory. 



Soil best adapted for the tea-plant. — The soil in which the tea-plant is now 

 thriving in the Himalayas and in the valley of Deyrah Dhoon, varies exceed- 

 ingly. At Bhurtpoor and Eussiah it is of a light silico- aluminous nature, and 

 abounding with small pieces of clay slate, which is the subjacent rock, and trap 

 (greenstone), which occurs in large dykes, cutting through and altering the strata 

 of clay slate ; mixed with the stony soil, there is a small quantity of vegetable 

 matter. The clay slate is metamorphic, being almost entirely composed of mica. 

 In some places it is mixed with quartz, forming mica slate. From the decom- 

 position of these rocks, mixed with a small quantity of vegetable matter, the soil 

 is formed. At Kuppeena and Lutchmisser, the soil is also very stony, formed 

 from the decomposition of clay slate, which, in many places, as at Eussiah and 

 Ehurtpoor, passes into mica slate, or alternates with it, and a little vegetable 

 matter. The same remark applies to the plantations of Guddowli, Kouth, and 

 Eumaserai. At Huwalbaugh part of the soil consists of a stiff clay, of a reddish- 

 yellow colour, owing to peroxide of iron. Here, too, the tea-plants, provided 

 that the ground around them is occasionally opened up, thrive well. In Mr. 

 Lushington's garden at Lobha, in Kumaon, and in Assistant Commissioner Cap- 

 tain H. Eamsay's garden at Pooree, in Gurwahl, plants are thriving well in a 

 rich, black, vegetable mould. The soil in the Deyrah Dhoon varies exceedingly 

 from clayey and stiff soil to sand and gravelly soil, or light and free. The soil 

 at Kaolagir is a compound of the two, neither clayey, nor free, nor light soil, 

 but composed partly of clay and sand, mixed with vegetable mould, and 

 in some places mixed with much gravel, consisting of limestone, marl, sandstone, 

 clay slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks as enter into the compositi' 'u of the 

 surrounding ranges of mountains, viz., the Sevralick range to the south, and the 

 Himalayas, properly so called, to the north, From the above statement, we find 

 that the tea-plant thrives well both in stiff and free soils, and in many modifica- 

 tions of these. But the soil wliich seems best adapted to its growth may be 

 styled free soil, as at Eussiah, or a mixture cf both, as at Kaolagir, in the Dey- 

 rah Dhoon. 



In limestone districts, where the te.' has been tried, if the super-imposed soil 

 has been thin and untrausportcd, and th;s jioved fiom the decompos'licn of the 



