Botany, 



161 



Government : 5 are in the Simla district, 2 in the Kooloo and 2 in the 

 Mundee territories, and 14 in the Kangra valley. Government is intro- 

 ducing the cultivation into the Huzara hills, and has given notice that it 

 will sell in fee -simple its Holta plantation, as well as, probably, the four 

 North- Western gardens, to the highest bidder. The experiment in the 

 Punjab dates from 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition. We shall 

 combine all these figures into one comparative table : — 



Province. 



Date of begin- 

 ning. 



Acres granted 

 up to 1862-63. 



Acres planted 

 in 1862-62. 



Number of 

 Estates. 



Number of 

 Planters. 



Number of La- 

 1 bourers. 



Out-turn in 

 1862-63. 



Bengal. 



















Assam, . . . 

 Cachar, . . . 

 Uarjeeling, 

 Hazareebagh, . 



1826 

 1856 

 1856 

 1859 



122,770 

 658,078 

 12,366 



20,144 

 17,594 

 9,102 



246 

 177 

 [40] 



[250] 

 165 

 [50] 



[20,000] 

 15,317 

 7,447 



2,150,068 

 327,670 

 40,446 



N. W. Peg- 



VINCES. 



















Kumaon, . . 

 Gurwhal, . . 

 Dehra Doon, . 



1848 



9,900 

 9,900 

 18,787 



1,500 

 544 

 2,572 



11 



6 

 21 



[20] 



[ 8; 



[40" 





11,260 

 696 

 1,254 



30,850 

 15.500 

 56,540 



Punjab. 



















Simla, Koolo, 

 and Mundee, 

 Kangra, . • . 

 Huzara, , . . 



1860 

 1847 

 1863 



2,400 

 7,118 



[500] 

 [1500] 



9 

 14 



[12] 

 [25] 



[1,000] 

 [3,000] 



[500] 

 [2,500] 







74,319 



53,456 



523 



560 



49,974 



2,623,074 



The three great tea districts vary in several particulars. Labour has 

 to be imported into Bengal ; it abounds in the North- Western and Pun- 

 jab Provinces. On the other hand, Bengal enjoys cheap and easy transit, 

 while in the last two this is the chief obstruction, which the railways will do 

 much to remove. The tea of Assam and Cachar is from indigenous seed, 

 and is stronger than, if not so fine as, that of the other provinces which 

 use China seed. It is preferred by the home dealers to mix with inferior 

 China tea. It will be observed, that in Bengal about two and a-half 

 millions of lbs. were produced last year. From all these circumstances 

 the Bengal tea is chiefly exported, while that of the Western Himalayas 

 is consumed on the spot. The tea districts of the Eastern and Central 

 Himalayas are long likely to be in the hands of English producers alone, 

 while in the Punjab Himalayas, where the hill peasants are so enterpris- 

 ing, the cultivation promises to be conducted on the China method, in 

 small patches by every village, and sold to brokers for manufacture. The 

 eagerness of all castes and classes of our native subjects for tea is well 

 known, and the coarser the flavour the better they consider it. At pre- 

 sent tea is sold at a rupee a pound. When it becomes a shilling, and even 

 sixpence for the coarsest kinds, what a trade will arise ! All India with 



NEW SERIES. VOL. XIX. NO. I. JANUARY 1864. X 



