162 



Scientific Intelligence. 



its hundred and fifty, and Central Asia with its fifty, millions, will then 

 be the market. And if the Western Himalayas alone, from the Kali 

 river to Peshawur, can yield 393 millions of lbs., what will not the Eastern 

 half, with all Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah, and Munipore, produce ? Nay, 

 without extravagance, we may assert that the whole of the hills between 

 ISuddya and the Yangtse-kiang, the Chittagong and Burmese hills, and the 

 Yoma range to the valley of the Irrawaddy on the east, and Negrais on the 

 south-west, are tea-bearing tracts, within easy reach of the Bay of Bengal. 



In 1862 the import of tea into Great Britain amounted to 114|- millions of 

 lbs., or an increase of more than 25 millions over 1860. Of the 96 J millions 

 imported in 1861, China sent 92,145,365, Japan 1,348,911, and India, Sin- 

 gapore, and Ceylon 1,983,785. But while the average price of the China 

 and Japan tea was Is. 5d. per lb., that of India was Is. Sfd, or the highest 

 on the list. Since then Mr Gladstone has reduced the duty by one-third ; 

 and who can estimate the increase of consumption this will cause ? If, 

 though new to the manufacture, Indian tea-planters can obtain nearly 

 fourpence a pound more for their tea than China, they ought, by careful 

 preparation, and by strict honesty on their own part and that of their 

 London brokers, to make their tea still more eagerly sought after every 

 year. The most cautious v/ill admit that there is practically no limit to 

 the future of the tea trade of Northern India. — Friend of India, Sept. 

 17, 1863. 



Tinder used in the Punjab. — Dr Cleghorn states that the tinder of the 

 Hill shepherds, " Kuphi," is furnished by the woolly tomentum on the 

 surface of a composite plant, Onosseris tomentosa^ figured in Royle's 

 " Illustrations" as Chaptalia gossypina. The plant is found every where 

 at 7000 or 8000 feet, and the Kuphi taken to the plains. It is m.entioned 

 by Royle and J ameson that an inferior cloth is manufactured from the 

 woolly down of the leaves. Other composite plants at high elevations are 

 furnished with a somewhat similar downy substance. 



Sissoo Tree (Dalbergia Sissoo). — Dr Hugh Cleghorn writes from Simla, 

 5th August 1863, to the Agri-Horticultural Society of the Punjab as fol- 

 lows : — "I enclose a photograph of a Sissoo avenue at MozufTurgurh, 

 executed by William Coldstream, Esq., C.S. The picture shows the 

 remarkable growth which the Sissoo attains under favourable circumstances 

 of soil and situation, and gives confidence in extending the culture of a 

 timber tree which is so much valued in the Punjab. The measurements 

 of three of the largest specimens are as follow : — 



Ft. In. 



1. Girth 4 feet above ground, 11 0 



Girth 11 feet above ground, 9 5 



Height between 50 and 60 feet. 



Cubic contents from base to 11 feet above ground 



(approximate), ....... 91 0 



2. Girth 4 feet above ground, 11 7 



Girth 11 feet above ground, 11 4 



Cubic contents from base to 11 feet above ground 



(approximate), ...... 114 0 



Both trees have an unbranched trunk for 11 feet, and then throw out 

 two branches more than half the diameter of the trunk. On the road to 

 Shereshah, 1^ mile from MozaiFurgurh, is another Sissoo, girth four feet 

 above ground 12 feet 3 inches. These trees were planted by Mozutfer 

 Khan, who built the town and made the garden in which Nos. 1 and 2 

 are standing. The age is about seventy years." I send the above extract 

 from Mr Coldstream's letter accompanying the photograph, as the syste- 



