84 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It is somewhat signifrcant that on the south of the Equator the 

 success hitherto attained has heen much less than on the north. The 

 best results have been attained in Java (7° to 8° S.), the traffic from 

 which direct, as well as via Holland to Great Britain, has for some years 

 assumed a distinct position. In 1833 Telfair speaks of tea as cultivated 

 in Mauritius (20° S.), and his specimens, which are in the Kew Herbarium, 

 are var. stricta, but in Gay's herbarium there is a specimen from that 

 island of var. Bohea, collected in 1858. Vauthier gathered a specimen 

 of var. stricta in Brazil ; Jervise found it being grown at Antioquia, 

 in Venezuela, and Macrae still further to the south at Rio de Janeiro 

 (23° S.). More recently it has been grown in German East Africa 

 between approximately 6° and 8° S. 



The truly wild plant would seem almost invariably to be the excep- 

 tionally large-leaved forms of C. viridis. When carried remote from its 

 original habitat, as, for example, to the south of the Equator, var. stricta, 

 the least desirable of all forms, is that chiefly met with. We are thus led 

 to believe that very possibly the departures from the type of var. viridis^ 

 which are both plentiful and diversified, may have been brought into 

 existence very largely as climatic manifestations and chiefly through 

 selection and adaptation. It is, however, significant that historically the 

 records of the purer forms of var. viridis would seem to point to their 

 having been first used as a vegetable, and probably only utilised long 

 afterwards to form a beverage, when carried beyond their indigenous 

 habitat and converted into the plants that are best designated as C. Bohea 

 and C. stricta. 



For successful tea cultivation the climate must be neither tropical 

 nor temperate. High temperatures, if accompanied with copious 

 rainfall, are less objectionable than high temperatures with a low 

 humidity. The best results are obtained when, during the growing 

 season, the daily variations are, say, from 75^" to 85° F. If the temperature 

 falls to 70° (or below 70°) F. the growth will be slow, and consequently 

 the interval between the flushings increased. In the best parts of Assam 

 the rainfall may exceed 100 inches, but 60 inches will suffice, provided it 

 be fairly well distributed throughout the hottest months. Temperatures 

 above 85° F., with a corresponding high rainfall, produce coarse plants 

 and an inferior quality of tea. 



The ideal climate is probably that of Assam, but the hilly and colder 

 districts, such as Darjeeling, Kumaon, Kangra, and the Nilghiri Hills, 

 produce as a rule superior qualities of tea, but not sufficiently so, in some 

 cases, to compensate for the very much lower yield. It is deemed a 

 desirable condition that there should be a winter of a few weeks' duration 

 at least, in which the temperature falls sufficiently to put a temporary 

 check on further growth. In this respect India differs entirely from 

 Ceylon ; in most of the Indian tea districts there is a distinct winter, 

 during which a certain amount of frost may be recorded. 



Ag'ricultural Methods. — It is the object of tea-planting. to produce 

 a large and regular supply of fresh shoots— " flushes," as they are called. 

 In vigorous gardens the flushings of fresh shoots may occur once in every 

 eight to ten days. The young leaves only are capable of being made into 

 good tea, and the smaller and younger they are the finer the quality of 



