384 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XXII. 



in bearing my humble testimony to the energy and 

 skill with which Dr. J ameson has managed the tea- 

 plantations which were placed by Government under 

 his care. Considering that until lately we had little 

 or no information as to how the tea-plant was ma- 

 naged in China, the only wonder is that so few mis- 

 takes have been made in its cultivation in India. 



Having thus described all the tea-plantations in 

 the provinces of Gurhwal and Kumaon, I shall now 

 make some general observations upon the cultivation 

 of the tea-plant in India, and offer some suggestions 

 for its improvement. 



1. On Land and Cultivation. — From the observa- 

 tions already made upon the various tea-farms which 

 I have visited in the Himalavas, it will be seen that 

 I do not approve of low flat lands being selected for 

 the cultivation of the tea-shrub. In China, which at 

 present must be regarded as the model tea-country, 

 the plantations are never made in such situations, or 

 they are so rare as not to have come under my notice. 

 In that country they are usually formed on the lower 

 slopes of the hills, that is, in such situations as those 

 at Guddowli, Hawulbaugh, Alrnorah, Kutoor, &c, in 

 the Himalayas. It is true that in the fine green-tea 

 country of Hwuy-chow, in China, near the town of 

 Tun-che, many hundred acres of flattish land are 

 under tea-cultivation. But this land is close to the 

 hills, which jut out into it in all directions, and it is 

 intersected by a river whose banks are usually from 

 15 to 20 feet above the level of the stream itself, not 

 unlike those of the Ganges below Benares. In fact, 



