THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
or  the  introduction  of  the  tea  industry  into  India. 
The  experiment  appears  on  the  whole  to  have  been  a 
failure,  at  least  as  regards  the  Madras  Presidency, 
although  a few  plants  are  said  to  have  survived  in 
each  locality  to  which  they  had  been  sent.  General 
Cullen,  Resident  of  Travancore,  writing  to  Govern- 
ment in  October,  1859,  with  reference  to  reports 
which  he  had  received  of  the  growth  of  tea  at  Coonoor, 
says : “ The  tree  thrives  well  in  the  Travancore 
country,  both  at  the  level  of  the  sea  and  altitudes 
of  1,8000  and  3,200  feet.  I first  met  with  it  in  the 
coffee  plantation  of  Mr.  Huxham  in  the  year  1841 
on  the  route  from  Quilon  to  Courtallum  at  a farm 
called  Cahdoorly  about  40  miles  inland  and  600  or 
700  feet  above  the  sea.  There  are  some  ten  or 
fifteen  trees  from  20  to  25  and  30  feet  high ; they 
were,  I believe,  introduced  during  the  Government 
of  Mr.  Lushington,  who,  I believe,  also  introduced 
those  formely  at  Kaity  on  the  Nilgiris.” 
Attempts  were  made  at  different  times  to  manu- 
facture tea  from  the  bushes  on  the  Nilgiris,  but 
without  success.  It  was  not  until  some  years  later 
that  Mr.  Mann  of  Coonoor  succeeded  in  producing 
fair  drinkable  tea  from  the  Nilgiri  plants.  Thus 
encouraged,  Mr.  Mann  brought  with  him  from  China 
in  February,  1854,  a good  supply  of  seed  of  the  best 
description  collected  by  Mr.  Fortune,  author  of 
“Wanderings  in  China” — this  gentleman  was  sent 
by  the  Court  of  Directors  to  China  to  collect 
plants  and  seed  with  the  view  of  introducing 
the  culture  into  the  North-West  Provinces— from 
the  finest  plantations  in  the  country,  and  ap- 
plied at  once  to  Government  for  land  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Coonoor  to  form  a nursery.  After 
many  delays,  during  which  a large  number  of  the 
■eedlings  died— the  remainder  were  only  saved  by  being 
sent  to  Wynaad — Mr.  Mann  succeeded  in  acquiring 
a piece  of  land  near  Coonoor  which  is  now  known  as 
the  Coonoor  Tea  Estate.  The  seedlings  were  planted 
in  grass  land  to  save  time,  the  forest  land  not  being 
ready.  As  early  as  1856  the  tea  produced  from  these 
plants  was  favourably  reported  on  by  the  London 
brokers.  Mr.  Mann,  however,  appears  to  have  been 
disheartened  by  the  difficulty  of  procuring  forest  land 
to  extend  his  estate,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
extract  of  a letter  to  Dr.  H.  Cleghorn,  then  Con- 
servator of  Forests,  when  referring  to  a second  im- 
portation he  writes  in  April  1855  “ I got  another 
small  supply  of  seeds  from  China  brought  round  in 
the  same  way,”  ( i.e .,  in  earth  in  which  the  seeds 
germinated  during  the  voyage)  “ which  I put  down  in 
my  nursery  at  Coonoor  immediately  they  arrived,  and 
scarcely  lost  a single  plant.  About  2,000  of  these  I 
planted  out,  though  still  very  small,  in  the  forest  land 
in  November,  of  the  same  year,  and  the  remainder, 
about  800,  remained  in  the  nursery  till  November, 
1856.  Iwas  convinced  from  the  way  those  plants  came 
on  that  the  tea  plant  would  grow  well  there, 
and  applied  through  the  Collector  to  the  Gov- 
ernment for  a suitable  piece  of  forest  land 
for  a tea  plantation,  which,  if  they  had  granted 
me,  I would  at  once  have  returned  to  China  and 
brought  over  a large  quantity  of  seed;  but  I could 
get  nothing  but  poor  grass  land,  on  which  nothing 
would  grow  without  being  heavily  manured ; and  to 
my  repeated  solicitations  they  at  last  sanctioned  two 
cawnies  of  forest  land  subject  to  all  kinds  of  re- 
strictions ; so  I gave  the  thing  up,  and  went  on  with 
the  coffee,  though  I still  think,  if  given  fair  play,  the 
tea  plant  would  not  only  grow  well  on  the  Nilgiris 
but  pay  well  too.” 
Dr.  Cleghorn,  in  a visit  made  a few  months  later, 
was  struck  by  the  thriving  condition  of  the  plants  in 
Mr.  Mann’s  nursery,  and  called  his  attention  to  the 
quantity  of  seed  falling  from  the  trees.  Almost 
simultaneously  with  the  formation  of  Mr.  Mann’s 
garden  at  Coonoor,  Mr.  Rae  of  Ootacamuud  had  ob- 
tained a grant  of  land  seven  miles  from  the  station, 
which  now  constitutes  the  estate  known  as  Dunsandle, 
which  has  lately  been  leased  by  Mr.  Rest,  son  of  the 
Son.  Justice  Best  of  the  Madras  High  Court. 
Mr.  Rae  experienced  similar  difficulties  to  those 
of  Mr.  Mann  is  securing  suitable  land.  Shortly 
after  this  a garden  was  begun  at  Eotagiri, 
and  in  1863  the  estate  known  as  Belmont 
was  formed  on  the  Bishopsdown  property  in 
Oofacamund.  When  Sir  William  Denison  ' was 
Governor  of  the  Madras  Presidency  in  the  early 
sixties,  some  direct  encouragement  was  afforded  to 
the  tea  industry  by  introducing  in  1863  skilled 
manipulators  from  the  Nortk-Weet  Provinces,  distri- 
buting in  1864  a supply  of  tea  seed  procured  from 
the  same  source  gratuitously,  and  by  forming  in  the 
same  year  a small  tea  nursery  for  raising  good  and 
fresh  seed  at  Dodabetta  within  the  Government 
Cinchona  Plantation.  The  manipulators  remained 
eighteen  months  ; their  services  did  not  appear  to  be 
much  appreciated.  The  nursery  at  Dodabetta  was  of 
little  use  to  Government  or  the  public,  and  after  a 
short  time  was  leased  to  a private  planter.  The  energy 
of  the  Nilgiri  planters  has  suffioed  for  the  success  of  the 
enterprise  without  the  fostering  aid  of  Government. 
The  introduction  of  the  Waste  Land  Rules  in  1863  was, 
however,  the  measure  which  set  this  energy  free.  By 
the  end  of  1869  there  were  probably  some  two  or  three 
hundred  acres  of  tea  cultivation  in  the  Nilgiri  District. 
At  the  Agricultural  Exhibition  held  at  Ootacamuud  in 
1869.  no  le6B  than  eighteen  exhibitors  appeared,  and  the 
exhibits  in  some  cases  proved  of  very  good  quality.  The 
teas  were,  with  two  exceptions,  black.  Reporting  *n  this 
product  Mr.  J.  W.  Breebs,  late  Commissioner  of  the 
Nilgiris,  wrote  : “I  attach  great  importance  to  tea, 
viewed  as  an  investment  for  English  capital  on  these 
hills.  Several  private  individuals  have  commenced 
its  cultivation  here As  far  as  soil  and 
climate  go  the  praoticaoility  of  growing  tea  on 
the  Nilgiris  has  been  established.”  At  his  request 
the  Government  sanctioned  samples  of  tea  being 
forwarded  to  England  for  brokers’  opinions.  Many  of 
the  exhibits  were  pronounced  good,  and  some  very 
good,  the  values  ranging  from  Is  4d  to  Is  6.1  per 
pound.  Soon  after  this  the  Government  requested  the 
Commissioner  to  report  as  to  what  steps  should  be 
taken  to  develop  the  enterprise.  The  planting  community 
being  consulted  suggested  the  following  measures  : — 
(1)  Free  tenure  of  land  for  a certain  period. 
(2)  The  introduction  by  Government  of  experts  to 
teach  the  best  method  of  manufacture. 
(3)  The  purchase  of  Indian  instead  of  China  tea  by 
the  Commissariat  Department. 
(4)  The  importation  and  raising  by  Government  of 
the  best  kinds  of  hybrid  China  and  Assxm  seed. 
The  first  concession  was  partially  accorded  by 
Government,  the  second  refused,  as  also  the  third  ; 
the  last  was  approved,  but  the  approval  was  practically 
inoperative.  The  land  taken  up  for  tea  cultivation 
on  the  Nilgiris  now  exoeeds  ten  thousand  acres.— Asian- 
PLANTING  NOTES  FROM  COORG. 
Cookg,  Sept.  24. — The  efforts  made  to  induce 
Tamils  to  settle  temporarily  or  otherwise  in  the 
Santikoppa  District  have,  in  some  cases,  ended  in 
sorry  failures.  They  were  an  indolent,  squalid  and 
altogether  unsatisfactory  lot,  and  so  insanitary  in 
their  habits  as  to  render  the  neighbourhood  of  their 
lines  and  drinking  wells  filthy  and  noisome  in  the 
extreme.  All  coolies  are  more  or  less  insanitary,  but 
the  other  castes  are  generally  careful  to  preserve  their 
water  supply  from  pollution.  It  was  hopeless  trying 
to  enforce  sanitary  measures,  as  they  would  not 
desist  from  continuing  to  offend  in  the  same  way. 
The  wonder  is  that  the  mortality  amongst  them 
was  not  greater  than  it  was,  given,  as  they  were  also, 
to  eating  indiscriminately  all  sorts  of  deleterious 
things.  They  consumed  a surprising  amount  of 
medicine,  but  their  general  health  continuing  un- 
satisfactory, the  few  deaths  amongst  them  served 
to  scare  away  the  better  lot  of  them  whom  it  would 
have  been  desirable  to  keep.  The  dregs  that  were 
left  were,  probably,  the  wretchedly  poor  and  friend- 
less ones  for  whom  there  was  no  attraction  to  return  to 
their  villages,  even  though  the  rains  had  been  favour- 
able there  and  the  growing  crops  promised  well. 
There  was.  of  course,  not  much  use  to  be  got  out  Of 
coolies  of  this  description,  and  so  it  was  deemed 
advisable,  on  some  places,  to  get  rid  of  them,  and 
they  wore  settled  with  and  sent  away.  Reports  of 
