Nov.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
333 
were  left  undisturbed,  as  there  was  room  enough  for 
them  to  grow;  but  it  was  necessary  to  take  other 
measures  with  those  in  the  camellia  cases.  On  open- 
ing the  latter,  the  whole  mass  of  seeds,  from  the 
bottom  to  the  top,  was  swelling,  and  germination 
had  just  commenced.  The  camellias,  which  had  now 
arrived  at  their  destination,  were  lifted  gently  out 
and  potted,  and  appeared  as  if  they  had  never  left 
their  native  country.  Fourteen  new  cases  were  got 
ready,  filled  with  earth,  and  these  germinating  seeds 
were  sown  thickly  over  the  surface,  and  covered  with 
soil  in  the  usual  way.  In  a few  days  the  young 
plants  came  sprouting  through  the  soil ; every  seed 
seemed  to  have  grown ; and  by  this  simple  plan 
about  twelve  thousand  plants  were  added  to  the 
Himalayan  plantations. 
Many  attempts  are  yearly  made  by  persons  in 
Europe  to  send  out  seeds  of  our  oaks  and  chestnuts 
to  distant  parts  of  the  world,  and  these  attempts 
generally  end  in  disappointment.  Let  them  sow  the 
seeds  inWard’s  cases  as  I have  described,  and  they  are 
almost  sure  of  success.  If  they  are  to  be  sent  to  a great 
distance,  they  [should  be  sown  thinly,  not  in  masses. 
The  plants  arrived  in  equally  good  condition  at 
Saharanpore,  where  they  were  handed  over  to  Dr.- 
Jameson.  In  view  of  the  fact,  so  well-known  to 
planters  who  have  imported  seed  from  India,  of 
the  short  period  during  which  tea  seeds  retain 
their  vitality,  it  is  curious  to  read  Mr.  Fortune's 
description  of  the  mode  in  which  the  Chinese  tea 
cultivators  treat  the  seeds  they  oollect: — 
la  the  black-tea  districts,  as  in  the  green,  large 
quantities  of  young  plants  are  yearly  raised  from  seeds. 
These  seeds  are  gathered  in  the  month  of  October, 
and  kept  mixed  up  with  sand  and  earth  during  the 
winter  months.  In  this  manner  they  are  kept  fresh 
until  spring,  when  they  are  sown  thickly  in  some 
corner  of  the  farm,  from  which  they  are  afterwards 
transplanted.*  When  about  a year  old  they  are  from 
nine  inohes  to  a foot  in  height,  and  ready  for  trans- 
planting. They  are  planted  in  rows  about  four  feet 
apart.  Five  or  six  plants  are  put  together  in  each  hole 
and  these  little  patches  are  generally  about  three  or 
four  feet  from  each  other  in  the  rows.  Sometimes, 
however,  when  the  soil  is  poor,  as  in  many  parts  of 
Woo-e-shan,  they  are  plantedveryclose  in  the  rows, and 
have  a hedge-like  appearance  when  they  are  full  growD. 
The  young  plantations  are  always  mide  in  spring, 
and  are  well  watered  by  the  rains  which  fall  at  the 
change  of  the  monsoon  in  April  and  May.  The  damp 
moist  weather  at  this  season  enables  the  young  plants 
to  establish  themselves  in  their  new  quarters,  where 
they  require  little  labour  afterwards,  exoept  in  keeping 
the  ground  free  from  weeds. 
A plantation  of  tea,  when  seen  at  a distance,  looks 
like  a little  shrubbery  of  evergreens.  As  the  traveller 
threads  his  way  amoogst  the  rocky  scenery  of  Woo-e- 
shan,  he  is  contianally  coming  upon  these  plantations, 
which  are  dotted  upon  the  sides  of  all  the  hills.  The 
leaves  are  of  a rich  dark  green,  and  afford  a pleasing 
ooptrast  to  the  strange  and  often  barren  scenery  which 
is  everywhere  around. 
The  natives  are  perfectly  aware  that  the  practice  of 
plucking  the  leaves  is  very  prejudicial  to  the  health  of 
the  tea. shrubs,  and  always  take  care  to  have  the  plants 
in  a strong  and  vigorous  condition  before  they  com- 
mence gathering.  The  young  plantations  are  generallv 
allowed  to  grow  unmolested  for  two  tr  three  years, 
or  until  they  are  well  established  and  nre  producing 
strong  and  vigorous  shoots  : it  would  be  considered 
very  had  management  to  begin  to  pluck  the  leaves  until 
this  is  the  oase.  Even  when  Ihe  plantations  were  in 
full  bearing  I observed  that  the  natives  never  1 00k  many 
leaves  from  the  weaker  plants,  and  sometimes  passed 
them  altogether,  in  order  that  their  growth  might  not 
he  checked. 
But,  under  the  best  mode  of  treatment,  and  with  tfco 
most  congenial  soil,  the  plants  ultimately  become  stunted 
and  unhealthy,  and  are  never  profitable  when  they  are 
old  : hence  in  the  bpsi.-managed  tea-districts  the  natives 
* Sometimes  the  seeds  are  own  in  the  rows  where 
they  are  destined  to  grow,  and,  of  course,  i-re  m that 
case  not  transplanted. 
yearly  remove  old  plantations  and  supply  their  plaoes 
witii  fresh  ones.  The  length  of  time  whiuha  plantation 
will  remain  in  full  bearing  depends  of  course  on  a 
variety  of  circumstances,  but  with  the  most  careful 
treatment,  consistent  with  profit,  the  plants  will  not 
do  much  good  after  they  are  ten  or  twelve  years  old  ; 
they  are  often  dug  up  and  the  spaoe  replanted  before 
that  time. 
In  Ceylon  tea  seed  is  sown  in  nurseries  as  soon  as 
possible  after  it  ripens  and  is  gathered  : no  planter 
would  ever  think  of  keeping  the  seeds  for  four  or 
six  months  in  sand  or  otherwise.  It  seems  signi- 
ficant that  no  mention  is  made  of  pruning  in  the 
case  of  the  China  tea  plantations  or  plots,  which 
became  unprofitable  and  had  to  be  renewed  in  ten 
or  twelve  years.  Prioea  must  have  been  good,  and 
labour  of  cultivators  and  oarrying  and  manufacturing 
coolies  rated  on  a very  low  soale  indeed  to  render 
the  enterprise  at  all  profitable  under  suoh 
conditions  and  in  the  absence  of  rolling  and 
other  machinery.  The  above  extract  is  from 
the  chapter  in  which  Mr.  Fortune  sums  up 
the  results  of  his  observation  and  experience  in  the 
tea  districts  of  China.  The  botany  of  the  blaok  tea 
country,  in  the  absence  of  thermometrioal  observa- 
tions, enabled  Mr.  Fortune  to  judge  what  the 
characteristics  of  the  climate’ were,  and  the  geology 
iudioated  the  mineral  constituents  of  the  soil.  As 
we  have  already  mentioned,  the  botany  and  geology 
of  the  mountain  tea  districts  of  China  were  found 
reproduced  on  the  Himalayan  ranges  in  India. 
The  cosmopolitan  nature  of  the  tea  plant,  how- 
ever, is  shown  by  the  wonderful  way  in  which  it 
has  flourished  in  Ceylon,  in  conditions  geologioally, 
botanically  and  climatologically  so  different  to  those 
of  its  habitat  in  China.  Amongst  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  the  tea  districts  of  China  are  the 
camphor  laurel  and  the  tallow  tree,  with  such  pines, 
as  Pinus  sinensis  and  Cunningliamia  lanceolata  ; 
while  tea  on  the  slopes  of  the  Himalayas  has 
replaced  pines  and  deodars ; oaks,  elms  and 
birohes,  magnolias  and  other  trees  whioh  are 
foreign  to  Ceylon,  where  all  attempts  to  introduce 
the  deodar  have  as  yet  been  unsuccessful.  We 
mentioned  a yellowish,  clayey  soil  such  as  is 
common  in  Ceylon,  but  it  may  be  well  to  quote 
what  is  said  about  tea  soil  and  situation  : — 
The  soil  of  the  tea-lands  about  Woo-e-shau  seemed  to 
vary  considerably.  The  most  common  kind  was  a 
brownish-yellow  adhesive  clay.  This  clay,  when 
minutely  examined,  is  found  to  contain  a considerable 
portion  of  vegetable  matter  mixed  with  particles  of 
the  rocks  above  enumerated.  [Clay  slate,  quartz,  dark 
micaceous  granite,  conglomerate,  and  fine  calcareous 
sandstone  and  dolomite  limestone.— Ed.  T.4.] 
In  the  gardens  on  the  plains  at  the  foot  of  the  bills 
the  soil  is  of  a darker  colour,  and  contains  a greater 
portion  of  vegetable  matter,  but  generally  it  is  either 
brownish  yellow  or  reddish  yellow.  As  a general  rule 
toe  Chinese  always  prefer  land  which  is  moderately 
rich,  provided  other  circumstances  are  favourable. 
For  example,  some  parts  of  Woo-e-shan  are  exceed- 
ingly sterile,  and  produce  tea  of  a very  inferior  quality. 
Ou  the  other  hand,  a hill  in  the  same  group,  called 
Pa-ta-sban,  produces  the  finest  teas  about  Tsong-gan- 
hien.  The  earth  on  this  hillside  is  moderately  rich, 
that  is,  it  contains  a considerable  portion  of  vegetable 
matter  mixed  with  the  clay,  sand,  and  particles  of  rock. 
By  far  the  greatest  portion  of  the  tea  in  this  part  of 
the  country  is  cultivated  od  the  sloping  sides  of  the 
hills.  I observed  a considerable  quantity  also  in 
gardens  on  the  level  land  in  a more  luxuriant  state 
even  than  that  on  the  hill-sides;  but  these  gardens 
were  always  a considerable  height  above  the  level  of 
the  river,  and  were  consequently  well  drained.  It  will 
bo  observ-id,  therefore,  that  the  tea-plants  on  Woo-e- 
shan  and  the  surrounding  country  were  growing  under 
the  following  circumstances: — 
1.  The  soil  was  moderately  rich,  of  a reddish  colour, 
well  mixed  with  particles  of  the  rocks  of  the  district. 
