Nov.  i,  1892.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
darkened  on  the  surface,  and  this  gradually  spreads 
through  the  solution,  and  on  evaporation  the  same 
oxidised  extractive  matter  will  remain  insoluble  in 
water.  Again,  1 had  found  that  the  green  teas,  when 
wetted  and  re-dried,  with  exposure  to  tne  air,  were 
nearly  as  dark  in  colour  as  the  ordinary  black  teas. 
From  these  observations,  therefore,  I was  induced  to 
believe  that  the  peculiar  characters  and  chemical  diff- 
erences which  distinguish  black  tea  from  green  were 
to  be  attributed  to  a species  of  heating  of  fermenta- 
tion, accompanied  with  oxidation  by  exposure  to  the 
air,  and  not  to  its  being  submitted  to  a higher  tem- 
perature in  the  process  of  drying,  as  had  been 
generally  concluded.  My  opinion  was  partly  confirmed 
by  ascertaining  from  parties  conversant  with  the 
Chinese  manufacture,  that  the  leaves  for  the  black 
teas  were  always  allowed  to  remain  exposed  to  the 
air  in  mass  for  some  time  before  they  were  roasted.” 
Here,  then,  we  have  the  matter  fully  and  clearly 
explained  ; and,  in  truth,  what  Mr.  Warrington  ob- 
served in  the  laboratory  of  Apothecaries’  Hall  may 
be  seen  by  fevery  one  who  has  a tree  or  bush  in  his 
garden.  Mark  the  leaves  which  are  blown  from 
trees  in  early  autumn  ; they  are  brown,  or  perhaps 
of  a dullish  green,  when  they  fall,  and  yet,  if  they 
are  examined  some  time  afterwards,  when  they  have 
been  exposed  to  air  and  moisture  in  their  detached  state, 
they  will  be  found  quite  as  black  as  our  blackest  teas. 
On  variations  in  tea,  very  sensible  remarks  are 
made : — 
I believe  that  the  Woo-e-shan  plant  is  closely  allied 
to  the  Thea  vindis  and  originally  identical  with  that 
species,  but  slightly  altered  by  climate.  On  the  closest 
examination  I was  only  able  to  detect  very  alight 
differences,  not  sufficient  to  constitute  a distinct 
variety,  far  less  a speoies,  and  in  many  of  the  plants 
these  differences  were  not  even  visible.  The  differences 
alluded  to  were  these — the  Woo-e  plant  showed  less 
inclination  to  throw  out  branchs  than  the  Hwuy- 
chow  one,  and  its  leaves  were  sometimes  rather  darker 
and  more  finely  serrated. 
hut  it  is  possible  to  go  into  a tea-plantaffou  in 
any  part  of  China,  and  to  find  more  marked  distinc- 
tions amongst  its  plants  than  these  I have  noticed. 
The  reason  of  this  is  obvious.  The  tea-plant  is 
multiplied  by  seed  like  our  hawthorns,  and  it  is  per- 
fectly impossible  that  the  produce  can  be  identical 
in  every  respect  with  the  parent.  Instead  therefore 
of  haviDg  one  or  two  varieties  of  tea  plant  in 
Ohina,  we  have  in  fact  mny  kinds,  although  the 
difference  between  them  may  be  slight.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  seeds  of  this  plant  are  raised  year  after 
year  in  different  climates,  and  we  shall  no  longer 
wonder  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  plants  in  one 
district  appear  slightly  different  from  those  of  another, 
although  they  may  have  been  orginally  produced  from 
the  same  stock. 
For  these  reasons  I am  of  opinion  that  the  plants 
of  Hwuy-ehow  and  Woo-e  are  the  same  species,  and 
that  the  slight  differences  observed  are  the  results 
of  reproduction  and  difference  of  olimate. 
On  the  principles  thus  propounded  we  have  no 
doubt  that  marked  varieties  of  tea  have  already  been 
produced  in  the  different  districts  of  Ceylon,  and 
that  more  will  follow,  let  us  hope,  in  the  direction  of 
improved  “jat,”  Mr.  Fortune,  in  concluding  his 
notice  of  the  tea  plant,  anticipated  its  possible 
cottage  cultivation  for  use  in  Britain  thus : — 
Those  persons  in  England  who  possess  tei-planti 
and  who  cultivate  them  for  pleasure,  should  always, 
bear  in  mind  that,  even  in  the  tea-districts  of  Ohina, 
this  shrub  will  not  succeed  when  plauted  in  low  wet 
land  : and  this  is  doubtless  one  of  the  reasons  why  so 
few  persons  succeed  in  growing  it  in  this  country.  It 
ought  always  to  be  be  planted  on  a warm  sloping  bank, 
in  order  to  give  it  fair  ohancs  of  sucoess.  If  some 
of  the  warm  spots  of  this  kind  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land or  Ireland  were  selected,  who  knows  but  our 
oottagers  might  be  able  to  grow  their  own  tea  ? at  all 
events  they  might  have  the  fragrant  herb  to  look  upoD. 
But  Britain  can  now  be  supplied  with  tea  from  her 
VWB  dependencies,  of  suoh  good  qualities  and  at 
such  cheap  rates,  as  to  place  beyond  the  region  of 
the  practical  the  cultivation  of  the  plant  save  as  an 
ornament  and  a ouriosity.  We  have  no  room  for 
Mr.  Fortune’s  graphio  descriptions  of  the  various 
scenes  on  the  Himalayas  in  whioh  he  found 
tea-growing  experiments  oonduoted  ; but  we  cannot 
refrain  from  giving  our  readers  what  is  said  of  a 
district  near  Almora,  to  show  how  greatly  facilities 
of  transit  by  railway  were  needed  in  India  40  years 
ago— a need  now  happily  so  largely  supplied  in  India 
and  also  in  Ceylon  : — 
The  soil  of  this  extensive  district  is  most  fertile,  and 
is  capable  of  prodnoing  large  crops  of  rice  on  the  low 
irrigable  lands,  and  dry  grains  and  tea  on  the  sides  of 
the  hills.  From  some  cause,  however,  either  the  thin- 
ness of  population,  or  the  want  of  a remunerative  crop,* 
large  tracts  of  this  fertile  district  have  been  allowed 
to  go  out  of  cultivation.  Everywhere  I observed  ruin- 
ous and  juDgle-covered  terraces,  which  told  of  the 
more  extended  cultivation  of  former  years. 
On  “land  and  cultivation”  Mr,  Fortune  thus 
summed  up  his  views  : — 
From  the  observations  already  made  upon  the  va- 
rious tei-farms  which  I have  visited  in  the  Himalayas, 
it  will  be  seen  that  I do  not  approve  of  low  fiat  lands 
being  selected  for  the  cultivation  of  the  tea-shrub.  In 
Ohina,  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  to  have  come  under 
my  notice.  In  that  country  they  are  usnally  formed 
on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  bills,  that  is,  in  such  situa- 
tions as  those  at  Guddowli,  Hawulbaugh,  Almorab, 
Kutoor,  &c.,  in  the  Himalayas.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
fine  green-tea  country  of  Hwuy-ohow,  in  China,  near 
the  town  of  Tan-ohe,  many  handred  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, 
Dot  unlike  those  of  the  Ganges  below  Benares.  In  fact, 
it  has  all  the  advantages  of  hilly  land  such  as  the 
tea-plant  delights  in.  In  extending  the  Himalaya  plan* 
tations  this  important  fact  ought  to  be  kept  in  view. 
The  cultivation  of  tea  in  the  valley  of  the  Brahma-* 
putra  may  appear  to  be  opposed  to  suoh  views  ; but 
all  the  Assam  plantations  are,  of  oourse,  well  above 
the  normal  level  of  the  great  river  and  its  tributaries, 
though  at  times  some  of  them  are  flooded.  On  the 
use  of  tea  by  the  natives  of  China  and  its  hoped  for 
use  by  the  natives  of  India,  to  whioh  we  alluded,  we 
must  quote  what  Mr.  Fortune  says  : — 
In  these  days, when  tea  has  become  almost  a necessary 
of  life  in  England  and  her  wide-spreadiLg  colonies,  its 
production  upon  a large  and  cheap  scale  is  an  object 
of  no  ordinary  importance.  But  to  the  natives  of 
India  themselves  the  production  of  this  article  would 
be  of  the  greatest  value.  The  poor  paharie,  or  hill 
peasant,  at  present  has  scarcely  the  common  necessa- 
ries of  life,  and  certainly  none  of  its  luxuries.  The 
common  sorts  of  grain  which  his  lauds  produce  will 
scarcely  pay  the  carriage  to  the  nearest  market-town, 
far  less  yield  such  a profit  as  will  enable  him  to  pur- 
chase even  a few  of  the  necessary  and  simple  luxuries 
of  life,  A common  blanket  has  to  serve  him  for  his 
covering  by  day  and  for  his  bed  at  night,  while  his 
dwelling-house  is  a mere  mud-hut,  capable  of  affording 
but  little  shelter  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather. 
If  part  of  these  lands  produced  tea,  he  would  then 
have  a healthy  beverage  to  drink,  besides  a commodity 
which  would  be  of  great  value  in  the  market-  Being 
of  small  bulk  compared  with  its  value,  the  expense  of 
carriage  would  be  trifling,  and  he  would  have  the 
means  of  making  himself  and  his  family  more  comfort- 
able and  more  happy. 
Were  such  results  doubtful,  we  have  only  to  look 
* The  crops  of  this  distriot,  such  as  rice,  muudooa, 
and  other  grains,  are  so  plentiful  and  cheap  as  soarcely 
to  pay  the  carriage  to  the  nearest  market  town,  much 
less  to  the  plains.  In  Almorah  a maund  of  rice  or 
mundooa  sells  for  something  less  than  a rupee,  of 
barley  for  eight  annas,  and  of  wheat  for  a rupee. 
