314 
CHINESE CULTIVATORS OF TEA IN UPPER ASSAM. 
never injured by excessive cold, and thrives 
from 10 to 20 years. It is sometimes destroy- 
ed by a worm that eats up the pith and con- 
verts both stem and branches into tubes, and 
by a gray lichen which principally attacks 
very old plants. The period of growth is 
limited to six or seven years ; when the plant 
has attained its greatest size. The spots 
where the tea is planted are scattered over 
great part of the country, but there are no 
hills appropriated entirely to its culture. No 
ground in fact is formed into a tea plantation 
that is fit for any other species ot cultivation, 
except perhaps that of the dwarf pine already 
alluded to, or the Camellia Obeilora. Mr. 
GutzlafF understood them to say that the 
plant blossoms twice a year, in the eighth 
moon or September, and again in winter, 
but that the latter flowering is abortive. In 
this 1 apprehend there was some misappre- 
hension, as seed of full size, though not ripe, 
were proffered to me in considerable quan- 
tities eaily in September, and none were 
found on the plants which we saw. I suspect 
that the people meant to say that the seeds 
take eight months to ripen, which accords 
with other accounts. We wished much to 
have spent the following day (the 13th) in 
prosecuting our inquiries and observations 
at 'I'awand and its neighbourhood, but this 
was rendered impracticable by the state of our 
finances. We had plenty of gold, but no one 
could be found who would purchase it with 
silver at any price. W e therefore resolved 
on making the most of our time by an early 
excursion in the morning previous to setting 
out on our return. 
We accordingly got up at day-break 
and proceeded to visit the spot where the 
plants were cultivated. We w^ere much 
struck with the variety of the appearance of 
the plants ; some of the shrubs scarcely rose 
to the height of a cubit above the ground, and 
those were so very bushy that a hand could 
not be thrust between the branches. 1 hey 
were also very thickly covered with leaves, 
but these were very small, scarcely above ^ 
inch in length. In the same bed were other 
plants with stems four feet in height, far less 
branchy and with leaves If to 2 inches in 
length. The produce of great and small was 
said to be equal. The distance from centre to 
centre of the plants was about 4f feet, and the 
plants seemed to average about two feet in dia- 
meter. Though tbeground was not terracetf, it 
was formed into beds that werepartly levelled. 
These were perfectly well dressed as in garden 
cultivation, and each little plantation was 
surrounded by a low stone fence, and a 
trench. There was no shade, but the places 
selected for the cultivation were generally in 
the bottoms of hills, where there was a good 
deal of shelter on two sides, and the slope 
comparatively easy. 1 should reckon the site 
of the highest plantations we visited to be 
about 700 feet above the plain, but those we 
saw at that height and even less appeared 
more thriving, probably from having some- 
what better soil, though the best is little more 
than mere sand. 1 have taken specimens 
from three or four gardens. Contrary to 
what we had been told the preceding night, f 
1 found that each garden had its little nursery t 
where the plants were growing to the height t 
of four or five inches, as closely set asdliey j 
could stand ; from which I conceive that the | 
tea plant requires absolutely a/ree soil, not 
wet and not clayey, but of a texture that will 
retain moisture ; and the best site is one not I 
so low as that at which water is apt to spring 
from the sides of a hill, nor so high as to be 
exposed to the violence of stormy weather, i 
There is no use in attempting to cultivate the j 
plant, on an easterly exposure, though it is ij 
sufficiently hardy to bear almost any degree j 
of dry cold. i! 
By half-past 10 A. M. we set out on our re- [ 
turn, in chairs which we were, fortunate ![ 
enough to procure at this village, and reached I 
the banks of the river at Aou-ee a little before 
one o’clock. In the first part of our way we [ 
passed by some more tea plantations on very j 
sterile ground. One in a very bleak situation, 1 
with nothing but coarse red sand by way of ! 
soil, seemed to be abandoned.” 1 
Our author in his next communication I 
gives an account of bis attempt to ascend j! 
the river Min, to visit the plantations of the !! 
Fakhin province of China, but he and his jl 
party met with so much opposition (there 'j 
lives being in peril) that they were com- jl 
pelled to return. 
We must refer our readers to our last 
journal (page 301) for further discoveries 
of thfe tea plant in Assam. It is sufficient 
to add that a considerable number of 
Chinese cultivators have been obtained ; they 
arrived at Sadiya in Upper Assam on the jj 
3rd of last month, so that we may expect i 
tea in abundance. 
Art. IV , — Cultivation of Cotton, By W, ' 
Bruce, Esq. Remarks on the culture of \ 
Cotton in the United States of America, I 
Capt. Basil Hall’s Travels. Remarks j 
on the best method of cultivating New i 
Orleans Cotton. Ibid. Regarding the j 
cultivation of Cotton, Ibid. On the i 
cultivation of Cotton in Central India, ' 
By Baboo Radhakant Deb. Obser- 
vations on the culture of Cotton in the | 
Eoab and Bundlecund, By W, Vin- 
cent, Esq. On the artificial produc- j 
tion of new varieties of Cotton, By H. j 
PiDDiNGTON, Esq. On the method used I 
in Cayenne topreserve the Cotton plant, j 
