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India and Oeyl ■ Paa are aHraoci k so much at- 
tention that w pteunt a map si win;? the tea- 
growing distriots of lin ian and (’e\loa. The distriots 
in which tea is grown in Indiai at the present time 
are : Assam, Caofaar, Sylbet, Darjeeling, Chittagong, 
Neiigherry hills, Chota Nagpure, Kangia, Kamaon, 
Sikbhim, Nepau), Debra. 
It is olaimi d by Baildon, author of a work on tea, 
tliat India is the natural home ot the tea plant. It 
is of exotic growth in Japan, where it was introduced, 
according to some authorities, in the 6tb century, 
others placing it durmg the 9tb century. 
The Province of Assam, once calle I the Inferno of 
Bengal, owing to its humid and deadly climate, with 
jungle fevers, ague and '.igers, bolding supreme sway 
has heeii transformed into s fairly cultivated district. 
Parts i t the province are 'cached by railway and the 
stosiners of two lines. Hundreds of tboussnos of acres 
of open laud are now to he seen planted with tea. 
This, it is claimed, has changed the character of tbo 
climate. 
Mr. Ball says: " Kecent discoveries in Assam also 
seem to justify the assumption, if nothing to the 
contrary be known, that it (tea) has spontaneously 
extended its growth along a coutinnous and almost 
uninterrupteil monntanious range, bat of moderste 
altitude, nearly from the great rivet, the Yang-tse- 
Kiang, to the countries flanking the South-western 
frontier of Chinn, whore this range falls in with or, 
agreeably with the opinion of a well-informed and 
scientific author. Dr, linyle, forma a continuation of the 
Himalayan range. But iu thuao countries, as in every 
part of China, if found in the plains or in the 
vicinity ot habitations and cultivated grounds, it may 
be fairly assumed that it was brought and propagated 
there by the agency and industry of man.” 
“ In the early days of the tea enterprise in India 
indigenous plants were colleoteil and formed into 
gardens, and China plants, propagated from seed, 
were planted in close proximity to the Indian species. 
The Chinese plants having entirely changed from 
what they were in their origin, in the butauioal 
oonrse of nature imparteil their altered condition, in 
some decree, to other plants aronnd them, and the 
very obvious result of planting two kinds of lea came 
abont in the prodnotion of a third the hybrid. From 
the small proportion of China plant originally placed 
in the experimental gardens, we eee the wonderful 
blending of nature in tbo fact that very lit'le purely 
indigenous, or purely China tea remains, the various 
tea-producing districts in India almost all growing 
hybrid bashes. There are sections of a few — I was 
almost saying two or three— estates in Assam, where 
the indigenuua plant is cultivated exclusively, and 
the greatest care is taken to keep all China and hybrid 
plants out of tbo way, so as to insure the continued 
purity of species." 
Tbo United S'alcs Minister to the United Slates 
of Colombia, Hon. John T. Abbott, states that 00 m- 
pStent authorities declare certain sections of the 
Republic to be peculiarly adapted fur the development 
of tea culture. 
[One ot hundreds of such plaoes where the 
absence ot ohoap labour plaoes a ban on the 
culture.— £ 0 . 1\ A.] 
-♦ 
GOVERNMENT CINCHONA PLANTA- 
TION8. 
[We received our own copies of the Madras 
reports, only after the following notioo had been 
marked for extraot.— Eo. T. .-1.] 
It is Duw a litile more than flO years sinoo tbo Qo- 
vernment of Madras started ciuohona planting on tbe 
Nilgiris, and the snocess which has attended its efforts 
to produce a febtifugo of excellent quality at a low 
cost — one of the main objects with which the planta- 
tions were opened— for sale to the natives have been 
rewarded with success. The practical ofToot, howovor, 
of the action of Government iu selling quiuiuo for 
almost the cost price will und lubtedly, as Govorument 
remarks in its Order on the Iteport of the working 
of tb- plant... > ms duiiug last year, to a great extent 
be i-ulifi d if no local market is available for the 
med'cmo. “ U s Excellency in Council regards it as 
a matter ol tbe bighe-il importance that the medicinal 
value and the low oost of quinine should be widely 
known,” Bud he rightly believes that “ publicity is the 
chief thing wanted in order to obtain for it a ready 
sale." Notices are inserted in all the District Ocutttes 
oslli- g attention to the low price at which qninine is 
obtainable, and the Tahsildars, Foatmasters, Revenue 
officials and heads ot villages have been supplied with 
packets of quinine and asked to let th« public know 
that tbe medicine oaii be obtained from them. Perhaps 
it is too early yet to give a definite opinion aa to the 
general success or otherwise of this experiment ; but 
quinim- distributed in some Distiicts baa nut' met 
with the ready sale that was anticipated, a fact 
which ia attributable in great part to the apathy 
of the officers entrusted with its sale. The 
Government thinks it bnt natnial that amongst the 
poorer classes, whose education is imperfect, thoro 
ahonld be a rooted objection to any payment 
however small, for a foreign medicine of which the 
effects are comparatively uukuown ; bat it ia hoped 
that by patient and persistent efforts on the port of 
Government officers and by the gradual spread of the 
kuowledge of tho effects of quinine in preventing and 
curing fever, any existing scraplea may ho overcome. 
Tbe general use of quinine amongst the people is 
nndoubtodly a result most earnestly to be desired, but 
until the apathetic gentlemen are taken smartly to 
task little amelioration can bo expected. Government, 
howovor, lully sees the necessity of thouatives reaping 
the benefit of enjoying tho advantages of a new remedy 
for a disease which prevails in one form or another 
almost everywhere throughout the country, and is pro- 
duotive of greater mortality than any other ; and it at 
the same time doe* not forget the planters, who would 
profit by a rise iu prioas consequent on any large in- 
crease in the demand for hark — a bop ] earnestly ex- 
pressed but unlikely to be fnlflllod for some time. 
During tho past year the imports of quinine into India 
rose from about 16,000 lb. to over 30,000 lb., a fact due, 
Mr. O’Conor assnmes, to the retail druggists taking 
advantage of the rise in exohauge to leplenith their 
stocks at a profit to themsotves. The unfortunate 
people who find themselves obliged to oonsume this 
drug not having obtained the benefit of the low price 
at which it is now placed wholesale on tbe market, 
there has been no large incentive to use it more freely. 
Daring the past year tho crop of bark harvested 
on the Nilgiris amounted to 133,351 lb. apportioned 
thus; — Dodnbetta, Crown hark 03,3-12 lb; Nadnvatum, 
Red bark, 61,330 lb and crown bark 3,530; Pykura, 
crown bark 10,160 lb and Red bark, 6,083 lb. At tho 
close of the previous year 477, 7-H lb of tho bark remained 
in stock in the godowns, which, added to tba fore- 
going, brings tho total bark in stock up to tbe huge 
figure of 611,605 lb. Of this only 100,400 lb were 
disposed of dnring the year, leaving therefore in stock 
at its close 510,096 lb ! Only 2.928 lb of quinine were 
manutaotiired, against an estimate of 4,000 lb The 
decrease was due, according to Mr. LawBon, tho 
Government Botanist and Director of Oinohona Plan- 
tations, to the influeuxa epidemio in the early part 
of the year, which drove a number of old and cx- 
perieuoed hands away, reoessitatiug tho employment 
of fresh hands ; to an insufficieocy of machinery ; and 
to the tardy supply of ohemicais necessary lor tho 
manufacture ol tho alkaloid. Upon these points tbe 
Government remarks that there was nu severe oat- 
break of infliieoza at tbe factory ; that tbe Adminis- 
tration Report is not ths place for the discussion of 
tho saffioiency or otherwise of maohiuery ; and that 
tho tardy siipi>ly of chemicals was no doubt a 
serious ubstacle to speedy and extensive work, but 
that for future Mr. Lawson should send in all in- 
dents for submission to tbo Secretary of State at 
least six months before the articles are required. Of 
the sulphate of quinine manufactured, only 1 366 lb. 
were riisposod of, of which 800 lb. went to Oeylon 
and 400 lb., to Bombay j 1,572 lb. thn.s remaining in 
stock at tho eommencenienl of this year. This and 
mote, has already boeu iudeuted for, and the outturn 
