207 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 22, 1850. 
which had been used in the previous season in the growth 
of Melons, and which had since been stored from the 
inclemency of the weather, to prevent it from being over- 
saturated with moisture. No care is required further than 
to attend to keeping up a proper succession, and to remove 
Section of a portion of the quadruple range of forcing-pits at Basing Park, illustrative 
of the mode of forcing winter vegetables, 
* Description of Plan . 
1. Pits which were formerly used for fer¬ 
menting material. 
2. Flue into which the steam from the 
lining-pits formerly passed. 
3. Hot-water chamber. 
4. Dung chamber. 
5. Large flints, placed for the purpose of 
contracting the chamber. 
6. Wooden covers of inch - thick larch 
board resting on cast-iron bearers and 
wooden fillets : these covers have been 
down thirteen years. 
7. Hot-water troughs on bearers. 
8. Slate bottom to the bed one inch thick. 
9 . Wooden bottom to allow the dung 
steam to pass into the bed. 
10. Brushwood. 
11. Mould. 
12. Vegetables. 
13. Hot-water pipes. 
the roots which have ceased producing. If strong roots 
have been employed two cuttings will be readily obtained 
from them. No watering is required, the genial warmth 
proceeding from the adjacent chambers supplying a suffi¬ 
ciency of moisture. 
The conditions necessary for carrying this 
plan into full operation are the supply of a 
sufficient quantity of strong roots of the articles 
to he forced. The roots of Sea-kale I usually 
replant and force, again in the second season. 
A considerable number are, however, annu¬ 
ally destroyed; but a proper succession is 
kept up by raising a bed of seedlings both 
of Kale and Rhubarb on well - prepared 
ground every season. 
I usually commence forcing early in Oc¬ 
tober, and leave off when cutting in the open 
ground commences, the blanching of which 
lias been effected under a covering of leaves 
in a semi-decayed state. 
These pits are also well adapted for the 
protection of late vegetables, such as Lettuce, 
Cauliflowers, and Endive, when taken from 
the ground in a state nearly fit for use. When 
employed for that purpose the covers are 
removed, and they are only partially replaced 
when severe frost is apprehended.— Horticul¬ 
tural Society's Journal. 
CULTURE OE TEA IN INDIA. 
In no country within the world-wide dominion of this 
country have improvements progressed so slowly as in India. 
The reason for such torpidity is not to be found in the heat 
of its climate, for it is hot, but not enervating ; and, besides, | 
: there are in Hindoostan many absolutely cold districts. But 
the reason is aftorded by the fact, that Europeans have 
' gone thither to realise rapidly a fortune, and then to “ go 
home." India was not their home, and they did not care to 
risk tlie delay which might arise in seeking for new sources 
of wealth; they were rather anxious to gather rupees from 
I old official emoluments, old accustomed fees, and the equally 
remunerative chests of the Opium and Indigo fields. 
No one hut those who witnessed the struggle can appre¬ 
ciate the cold neglect with which the propositions to intro¬ 
duce better Cotton and to establish Tea culture in India 
were met. 
Let us confine our attention to Tea on the present occa¬ 
sion, and begin by observing that this is no trivial object of 
; cultivation. Nearly 71,000,000 lbs. of it were imported into 
England in 1853, and nearly 80,000,000 lbs. in 1854; and 
there is no reason why this enormous amount of vegetable 
produce should not be grown in India, and thus the money 
we pay for it be transferred to our brother subjects instead 
of to the Chinese. 
Now, let us trace the progress of its cultivation in India. 
In 1815, Colonel Salter was well acquainted with the 
Tea of Assam, that was brought to the Rungpore market in 
a manufactured state. Three years subsequently, the Hon. 
Mr. Gardner, our resident at the Nepaulese court, sent 
flowers and ripe fruit of the Tea plant to Dr. Wallich ; and 
by the latter they were forwarded to Sir Joseph Banks. In 
| 1822, Dr. Gerard and others reported that more than one 
species of Tea was indigenous to India, but it was not esta¬ 
blished whether these were not of the genus Camellia. 
But in 1823 — 24 and 1825, the late Mr. Scott (well 
known as a naturalist in India) wrote to Dr. Wallich, 
stating, decisively, that the Assam Tea shrub is the true 
Tinea, and sending a drawing, &c., of the seed capsule. Mr. 
Swinton got part of a boat-load of Tea plants from Assam 
early in 1826 ; similar Tea plants were received in the 
Botanic Garden from Mr. Scott in 1827. Major Veitcl), at 
Lucknow, sent to Assam for some in the same year. Major 
Bruce, who died in 1825, was so aware of the value of the 
plant that, in his ‘Calendar,’ he stated the period for col¬ 
lecting the seedlings and seeds. Major Wilcox knew of the 
plant’s existence at that time, and states his reasons for 
believing that Major Bruce and Mr. Bruce were those who 
first sent plants and seeds to Mr. Scott—that is, in 1823; 
and Mr. Bruce himself states, he obtained a canoe full of 
the plants, about 1820, from the same native from whom his 
brother obtained two plants in exchange for a musical snuff¬ 
box. Soon after. Captain Neufville, and almost every one 
else in Assam, possessed them; and when Dr. Wallich was 
there, in 1830, he found every one asserting that Major and 
Mr. Bruce were the first European discoverers of the plants 
in Assam. 
In 1832, Captain Jenkins was appointed by Government 
to survey Assam, and he furnished an official report of the 
localities where the Tea plant had been found. Earlier in 
the same year, Captain Charlton wrote many particulars rela¬ 
tive to the plant in a letter to Dr. Tytler. But nothing for 
rendering Tea an article of Indian commerce was effected until 
Lord W. Bentinek, in 1834, recorded a minute, recommend¬ 
ing ‘ measures for introducing the cultivation of the Tea 
plant within the British possessions in India.’ Dr. Wallich 
visited Assam, and reported very fully upon its Tea locali¬ 
ties. Government soon after commenced attempts to esta¬ 
blish its cultivation; but, by degrees, have parted with the 
larger portion of their plantations to the Assam Tea 
j Company. 
Since that period the culture of Tea in Assam has ad¬ 
vanced rapidly; and, by the exertions of Mr. Fortune, noticed 
by us long since, the Chinese varieties of the Tea plant and 
Chinese manufacturers have been introduced into that dis¬ 
trict. Yet, to show how imperfectly known are the vegetable 
products of India, it is only within the last twelve months 
that it has been discovered that the Tea plant is growing far 
nearer to Calcutta than at Assam. It has now been found 
in Sylhet, a district to the east of Calcutta, and to which it 
has easy access by various branches of the Burrampootra 
river. Upon this subject we extract the following from the 
HurJca.ru, Calcutta newspaper, of last April the 21st:— 
“We have perused a series of official papers regarding 
the discovery of the Tea plant in Cacliar and Sylhet, the facts 
contained in which will, we think, be of great interest to 
the public. In July last, Captain Verner, the Superin¬ 
tendent of Cacliar, reported to the Government of Bengal, 
not only that the Tea plant had been discovered in, but 
that it was indigenous to, that province. Specimens of the 
plant were forwarded to Dr. Thompson, of the Botanical 
Garden, who reported, that ‘they were beyond any 
reasonable doubt the true Tea plant (Assam variety).’ 
