(No. 1.) LIST of TEA TRACTS in the Cachar District granted under the Rules for the Grant of Waste Lands in Assam. LIST of APPLICATIONS under the ASSAM RULES, for TEA LANDS for which formal GRANTS have not yet been made. Enclosure 5, in No. 3. (No. 16.) From A. R. Young, Esq. Secretary to the Government of Bengal, to the Secretary to the Board of Revenue (No. 1470), dated the 26th June 1858. Sir, I AM directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 215, dated the 18th instant, and in reply to state that as the cultivation of the tea plant in Cachar appears from Mr. Allen's report to be extensively and vigorously prosecuted by numerous parties, singly and in companies, the Lieutenant Governor considers that the establishment of a Government tea plantation in that district would be superflous, and attended with no advantage. A report to that effect will be forwarded to the Honourable the Court of Directors. My Lord, REVENUE LETTER to India, dated 22d March (No. 19) 1860. I HAVE Considered in Council the narrative of the proceedings of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal for the third quarter of 1858, transmitted in your letter of the 22d of July 1859, No. 12, and in reply have only to express my satisfaction that the cultivation of tea in Cachar is being pursued with such energy and success by private individuals, and by companies, as to render any interference for the encouragement of plantations unnecessary. Revenue Department.-No. 90 of 1860. LETTER from the Government of Madras to the Secretary of State for India. We have the honour to forward herewith 20 copies of a useful and interesting report by Dr. Cleghorn, our conservator of forests, on the suitability of various places in this Presidency to the growth of the tea plant. 2. It will be seen from our order of this date, that we have resolved to give publicity to the report. (signed) W. A. Morehead. Fort St. George, 24 August 1860. Enclosure 1, in No. 5. (Revenue Department.) PROCEEDINGS OF THE MADRAS GOVERNMENT. READ the following Letter from H. Cleghorn, Esq, M. D., Conservator of Forests, to J. D. Bourdillon, Esq., Secretary to Government, Revenue Department, Fort Saint George; dated Madras, 11th August 1860, No. 96. Sir, 1. WITH reference to the order of Government, dated 9th November 1859, No. 1531, Revenue Department and Proceedings of Government, dated 25th July 1860, No. 30, Revenue Department, I beg to state that I have found it impossible, owing to my other engagements, to visit the tea plantations at Caldoorty and Udagiri, mentioned by General Cullen, in his letter to the Chief Secretary, dated 27th October 1859. 2. I regret this, as the vegetation of that part of the Travancore territory is most luxuriant, and the lofty ranges stretching towards the Pulnies have been less explored than any other part of the Malabar Ghát. 3. I have collected from my journal a few notes made during my tours upon the tea plants seen in different districts of the Presidency. 4,000 feet. 4,500 feet. inches; mean temp. 5,600 feet. Rainfall and mean. temp. not known. 6,000 feet. Localities where Tea Plants are growing. I. Shevaroy Hills.-There are several well grown trees at Yercaud, introduced by G. Fischer, Esq.; these have not been picked or pruned, and, indeed, have been left to nature, but are growing vigorously nevertheless. II. Coorg. A case of plants was brought from China by Colonel (Lieutenant General) Dyce in 1843; these (now trees) appear to me over luxuriant, producing a rapid growth of leaves, and not bearing seed with regularity. III. Nundidroog.-A number of plants have lately been sent to this hill sanatarium ; they were beginning to droop in the Lál Bágh garden, Bangalore, but there is hope of their thriving in their new location. "The mean temperature of Bangalore is 75°, and the average rain-fall 35 inches." The climate being too dry and too hot, the plants necessarily become dwarfed. IV. Bababooden Hills.-Four plants from General Dyce's stock were received from Mercara in 1847; these grew well without care. A packet of fresh China seeds was sent last year: Colonel Porter, Superintendent of Nuggur, raised 23 plants above ghât near the sircar bungalow; and a number of seedlings have been planted out about a thousand feet lower by Mr. Denton, coffee planter. V. Nilgiri Hills.-a. Coonoor.-A full report of Captain Mann's plantation is recorded Rainfall, 55 inches. in Proceedings of Government, No. 1272, dated 21st September 1859. 7,300 feet. Rainfall, 60 inches; mean temp. 58 degrees. 7,100 feet. 1,200 feet. Caldoorty Besides this, there are a few plants at the undermentioned places, b. Ootacamund.-Introduced or raised by Mr. M'Ivor, Government gardens, from Saharunpoor seed, and by General F. C. Cotton at Woodcote. c. Kaity. Introduced or raised by Sir S. Lushington and Lord Elphinstone. VI. Pulni Hills.-Major Hamilton reported that a considerable number of tea plants at VII. Curtallam.-I have received flowering specimens from the old spice garden, which corresponds with the standard figures of Thea Chinensis. The shrubs are 20 years old, 12 to 15 feet high, and where the seed came from is not known. Altitude. Vellymallay, near Udagiri 1,800 (Fortune). Rainfall. 80 40 VIII. Travancore.-Tea trees grow luxuriantly in Messrs. Binny & Co.'s plantations, (formerly Mr. Huxham's), 40 6,700 feet. 150 to 200 inches. miles east of Quilon on the road to Curtallam, and from whence some plants were procured 10 or 12 years ago, which were planted at Vellymallay near Udagiri, 1,800 feet; and at Athaboo, near Tinnevelly frontier, 3,200. At both places they are growing luxuriantly. دو These facts are taken from General Cullen's letter to the Madras Government, and I may state that some seeds received from him were planted and throve on the Nilgiris at an elevation of 5,500 feet. 4. In tea, as in all cultivated plants, there are variations, the discrimination of which is of the utmost importance commercially, and also in an economical point of view, but I have not materials for attempting a precise definition of these differences. This, however, is known that the seed having been obtained from different parts of China, the introduced plant varies in stature exceedingly, from a bushy shrub of 3 feet to a ramous tree, 25 feet high. 5. There is a vast difference also between the narrow-leaved forms and broad-leaved specimens in some of the localities mentioned. 6. At present the leaves are taken indifferently from several sorts, which should not be done, when preparing tea for commercial purposes; and the means of manufacture are of the rudest description. Java (under Equator), Siam and 7. The tea shrub of commerce, though long confined to Eastern Asia, is China, 10 degrees to 31 degrees, N.L. now cultivated far beyond the limits of China, and Japan, in Java, (under Rio de Janeiro, 22 degrees S.L. the Equator) in Assam, the North West Provinces of Hindustan, on the Tang-chow-foo, 36 degrees N.L. banks of the Rio Janeiro, and recently in North America. From the pub(Reeves). lished reports of Mr. Fortune and Dr. Jameson, it appears to prefer a climate probably of 67° to 73° mean temperature. Such is nearly the mean temperature of the hill slopes near Kúnúr, Kotagiri, and of many of the valleys in the eastern and northern slopes of the Pulni and Nilgiri Hills, and also of the Bababooden range in Mysore, and of Kudra Muka in South Canara. Principal districts between 27 degrees 1857. 8. It ought also to be observed, as illustrative of the hardiness of the tea shrub, that the cultivation extends over a great breadth of latitude (from the banks of the Rio Janeiro, 221° south latitude, to the province of Shan-ting in China, 36° north latitude,) and that as we recede from the equator, the lower latitude compensates for the difference of altitude. The Chinese cultivate on the lower slopes of the hills, whilst, in the North West Provinces, the culture is carried on between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. 9. This 9. This valuable plant has been found wild in Upper Assam and Cachar, *Mr. H. Ricketts, B.C.S. whilst its congeners abound on the Nilgiri and other mountain ranges of Mr. Stanisforth, B.C.S. this Presidency. Its cultivation, therefore, might be attempted with good Major R. Strachey, Bengal Engineers. prospect of success in any of the localities mentioned in para. 7. In the Captain Impey, Bengal Engineers. case of Captain Mann's plantation near Kúnúr, we have the opinion of four competent judges that the experiment had entirely succeeded as regards the growth of the plant. It now only remains to prove the merchantable character of the leaf, and this I hope will soon be tested. 10. So far as I can judge, the aid of a few practised manipulators is all that is required Dated 27 August to conduct the manufacturing processes. This I recommended in my † letter to Govern- 1859, No. 762, rement, and I would beg again to solicit their attention to the proposal. Enclosed is a letter corded in Proceedings of Government, on this subject received by me from Dr. Jameson, at the time the question was broached; No. 1272, dated 21st also extracts from Sir Emerson Tennant's erudite work on Ceylon, corroborative of the views September 1859. expressed on this important point. 11. Much useful information will be obtained from Fortune's works, especially his "Visit Selections from to the Tea Districts of China," and "A short guide to Planters cultivating Teas in the the Records of the Himalayas and Kohistan of the Punjab," by Dr. Jameson. Intending tea planters ought Government of also to study carefully Mr. Ball's excellent work on the "Cultivation and Manufacture of India, No. XXIII, Tea," and the "Theory of Horticulture," by Professor Lindley, a knowledge of the principles of culture being indispensable to success. 1857. Enclosure 2, in No. 5. From W. Jameson, Esq., Superintendent Botanical Gardens, North West Provinces, to I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 741, dated 6th ultimo, regarding tea-makers. I am glad to hear that tea cultivation is making steady progress in the Madras Presidency. I have no Chinese tea-makers available to send to the Nilgiris, but I can provide you with four excellent native tea manipulators, who have been for years working in the factories, and are nearly as expert at their work as the Chinese. To several private factories I have supplied natives brought up as tea-makers in the Government factories, and by them excellent teas have been prepared. Thus all the teas prepared at Hurbawallah, in the Deyra Dhoon, estimated at 10,000 lbs. this season, have been prepared by natives furnished by me, and these teas are much prized by the public, and fetch high prices. Four (4) native tea-makers are willing to proceed to the Nilgiris, and serve for three years on the following conditions: (1.) Their wages to be 12 rupees per mensem each, for the first year, and 16 rupees each per mensem for the second and third years. (2.) All their expenses to be paid to and from the Nilgiris. (3.) Their wages to be paid them from the date of leaving the plantation at Kowlangiri in the Deyra Dhoon. (4.) Their agreement to continue in force for three (3) years froin the date of their arrival at the plantation in the Nilgiris. (5.) On discharge, their expenses to be paid and a free passage given to them to Kowlangiri in the Deyra Dhoon. Their wages to cease from the date of their discharge from the plantation on the Nilgiris. With these men I am confident that you will be able to do all that you require towards ascertaining the quality of the leaf yielded by the tea plants growing on the Nilgiris. With the men I will send a series of baskets, &c. required in manipulating teas, and Dr. Thompson, of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, can procure for you from Messrs. Thompson & Co., hardware merchants, such pans as you require. If I can assist you in any other way it will give me much pleasure. P. S.-These four (4) men agree to work diligently in the plantations and make themselves generally useful when their services are not otherwise required in the factory. But in order that there may not be any dispute, I shall, if agreeable to you, write their agreement on stamped paper. Enclosure 3, in No. 5. Extracts from "Tennant's Ceylon." "THE tea plant has been raised with entire success on the estate of Messrs. Worms, at Rothchild, in Pusilawa; but the want of any skilful manipulators to collect and prepare. the dry leaves, renders it hopeless to attempt any experiment on a large scale until assistance can be procured from China, to conduct the preparation."-Volume I., page 90. "The plants thrive surprisingly, and when I saw them they were covered with bloom. But the experiment was defeated by the impossibility of finding skilled labour to dry and manipulate the leaves. Should it ever be thought expedient to cultivate tea in addition to coffee in Ceylon, the adaptation of the soil and climate has thus been established, and it only remains to introduce artizans from China to conduct the subsequent processes."--Volume II., page 252, (signed) H. Cleghorn, Conservator of Forests. ORDER thereon, 24th August 1860, No. 1425. 1. THE Governor in Council has perused this report with much interest. It contains much useful information on the subject treated of. It will be communicated to the Board of Revenue, to the Collector of Coimbatore, to the Commissioner of Mysore, and to the Literary Society for publication in their journal. A copy will also be laid on the editors' table, and a number of spare copies will be printed for sale or distribution. 2. The report will also be sent to the Secretary of State. REVENUE DESPATCH to Madras, dated 31st October (No. 73) 1860. 1. I HAVE perused with much interest the reports by Dr. Cleghorn, the conservator of forests, on the growth of the tea plant in the Neilgherries and other parts of the Madras Presidency, which accompany your letter of the 24th August last, No. 90. 2. It is satisfactorily established that tea plants will thrive in several different localities, but no attempt appears yet to have been made to convert the produce into a marketable article of commerce. I agree with you that, as a general rule, it is undesirable for Government to step out of its way to aid the efforts of private adventurers. Considering, however, the great success which has attended this branch of culture in Assam, and in the Himalayas, and which it can scarcely be expected would have been attained, at any rate to the same extent or in the same time, if the initiatory proceedings had not been taken by the Government, I shall not object, if it should appear that there is little chance of the matter being taken up by private enterprise, to your acting on the recommendation of Dr. Cleghorn, and obtaining the services for a limited period of a few skilled tea manufacturers from the North Western Provinces, which it appears from the information supplied by Dr. Jameson, might be procured at a very moderate cost. 3. I presume that under the rules now in force, the difficulties which were apparently experienced by Captain Mann in obtaining land in the Neilgherries suitable for his tea plantation, will no longer exist. |