The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 13

This climate appears congenial to the growth of the plant, and the soil is so diversified in this mountainous district, that there is no difficulty in selecting that best adapted to seed-growing plants, or that designed for the leaf only. Upon the plantation purchased this summer, I have light-yellow, dark-brown, and red clay subsoil, of a friable character, with a surface soil sufficiently sandy to answer the demands of the plant. I do not see any reason to doubt, from a year's experience, that the tea-plant in its varieties will flourish in what I heretofore denominated the tea-growing district of the United States, as well as in any part of China.

The slowness of its growth requires patience. But when once established, the tea-nuts will supply the means of extending cultivation, and the duration of the plant for twenty years diminishes the expense of labor. To ill.u.s.trate the hardihood of the plant, I may observe, that notwithstanding the zero severity of February frost destroyed the leaves and branches of most of the plants, and those now blooming in great beauty and strength are from roots the growth of this summer, I have one green tea-plant the stem and branches of which withstood the frost of February without the slightest protection, and is now a splendid plant, covered with branches and evergreen leaves, affording undeniable evidence not only of its capability of resisting frost, but of its adaptation to just such a degree of temperature.

I have often remarked that the tea-plant requires for its perfection the influence of two separate and distinct climates, the heat of summer and the cold of winter. The thermometer in this vicinity during the heat of summer generally ranges from 74 at 6 o'clock a.m.

to 82 at 3 o'clock p.m., only one day during the summer so high as 86.

This is a most agreeable temperature, nights always cool, which the tea-plant enjoys, and the days hot and fanned with the mountain breeze.

The drought I found the most difficult point to contend with, owing to the want of adequate means for irrigation. I lost 20 or 30 plants through this, and learned that no tea plantation should he established without irrigation. After two or three years there will be little necessity for it, because the depth of the roots will generally then protect the plant.

My plantation at Golden Grove is well supplied with water, or I should not have purchased it at any price.

It is the first and most important point to secure a southern or western aspect, a gentle declivity the second, salubrious air and suitable soil the third.

Our country is filled with natural tea plantations, which are only waiting the hand of the husbandman to be covered with this luxuriant and productive plant.

I know the public is naturally impatient of delay. Like corn, it is expected that the tea-nuts will be planted in the spring, and the crop gathered in the autumn. But they forget that the tea-plant does not interfere with any other crop, and when once planted it does not soon require a renewal.

I have sometimes felt this impatience myself, and longed for a cup of tea of my own growing, but I have never had one. As a husbandman, I must wait some time longer, and let patience have her perfect work."

Again, under date May 1, 1850, he states that he has succeeded admirably in the culture. The plants bear the winter well, and their physiology and general characteristics remain unchanged by the change of climate and soil. The leaf puts out at the same period of the year that it does in China.

On the 27th of May, 1850, Dr. Smith received a further batch of trees, fresh, green and healthful, as if still growing in the plantations of China; after a pa.s.sage of little more than five months.

These plants, together with the seedlings and nuts, were of the green tea species, and obtained from a quarter situated about 700 miles from Canton.

In a letter, dated Grenville, S.C., June 17th, 1850, with which I have been favored, he adds:--

"I never heard of the failure of the tea-crop. All vegetation may be r.e.t.a.r.ded, or lessened, or augmented, in its production, in a slight degree, by excessive rains, or drought, or cold, or heat, or atmospheric action; but the tea-plant is sure to produce its leaf.

From all I have observed, a decided drought is the most detrimental to the health of the tea plant. The almost continued rains which marked the advance of the past spring, seemed perfectly agreeable to the tea-plant, and facilitated the germination of the tea-nuts.

Where any vitality remained in the nut, it was sure to germinate.

Curiosity, on this point should be restrained, and no picking and pawing up of the nuts permitted. I have seedlings with tap roots four inches in length, where no appearance of germination is visible upon the surface of the ground. The chances are ten to one that the seedling would be destroyed by the tamperings of idle curiosity. Let nature have her own most perfect work, and see that the enemy, the drought, is vanquished by an abundant supply of water.

From experience, I notice that nothing is more congenial to the germination of the tea-nut than a good stiff blue, clayed soil. The marly colour of the soil is undoubtedly the result of a rich loam, combined with the clay of a lighter hue. The adhesive nature of the clay retains moisture in an eminent degree, and the fertilising qualities of the loam are well known to every bottom land farmer.

Plants put out three weeks ago, after a long voyage from China, are now taking root, and look fresh and vigorous, notwithstanding the recent heat and dryness of the atmosphere. But I have taken unwearied pains in the cultivation. Every plant is sheltered from the scorching influence of the sun, now from 70 deg. to 86 deg. of temperature. Although the soil is naturally moist and clayey, and half bottom land, from the work of gentle acclivities, rising on either hand, yet I have given the plants a liberal watering in the evening. By last summer's drought of fifty-seven days, I was taught the absolute necessity of deep digging and deep planting. None of my plants, of this season's planting, are more than two or three inches above the surface of the ground.

If any of the plants have leaves, as most of them have, below that height, they are planted with the leaves retained; none are removed.

Some of the older plants have no leaves remaining, and looked like dry sticks. Many of these are now beginning to break, and put forth fresh leaves."

In 1851, Mr. Frank Bonynge set on foot a subscription list of fifty dollars each, to procure tea and various Indian plants for culture in America. That tea can be grown successfully in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, is almost certain, because the experiment has been pretty fairly tried, as above shown, by Dr. Smith. The thermometer at Shanghai indicates the cold as more severe by thirteen degrees than at Charleston, South Carolina. The cold winter of 1834-5, which destroyed the oranges in Mr. Middleton's plantation, in Charleston, left his tea plants uninjured.

The question of cultivating tea in California has been seriously discussed, and will no doubt be gone into when the gold digging mania has a little subsided. There is the necessary labor and experience on the spot, in some 12,000 or 14,000 Chinese, most of whom doubtless understand the culture and manufacture. The climate, soil and surface of California exactly answer the requirements for the growth of this plant. The time may yet come when the vast ranges of hills that traverse this State shall present terraces of tea gardens, cultivated by the laborious Chinese, and adding millions to the value of its products.

A company for the cultivation of tea, under the t.i.tle of the a.s.sam Company, was established in March, 1839; and which, with a called-up capital of 193,337, has made up to the present time very profitable progress; having now got its plantations into excellent cultivation, and all its arrangements in admirable working order, it has sold teas to the amount of 90,000, and has a steam-boat, a considerable plant and machinery.

In the report of the Company, at their annual meeting, held at Calcutta, in Jan., 1850, it was stated, as the result of their operations, that during the year 1849, the manufacturing season was unusually cold and ungenial, in consequence of which the development of leaf for manufacture was much checked. Although some loss was sustained, there was considerable increase in the crop notwithstanding, attributable to the continued improvements in the culture which had been obtained, and improvements over the previous season in some departments of the manufacturing process. The gross quant.i.ty of unsorted tea manufactured in the southern division was 207,982 lbs., being 2,673 lbs. less than that of the previous season, but the actual net out-turn was expected to reach 200,000 lbs. As much as 157,908 lbs. of the crop had been already received and s.h.i.+pped to England. These teas consisted chiefly of the finer qualities. Whilst the crops have been thus sensibly advancing in quant.i.ty and quality, and the value of the company's plantations permanently raised by extended and improved culture, and some increase to the sowings, the total outlay had been somewhat less than the previous year, the expenditure being limited to 500 for a crop of 12,000 acres of tea.

With more extended gardens, the produce will be raised at a yet lower rateable cost than at present.

The number of acres in cultivation in 1849, was about 12,000; these were not all in bearing, but would shortly be so, and the produce from this extent might be estimated at 300,000 lbs., and the cost of producing this would be about 11,000. 1,010 chests of the produce were sold in London on the 13th of March, 1850, at a gross average of 1s. 11d. per lb. The produce of 1847, sold in England, was 141,277 lbs., at a gross average of 1s. 8d. per lb.: that of 1848 was 176,149 lbs. which sold at the average of 1s. 8d. per lb. The produce of 1849 was 216,000 lbs., and there was every expectation of the average prices realised being higher than those of the previous years. The season was cold and unfavorable, or the crop would have been 10,000 lbs. more.

The exact amounts obtained for the Company's teas in the five years, ending with 1851, will be seen from the following figures:--

Net produce, lbs. Average price.

1847 144,164 at per lb. ls. 7-1/16d. 11,513 1848 182,953 " ls. 8d. 15,436 1849 216,000 " ls. 9d. 19,350 1850 253,427 " ls. 6-1/8d. 18,153 1851 271,427 " ls. 8d. 22,152 1852 esmtd. 280,000

This exhibits a progressive increase in the aggregate value of the Company's produce, and this has been effected, it is stated, without any sensible increase of the current expenditure. It exhibits also a rise in the value of the tea (157,942 lbs. having been sold at the high average price of 1s. 11d.), a fact strongly indicative of its increasing excellence. The details of the crop of the season of 1849 showed a net produce of 237,000 lbs. of tea; so that the Company are increasing their cultivation to the extent of nearly ten per cent, per annum, and the increase will doubtless proceed with greater rapidity, whenever the increase of capital enables the directors to extend their operations.

In a report submitted to the Directors, by Mr. Burkinyoung, the managing director in Calcutta last year, he thus speaks of the Company's field of operations and future prospects:--

"The box-making is especially worthy of notice for its effective organisation and economical arrangement; the work is performed chiefly by a.s.samese boys instructed at the factory: the number of boxes required for the year's consumption will not be short of four thousand, the whole of which will be made at the factory,--an achievement that cannot be too highly estimated in a country so dest.i.tute of mechanical labor.

Notwithstanding the high standard of quality and strength to which our teas have already attained, I am of opinion that, as experience advances, and our knowledge and system of plucking and manufacturing the crops become improved, and better organised, a higher standard of quality and value may yet be realised; in this opinion the superintendent concurs with me, and the attainment of this object is one to which his attention's prominently directed.

In the course of my enquiries and trials of different samples of tea in a.s.sam, my attention was directed to one description of black tea, of rough strong flavor, made by a quicker process than that ordinarily used in the manufacture of black tea: under this mode of manipulation, a quality of tea is produced sufficiently distinctive in its flavor and appearance to render it worthy of attention and trial, and I think, when perfected in the process of manufacture, calculated to come into popular estimation. Samples of this tea the superintendent will forward to the board for trial.

In conducting the operations in a.s.sam, the chief difficulty of importance which has not yet been effectually met is the paucity of labor; this does not, however, exist to the extent of materially checking any of the important operations connected with the production of the tea, but it is felt in the arrear of various descriptions of work, in providing bricks for building, and in the preparation of a stock of seasoned timber and boards for building and box-making; while the out factories would be benefited by a larger proportion of agricultural labor. Great advance, however, has been made by the superintendent in the employment of a.s.samese labor in contract work: under the arrangement he has established, these contracts are now, for the most part, fulfilled with much punctuality, and there is reason to expect that this system of labor will be further extended. The Kachorie Coolies are a valuable cla.s.s of laborers, but they do not appear to be sufficiently numerous, or to emigrate in sufficient numbers to afford with the native a.s.samese a supply of labor altogether equal to our wants, so as to render the concern independent of Bengal labor.

The tea lands are for the most part advantageously situated, within convenient reach of water-carriage, either by the 'd.i.c.khoo,'

'Desang,' and 'Dehing' rivers, or by means of small streams leading to them. The Plantations of the Satsohea and Rookang forests, and on the banks of the Tingri in the Northern Division, are all valuable centres of extension in each district. The lands suitable for tea cultivation are ample in extent, and of the highest fertility; while the Hill Factories of the Southern and Eastern Divisions, although secondary in importance, are, as regards extent and quality of soil, equally eligible as bases of extension.

The prospects of the future, I entertain no doubt, will keep pace with the satisfactory results that have hitherto been realised, looking to the sound organisation that now exists in our establishment at a.s.sam, an organisation that has already taken healthy root, and must in its growth gain strength and permanence. I think we may safely calculate, after the current year, upon an annual increase in our production of 40,000 lbs. of tea, until a larger system of operations can be matured, of which the basis is already laid down, in the new lands cleared and sown during the past cold season, averaging 225 to 250 poorahs; and this extended basis will be doubtless followed up by annual extensions of similar, if not larger, area. The concern is now taking a position which will place it on a scale of working commensurate with the objects entertained upon the first incorporation of the company, the profits now likely to be realised being adequate to all the outlay necessary."

The prices in the last two years in London have been fully maintained at 1s. 3d. to 4s. 4d., according to sorts. Of a.s.sam tea, the sales in the London market in 1851 amounted to 2,200 packages, against 1,900 packages in 1850, and all were freely taken (on account of their great strength) at very full prices. Seventy-six packages of k.u.maon tea, both black and green, grown by the East India Company, in the Himalayas, as an experiment, were also brought to sale. They were teas of high quality; but being of the light flavored cla.s.s, and not duly esteemed in this market, they realised only about their relative value as compared with China teas of similar grade. The Souchong and Pouchong sold at 1s. 1d. to 1s. 3d.; the Hyson, Imperial, and Gunpowder realised 1s. 7d. to 2s. 6d.

Mr. Robert Fortune, who, in the service of the Horticultural Society of London, gave such satisfaction by his botanical researches in China, was, on his return to England, in 1848, engaged by the Directors of the East India Company to proceed again to the Celestial Empire, and procure and transmit to India such a quant.i.ty and variety of the tea plant, that its cultivation in the north-western provinces would be a matter of mere manual labor. Having penetrated about 300 miles into the interior, he left Hong Kong in the middle of 1851 for Calcutta, with a large quant.i.ty of choice plants, selected in the green tea districts, and these have flourished as well as could possibly be expected; so that, in the course of a few years, there is every probability that tea will form a considerable article of export from our Indian Presidencies. Mr. Fortune secured the services of, and took with him, eight Chinese, from the district of Wei-chow, under an agreement for three years, at the rate of fifteen dollars a month each. Six of these are regular tea-manufacturers; the other two are pewterers, whose sole business is that of preparing lead casings for tea-chests.

In the British portion of the Punjaub, it has been resolved to expend 10,000 a year on the cultivation of the tea plant on the banks of the Beas, as well as at Anarkullee, and Kotghur in the Simla jurisdiction.

Beyond the Beas there is a series of valleys on to Noonpoor, viz., the Palklun, Kangra, Rillo, &c., from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, separated from each other by small ranges of hills. The valleys are from three to four miles in breadth, and from sixty to seventy in length: they are sheltered on the north by high mountains.

They are described as admirably suited for the cultivation of the plant, now about to be attempted under the able management of Dr.

Jamieson. Should it prove successful, the benefits it will confer on the country will be enormous. Tea is a favorite beverage everywhere with the natives: at present their supplies come in scanty measure and bad condition, at extravagant charges, across the frontier.

The cultivation of the tea plant in the highlands of the Punjaub, is likely to be successful, even beyond the hopes of its promoters.

Thousands of plants sown in 1849 have attained a height of four or five feet, and there seems no reason why tea should not ultimately become an important article of trade in the Punjaub, as well as in k.u.maon. The Indian teas are already becoming popular in the English market, and the cultivators have the advantage of a demand which is almost unlimited, and of prices which seldom fluctuate to any great extent.

The experiment of growing tea in the Madras Presidency has been often successfully tried, on a small scale. A number of plants supplied by government, through Dr. Wallich, were planted in the Shevaroy hills, about twelve or fourteen years since, and have thriven well; but though no doubt is entertained of the ease with which they could be propagated over a wide extent of country, no attempt has been made to give the cultivation a practical turn, or to make a cup of tea from the southern Indian tree. In Coorg, too, the experiment has been tested with like results, so that sufficient warranty exists to justify trials on the largest scale.

Tea plants grow in luxuriance in the open air, at the Botanical Gardens, at Kew. Mr. Bonynge has seen this plant growing wild in N.

lat. 27 deg. 30 min. on hills from three to 500 feet in height, where too, there was an abundance of frost, snow and hail.

Those persons in England who possess tea plants, and who cultivate them for pleasure, should always bear in mind that, even in the tea districts of China, this shrub will not succeed if it be planted 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 planted on a warm sloping bank, in order to give it a fair chance of success. If some of the warm spots of this kind in the south of England or Ireland were selected, who knows but that our cottagers might be able to grow their own tea? at all events, they might have the fragrant herb to look upon.

The Dutch made the first movement to break the charm of Chinese monopoly, by introducing and cultivating the tea plant in their rich and fruitful colony of Java. That island lies between the sixth and eighth degrees of south lat.i.tude.

In 1828, the first experiment in the cultivation of tea was made in the garden of the Chateau of Burtenzorg, at Java, where 800 plants of an astonis.h.i.+ng vigor, served as an encouragement to undertake this culture, and considerable plantations were made in many parts of the island. The first trials did not answer to the expectations, as far as regards the quality of the article, the astringent taste and feeble aroma of which caused the conjecture that the preparation of the leaf, and its final manipulation, are not exactly according to the process used in China. At present tea is cultivated in thirteen Residencies: but the princ.i.p.al establishment, where the final manipulation is made, is in the neighbourhood of Batavia. The tea which Java now furnishes yearly to the markets of the mother country, may be stated at from 200,000 to 300,000 pounds. It is intimated that the government intends to abandon this culture to the industry of private individuals, under the guarantee of equitable contracts.

The mountain range, which runs through the centre of the island, is the most productive, because the tea gardens, extending from near the base, high up the mountains, reach an atmosphere tempered by elevation. The plant escapes the scorching heats of the torrid zone, and finds a climate, by height rather than by lat.i.tude, adapted to its nature. But the plant is not confined to lofty ridges. In the plains, the hedges and fences, if one may so call them, are all planted with the tea shrub, which flourish in greater or less perfection throughout the island. But, as has already been intimated, the equatorial lat.i.tudes are not the most auspicious for the vigorous growth of a plant that requires a temperature equally removed from the extremes of heat and cold, and the quality of the tea is as much affected by the climate as the growth of the plant. A considerable quant.i.ty of tea is annually s.h.i.+pped from Java to Europe; but the extension of the cultivation is no doubt checked by the exceeding fertility of the soil, and its adaptation to the growth of the rich products of tropical regions.

Mr. Jacobson, inspector of tea culture in Java, has published at Batavia a work in three volumes, upon the mode of cultivating this plant, upon the choice of grounds, and the best processes for the preparation and manipulation of the leaves. This book, the fruit of many years of experience and care given to the subject, has been well received by the cultivators who devote themselves to this branch of industry. If, by means of careful experiments and experience, the government succeed in conferring on the island of Java this important branch of commerce, she may hope to obtain brilliant results; at all events, it will open to the country a new source of prosperity and riches.