Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/203

ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 93

it is cultivated. It is now grown with success in Java under the equator, and is said to be cultivated as far north as the 40° of northern latitude, it is also cultivated on the banks of the Rio Janeiro in 22| S. latitude, fe Stem and Cochin-China between the 10th and 16th parallels of N. latitude, it is produced in considerable quantity ; while in China, judging from the enormous quantities exported, and the still greater consumed among themselves, it is clear it must occupy very extensive tracts of country, and be subject to very great varieties of climate, both as relates to temperature and humidity, and in my opinion, goes far to prove that it may be cultivated with success in almost any tropical climate, combining humidi-ty with a mode- rate range of temperature. It. is true we are told that unless the climate partakes more of the tem- perate than tropical character, that the tea produced will be deficient in some of its most esteem- ed qualities, the fine Aroma &c, but these I suspect it owes more to soil and skilful preparation of the leaves when gathered, than to the character of the climate under which they have been produced. Peculiarities of soil, on which plants are grown, exert much influence or* the qualities of the products of vegetation, some plants growing in a very humid or marshy soil, are intensely acrid, the common garden celery for example, but which when raised on a rich dry soil become mild and esculent. Other plants present the opposite phenomenon, that of losing their acrid or aromatic properties, when removed from a dry to a wet soil. To quote examples of the effect of soil in modifying the qualities of vegetable products would be to waste time, as every one's experience and reading must have furnished him cases in point, and that too, under circum- stances in all other respects the same. In like manner there is every reason to believe that, the different qualities of tea are owing, not so much to differences of climate, as of soil, the sickly or vigorous condition of the plant when gathered, and the more or less perfect course of preparation to which it has been subjected.

In throwing out these remarks I do not mean to infer that the plant might, under proper cultivation, be made to produce tea of good quality under any climate in which it can be made to grow, but with the view of encouraging trials in such climates as the Indian Peninsula supplies, and discouraging the idea that, because we have not a climate within these limits, with a range of temperature extending from 30° to 80° of Fahrenheit's scale, that therefore it would be in vain to attempt its culture. This I do, because the regulation of the climate not being within our power, to suppose it opposed to our efforts, is at once to declare all attempts at introduction futile,, but the selection and modification, by artificial means, of the qualities of the soil, being an every day occurrence in agriculture, holds out good reason to hope for success if opposed by that only.

To show however that in so far as temperature is concerned, we are not unprovided wilh localities enjoying a climate if not the best, yet far from unsuitable for the culture of this shrub, ! extract from Mr. Griffiths' report some tables showing the mean temperature of Canton and Sadiya, from which it will be perceived that both Malabar and Mysore are not very different, while the former, as well as the south-west coast of Ceylon, enjoys a climate but little, if at all less humid, than is experienced in the vicinity of Canton.

" I extract from Mr. Royle's work the following table of the means of the several Month's at Canton, which was furnished by Mr. Reeves to Dr. Lindley.

And as a companion to this, I extract from Mr. Davis's work on- the Chinese corre spond ing portions of a table, the " Result of Observations made at Canton, during a series of years."*

• Davis vol, ii. p. 381..