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 latitude.

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 astonishing 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 principal 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.