composed of mica.  In some places it is mixed with quartz, forming mica slate.  From the decomposition of these rocks, mixed with a small quantity of vegetable matter, the soil is formed.  At Kuppeena and Lutchmisser, the soil is also very stony, formed from the decomposition of clay slate, which, in many places, as at Russiah and Bhurtpoor, passes into mica slate, or alternates with it, and a little vegetable matter.  The same remark applies to the plantations of Guddowli, Kouth, and Rumaserai.  At Huwalbaugh part of the soil consists of a stiff clay, of a reddish-yellow colour, owing to peroxide of iron.  Here, too, the tea-plants, provided that the ground around them is occasionally opened up, thrive well.  In Mr. Lushington’s garden at Lobha, in Kumaon, and in Assistant Commissioner Captain H. Ramsay’s garden at Pooree, in Gurwahl, plants are thriving well in a rich, black, vegetable mould.  The soil in the Deyrah Dhoon varies exceedingly from clayey and stiff soil to sand and gravelly soil, or light and free.  The soil at Kaolagir is a compound of the two, neither clayey, nor free, nor light soil, but composed partly of clay and sand, mixed with vegetable mould, and in some places mixed with much gravel, consisting of limestone, marl, sandstone, clay slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks as enter into the composition of the surrounding ranges of mountains, viz., the Sewalick range to the south, and the Himalayas, properly so called, to the north, From the above statement, we find that the tea-plant thrives well both in stiff and free soils, and in many modifications of these.  But the soil which seems best adapted to its growth may be styled free soil, as at Russiah, or a mixture of both, as at Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon.

In limestone districts, where the tea has been tried, if the super-imposed soil has been thin and untransported, and this proved from the decomposition of the subjacent rock, the plant has generally failed; and this has been particularly the case where the limestone, by plutonic action, has become metamorphic.  These districts, therefore, in forming plantations, are to be avoided.

From the writings of various authors, it appears that the districts where the tea-plant thrives best in China, have a geological structure very similar to that met with in many parts of the Himalayas, being composed of primitive and transition rocks.

Altitude above the sea best suited to the tea plant.—­To state what altitude is best adapted to the growth of the tea-plant, and for the production of the best kinds of tea, will require much more observation.  At present the tea-plant thrives equally well at Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon; at Russiah, in the Chikata district; at Huwalbaugh; at Kuppeena and Lutchmisser; and at Rumaserai, or at heights ranging from 2,200 feet above the level of the sea to 6,000 feet.

    Moreover, the tea manufactured from leaves procured from Kaolagir,
    has been considered by the London brokers equal to that made from
    leaves procured from Lutchmisser and Kuppeena.