the success of the crop are strongly impressed upon their minds; viz., the unsuitableness of low wet lands for tea cultivation; the folly of irrigating tea as they would do rice, and the impropriety of commencing the plucking before the plants are strong, and of considerable size.  I am happy to add, that amongst these hills there are no foolish prejudices in the minds of the natives against the cultivation of tea.  About the time of my visit, a zemindar came and begged two thousand plants, to enable him to commence tea growing on his own account.

It is of great importance, that the authorities of a district, and persons of influence, should show an interest in a subject of this kind.  At present the natives do not know its value; but they are as docile as children, and will enter willingly upon tea cultivation, providing the “Sahib” shows that he is interested in it.  In a few years the profits received will be a sufficient inducement.

In concluding this part of my Report, I beg to suggest the propriety of obtaining some of the best varieties of the tea plant which have been introduced lately into the government plantations from China.  Dr. Jameson could, no doubt, spare a few, but they ought to be given to those zemindars only who have succeeded with the original variety.

Having described in detail the various government plantations, and also those of the zemindars which came under my notice in the Himalayas, I shall now make some general remarks upon the cultivation of tea in India, and offer some suggestions for its improvement.

    GENERAL REMARKS.

1. On land and cultivation.—­From the observations already made upon the various tea farms which I have visited in the Himalayas, it will be seen that I do not approve of low flat lands being selected for the cultivation of the tea shrub.  In China, which at present must be regarded as the model tea country, the plantations are never made in such situations, or they are so rare as not to have come under my notice.  In that country they are usually formed on the lower slopes of the hills, that is, in such situations as those at Guddowli, Hawulbaugh, Almorah, Kutoor, &c., in the Himalayas.  It is true that in the fine green tea country of Hwuy-chow, in China, near the town of Tunche, many hundred acres of flattish land are under tea cultivation.  But this land is close to the hills, which jut out into it in all directions, and it is intersected by a river whose banks are usually from 15 to 20 feet above the level of the stream itself, not unlike those of the Ganges below Benares.  In fact, it has all the advantages of hilly land such as the tea plant delights in.  In extending the Himalaya plantation this important fact ought to be kept in view.

There is no scarcity of such land in these mountains, more particularly in Eastern Gurhwal and Kumaon.  It abounds in the districts