ned 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 guar