ation ought to be used only in such
emergent cases.

I have already observed that good tea land is naturally moist,
although not stagnant; and we must bear in mind that the tea shrub
is _not a water plant_, but is found in a wild state on the sides of
hills. In confirmation of these views, it is only necessary to
observe further, that all the _best Himalayan plantations are those
to which irrigation has been most sparingly applied_.

In cultivating the tea shrub, much injury is often done to a
plantation by _plucking leaves from very young plants_. In China
young plants are never touched until the third or fourth year after
they have been planted. If growing under favorable circumstances,
they will yield a good crop after that time. All that ought to be
done, in the way of plucking or pruning before that time, should be
done with a view to _form the plants_, and make them _bushy_ if they
do not grow so naturally. If plucking is commenced too early and
continued, the energies of the plants are weakened, and they are
long in attaining any size, and consequently there is a great loss
of produce in a given number of years. To make this more plain, I
will suppose a bush that has been properly treated to be eight years
of age. It may then be yielding from two to three pounds of tea per
annum, while another of the same age, but not a quarter of the size,
from over-plucking, is not giving more than as many ounces.

The same remarks apply also to plants which become unhealthy from
any cause; leaves ought never to be taken from such plants; the
gatherers should have strict orders to pass them over until they get
again into a _good state_ of health.

2_nd. On climate_.--I have already stated that eastern Gurhwal and
Kumaon appear to me to be the most suitable for the cultivation of
the tea plant in this part of the Himalayas. My remarks upon climate
will therefore refer to this part of the country.

From a table of temperature kept at Hawulbaugh from November 28th,
1850, to July 13th, 1851, obligingly furnished me by Dr. Jameson, I
observed that the climate here is extremely mild. During the winter
months, the thermometer [Fahr.] at sunrise was never lower than 44
deg., and only on two occasions so low, namely on the 15th and 16th
of February, 1851. Once it stood so high as 66 deg. on