eg. and ranges from 92 deg. to 100
deg., as maximum; while in the coldest months, December and January,
it sinks to the freezing point and sometimes a few degrees lower. We
have thus a close resemblance in temperature between Woo-e-shan and
Almorah, The great green tea district being situated two degrees
further north, the extremes of temperature are somewhat greater. It
will be observed, however, that while the hottest month in the
Himalayas is June, in China the highest temperature occurs in July
and August: this is owing to the rainy season taking place earlier
in China than it does in India.

In China rain falls in heavy and copious showers in the end of
April, and these rains continue at intervals in May and June. The
first gathering of tea-leaves, those from which the Pekoe is made,
is scarcely over before the air becomes charged with moisture, rain
falls, and the bushes being thus placed in such favourable
circumstances for vegetating are soon covered again with young
leaves, from which the main crop of the season is obtained.

No one, acquainted with vegetable physiology, can doubt the
advantages of such weather in the cultivation of tea for mercantile
purposes. And these advantages, to a certain extent at least, seem
to be extended to the Himalayas, although the regular rainy season
is later than in China. I have already shown, from Dr Jameson's
table, that spring showers are frequent in Kumaon, although rare in
the plains of India; still, however, I think it would be prudent to
adopt the gathering of leaves to the climate, that is to take a
moderate portion from the bushes before the rains, and the main crop
after they have commenced.

_3rd. On the vegetation of China and the Himalayas_. One of the
surest guides from which to draw conclusions, on a subject of this
nature, is found in the indigenous vegetable productions of the
countries. Dr. Royle, who was the first to recommend the cultivation
of tea in the Himalayas, drew his conclusions, in the absence of
that positive information from China which we possess now, not only
from the great similarity in temperature between China and these
hills, but also from the resemblance in vegetable productions. This
resemblance is certainly very striking. In both countries, except in
the low valleys of the Himalayas (and these