Opening the text

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Science

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

Name: The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.
Author: Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Botany, Economic

In the Bheemtal district, there are large tracts of excellent tea
    land. In crossing over the hills towards Nainee Tal, with J.H.
    Batten, Esq., Commissioner of Kumaon, I pointed out many tracts
    admirably adapted for tea cultivation, and of no great value to the
    natives; generally, those lands on which the mundoca is cultivated
    are the most suitable.

    I have thus described all the Government plantations in Gurhwal and
    Kumaon. Dr. Jameson, the superintendent, deserves the highest praise
    for the energy and perseverance with which he has conducted his
    operations. I shall now notice the plantations of the zemindars,
    under the superintendence of the commissioner and
    assistant-commissioner of Kumaon and Gurhwal.


    ZEMINDAREE TEA PLANTATIONS.

    1_st, at Lohba_.--This place is situated in eastern Gurhwal, about
    50 miles to the westward of Almorah, and is at an elevation of 5,000
    feet above the level of the sea. It is one of the most beautiful
    spots in this part of the Himalayas. The surrounding mountains are
    high, and in some parts precipitous, while in others they are found
    consisting of gentle slopes and undulations. On these undulating
    slopes, there is a great deal of excellent land suitable for tea
    cultivation. A few tea bushes have been growing vigorously for some
    years in the commissioner's garden, and they are now fully ten feet
    in height. These plants having succeeded so well, naturally induced
    the authorities of the province to try this cultivation upon a more
    extensive scale. It appears that in 1844, about 4,000 young plants
    were obtained from the Government plantations, and planted on a
    tract of excellent land, which the natives wished to abandon.
    Instead of allowing the people to throw up their land, they were
    promised it rent-free upon the condition that they attended to the
    cultivation of the tea, which had been planted on a small portion of
    the ground attached to the village.

    This arrangement seems to have failed either from want of knowledge,
    or from design, or perhaps partly from both of these causes. More
    lately, a larger number of plants have been planted, but I regret to
    say with nearly the same results.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.