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.
Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Botany, Economic
The Chinese manufacturers, who were obtained some years since from
Calcutta or Assam, are, in my opinion, far from being first-rate
workmen; indeed, I doubt much if any of them learned their trade in
China. They ought to be gradually got rid of and their places
supplied by better men, for it is a great pity to teach the natives
an inferior method of manipulation. The men brought round by me are
first-rate green tea makers, they can also make black tea, but they
have not been in the habit of making so much black as green. They
have none of the Canton illiberality or prejudices about them, and
are most willing to teach their art to the natives. I have no doubt
some of the latter will soon be made excellent tea manufacturers.
And the instruction of the natives is, no doubt, one of the chief
objects which ought to be kept in view, for the importation of
Chinese manipulators at high wages can only he regarded as a
temporary measure; ultimately the Himalayan tea must be made by the
natives themselves; each native farmer must learn how to make tea
as well as how to grow it; he will then make it upon his own
premises, as the Chinese do, and the expenses of carriage will be
much less than if the green leaves had to be taken to the market.
But as the zemindars will be able to grow tea long before they are
able to make it, it would be prudent, in the first instance, to
offer them a certain sum for green leaves brought to the government
manufactory.
I have pointed out the land most suitable for the cultivation of
tea, and shown that such land exists in the Himalayas to an almost
unlimited extent. But if the object the government have in view be
the establishment of a company to develop the resources of these
hills, as in Assam, I would strongly urge the propriety of
concentrating, as much as possible, the various plantations. Sites
ought to be chosen which are not too far apart, easy of access, and,
if possible, near rivers; for, no doubt, a considerable portion of
the produce would have to be conveyed to the plains or to a
sea-port.
In my tour amongst the hills, I have seen no place so well adapted
for a central situation as Almorah, or Hawulbaugh. Here the
government has already a large establishment, and tea lands are
abundant in all directions. The climate is healthy, and better
suited to a European constitution than most other parts of India.
Here plants from nearly all the temperate parts of the world are
growing as if they were at home. As examples, I may mention myrtles,
pomegranates, and tuberoses from the south of Europe; dahlias,
potatoes, aloes, and yuccas from America; Melianthus major and bulbs
from the Cape; the cypress and deodar of the Himalayas, and the
lagerstroemias, loquats, roses and tea of China.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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