Ferdinand von Mueller

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Letter not found. The text given here is from Australasian, 18 March 1885, p. 8, and is printed after M to the Editor of the Australasian, 12 March 1865 (in this edition as 65-03-12a). February is the latest likely date it could have been written.

TO DR. F. MUELLER, COLONIAL BOTANIST, MELBOURNE

Dear Sir,—

Believing that the introduction of the cultivation of the tea plant into Victoria would be the means of promoting a new and profitable industry, and would be productive of lasting benefit to the colony, I take the liberty to submit to your consideration the result of my own experience upon this subject, which I have derived from personal observation in the best tea growing districts of India, as well as beyond the British territory in mountain regions where the tea plant is indigenous, and from the perusal of authenticated reports published by the authority of the Government of India for the information of persons interested in agricultural pursuits.

That the tea plant is not essentially an inhabitant of the tropics, but that it adapts itself with ease to great diversities of climate and soil is proved in the following instances—that the plant is indigenous and wild throughout the whole of the vast mountain region forming a continuation of the Himalayan chain, extending from the great river Yang-tse-Kiang in China to the districts of Cachan, Assam, and Darjeeling in Bengal, luxuriating alike in tropical jungles and in elevated lands, where in winter running streams are frozen to a thickness of several inches of ice, and the hill tops covered with snow;—that it is found at all altitudes up to 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, where it grows to great perfection. In its wild state it takes the form of a tree, frequently growing to the height of twelve or more feet, with a trunk from six to nine inches in diameter; the leaf of such trees is of no value, being large, coarse, and fibrous, as from want of pruning the juices have been consumed in the production of wood, but the seed has for years past been an article of commerce, having been collected by the savage tribes who inhabit the mountain spurs forming the eastern boundary of British India and sold to Europeans, who from such seed have raised flourishing plantations producing tea of a superior quality. The best Indian teas arc manufactured from a variety known among planters as Hybrid, which has been obtained by planting seeds of the Chinese species and Assam indigenous in close proximity to each other.

The cultivation of this kind of tea has proved extremely profitable, as the leaf is of a very fine description, and the flush or crop much greater than any we have been able to obtain from the Chinese variety. China seed is now unsaleable in India. I enter into these details because I have spent some time in the wildernesses where the tea plant is found in a state of nature, and have been struck by the extraordinary similarity existing between the mountain gullies of that comparatively unknown country and certain districts of the colony of Victoria, with which in past years I have been well acquainted. The mean temperature, drainage, soil, and in many instances the vegetable productions, are identical.

The plant does not require an over rich soil, but succeeds best upon the slopes of hills, in clay slate, the debris of metamorphic rocks, of granite, porphyry or quartz. It delights in a soil impregnated with ferruginous ingredients and, in fact, flourishes in any soil which, in combination with a certain amount of vegetable mould, contains a large percentage of sand, gravel or boulders, which encourage the moisture to percolate freely. That it resists successfully both the influences of winter frost and the long droughts of summer, being a plant of immense vitality, which I have seen sufficiently proved by the fact that there are at present on the plantation of which I have had the management, tea plants which have been submitted (accidentally) to the action of fire; they were plants of only a year's growth at the time, and were so far destroyed as to present during the whole summer the appearance of charred stumps, but which during the succeeding rains sprouted forth luxuriantly, and are how producing excellent leaf. The climate of the best tea -growing districts of India and China is similar to that of western Europe; and that the plant does not suffer from alternations of heat and cold will be understood by examining a map of Hindostan and China, and reflecting that it grows successfully throughout the vast extent of country from the extreme west of the celestial empire to the north-west of Hindostan, the Kohistan of the Punjab, and the Deyra Dhoon

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Dehra Dun, India?

—throughout an immense chain of ranges, stretching across five meridians of longitude and within the British territory, from the tropic of Cancer to the 30th parallel of north latitude, including within this area the most diverse conditions of climate, soil, and temperature, which are the result of geographical position, being in some instances contiguous to the ocean, in others far removed from its influence, the great difference of altitude varying from 200 to 6,000 feet above the sea-level; and local causes, which effect the distribution of moisture, the conditions of the atmosphere, and consequently the production of vegetation.

From the foregoing data it will, I think, be apparent that tea cannot be considered a delicate shrub, although the young plants require care for some weeks after their germination, for which reason the seed is always thickly planted in sheltered beds, in order that the seedling plants may be protected from the noonday sun and the frosts by night until they have acquired sufficient strength to resist severe atmospheric changes. I have visited large tracts of unoccupied and waste lands in the colony of Victoria, which are in every respect well adapted for the cultivation of tea , the soil being loose and rich, mingled with the debris of rocks, the moisture abundant, and the shade such as is most desirable. Much grass is not met with, in consequence of the prevailing shadow of trees and the choking of mosses and vegetable deposits of bark and leaves; where it does exist it becomes rank and coarse, as though by reason of over much sustenance. The sides of the hills are covered by a dense growth of green and sappy scrub or by forests of gigantic ferns, the ground covered with moss and oleaginous plants, such as are met with in Indian jungles.

Such places are not available for the production of cereal crops, being difficult of access, and encumbered by enormous trees—obstacles which, in the case of tea cultivation , are of no great consequence, as ploughing is not generally practised in the preparation of land for tea , and that thorough clearance of timber from the land which is imperative in the production of corn or root crops is not necessary or advisable in the case of tea .

In the tea districts of China the plant is commonly grown upon the sides of the dykes or banks of earth with which their lands are enclosed, and upon such waste places as are available for other purposes. In the Bohea country it is planted upon the tops and sides of steep hills, and the interstices of rocks, frequently of such an inaccessible character that the cultivators are obliged to use ladders, ropes, or chains to enable them to pluck the leaf. In India we choose the summits and slopes of hills, and such places as are not liable to inundation or to a superabundance of moisture collecting upon the surface of the ground. The large trees of the forest are allowed to stand, as their shade is desirable; the undergrowth is cleared away, and the soil loosened to a depth of about nine inches with a common hoe. The young plants are then inserted in rows at about four feet from each other; they are simply planted in holes without manure, and the soil pressed lightly down around them. The work is then complete; they require no further cultivation or attendance, except, to be kept free from tall grass or weeds, and to be annually pruned or clipped in order that the plants may acquire a round and bushy form, which is favorable to the production of leaf, as it prevents the plant from exhausting its juices in the growth of wood, and also, by reducing the height, renders the gathering of the leaf more easy, by causing the branches to shoot out laterally, so that the plant takes the form of an inverted cone.

Upon some Indian plantations which I have seen the virgin soil has never been subjected to any loosening process—a small hole is excavated with the hoe, the plant is put in its place, and the surrounding ground between the rows of plants is left in its original state. The plants grow well enough in these cases, but the grass and weeds spring up with great luxuriance, causing after annoyance to the cultivator. Many plantations are formed upon open lands originally destitute of trees, but tea succeeds best where it has the advantage of shade; moreover, such lands bear a kind of tall, coarse, and sharp-bladed grass, the roots of which can never be eradicated by any ordinary process of hoeing; consequently, forest lands are in great demand, as they can be cultivated with half the amount of labour required in localities where forests do not exist.

After the distribution of the young plants no more labour is necessary, with the exception of weeding and pruning. The third season the plucking of leaf and manufacture of tea commences. These processes are extremely simple, requiring only the superintendence of one skilled workman to instruct many ignorant persons in the mystery, while all implements required on the plantation and factory could be manufactured by a common blacksmith and rough carpenter on the spot, with the sole exception of the metal dishes for roasting the leaf, which could be procured at a trifling expense from Calcutta or China, and the lead with which the boxes arc lined, which is manufactured in England.

A tea plantation yields no return until the third season, when healthy plants produce about 80lb of manufactured tea to the acre, the fifth year 300lb, and so on in an increasing ratio. Counting the cost of a tea box of the largest size and the manufacture of its contents at £1, which is more than the average, there has then to be deducted for working expenses the cost of preparing the land; of setting out the plants, and of the annual weeding and pruning, which can be calculated without difficulty by anyone acquainted with agriculture and with the state of the labour market, bearing in mind that the greater portion of the work, such as weeding, clipping, and the gathering of the leaf, is more suitable to women and young persons than to able-bodied men, and the result would show a very handsome return, for the expenditure of capital. This, new branch of industry would, I have no doubt, greatly interest the Chinese residents in this colony, many of whom might be available as labourers. The expense of the purchase and transit of seed would not be great, but would require the superintendence of a person of previous experience in the matter

Among the districts of the colony of Victoria which are in my opinion most suitable for the production of tea , are portions of the Dandenong,

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Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne?

large tracts upon the Upper Yarra, and the forest ranges extending into Gipps Land. Trusting that the importance of the subject may be my excuse for the length of this letter,