378 NORTH-IVESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. to tea, are found growing wild in many of the Himalayan valleys, and were mistaken by early travellers for the genuine Thea viridis. This, however, was first introduced from China in 1835, at the same time that seeds were distributed by the Government in Assam and other parts of India. Until 1842, the cultivation was conducted by the Governnient in a few experimiental plots ; but in that year, a party of 9 Chinese, with the necessary requisites of manufacture, were brought from Assam to Almora. The tea they manufactured was favourably reported on in the London market ; and from 1843 to 1855 the business was continued, as a department of Government enterprise, under the supervision of Dr. William Jameson. Many mistakes were made at the beginning in the choice of soils and sites, and disappointment and loss resulted to several private planters who followed in the steps of the Government. But tea - planting in Kumáun and Dehra Dún has now become a staple industry, though on a smaller scale than was originally anticipated, or than has been attained in the more favoured valleys of Assam. The produce is chiefly manufactured into green tea, which finds a sale across the frontiers in Central Asia; but some is exported to England. In 1877 there were altogether, in the Districts of Kumáun and Garhwal, 48 gardens, owned by 25 proprietors, of whom only two were natives; in 1883-84 there were 53 gardens in these two Districts, with a total area of 3043 acres. The total yield in 1877 was 333, 747 Ibs., of which the greater part was sold to Central Asian merchants; in 1883-84 the total yield was 433,269 lbs. In 1871 there were 19 gardens in Dehra Dún, of which 7 were owned by natives; the area under plant was 2024 acres; the yield was 300,000 lbs., valued at £17,000. In 1877 the number of gardens in Dehra Dún was 16, and the yield 578,373 lbs. ; in 1883-84 the number of gardens was 34, and the yield 768,878 lbs. The area under tea in Dehra Dún in 1884 was 4775 acres. In 1877-78, the total amount of tea despatched by rail from the North-Western Provinces to Calcutta was 800,000 lbs., almost entirely from the railway stations of Saharanpur, Moradabad, and Bareli. By 1883–84, the rail-borne exports of tea from the North-Western Provinces had increased to nearly 1,200,000 lbs., of the value of over £81,000. The total capital sunk in tea - planting is estimated at about £500,000, and the enterprise is almost entirely in the hands of Europeans. In Dehra Dún the yield is returned at nearly 300 lbs. to the acre; and although information from Kumáun is inconiplete, it would be safe to assume the total annual produce in the Provinces at about 2,000,000 lbs., of which between a half and three-fourths is made into green tea for the Central Asian market. Up to the middle of 1879,
