Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/205

ILLUSTRATIONS. OF INDIAN BOTANY. 95 the temperature, while it preserves a constantly moist atmosphere. The striking effect of these causes on vegetation is proved, by the fact, of the tea plant being confined to the south side of the valley, or that protected by the mists from the cold wind blowing from the snowy mountains.

The fact here stated is strongly corroborative of the view above taken, that this is truly a tropical plant, delighting in a mild humid climate with a moderate range of temperature, and not one suited for bearing exposure to frost and snow during one part of the year, and a high tropical heat at another, and in so far, that the elevated of slopes the Himalayas, recommended on that very account by Mr. Royleas a suitable locality for its cultivation, are in truth most un- suitable. The deep and sheltered valleys however of these mountains may, and probably will be found, to present a combination of circumstances most suitable for its introduction.

The only parts of the Indian Peninsula, so far as I am aware, which seem in any degree fitted for the profitable culture of this shrub are some portions of Mysore and Malabar, espe- cially the mountain valleys of the latter, which partake of the proverbial humidity of its climate, combined with such an abundance of forests, as would at once suffice by their density to afford shade against too much light, shelter against cold blighting winds, and finally preserve an equal and humid atmosphere over the plants at all seasons of the year. Whether such a union of favourable circumstances can be found in combination with the peculiar light porous soil which this shrub affects in its native country, is not easy to say, but in a country enjoying a range of tem- perature rarely, if ever exceeding S5 Q or falling below 60°, with extreme humidity,* and abundance

lowing Meteorological Tables, extracted from the Records of the Trivandium Observatory, affording for the time they occupy, the most complete series of observation's that has perhaps ever been made in 1 ndia or elsewhere. It is however to be observed, that, as the registers are for Trivandrum in the extreme South, they require to be slightly modified for more northern stations, especially as regards the fall of rain which in that part of the coast between Cochin and .Tellicherry exceeds that for Trivandrum by from 20 to 30 inches annually. A humid' climate has been spoken of as the one best suited for the culture of the Tea plant, that, a comparison of the register of thu Wet and dry Bulb, Thermometer, will show, to exist in Malabar where, so loaded with moisture is the air, even at Trivandrum, the driest station on thai coast' that at almost every season of the year, the depression of a few degrees of temperature produces a deposition of dew, and the
 * After this pa^e was in type I was kindly favored by Mr. Caldecott, Astronomer to his Highness the Rajah of Travancore, with the fol-

mean Minimum heat for any month never exceeds that of the clew point by above 4 degrees, and the Minimum temperature of each month falls below that of the dew point. The elevation of temperature certainly exceeds what I have stated as the extreme, but that varies with local circumstances, and the situation of the Trivandrum Observatory is of a very different character from those I suggested as the most shrub.