nds and 56 pounds.
Thus we have received from a plantation of only five years'
formation, and of four acres (one of these recently added), upwards
of 21/2 maunds of tea, and from another, Lutchmisser, of three acres,
which was established in 1835-6, 3 maunds and 30 pounds, equal to
272 pounds. I have, in a former report, asserted that the minimum
return of tea for an acre of land may be estimated at 1 pucka maund,
or 80 lb. The only plantations that I can as yet bring forward in
favour of my assertion, are the two above-mentioned: Kuppeena has
not yielded the proportion mentioned, but it was only established in
1841-42, and the tea-plants do not come into full bearing until the
eighth year; on the other hand, Lutchmisser has given more than the
average return. I think, therefore, that the returns already yielded
are highly favorable, and that though the data are small, they are
very satisfactory.

_Soil best adapted for the tea-plant_.--The soil in which the
tea-plant is now thriving in the Himalayas and in the valley of
Deyrah Dhoon, varies exceedingly. At Bhurtpoor and Russiah it is of
a light silico-aluminous nature, and abounding with small pieces of
clay slate, which is the subjacent rock, and trap (green-stone),
which occurs in large dykes, cutting through and altering the strata
of clay slate; mixed with the stony soil, there is a small quantity
of vegetable matter. The clay slate is metamorphic, being almost
entirely composed of mica. In some places it is mixed with quartz,
forming mica slate. From the decomposition of these rocks, mixed
with a small quantity of vegetable matter, the soil is formed. At
Kuppeena and Lutchmisser, the soil is also very stony, formed from
the decomposition of clay slate, which, in many places, as at
Russiah and Bhurtpoor, passes into mica slate, or alternates with
it, and a little vegetable matter. The same remark applies to the
plantations of Guddowli, Kouth, and Rumaserai. At Huwalbaugh part of
the soil consists of a stiff clay, of a reddish-yellow colour, owing
to peroxide of iron. Here, too, the tea-plants, provided that the
ground around them is occasionally opened up, thrive well. In Mr.
Lushington's garden at Lobha, in Kumaon, and in Assistant
Commissioner Captain H. Ramsay's garden at Pooree, in Gurwahl,
plants are thriving well in a