As the i8th century progressed the use of tea in England rapidly increased, and by the close of the century the rate of consumption exceeded an average of 2 lb. per person per annum, a rate in excess of that of to-day of all people except those of Mongol and Anglo-Saxon origin. The business being a monopoly of the East India Company, and a very profitable one, the com pany at an early stage of its development endeavoured to aster tain whether tea could not be grown within its own dominions. Difficulties with China doubtless showed the advisability of having an independent source of supply. In 1788 Sir Joseph Banks, at the request of the directors, drew up a memoir on the cultivation of economic plants in Bengal, in which he gave special promi nence to tea, pointing out the regions most favourable for its cultivation. About the year 1820 David Scott, the first com missioner of Assam, sent to Calcutta from Kuch Behar and Rangpur—the very districts indicated by Sir Joseph Banks as favourable for tea-growing—certain leaves, with a statement that they were said to belong to the wild tea-plant. But it was not till 1834 that Captain Francis Jenkins proved the fact of the genuine tea-plant being a native of British territories in Upper Assam. In the meantime a committee had been formed by Lord William Attempts were repeatedly made to introduce tea culture in Ceylon, under both Dutch and British authority. No permanent success was attained till about 1876, when the disastrous effects of the coffee-leaf disease forced planters to give serious attention to tea. Since that period the tea industry has developed with marvellous rapidity, and now takes first rank in the commerce of the island.
Since the beginning of the 20th century tea-growing has been established in certain districts in Africa, Java and Sumatra, where in 1926 the production exceeded 138,000,000 pounds.
(X.) Botany of Tea.—The tea bush or tree is a member of the family Theaceae (formerly included under Ternstroemiaceae) and closely related to the well-known ornamental shrub the Camellia. As cultivated in China it is an evergreen shrub growing to a height of from 3 to 5 ft. The stem has numerous and very leafy branches; the leaves are alternate, leathery, elliptical, obtusely serrated, strongly veined and placed on short, channelled f oot stalks. The under side of the young leaf is densely covered with fine hairs, which disappear with increasing age. A characteristic feature of the cellular structure of the tea-leaf is the presence of large, branching, thick-walled, smooth cells (idioblasts), which, although they occur in other leaves, are not found in such as are likely to be confounded with or substituted for tea. The flowers are white, axillary and slightly fragrant, often two or three to gether on separate pedicels. The fruit is a woody capsule con taining one to three or more nearly spherical seeds about the size of a hazel nut. The plant was originally described by Linnaeus as one species, Thea sinensis. Later, Linnaeus recognised two species, as previously described by Hill, viz., Thea viridis and Thea Bohea, and it was erroneously assumed that the latter was the source of black tea, while Thea viridis was held to yield green tea. In 1843, however, Robert Fortune found that black and green tea were produced from the leaves of the same kind of plant by varying the manufacturing process.
For botanical reasons the tea plant is now referred to the genus Camellia and is usually described as Camellia Thea Linn., though some authorities, on grounds of priority, would prefer the name Camellia theifera (Griffith) Dyer.
Sir George Watt (Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc., vol. xxxii., 19o7) de scribed the recognised varieties and races of Camellia Thea (with special reference to those of India) and placed them in the fol lowing classification: Bentinck, the governor-general, for the introduction of tea cul ture into India. Evidence of the abundant existence of the indige nous tea-tree was obtained; and the directors of the East India Company resolved to institute an experimental establishment in Assam for cultivating and manufacturing tea.
In 1834 the monopoly of the East India Company was abol ished and an era of rapid progress in the new industry began. In 1836 there was sent to London i lb. of tea made from indigenous leaves; in 1840 there were grown, and offered at public auction in Calcutta early the following year, 95 packages, "the produce of the Government tea plantation in Assam." This auction is most interesting as being the first of British-grown tea, and it included about 6,000 lb. In Jan. 184o the Assam Company was formed to take over the early tea garden of the East India Company.
The Dutch were rather earlier than the English in attempting to establish tea growing in their eastern possessions. A beginning was made in Java in 1826, but probably because of the even more marked influence of Chinese methods and Chinese plant, the progress was slow and the results indifferent. Later, however, by the introduction of fine Assam seed and the adoption of methods similar to those in use in India, great success was achieved.
Somewhere about 186o the practical commercial growing of tea was introduced into the island of Formosa. The methods of cultivation and manufacture followed there differ in many ways from those of the other large producing countries, but the industry has been fairly successful throughout its history.