112 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF (Thea. 
that of Keang-see.” p. 223. Hence we perceive that the tea districts have both a north- 
western and a south-eastern aspect, and that Dr. Hooker’s statement that the Thea viridis 
is able to withstand the greater degree of cold, is confirmed by the fact of the green 
teas being procured from the more northern latitudes. This has reference to the 
teas usually manufactured for foreign trade, and is conformable to the information 
given by Mr. Reeves (Bot. Mag. 1. c.), who states that ‘‘ the black teas are chiefly grown 
in the N.W. corner of the province of Fokien, in about lat. 27° 50’, long. 1° 30’ E. of 
Peking, and the green tea in the southern part of Keang-nan province, about lat. 
- 29° 58’, long. 2° E. of Peking.” At Hwuy-chow-Foo in the latter, the greater proportion 
of hyson and twankay is manufactured, and the black teas at Gan-ki-hien in Fokien. 
By Mr. Reeves I am further informed, that in a Chinese Herbal, in which the plants 
used in medicine are described, tea is said to be produced (among other places to the 
northward of 31°) in nine places in Hoo-Qwang, three places in Ho-Nan, one place in 
Shensi, and two places in Shan-tung; one of these latter, and the most northward of 
the whole is Tang-chow-Foo, in 36° 30’ north latitude. From Kempfer, Thunberg, 
“and Siebold, we learn that the tea-plant is extensively cultivated in the islands which 
form the Japanese territory ; and these extend from 30° to 41° of north latitude. It is 
also cultivated in the southern province of Yunan, whence we learn from Du Halde and 
Sir G. Staunton, the tea is procured, which is made up into balls; and likewise at 
Ho-ping in the province of Quang-tung; Dr.Wallich further mentions, that it is also 
cultivated in Cochin-china, as far south as 17° of north latitude. 
But as from the information obtained by Sir G. Staunton, we learn that the 
tea-plant thrives best between 234° and 30°, and as the principal cultivation of 
the best teas for the foreign trade is between 27° and 31° of north latitude, the 
space included between these forms a belt, which will serve as a criterion of 
the soil and climate best suited to this plant. With respect to the former, Dr. Abel 
gives the only precise information I have been able to obtain, and he states that 
from every account given of the tea-plant, it succeeds best on the sides of mountains, 
where there can be but little accumulation of vegetable mould. The plantations which 
he saw were always at some elevation above the plains, in a kind of gravelly soil, formed 
in some places by disintegrated sandstone, and in others by the debris of primitive 
rocks. A large and flourishing plantation of all the varieties of the plant brought 
together by Mr. Ball, the principal tea-inspector at Canton, is situated on an island 
close to Macao, in a loose gravelly soil, formed by the disintegration of large grained 
granite. ‘‘ Judging from specimens,” Dr. Abel continues, “ collected in our route through 
the province of Keang-nan, whence the green tea is procured, its rocks consist chiefly 
of sandstone, schistus, and granite. As to what may be the exact nature of the rocks 
of the black tea country in the province of Fokien, I have no precise information. But 
as the great ridge separating that province from Keang-si is a continuation of the one 
dividing the latter from Canton, it is perhaps legitimate to conclude, that their con- 
stituent rocks are the same; and that the hills and soil on the eastern are the same as 
we 
