THIA CHINENSIS. 
China extend from about the 27th to the 33rd degree of north 
latitude, but the plant may ke cultivated in regions more dis- 
tant from the equator, if the climate be mild and equable. ‘The 
plant is raised from seed, and the first crop of leaves is gathered 
in the third year. After the shrubs have attained the age of six 
or seven years, their produce becomes so inferior that they are 
removed to make room for a fresh succession. The leaves are 
gathered from one to four times during the year, according to the 
age of the tree. Most commonly there are three periods of 
gathering: the first commences about the middle of April, the 
second at midsummer, and the last in August. The leaves that 
are earliest gathered are of the most delicate color and most aro- 
matic flavor, with the least portion of either fibre or bitterness. 
Leaves of the second gathering are of a dull green color, and 
have less valuable qualities than the former, whilst those which 
are last collected are of a dark green and of inferior value. The 
quality is further influenced by the age of the wood on which 
the leaves are borne, and by the degree of exposure to which 
they have been accustomed. Leaves from young wood, and 
those most exposed are always the best, as is readily understood 
on physiological principles. The leaves when gathered are 
partly dried by the air and sun, and partly by artificial heat, 
and are carefully rolled up by the hand. It is commonly be- 
lieved that the distinctive character of green tea is imparted to 
it by being dried upon sheets of copper. For this belief, how- 
ever, there is no foundation in fact, since copper is not used for 
the purpose, and the most careful application of chemical tests 
fails to discover any such impregnation. ‘ safig 7s 
_ The history of commerce does not furnish any parallel to the 
_circumstances which have attended the introduction of Tea into 
Great Britain. The leaf was first imported by the Dutch 
East India Company, in the early part of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, but it does not appear to have found its way to England 
until about the year 1650. The first historical notice of it is in 
an Act of Parliament of the year 1660, in which it was enumer- 
ated as one of the beverages sold in coffee-houses, on which a 
duty was to be paid. That it was not then a common drink 
is evident from an entry in the private journal of Mr. Pepys, 
Secretary to the Admiralty, who says, 25th Sep. 1661: “I sent 
for a cup of tea (a China drink) of which I had never drunk be- 
fore.” In 1664 the British East India Company sent two 
pounds of tea as a present to the King. In 1667 the Company 
