EGlitori^l. - 



The tardy appearance of several recent numbers of 

 The American Botanist can scarcely be more annoying 

 to our readers than it is to us. The removal of the editor 

 to new fields and the dela3^s incident to getting our work 

 adjusted to the ne\\^ order of things is entirely responsible ; 

 but now that we have at last got running smoothly we 

 expect to soon catch up again. It would be easier to do 

 this by issuing one or two double numbers, but in our 

 fifteen years experience as publishers we hare never issued 

 a "double number" and shall not begin the practice now. 

 Readers maybe assured that a magazine will be issued for 

 every month in the year and that we will overtake our 

 dates as rapidly as possible. 



It is said that tea drinking is rapidly on the increase in 

 America, but information regarding teas and tea making 

 seems to be verj- meagre. Through the courtes}^ of Indian 

 Planting and Gardening, Mr. Charles Judge, of Calcutta, 

 has sent us a very complete account of the. subject from 



which we make the following extracts. 



* -» 

 * 



The tea plant is a native of sub -tropical countries and 

 grows wild in parts of India. Up to about 25 years ago, 

 most of the teas used in the world came from China and 

 Japan, but when the coffee plantation failed in Ce3don,the 

 planters there took up tea culture and since then, owing to 

 the persistence wath which they have advertised their 

 wares, Ce3don tea has become known throughout the civ- 

 ilized world. The tea bushes were introduced from India 

 into Ce3don, and though the Indian teas, grown in the 

 native haunts of the plant, are said to be superior, Ceylon 

 advertisers have thus far prevented the fact from being 

 generalh^ known. An acre of tea will give from 4-20 to 

 460 pounds of marketable tea annually. The best flav- 



