1856.] The Great Wrouglit- Iron Gun. 503 



with him from Fokien to Shanghai, and could find no difference be- 

 tween them. It was still, however, desirable to get specimens from 

 the district where the black and green teas of commerce were actu- 

 ally made, and this had latterly been effected. In consequence of 

 the great success which had attended the experimental culture of 

 tea in the nurseries established in the Himalayas, Mr. Fortune was 

 again sent to China by the East India Company. He proceeded to 

 the northern parts of the country, in order to obtain tea seeds and 

 plants of the best description, as the most likely to stand the Hima- 

 laya climate. Mr. Fortune procured seeds and plants in great num- 

 bers, and sent them to the Himalayas, where they have been since 

 cultivated. When he had reached Calcutta, the tea manufacturers 

 whom he had brought with him, made, from plants in the Botanic 

 Gardens, black and green tea from the same specimens ; so that it 

 was evident it was the process of manufacture, and not the plant it- 

 self that produced the green tea. All who were acquainted with the 

 difference between black and green teas, knew that they could be 

 prepared from the same plant without the assistance of any extrane- 

 ous materials, though it was a common thing for manufacturers to 

 use indigo, Prussian blue, turmeric, etc., in coloring the tea. Dr. 

 Royle showed specimens of the black tea plant from the Hwuychou 

 districts. No specific difference could be observed between the two 

 specimens. — Eiig. Paper. 



€\t §xi\i\ l^rnngljt-Srnn (0iiu. 



This wondrous instrument of warfare has now been waiting for 

 three weeks the arrival of some of the Government ofiicials to test 

 its power. So far it appears to have surpassed the anticipations of 

 even military officers. An instrument weighing nearly 22 tuns, 

 manufactured of wrought-iron, and throwing a ball of upwards of 

 400 pounds weight a distance of more than four miles, with its 

 present degree of elevation, and with a very small quantity of pow- 

 der, is what was not expected by the military men present at the 

 experiments. Such is the ease, too, of loading the gun, ponderous 

 though it is, that it can be charged and fired again in less than ten 

 minutes. Of its destructive powers little is yet known ; but if the 

 effect of the trial made on Thursday, the 22d ult., be any evidence — 



