270 Tea: Its Cultivation, &c. [Sess. 
showing the monthly and annual rainfall recorded at the Calton 
Hill for the last four years :— 
1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 
January . : 0°680 3°531 2°423 1:240 
February : 0-910 1°359 2°638 0:965 
March . - 1195 1°746 0°948 1:420 
April. : 1°747 2:208 1352 0°985 
May c : 1881 3°825 1:030 2-040 
June. : 1°375 1-000 1880 1°525 
July ; : 1:192 3°755 2-968 0°205 
August . c 3°174 0°565 5109 3°811 
September . 1°825 2:508 1°795 0°876 
October . : 3°458 2°178 3°885 1-488 
November : 3°394 2°382 5-088 2°635 
December 3 1-450 1°803 3°518 2°410 
Totals . 22-281 26°858 32634 19-600 
We now come to our fourth and last section—viz,, the 
discovery of tea and its subsequent developments. At what 
time tea and its well-known properties were discovered no 
one can with any certainty say. It appears to have been 
known to the Chinese from very remote times. They do 
not claim it as a native plant, as they assert it came originally 
from somewhere in the West. During the early part of the 
nineteenth century it was found that tea was indigenous to 
Assam, and not to China. In its wild state it becomes a 
tree of goodly proportions, living on the best soil under the 
influence of abundant heat and moisture. In China the tea 
tree becomes dwarfed into a bush, owing to its being planted 
on hilly land, the best land being devoted to rice cultivation, 
and under circumstances which do not conduce to promote 
a luxuriant tree growth. One Chinese author states that 
general attention was not directed to tea bushes till the third 
century, during the Han dynasty, and that from that time it 
was only used medicinally until the beginning of the sixth 
century, when it came into general use as a daily beverage. 
During the Tang dynasty, which lasted from the early part 
of the seventh century to the beginning of the tenth century, 
the Chinese exchequer was enriched by means of a tax levied 
on tea; and in the Sung dynasty which followed, a larger tax: 
was imposed. At some time towards the end of the sixteenth 
century tea appears to have been brought to Europe, but 
precise information is lacking. During the seventeenth century 
bei > 
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