738 THE TEA PLANT. 
a duty of ten per cent. 
was laid upon it by the 
Chinese government ; 
since which time it 
has been a fruitful 
source of revenue to 
the Empire. The an- 
nual product of China 
alone amounts to the 
enormous quantity of 
two and one-half bil- 
lions of pounds — 
(2,500,000,000.) Add 
to this the vast pro- 
Hens duct of Japan, Java, 
and Corea, and we may justly be amazed to think 
what a great tea-drinker the world is. 
Wherever we turn our eyes, and from whatever 
point we view the vegetable kingdom, we see new 
wonders; something new to be learned; and as we 
are always forgetting, how well it is that new subjects 
of interest are always awaiting our notice. And how 
instructive it is in all these things to observe that 
Nature adapts herself to the peculiar circumstances 
in which she is placed. 
The barren pine, so called from its being unpro- 
ductive, exactly resembles the stem that bears the 
pine-apple in our green-houses. It is not, however, 
entirely useless; for in some species there is a pro- 
tuberance hanging down resembling a bowl; in this 
the rain collects, and remains a considerable length 
