March.] GREEN-HOUSE REPOTTING. 263 



to Camellia sesanqua. Dr. Abel gives an explicit detail 

 of the growing and manufacturing process of tea, from 

 which, in compliment to our fair patrons, we give a few 

 extracts : 



"The tea districts of China extend from the twenty- 

 seventh to the thirty-first degree of north latitude. It 

 seems to succeed best on the sides of mountains. The 

 soils from which I collected the best specimens consisted 

 chiefly of sand-stone, schistus, or granite, The plants are 

 raised from seeds sown where they are to remain. Three 

 or more are dropped into a hole four or five inches deep ; 

 these come up without farther trouble, and require little 

 culture, except that of removing weeds, till the plants are 

 three years old. The more careful stir the soil, and some 

 manure it, but the latter practice is seldom adopted. The 

 third year the leaves are gathered, at three successive 

 gatherings, in February, April, and June, and so on until 

 the bushes become stunted or slow in their growth, which 

 generally happens in from six to ten years. They are 

 then cut in to encourage the production of fresh roots. 



" The gathering of the leaves is performed with care and 

 selection. The leaves are plucked off one by one : at the 

 first gathering only the unexpanded and tender are taken ; 

 at the second those that are full growth ; and at the third 

 the coarsest. The first forms what is called in Europe 

 imperial tea ; but, as to the other names by which tea is 

 known, the Chinese know nothing ; and the compounds 

 and names are supposed to be made and given by the mer- 

 chants at Canton, who, from the great number of varieties 

 brought to them, have an ample opportunity of doing so. 

 Formerly it was thought that green tea was gathered ex- 

 clusively from T. viridis; but that now is doubtful, though 

 it is certain that there is what is called the green tea dis- 

 trict and black tea district ; and the varieties grown in the 

 one district differ from those of the other. I was told by 

 competent persons that either of the two plants will afford 

 the black or green tea of the shops, but that the broad thin 

 leaved plant (T. viridis) is preferred for making the green 

 tea. 



"The tea leaves being gathered, are cured in houses 

 which contain from five to twenty small furnaces, about 

 three feet high each, having at top a large flat iron pan. 

 There is also a long low table covered with mats, on which 



