MONADELPHIA. 177 



common, (G. herbaceum,) and the tree, (G. Arboreum,) kinds 

 are chiefly cultivated. The Tree Cotton in the East, is an 

 evergreen, and grows twelve or fifteen feet high. The spe- 

 cies which produces the nankeen colored cotton wool in 

 China, has not been introduced into Europe. 



GENUS Camellia. Japan Rose. Tea Tree. Name in 

 honor of George Camellus, a Jesuit, and the author of some 

 learned works. This Genus contains some species, which, 

 in relation to commerce, are the most important of all 

 shrubs, and others which are universally admired for their 

 beauty and fragrance. Bohea Tea, (Camellia Bohea,) and 

 green Tea, (Camellia viridis,) are the species which chiefly 

 furnish the tea of commerce. These are both evergreen 

 shrubs, about four feet high and natives of China. In that 

 empire, the Tea districts extend from the twenty-seventh 

 to the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude. The plants are 

 raised from seeds, three or four being placed together. The 

 young shoots require little care, except now and then re- 

 moving the weeds from their roots. The third year after 

 planting, the leaves are gathered in three successive crops, 

 in the months of February, April, and June. The gather- 

 ing is a business of care and patience. The leaves are 

 plucked off one by one. At the first gathering only the un- 

 expanded and most tender are taken ; at the second, those 

 that are nearly and quite full grown, the tenderest being se- 

 lected ; and at the third, the coarsest, being the refuse of 

 the other pickings, are taken. The first picking forms what 

 European and American merchants call Imperial tea, and 

 the second and third, the kinds known under the names of 

 Green, Black, and Bohea Teas. It appears, therefore, that 

 the qualities of the tea depend on the time at which it is 

 picked, and not on the species of the plant, as was formerly 

 thought. 



The tea leaves being gathered, are cured in houses, which 

 contain from five to ten, or twenty small furnaces, about 

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

 pan. There is also a large low table, covered with mats, 

 on which the leaves are laid and rolled by workmen sitting 

 round it. The iron pan being heated by the furnace, a few 

 pounds of the fresh gathered leaves are put upon it, the 



What is the botanical name of the Tea genus ? How are the tea plants 

 raised ? When are the crops of tea leaves gathered ? On what do the 

 different qualities of the tea depend ? 



