TEA PLANT. 243 



from this country for China, have sometimes reached nearly 

 half a million of dollars for a single year. It has not been 

 cultivated to any extent in this country. 



THE TEA PLANT (Thea bohea and T. viridis, Fig. 58). 



fFhis plant.hasbeen introduced to some extent, into various 

 parts of the United States within the 

 last few years. It grows extensively 

 in China, between the latitudes 27 

 and 32 ; and in the Island of Japan, 

 it flourishes as far north as 45. 



It is propagated by planting two 

 or three seeds together, at a distance 

 of four or five feet apart each way, in 

 the bed where they are to grow, in a 

 1 dry, silicious soil, of moderate fertility, 

 and generally on the hill-sides. In 

 the northern provinces of China, the tea 

 plant occupies a rich, sandy loam. It 

 requires little attention, except to be 

 kept clear of weeds. The leaves 



are plucked when the plant has attained a three years growth, 

 and when dried, constitute the tea of commerce. 



The leaves are picked three times in a season. The first, 

 and but partially expanded leaflets, yield the best quality of 

 tea, known in Europe and America as the Imperial. The 

 next picking gives an inferior quality ; and the third yields the 

 lowest in value. These are again subdivided, into an almost 

 endless variety of sorts or chops. 



The leaves are cured by heating them under cover, on iron 

 pans, from which they are taken while hot and carefully 

 rolled by hand. This operation is performed two or three 

 times, arid all the moisture thoroughly expelled, when it is 

 assorted into various qualities and put up for sale or use. 



The tea plant becomes unthrifty and stunted under the 

 close harvesting of the leaves ; and at the age of six to ten 

 years, requires to be partially cut down, to secure a fresh 

 growth of thrifty shoots. The immense and increasing con- 

 sumption of this article will justify the fullest experiments 

 at the South, with the view of adding this to our excessively 

 limited list of southern staples. An extensive effort is at 

 this moment made in Georgia and the Carolinas, by a gentle- 

 man from New York, for the establishment of tea planta- 

 tions in each of those States. I saw several thousand choice 



