58 TEA 



article, lor they are manufactured from tea dust of good 

 quality, the dust being either purchased as such by the 

 factories (which are under Russian control), or else tea 

 is bought and ground to powder by machinery. The 

 tea dust is carefully sifted into grades and steamed for 

 a few minutes, after which it is cast into bricks, in sepa- 

 rate moulds, by hydraulic pressure. The bricks are 

 allowed to dry in the moulds for two or three weeks, 

 when they are packed in bamboo baskets for transport. 

 The Tablet Tea is prepared from the finer grades of tea 

 destined for European Russia. 



OTHER " TEAS " 



The famous Paraguay Tea, or Yerba de Mate, is one 

 of the most important economic products of South 

 America. The tea is derived principally from the leaves 

 of Ilex paragiiny icnsis, although an investigation carried 

 out at Kew a few years since showed that several varieties 

 of this species were concerned in the product, and that 

 it was probable that other species of the same genus 

 were also used as a source of the tea. Further, there 

 was evidence to show that, in addition, the leaves of 

 Symplocos lunccolutn and Klacodcndron quadrangulattfm, 

 plants belonging to quite different families, were also 

 used to the same purpose. 



By far the greater bulk of mate, however, is prepared 

 from Ilex panigunricnsis. The plant is a shrub belonging 

 to the natural order, Aquijoliaccae (Holly family), and 

 bears oval leaves about four or five inches long, with 

 serrated edges. It is found commonly in Brazil and 

 Paraguay, where there are also regular plantations ; 

 but the leaves are extensively used throughout South 

 America, and several million pounds of the prepared 

 mate are annually exported from the latter country 



