128 CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 



transported overland by caravan through Bokhara and 

 Central Asia to Moscow and Petersburg. 



Russian Tea Grown in the district of Transcau- 

 casia, consists largely of the leaves of a shrub possessing 

 the botanical name of Vacinium staphylos, which when 

 infused yields a decoction having some resemblance to 

 the ordinary teas of commerce, but is acrid and nauseat- 

 ing in flavor. They are generally prepared for the ex- 

 press purpose of mixing with inferior China tea, and also 

 with exhausted leaves, that is, tea once used, dried and 

 rolled again. 



American Tea. Samples of tea grown in South 

 Carolina have lately been received in the New York 

 market and tested there by experts, who pronounce 

 them only fair in quality, and ranking them with the 

 India, Ceylon and teas of that character. 



Hop Tea Is a species of tea now being prepared 

 from common hops in the Kent district in England, 

 prepared and cured by the " Sirocco " process, after the 

 manner of India tea, and used chiefly to blend with the 

 ordinary teas of commerce, the combination resembling 

 a mixture of Virginia smoking tobacco and a rough-leaved 

 Assam tea. It is claimed to be healthy and wholesome, 

 from the fact that the lapulin of the hops counteracts or 

 neutralizes the excess of tannin contained in the India 

 teas, but nearly doubles it in price. 



IA_ItA_GUA.YA.:iV TEA.. 



Yerba Mate, or " Paraguayan tea," which although 

 not entering into general use or commerce, is yet deserv- 

 ing of notice in this work from its extensive consump- 

 tion among the inhabitants of South America. It is 

 prepared from the leaves and stems of the Ilex, a species 

 of holly found growing in a wild state in that country. 



