314 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



those respectable houses who are above such 

 injurious practices ; although it is to be 

 feared, that the enormous demand we make 

 on the Chinese for this leaf may tempt them 

 occasionallv to send us a mixture. 



As the adulteration of tea has lately been 

 carried to such an extent both in England 

 and Ireland, it may not be thought irrelative 

 to state the best means of detecting this 

 fraudulent practice. We purposely omit 

 mentioning the various leaves that have been 

 substituted for genuine tea, and the method 

 by which they are prepared. They are prin- 

 cipally of a poisonous nature, and some of 

 them of the most deadly kind ; and they are, 

 moreover, coloured with poisonous drugs. 



If there is any suspicion of the tea having 

 been adulterated, pour out a cup without 

 sugar or milk, to which put a grain and a 

 half of blue vitriol or copperas : if it is a 

 genuine tea, the infusion will become a dark 

 blue, nearly black ; but if it is of a greenish 

 yellow or yellow-black, it may be concluded 

 not to be genuine tea. 



The counterfeit black tea produces a 

 deeper colour by infusion than the real tea. 

 A little copperas put into this tea will turn 



