60 NATURE OF THE SOIL. 



in the form of a finely divided pulverulent clay ; 

 the exposed surface will consist of quartz in a finely 

 divided state, felspar, coarse sand and gravel ; 

 where indeed there may be little or no accumula- 

 tion of vegetable mould. But here the plant, sti- 

 mulated by light and heat, while the roots are 

 deprived of a corresponding supply of moisture, 

 becomes a bushy, stunted, and distorted shrub, with 

 leaves small and thick, like those specimens preserv- 

 ed in the British Museum, erroneously (I believe) 

 marked " Wild Plants." 



The same degeneracy of the plant may be ob- 

 served in an arid soil, even on plains ; and similar 

 specimens may be obtained among the Honan plan- 

 tations at Canton, whence I imagine those in ques- 

 tion were procured. 



So, on Mr. Gordon's excursion to the Ankoy tea 

 districts, he found some plantations in very sterile 

 ground. " One, in a very bleak situation with 

 nothing but coarse red sand by way of soil, seemed 

 abandoned. In another situation, some of the 

 shrubs scarcely rose to the height of a foot (cubit) 

 above the ground, so bushy, that a hand could not 

 be thrust between the branches, with leaves [only] 

 three quarters of an inch in length. In the same 

 bed, however, there were other plants four feet in 

 height, and about two in diameter, with leaves of 

 from one and a half to two inches in length." * 



But this was in the month of November, when 



# 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv. 



