330 BOTANICAL DIFFERENCE. 



difference in the plants themselves, or however 

 much certain qualities may be confined to particu- 

 lar localities, both in the black and green tea 

 countries, yet it is very doubtful how far such 

 peculiarities affect the teas of commerce, except so 

 far as mixture is concerned in forming a particular 

 quality suited to a fixed price. 



The Congou tea, which constitutes the bulk of 

 the tea imported into England, is formed into par- 

 cels, each sufficient to pack 600 chests, together 

 weighing 52,000 lbs. of tea, all of one uniform 

 quality, and purchased at the same price. Some 

 of these parcels are sufficient to pack 1000 chests. 

 Thus all difference of gathering, age of leaf, and 

 district, all individuality, botanical distinction, and 

 difference of quality must be lost in this mixture. 

 The same may be said of the Twankay teas in the 

 green tea country. 



Still it is highly probable that a superior kind of 

 tree does exist in the central division of the Bohea 

 mountains, the product of long and careful cultiva- 

 tion carried on under favourable circumstances 

 through a period of at least one thousand years : 

 and the same in the green tea districts of Whey- 

 chew-fu. In these two districts, also, more skilful 

 as well as more careful modes of manipulation 

 prevail ; and to these circumstances, more than to 

 any natural difference in the plant, may be ascribed 

 the high estimation in which these teas, and espe- 

 cially those of the Bohea district, are held through- 



