TREES OF AMERICA. 145 



great deal of money, would it not, Uncle 

 Philip ?" 



" Perhaps it would, my dear ; but I am not 

 by any means certain about it : perhaps the 

 tea and the olives would cost us more than 

 they do now." 



" How can that be, Uncle Philip ?" 



"Because both tea and olives require a 

 great deal of preparation before they are fit to 

 use ; and the workmen employed in preparing 

 them might, perhaps, be doing much better 

 by cultivating grain, or cotton, or sugar. In 

 China, where we get our tea, and in Italy, 

 where the oil is made, the country is very 

 thickly inhabited, and because there are so 

 many people ready to work, wages are very 

 low ; but in this country there is always 

 plenty of work for people to do, and workmen 

 can get much higher wages ; so that the 

 labour necessary to prepare a pound of tea 

 for exportation would not cost, in China, one- 

 half, no, perhaps not one-quarter so much 

 as it would in Florida. Therefore, you see, 

 it might not be cheaper for us to raise our 

 own tea, after all." 



" Well, that is very true, Uncle Philip ; I 

 never thouht of that." 



