THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE, 103 



that even the poor peasant does not gather all that grow in 

 his little patch of land, but leaves them over the winter, 

 and often a short time before Easter the grapes of the pre- 

 vious year are beaten off the trees." 



Had we chosen a different route from the Mediterranean, 

 across the plains of Troy from Smyrna, our road would 

 have led us sometimes through park-like scenery ; smooth 

 turf slopes watered by rivulets ; or amongst picturesque 

 rocks of red and yellow ochre, contrasting with the dark 

 green foliage of the Pine ; and at others through Olive 

 plantations or magnificent forests of Oak. But we must 

 now travel still further to the east, to the northern part of 

 China and through Japan. In both these countries we find 

 the Cotton-plant extensively cultivated; but perhaps the 

 plants most distinctly connected in our minds with these 

 two countries, the flora of which is as yet so little known to 

 us, are the Tea-plant and the Camellia, which are nearly 

 allied, and are both genera of the family of Ternstrcemiacece. 

 The family connection may be traced in the flower; the 

 blossom of the Tea-plant being very much like a single 

 white Camellia in miniature. In the north of China, near 

 Pekin (as we learn from Schouw), the Tea-shrub will live 

 in the open air, but the tea is not good, so that it does not 



