No. 216.] 273 



Plant. The exact quality and characteristic flavor cannot be known 

 until the leaf is^gathered, converted into Tea, and the quality tested, 

 and yet it is the same plant. Hence the almost numberless names 

 given to Chinese Teas to designate their particular growth and quali- 

 ty. The best wines are produced in particular latitudes, particular 

 soils, and particular locations. It is precisely the same with regard 

 to Tea Plants grown from the same collection of seed, in contigu- 

 ous gardens, set in different sections of the same district, producing 

 various qualities of Tea. We find the best and choicest flavored 

 Tea produced in China, where we should least expect it, in the vi- 

 cinity of Peking, N. Latitude 40°, in a line parallel with Philadel- 

 phia. The analogy, however, between the grape vine and the Tea 

 Plant is not sustained in one important particular. A grape vine 

 which produces white, does not produce black grapes; nor does a 

 vine which produces black, produce white grapes. However various 

 the quality of the wine the grape may produce, it retains its distinc- 

 tive color. The Tea Plant produces different qualities of Tea and 

 so far resembles the grape vine, but it seems well substantiated that 

 the same plant produces both black and green Tea, and so far differs 

 from the grape vine. Great attention and sound discretion there- 

 fore must be exercised in the selection of the most advantag-eous lo- 

 cation for a Tea Garden or Plantation, which will more fully appear 

 in the sequel. 



We are quite aware that a general opinion prevails in this coun- 

 try that an equatorial climate is indispensable to the successful cul- 

 tivation of the Tea Plant. Nothing, we apprehend, can be more 

 erroneous, more at variance with experience, nor more entirely fabu- 

 lous than such an opinion. 



Even the celebrated statesman of Kentucky, in his memorable 

 address, delivered in Lexington, 13th Nov., 1847, affirms "that our 

 country comprehends the greatest variety of rich soils capable of 

 almost all the productions of the earth, excepting Tea, Coffee and 

 the Spices." He evidently had not considered the subject, so far as 

 regards the growth of Tea, with his usual sagacity; but gathering 

 into one luminous view the amplitude and capacity of the Federal 

 Union, for agricultural purposes, gave a bold off hand expression to 

 his vigorous intellect and comprehensive mind without pausing to 

 consider the details which might have given a different direction to 

 his conclusion. Nevertheless, we have grouped hi^ own romantic 



[Am. Inst.] S 



