304 [Assembly 



provinces of China, should not convert a portion at least, if not the 

 whole, of her upland cotton into Tea growing plantations, and thus 

 extend the circle of agricultural industry to embrace a greater vari- 

 ety of objects, and render those lands which are now the least valua- 

 ble, the most productive and the most profitable. 



We are now upon a parallel of Latitude ten degrees south of Pe- 

 king and about the centre of the Tea growing districts of China. 

 Parallel with the provinces of Kiang su, Nganhwui, Hupeth and 

 Szchuen, in China, and Almura in the north-west provinces of India. 



Florida, Lat. 25 to 30^, Notwithstanding the general aspect of 

 this State does not present those rugged and austere features which 

 are most congenial to the growth of the tea plant, yet we cannot 

 doubt but that sections of lands may be found in the State suited to 

 its cultivation. It being the most southern limit of what we have, 

 by way of distinction, called the tea growing districts of the United 

 States, every one must feel the importance of extending the growth 

 of the tea plant to that extreme limit, and over the widest space; 

 because it is in that way only, we can learn the particular, as well as 

 general capacity of our country for its production, and what is equally 

 important, the various qualities of tea, which allotments of land in 

 different States, will return to the cultivator. We may, indeed, be 

 embarrassed by physical impediments, or encouraged by physical ad- 

 vantages, which lie beyond our present view, and which can be de- 

 veloped only by experiment, yet the magnitude of the result is a suf- 

 ficient inducement to command a fair trial. We cannot help, there- 

 fore, thinking that this sunny region will early rival the antipodes 

 in the rich productions of her pregnant soil. 



We are now fifteen degrees south of Peking, and the latitude of Flo- 

 rida is parallel with the tea growing provinces of Fuhkien, Kiang se, 

 Hunan, Kwichau, and Chehkiang in China, Muttuck, and the tea 

 gardens of the English Tea Company in the kingdom of Assam, on 

 the eastern frontier of India, and at Almara and Kimaon, near the 

 Himmilay mountains, Northwest provinces of India. 



Alabama, lat. 30° and 35°. The southern and middle sections of 

 this State, are subject to the same objections which have been noticed 

 in reference to the Atlantic and Southern States bordering upon the 

 Gulf of Mexico. But North Alabama opens out an extensive field 

 of mountainous and hilly land, which from the fertility and charac- 

 ter of the soil, the temperature of the climate, and the general fea- 



