306 [Assembly 



from the latitude and temperate climate of those uplands, an alum- 

 dance of land may be selected, just as Avell adapted as any land in 

 the United States or the Empire of China, in parallel latitudes, to 

 the cultivation of the tea plant. Seeing a new and enterprising pop- 

 ulation are now rapidly settling that country, the tea plant will no 

 doubt find friends and supporters so soon as it is known that the plant 

 can be obtained, and that no more labor and care is required in 

 its cultivation than in the growth and cultivation of a peach tree. 



Missouri, lat. 36 to 40'^ 35', is' the largest Slate in the Union, ex- 

 cepting Virginia; the latter covering an area of 70,000, the former 

 of 66,000 square miles. It will be perceived that the State of Mis- 

 souri, lies in reference to China, between Peking on the North, and 

 the Yellow river on the south, embracing the northern Provinces of 

 China proper and the .district about Peking. There appears to be 

 almost every variety of soil in Missouri that can be found in the 

 same parallel of Latitude in the United States. The surface of the 

 State, rough and smooth, rocky and prairie, wtt and dry, high and 

 low, with a soil as various as its surface, presents ample scope for 

 the choice of locations adapted to the cultivation of the Tea Plant, 

 And what a boundless market waits for supplies ? Instead of im- 

 porting Tea by the Pacific, she may send thither the produce of hfr 

 own gardens. The west, the north, and the east will disclaim China 

 so soon as their wants can be supplied by Missouri. 



Texas, Lat. 28 to 34°. This youne; State lies parallel with the 

 middle and most extensive Tea growing provinces of China. The 

 face of the country, in its middle, northern, and western sections, 

 resembles, in many particulars, the corresponding domains of the 

 Celestial Empire, and its climate is just that in which the Tea Plant 

 most delights. The soil requires no aid from the art of man. Plant 

 the shrub and you have the Tea. The native energy, enlarged 

 thought, and bold adventure which impelled the original settlers to 

 abandon their Atlantic homes, and brave the dangers of a wilderness 

 and the hostility of uncivilized tribes, give sufficient guarantee that 

 the opening prospect of a new branch of cultivation will not be 

 overlooked by the husbandmen of Texas, but rather awaken a se- 

 cret expectation, that few years will elapse before we shall find the 

 Teas of Texas in the Boston, New-York, and Philadelphia markets; 

 and for aught we can know, in the cities of London and Paris. 

 This would not be more extraordinary, however visionary it may ap- 

 pear at present, than the growth of cotton in the United States from 

 the original seed, sprouting upon a dunghill, in 1786, to the eno^ 



