1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARilER. 



525 



Another account states that the leaves are 

 partly dried in the sun, and then in heated 

 pans, where they are stirred briskly about with 

 a brush, to cause them to dry and curl up ; 

 then rubbed through the hands and heated 

 until they assume the appearance which we 

 see. It also states that there is no truth in 

 the report that gretn tea owes its color to 

 being dried upon plates of copper, for it is, in 

 fact, drit^d upon iron plates. The black and 

 the green teas are mottly produced from dif- 

 ferent plants, and in different districts. 



It was formerly said that tea is neither nu- 

 tritious nor healthy. It seems to us to possess 

 both these qualities. No beverage to us is so 

 invigorating or refreshing. Liebig says it is 

 not shown by facts that its effects upon the 

 constitution, when used in moderation, are of 

 that injurious tendency that has been so fre- 

 quently alluded to ; on the contrary, there is 

 no doubt that, among the lower classes in par- 

 ticular, its substitution for stronger stimulants 

 has been extremely beneficial, and that its 

 character has rieen of late in the medical pro- 

 fession. It contains a substance called theine, 

 and that, in combination with oxygen and 

 some other elements, is the reason why tea so 

 often satisfies the poor as a substitute for 

 animal food ; and why females and literary 

 persons, who take little exercise, manifest 

 such partiality for it. 



The cultivation of tea has been attempted 

 in various parts of the world, but without any 

 great success attending it. In the spring of 

 1859, a number of tea plants was sent from 

 the agricultural department to a gentleman in 

 Wayne County, Miss., who reported after- 

 wards as follows : — 



"They are now from four to six feet in height, 

 and three to four feet across the heads. The heads, 

 formed by the branches and leaves, are very com- 

 pact. As an ornament in the flower garden, the 

 plant is desirable; its dark, evergreen leaves, 

 when interspersed with its white flowers, present 

 an appearance truly beautiful. It commences to 

 bloom in September ; flowers white, with yellow- 

 ish anthers, resembling the single Camellia, and 

 continues to bloom until checked by the severe 

 frosts of December. 



"During the late war, when our luxuries were 

 cut off hy'the blockade, I made many experiments 

 in drying the leaves of the plant in the shade, in 

 the sun, and by the fire, but failed to secure" the 

 delicate taste and fragrance of the imported tea. 

 I drank of the tea made of the leaves in each of 

 these forms, and also of green leaves, and the 

 effect, physically and mentally, was to some ex- 

 tent the same as that caused by the imported 

 article. I am told that successful experiments 

 were made in South Carolina before the war in 

 preparing the leaves as it is done in China, but the 



expense was found to be too great to make the 

 business profitable. I reside in the long leaf pine 

 region, sixty miles north of Mobile, Alabama, and 

 my land is, of course, thin and poor. 



We have always supposed that the names 

 by which teas are known were mere fancy 

 terms, but it appears not to be so. The term 

 Bohea, for instance, comqs from the district 

 where it is principally grown, the Wo-ee-hills 

 in Fokien, the great country f jr black tea. 

 The Congou means "made with care ;" the 

 Souchong, "a very little sort;" the Pekoe, 

 "white leaf bud;" Gunpowder, from the 

 "smallness and roundness of the grain." 



We have thought that a brief account of an 

 article so highly prized, and so common on 

 our tables, would prove of interest to the 

 reader, and so have compiled the above from 

 various reliable sources. 



APPLES AS FOOD FOB STOCK. 



The apple crop is immense this season. It 

 is not confined to some favored localities as it 

 has been for several years just passed, but 

 abounds wherever apple trees stand, — in or- 

 chards, by the road sides and in the woods. 

 On the old trees, where a living branch is 

 left, it is loaded with fruit, and on jourg 

 seedlings, by the dusty highway, the small, 

 old-fashioned cider apples, are glistening in 

 untold numbers, in the sun. 



What is to be done with them ? is the ques- 

 tion often asked. 



We have a report from a New Hampshire 

 town, to-day, long famous for its fair and 

 solid apples for exporting, that those of sec- 

 end quality are selling for five cents per 

 bushel, — the purchaser gathering them him- 

 self. From another town in that State, we 

 are informed that "windfalls" cannot be sold 

 at any price ! 



We have sent one hundred barrels, already, 

 to the cider mill, at fifty cents per barrel, 

 which barely pays for collecting and carting 

 them two miles. 



But with all this abundance, and the low 

 prices which the farmer receives, the printer 

 of this sheet informs us that he pays for or- 

 dinary apples in Boston, forty cents per peck, 

 or $1.50 per bushel, and $4.00 per barrel ! 



Even after the markets are supplied, and 

 the cider mills are gorged, there will be an 

 immense surplus to be disposed of. What 



