Retrospective Criticism. 713 



Their pointed tops, formal growth, and gigantic size, so disproportionate to 

 the natives of our own forests, occasion me to be an advocate for their 

 entire disappearance from amongst us. If this be too much to expect, 

 then I hope to see them confined to low and obscure situations, where 

 their stiffness, formality, and disproportion will be less likely to disfigure 

 the landscape. — Z. September \2. 1833. 



The writer evidently refers to the Lombardy poplar, and as evidently is 

 but a smatterer in matters of taste. We request him to turn to the first 

 volume of this Magazine, and to peruse Mr. Thompson's paper on the pop- 

 lar in park scenery, (p. 16.) Has Z. ever looked into the landscapes of 

 eminent artists, or the engravings published from them, and marked the 

 use made of poplars by those who are allowed by the general consent of 

 mankind to be the bestjudges of landscape compositions ? When he next 

 comes from his retirement in the country to London, we beg of him to 

 walk from the west end of Oxford Street to Porchester Terrace, Bays- 

 water, and observe, on his left hand, the fine effect of the Lombardy pop- 

 lars in composition with the elms, oaks, and chestnuts in the marginal 

 plantations of Kensington Gardens. That man must be wonderfully be- 

 hind the times in which we now live, who would propose to banish a tree 

 from the country, merely because he does not like it. — Cond. 



Ml-. Maiii's Notes on the Cultivation and Manvfacture of the Tea in China. 

 (Vol. IV. p. 454.) — Mr. Main states that " a particular tract of the em- 

 pire is called the tea country, viz. Toh-yen, Ho-ping, An-koy, &c., which 

 is situated between the 30th and 33d degrees of north latitude. All the 

 different kinds of tea named in the invoices and in the shops of the mer- 

 chants, are produced from the same kind or variety of the plant : it is only 

 the times of gathering and manner of curing which cause the difference in 

 appearance, quality, and value. The leaves which are gathered earliest in 

 the spring make the strongest and most valuable teas ; as peko, souchong, 

 &c. : and the latter gatherings are inferior, and called congou, bohea, &c. 

 Green or hyson can be made of any of these gatherings, only by a different 

 mode of drying. Small proportions of the leaves of other plants are 

 sometimes added; but care is taken that this is not detected, as this is 

 considered a deterioration ; these are the leaves of the OMea fragrans, and 

 sometimes those of the San Cha Yu (Camellia Sasanqua') ; and in the sort 

 called peko small silvery leaves may be observed, which appear to be 

 those of the Azalea indica (To-kune) ; all, however, perfectly harmless. 

 The Chinese, however, deny that any of the latter leaves are ever intro- 

 duced." So far Mr. Main. 



Now, in confining the tea country within the limits of 30 and 33 degrees, 

 he excludes the whole of Canton province and Fokeen province, from 

 whence (almost) all the black tea comes; and also Hwuy Chow Foo, in 

 the province of Keang Nan, in which district the greater proportion of the 

 hyson and twankay tea is manufactured; though at the same time he 

 mentions the names of Ho-ping, in the province of Canton, and An-koy 

 (meaning Ganke Heen), in the province of Fokeen ; which latter, I pre- 

 sume, is intended by Tok-yen. So far as relates to the first gatherings 

 making the strongest and best teas, both of black and green, Mr. Main is 

 correct ; but it is surprising that any person who has been in China, or, in- 

 deed, any other person who has seen the difference in colour of the infusions 

 of black and of green tea, could suppose for a moment that they are the pro- 

 duce of the same plant, differing only in the mode of curing. Neither do 

 they grow in the neighbourhood of each other. The black teas are chieHy 

 grown in the N.W. corner of the province of Fokeen, in about Jat. 27° 

 50', long. P 30' E. of Peking; and the green tea, in the southern part of 

 Keang Nan province, about lat. 29° 58', long. 2° 0' E. of Peking. The 

 leaves of the OMea fragrans differ too much from those of tea to be mixed 



