250 Culture of the Camellia. 



pounds of tea as a present to the King. In 1667 they issued 

 their first order to import tea, directed to their agent at Ban- 

 tarn, to the effect that he should send home 100 pounds of the 

 best tea he could get. Since then, the consumption has gone 

 on regularly increasing, and since the abolition of the monopoly 

 of the East India Company, and the consequent reduction oi 

 prices, the amount imported into England has increased, s 

 that in some years it has reached fifty million pounds. 



JULY AND AUGUST FLOWERS. 



One of the handsomest native plants which flower in the 

 present month, is Tephrosia Virginica, sometimes called by the 

 odd name of Cat-gut, probably from the roots, which are long, 

 stringy, and yellow. It is a Leguminous plant; it grows 

 about two feet high, with pinnate leaves, having ten or twelve 

 pairs of small, regular leaflets. The flowers are in a short, 

 thick, round, terminal raceme, and are very beautiful. The 

 upper petal, or banner, is yellowish white, the wings are a fine 

 red, and the keel white. It grows in bunches, in dry, sandy 

 soils, near the edges of woods. This plant is worthy of culti- 

 vation, and would make a splendid ornament of the border. 

 Another very elegant Leguminous plant now in flower, is the 

 one of which a figure is given in the present number. This 

 is the Ground-nut, Apios tuberosa. It twines its slender stems 

 over bushes, and with its dark-purple flowers, and smooth pin- 

 nate leaves, it is worthy of observation. Another pretty little 

 vine is Glycine, or Amphicarpaa, monoica. This is more del- 

 icate than the other. It has ternate leaves, and pale, purple 

 flowers. Many species of Lespedeza, and Desmodium, are now 

 in flower, among which may be mentioned the singular V. un- 

 ijlorum. The flower-stalk of this is connected with the leaf- 

 stalk, by a long stem which runs under ground, so that the two 

 are frequently at the distance of a foot or more from each other. 

 It would be a matter of surprise to one unacquainted with this 

 peculiarity, on pulling up what appears to be a leafless stalk of 

 flowers, to find that he is also gathering what appears a sepa- 



