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HOCKINGS' GARDEN MANUAL. 



slowly and cautiously. The tea is then separated into 

 different kinds, and deposited in the store for domestic 

 use or exportation. 



One choice kind of tea is scented with orange 

 flowers when fully expanded. Forty pounds of the 

 flowers, fresh gathered under the trees, are mixed with 

 one hundred pounds of perfectly dry tea. and they are 

 left together for twenty-four hours, when the orange 

 flowers are sifted out. 



The tea leaves are gathered when full grown, but 

 tender. If left to get hard they are useless for manu- 

 facturing or rolling. Four pounds of the green leaf 

 will make about one pound of manufactured tea. 



The plant sports considerably by seed, and careful 

 and intelligent selection would result in obtaining some 

 very superior sorts. The Indian tea planters appear 

 to be paying some attention to this. 



Some rather extensive plantations have been made 

 in America, and tea of excellent quality has been pre- 

 pared. The Americans, as usual, have shown their 

 originality by departing from the universal method of 

 preparing the leaf by rolling it. and merely dry it. 

 Long usage has so accustomed us to see the tea rolled, 

 and to expect the best quality to be the most compactly 

 compressed, that the unrolled leaf would not at first 

 command a high market price. The prejudice would, 

 however, soon be dispelled if the quality was found to 

 be good : and the Americans found this to be the re- 

 sult. 



GrINGrER. 



The ginger of commerce is the tuberous root of a 

 perennial plant. It delights in a rich peaty soil, 

 pretty moist, in which it will grow luxuriantly, ex- 

 tending under ground, and sending up at each joint 

 its rush-like stalks. It is propagated by division of 

 the roots, and may be planted in rows two feet apart 



