'2G 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



merits and leaf-stocks; of a grayish-green 

 colour,jolled longitudinally and crosswise; 

 very dry and easily broken ; infusion 

 redish, of a somewhat smoky taste. If 

 let stand, deposits a blackish sediment. 



Green Teas. — Hyson. — Leaves long, 

 straight., spiral!}* twisted, and firmly roll- 

 ed, but dry and easily broken : odour 

 sweetly aromatic ; infusion of clear, cit- 

 ron-yellow colour. It is the most es- 

 teemed of all green teas. 



Gunpowder. — This is distinguished from 

 Hyson by being in smaller particles, stil! 

 more tightly rolled, but less easily broken ; 

 of dark green colour; infusion clear, gol- 

 den green. 



Impereal. — Much like Gunpowder, only 

 in larger grains, and very hard ; of silver- 

 green colour, and some of its grains re- 

 semble pearls. 



Hyson Shoulong. — Resembles Hyson, 

 but more fragrant. 



Hyson-junior, or Yu-tseen.-— Is compos- 

 ed of some small delicate leaves, nicely 

 rolled, and very crisp ; of yellowish-green 

 colour; odour agreeable, resembling violets. 



Twankny. — Large yellowish leaves, bad- 

 ly rolled, and strong odour ; infusion lim- 

 pid, bright yellow ; sweet, rough taste. 



Hyson Skin. — Leaves yellowish brown, 

 irregularly rolled; odour nearly null, and 

 of ferruginous taste ; infusion bright yel- 

 low, and turbid. It is the Boheaof greenteas. 



Uses and Constitutional Effects. — Tea 

 was first known in Europe by being taken 

 there from India by the Dutch in 1610. 

 It was introduced into England by Lords 

 Ossory and Arlington, from Holland, in 

 1666; and being much admired by the 

 nobility, it was imported from thence, 

 and generally sold for about 60 shillings 

 per pound, and until the trade was taken 

 up by the East India Company. Green 

 tea was first used in England in 1715. 

 Our colonial ancestors brought their tastes 

 wilh them, and finding the conditions of 

 the American climate such as to promote 

 the use of a beverage which imparted 

 hygienial benefits, tea appeared to them 

 as one of the first necessities of comfort- 

 able digestion, which the lordly tea-lovers 

 of England thought colonials had no right 

 to enjoy ; therefore they were taxed for 

 venturing to indulge in the Celestial 

 drink ! Whereupon, the issue is well 

 known. 



The great Atlantic, which was first set 



simmering on the shores of Boston and 

 New York, was converted into a foaming 

 and fuming tea-kettle, that at last boiled 

 over, and so dreadfully scalded the impost- 

 ers, as to require the use of the most potent 

 revulsive known in the healing art of na- 

 tional discords. The burn has never per- 

 fectly healed, and it is doubtful whether 

 it ever will ; for, admitting the well-known 

 properties of tea to promote nervous ex- 

 citement, it is a homeopathical fact that 

 from the year 1773, that most potent and 

 powerful drug, theine, has been diffused 

 through the oceans and seas of the 

 world, and by the flowing and ebbing of 

 tides and rivers, and by the infinitesi- 

 mal division of the particles of watery 

 vapour which have been distilled and re- 

 distilled in the mists and clouds of the 

 universe, all nature is now under- the in- 

 fluence of tea; which, my dear reader, 

 accounts for the go-a-headative propen- 

 sities of Young America. 



Tea chemically consists of mucilage, 

 extractive, resin, gallic and tanic acids, 

 and an alkaloid called theine. It has, 

 from the time it was first made known to 

 civilized nations, been considered by some 

 a powerful poison, which, though irregu- 

 lar, slow, and uncertain, is nevertheless 

 likely to break out — as above demon- 

 strated. The poisonous property is attrib- 

 uted to the alkaloid theine, which, in the 

 strongest tea reduced to the nicest chemi- 

 cal analysis, is found to exist in the pro- 

 portion of forty-six-one-hundredths of a 

 part in a hundred. It is said to possess 

 exhilarant properties. Physiologically, 

 tea, coffee, and tobacco possess the re- 

 markable quality of retarding the waste 

 of the system, and so diminish the de- 

 mand for food, and make a limited amount 

 go further. To the majority of people, 

 the habitual use of tea is of incontestible 

 advantage. It is decidedly favorable to 

 digestion for healthy persons, and fre- 

 quently remediable to dyspeptics. It de- 

 velops a slight degree of excitation, and 

 if taken in large quantity tells particularly 

 on the nervous system ; hence, it is ap- 

 parent that persons of excitable tempera- 

 j ment, at least, do not need tea, and may 

 jbe injured by it. To the oppositely con- 

 stituted, however, it makes the blood cir- 

 culate more smoothly, promotes digestion 

 and cutaneous exhalation, and stimulates 

 the intellectual faculties, while, as already 



