Chap. XYI. CLIMATE AND REPRODUCTION. 285 



possible that the produce can be identical in every 

 respect with the parent. Instead therefore of having 

 one or two varieties of tea-plant in China, we have in 

 fact many kinds, although the difference between 

 them may be slight. Add to this, that the seeds of 

 this plant are raised year after year in different cli- 

 mates, and we shall no longer wonder that in the 

 course of time the plants in one district appear 

 slightly different from those of another, although 

 they may have been originally produced from the 

 same stock. 



For these reasons I am of opinion that the plants 

 of Hwuy-chow and Woo-e are the same species, and 

 that the slight differences observed are the results 

 of reproduction and difference of climate. 



With regard to the Canton plant — that called 

 Thea bohea by botanists — different as it appears to 

 be, both in constitution and habit, it too may have 

 originally sprung from one and the same species. 



These changes, however, do not alter the com- 

 mercial value of those plants found cultivated in the 

 great tea-countries of Fokien and Hwuy-chow, where 

 the finest teas are produced ; for, while the tea-shrub 

 may have improved in the course of reproduction in 

 these districts, it may have become deteriorated in 

 others. For this reason seeds and plants ought 

 always to be procured from these districts for trans- 

 mission to other parts of the world where it is 

 desirable to grow tea. 



Of late years some attempts have been made to 

 'cultivate the tea-shrub in the United States of Ame- 



