246 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XV. 
are also to be met with in many other gardens, and 
almost in every nursery. They are pretty evergreen 
bushes, and produce a profusion of single white flowers 
in the winter and spring, about the time that camellias 
are in bloom. It is not, however, for the beauty of 
their flowers that they are grown — although there is 
much in them to admire — but on account of their being 
the plants which produce our favourite beverage. 
Those persons in England who possess tea-plants, and 
who cultivate them for pleasure, should always bear in 
mind that, even in the tea -districts of China, this shrub 
will not succeed when planted in low wet land ; and this 
is doubtless one of the reasons why so few persons suc- 
ceed in growing it in this country. It ought always to 
be planted on a warm sloping bank, in order to give it a 
fair chance of success. If some of the warm spots of 
this kind in the south of England or Ireland were 
selected, who knows but our cottagers might be able to 
grow their own tea ? at all events they might have the 
fragrant herb to look upon. 
