154 
TtlE TliOPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1899. 
John Ellis, Esq., who raised it from the seed. But 
the plant at Lion House, belonging to the Duke of 
Northurnboiland, is the first that ever flowered in 
Europe, and an elegant drawing has been taken from 
it in that state, with its botanical description. The 
engraver has done justice to his original drawing, 
which is now in the possession of that great pro- 
moter of natural history. Dr. Folhergill, to whom 1 
have been indekted for many dried specimens and 
flowers of the tea tree from China. * * * " 
" Among several hundred specimens of dried tea 
fi )wer3 that I have examined, scarcely one in twenty 
was perfect. Some had three petals only, some nine, 
and others the several intermediate numbers. The 
greatest number consisted of six large petals, and 
externally three lesser ones of the same form, but 
the flowers which blossomed on the tea plant be- 
longing to the Duke of Northumberland, from which 
this description is taken, consisted in general of six 
petals. Oue of the flowers indeed appeared to have 
eight petals; however, the numbers in the flowers 
in most plants vary considerably, which may ac- 
count for the mistake of Dr. Hill and Professor 
Linnaeus (who described this plant on Dr. Hill's 
authority), who make the green and bohea tea two 
distinct species, giving nine petals to the former and 
six to the latter. * * * " 
" The best tea grows in a mild temperate climate ; 
the country about Nankin producing better tea than 
either Pekin or Canton, between which x^laces it is 
situated, it has been asserted that no tea planes 
have yet died in England through excess of colfl, 
but the contrary, I know, has happened. The plant 
in the Princess Dowager's garden at Kew flourished 
under glass windows with the natural heat of the 
sun, as now do those at Mile-end, in the possession 
of the intelligent botanist, J. Gordon. The tea plant 
belonging to Dr. Fothergill thrives in his garden at 
Upton, exposed to the open air, and the plant in- 
troduced into the Botanic garden at Chelsea had one 
leaf which measured five inches and-a quarter in 
length. * * 
•' 'ihe bohea tea trees, now introduced into many 
botanic gardens near London; exhibit very obvious 
varieties. The leaves are of a deeper green colour, 
and so deeply serrated, the stalk is usually of a 
darker colour, and the whole shrub appears less 
luxuriant than that represented in the annexed plate 
of the bohea tea ; but the botanical characters are 
the same. * * * " 
"Father Labot next thought he had discovered 
the real tea plant in Martinico, agreeing, he says, 
in all respects with the China sort. He pretends 
also to have procured tea seeds from the East 
Iniiies and to have raised the plant in America ; but, 
from his own account, this supposed tea appears to 
be only a species of Lysimachia, or what is called 
West India tea. IVIany other pretended discoveries 
of the Oriental Tea tree have been related, all of 
which have proved erroneous when properly enquired 
into. The genus of plant, called by Kaempfer 
Tfubakki, has the nearest resemblance to it. The 
leaves of several European herbs have been used at 
different times as substitutes for tea, either from 
some similarity in the shape of the leaves or in the 
taste and flavour ; among these, two or three species 
of Veronica are particularly recommended, besides 
the leaves of sage, myrtle, betony, sloe, agrimony, 
wild rose, and many others. Whether any of these 
are really more salutary or not, is undetermined ; 
and we now find that from the place lo the cottage 
every other substitute has yielded to the genuiue 
Asiatic tea. * * * " 
"Many attempts to introduced the tea tree into 
Europe have proved unsuccessful, owing to the bad 
state of the seeds when first procured, or to a want 
of judgement in preserving them long enough m a 
state capable of vegetation. If this complaint arise 
from the first cause, future precautions about such 
seeds will be in vain. It is therefore necessary to 
procure fresh, sound, ripe seeds, white, plump, and 
woist internally. Xavo methods of preserving the 
seeds have put us in possession of a few young plants 
of the true tea tree of China: one is by enclosing 
the seeds in bees' wax, after they have been well 
dried in the sun ; and the other, by putting them, 
included in their pods or capsules, into very close 
canuisters of tin and tutenague." 
" fee directions for bringing over seeds and plants 
from the East Indies, by J. Ellis, F.H.S , etc., in 
which particular directions are given, both to choose 
the proper seeds and to preserve them in the best 
manner for vegeti'.tion. See also the Naturalists' 
and Travellers' Companion, containing instructions 
for discovering and preserving objects of Natural 
History, Section III. We may observe here that the 
best method of bringing over the parts of flowers 
entire is to put them in bottles of spirits of wine, 
good rum, first runnings, or brandy." 
" Most of the plants now in England were pro- 
cured by these means; and though many of the seed- 
lings will die, yet by this kind of management we 
may probably succeed in bringing over the carious 
vegetable productions of China, of which they have 
an amazing treasure, both in respect to use, show, 
and variety. If young plants could be procured in 
China, they might be sent over in a growing state 
in some of these boxes. • • • »' 
"The young tea plants in the gardens about 
London thrive very well iu the green-houses in win- 
ter, and some bear the open air in summer. The 
leaves of many of them are from one to three inches 
long, not without a fine deep verdure ; and the 
young shoots are succulent. It is therefore probable 
that in a few years many layers may be procured 
from them, and the number of plants considerably 
increased thereby. ' ♦ * " 
"It may not be improper to observe here that 
many exotic vegetables, like human constitutions, 
require a certain period before they become natur- 
alized to a change of climate. Many plants, which 
on their first introduction, would not bear our win- 
ters without shelter, now endure our harder frosts. 
The beautiful Magnolia, among several others, is a 
proof of this observation, and we have already taken 
notice (Section V) that the degree of cold at Pekin 
sometimes exceeds ours. We have hence reason to 
expect that the tea tree may in a few years be 
capable of bearing our climate, or at least that of 
our colonies ; at length thrive as if indigenous to 
the soil ; and, were labour cheaper, become an article 
of export, like the common potato, for which we 
are indebted to America or Spain. It is, however, 
better suited, for the climates of the Southern parts 
of Europe and America; but hitherto it has not 
been cultivated in an extensive manner in either of 
these quarters of the world, nor is it likely ever to 
be, whilst it can be procured from Asia at the pre- 
sent reduced price. It was introduced into Georgia 
about the year 1770. Hence the ingenious author of 
Onabi (Mrs. Morton) in her recent peom of Beave- 
hill, in describing the products of this province, 
introduces the exotic of China: — 
Yet round these shores prolific plenty twines, 
Stores the thick fleld, and swells the clustering vines, 
A thousand groves their glossy leaves unfold. 
Where the rich orange rolls its ruddy gold, 
China's green shrub, divine Magnolia's bloom. 
With mingling odours fling their high perfume. 
''It is indeed probable that the North American 
summers, in the same latitude with Pekin, would 
suit this tree better than ours, for, in China and 
some parts of North America, the heat in summer 
is such that vegetables make quicker and more 
early shoots, whereby they have time to acquire 
SLifiicient strength and firmness before the winter 
commances; but, in England, the tender shoots are 
pushed forth late, and winter soon after succeeding, 
they often perish in a degree of cold much less severe 
than at Pekin, or in colder latitudes of North 
America." — Indian Flantei; 
M. H. M, 
