224 
TEA PLANT. 
kind of gravelly soil formed in some places by disintegrated sand- 
stone, and in others by the debris of primitive rocks. A large 
and flourishing plantation of all the varieties of the plant brought 
together by Mr. Ball, the principal tea inspector at Canton, is situated 
on an island close to Macao in a loose gravelly soil, formed by 
the disintegration of large-grained granite. Judging from specimens 
collected in our route through the province of Keang-nan, whence 
the green tea is procured, its rocks consist chiefly of sandstone, 
schistus, and granite. As to what may be the exact nature of the 
rocks of the black tea country in the province of Fokien, I have no 
precise information. But as the great ridge separating that province 
from Keang-si is a continuation of the one dividing the latter from 
Canton, it is perhaps legitimate to conclude, that their constituent 
rocks are the same ; and that the hills and soil on the eastern are 
the same as we found them on the western side of the ridge, or 
that they are covered by a soil like that in which the Camellia flou- 
rishes. If this reasoning be just, the land forming the Cape being 
composed of the same class of rocks, namely, granite, schistus, 
and sand-stone, and of the same kind of soil that constitute the tea 
districts of China, would be scarcely less favourable with regard to 
structure than geographical situation for the culture of the tea plant. 
But although the tea plant might for these reasons succeed better 
at the Cape than in many of our other dependencies, the success of the 
American plantations proves that it will assuredly flourish on the verge 
of the tropics. That it will also grow vigorously within them, is suf- 
ficiently evinced by the fine plants which thrive in Sir Hudson 
Lowe’s garden at St. Helena. But in both these situations, it 
seldom experiences a very high temperature. In Rio Janeiro the 
botanic garden is situated near the sea-shore, and receives the full 
influence of the land and sea breezes which blow during the greater 
part of the twenty-four hours. On the hills of St. Helena, freshened 
by the trade winds, the thermometer ranges from sixty-four to 
seventy-six degrees. The principal circumstances therefore to be 
kept in view in cultivating the tea plant ^are to obtain for it a 
