TEA TREE. 
165 
of parliament which have been made to prevent 
such practices. Mr. Twining gained the following 
information respecting this subject from a gentleman 
who had inquired particularly into the business. 
The smouch for mixing with black teas is made 
of the leaves of the ash. When gathered they are 
first dried in the sun, then baked ; they are next 
put upon a floor, and trod upon until the leaves 
are small, then sifted and steeped in copperas with 
sheep’s dung ; after which, being dried on a floor, 
they are fit for use. They have, likewise, another 
method which does not differ materially from this. 
The quantity manufactured at a small village, and 
in its neighbourhood, cannot be exactly ascertained, 
but it is supposed to be about twenty tons in a year. 
One man acknowledges to have made 600 lbs. weight 
in every week for six months together! The fine 
is sold at 4l. 4s. the hundred weight, equal to nine 
pence a pound. The coarse at 2 l. 2 s. equal to 4-id. 
a pound. Elder buds are likewise said to be manu- 
factured in some places to represent fine teas. 
