TEA. 159 
clipped hedges: but its leaves fall very early in the 
autumn. In rich soils it attains a prodigious size ; and 
instances have been mentioned of these trees having 
existed during more than six centuries. 
174. TEA, both Hack and green, consists of the dried leaves 
of an evergreen shrub (Then bohea and Thea viridis, of Lin- 
neus, Fig. 49), with indented and somewliat spear-shaped leaves 
and white jlowers willi sijc petals or more, which is much culti- 
vated in China. 
The tea shrub attains the height of five or six feet, and is 
much branched. The leaves, when, full grown, are about 1^ 
inch long, narrow, tapering, and of dark glossy green colour , 
. and Jinn texture. The Jlowers are not much unlike those of the 
white wild rose, but smaller ; and they are succeeded by a fruit 
about the size of a sloe, which contains two or three seeds. 
The tea-tree flourishes, with great luxuriance, m 
valleys, on the sloping sides of mountains, and on the 
banks of rivers, in a southern exposure, betwixt the 
thirtieth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude. It is 
chiefly cultivated near Pekin, and around Canton, but 
it attains the greatest perfection in the mild and tempe- 
rate climate of Nankin. 
The collecting of the leaves is conducted with great 
care": they are picked singly, and, for the most part, 
at three different times of the year ; about the end of 
February, the beginning of April, and the end of May* 
The drying and preparation of them, for use, are pro- 
cesses too long to admit of minute detail respecting 
them in this place. It may, however, be observed, that 
for these purposes buildings are erected, which contain 
from five to ten, and some of them even twenty, small 
furnaces, each having, at the top, a large iron pan. 
There is also a long table covered with mats, on which 
the leaves are laid, and rolled by persons who sit round 
it. The iron pan being heated by a fire in the furnace 
beneath, a few pounds of the leaves are put upon it, and 
frequently^ turned and shifted. They are then thrown 
upon the mats to be roiled betwixt the palms of the 
hands : after which they are cooled as speedily as pos- 
