134 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
and only a small portion of the parts of India 
adjacent to the sea will grow cotton at all. If 
by means of railroads the great cotton field of 
Hyderabad, in the centre of Southern India, were 
placed nearly on an equality, in point of facility 
of transport, with the maritime cotton districts, 
then, as the writer of this portion of the volume 
calculates, a breadth of land sufficient for the 
growth of a quantity equal to the full demand of 
Great Britain might be at once available. That 
cotton cannot be conveyed to a profit from the 
centre of India, except by railway, may be 
proved by the analagous case of salt, which costs 
at Benares double what it does at Calcutta, the 
distance between the two places being 400 miles, 
being about the same distance as from some of 
the cotton marts at Hyderabad to Bombay.— 
London Morn. Chron., Oct. 4. 
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A POT-ROSE. 
Chap. II. 
GENERAL CULTURE—PRUNING—MANETTI STOCK- 
PREPARATION FOR FORCING. 
Throughout the winter months I gave very 
little trouble, although I received every atten¬ 
tion that was necessary. The soil about my 
roots was kept rather dry; sometimes I did not 
receive any water for a fortnight together, for 
John the gardener knew well that, as nijy roots 
were in an inactive state, such a stimulant would 
prove injurious rather than beneficial. When 
the weather was fine the top of the frame was 
pulled off, so that I was fully exposed to the sun 
and air; and if wet, it was so tilted, that a cir¬ 
culation of air was admitted, though the rain 
was excluded. When the weather was frosty, 
the frame was kept closely shut, and sometimes 
at night a straw mat was drawn over the glass. 
Thus I passed my first winter, in company with 
other plants; and when the spring arrived, my 
powers were so invigorated by the rest I had 
received, that I felt prepared to grow and blos¬ 
som with unusual vigor. Early in March I was 
pruned. I had seven shoots, four strong ones 
placed at about equal distances, and three 
weaker ones rising between the former. The 
latter were cut off close to the main stem, and 
each, so that I might produce eight blooms in 
June, which was considered enough for my 
strength. After this I was placed in a larger 
pot, of the size called 48, in the same soil as 
last used, and plunged on the top of a dung-bed, 
without any frame. The warmth thus generated 
about my roots stimulated them to feed and grow, 
and the increase in the size of ray branches was 
proportionately great. Eight flowers was the 
number actually produced; and I need not say 
that I received a liberal supply of weak liquid 
manure from the commencement of growth till 
their development. 
When the flowers were over, the supply of 
water was again diminished, which was quite in 
accordance with my feelings; for after so much 
exertion I required temporary*rest. I remained 
inactive for about three weeks, when I was 
again potted into a larger pot, this time No. 
24; again freely supplied with water and 
stimulated by bottom-heat to a new growth; 
and I produced in September no less than 
twenty flowers, which, if of smaller dimensions 
than those of the summer growth, were pro¬ 
nounced superior in shape and color. I now 
saw that my master began to grow proud of me; 
he brought alMiis friends to see me, and when 
he found them interested in my appearance, he 
gave them my history in brief or detail accord¬ 
ing to the humor of the moment. Some I saw 
smile at the earnestness with which he spoke of 
various matters; and one young gentleman, a 
philosopher I think they called him, said gravely, 
shaking his head, that it was monstrous for a 
reasonable man to occupy himself so earnestly 
with such trifles, that “the proper study for 
manknid was man.” My master, who was a 
man of most amiable and even temper, smiled, 
and calmly replied, that it had never been the 
business of his life, but only his recreation, and 
as such it had yielded him an amount of health 
and calm enjoyment which he would not have 
exchanged for the purple of an emperor or the 
riches of the Sacramento. As my master’s gar¬ 
den was celebrated for many rare and fine things, 
it was often the resort of certain savans of hor¬ 
ticulture. The gardener John was not himself 
of that class. He was a plain, practical man, 
honest and skilful, not dogged and averse to new 
things or new schemes because new, but averse 
to replace old by new before testing the latter 
by experiment. I often heard some well-fought 
battles between John and the savans; and while 
the sava7is seemed to know most of logic, it 
seemed to me that John knew most of garden¬ 
ing. Of this I felt sure, after hearing John argue 
one night with one of these celebres, a miller, to 
whom my master appeared to pay great de¬ 
ference on the subject of Rose-growing. A 
new stock from Italy was the subject of discus¬ 
sion, I think they called it Manetti. John was 
told this stock was to surpass all other StOCkS. 
When budded on it, Roses were to grow twice 
as fast as' on any other, and never to spawn or 
sucker; the most shy and delicate were to be¬ 
come free and robust even on the poorest soil; 
and, in fact, the sooner every other stock and 
stool was rooted out of the garden and replaced 
by this the better. As the miller spoke of his 
own experience, and was wholly disinterested in 
the matter, my master became a convert. I 
trembled, when John quietly said, “ Let us try 
this stock first, and if it prove equally good on 
our-soil, we can then replace our other Roses 
with it.” My master seemed to think this course 
reasonable, and adopted it; and that he was 
well pleased with his decision the sequal will 
sufficiently show. 
This has led me to a rather long digression. 
To return. My September flowers had fallen, 
and I learnt it was the intention to “force 
me”—that is, to change my seasons, so as to 
develop my first blossoms in March instead of 
June. To this end the pot in which I grew was 
laid on its side, so that I might get no water 
naturally or artificially, but sink rapidly into a 
state of rest. This I did, and was pruned and 
conveyed to a cold pit, there to wait till the first 
week of January, which was the commencement 
of the forcing season. The operation of pru¬ 
ning this year seemed much more difficult than 
tve&K add sdme sir6iTg',"shmv/ % fvbn a Sdhb?oi&'S"ifl 
placed. It was evidently a puzzle even to John 
what to do for the best; and he walked round 
me, and looked at me some time before he could 
make up his mind to begin. At last he seemed 
to have decided which shoots should remain; 
and he began removing the others carefully one 
by one till only twelve were left—one tall shoot 
in the centre, and the others disposed around it 
at about equal distances. The shoots were then 
shortened ; on the strong ones were left about 
five eyes, and on the weak ones two or three, 
and I was pronounced pruned ready for forc¬ 
ing.— William Paul, in Turner's Florist. 
CULTIVATION fAND ^MANUFACTURE OF TEA IN 
CHINA.—NO. 2. 
We have already given an account of the 
preparation of Green Tea, and now furnish the 
particulars of the method of preparing the Black 
variety, translated from the last number of the 
Flore des Serves. 
Black Tea . 1 —The leaves when brought from 
the plantations, are spread on mats or tables, 
made of strips of bamboo, and left for a suffi¬ 
cient length of time in this state, generally from 
evening till the following morning. Then each 
workman takes a quantity of leaves between 
both hands, throws them up in the air, and lets 
them fall on the table. They are stirred for a 
considerable time in this manner, and beaten or 
pressed lightly with the hands. At length 
when they become soft and flaccid they are 
gathered into heaps, and left so for about an 
hour, or a little longer, after which the leaves 
have undergone a slight change in color; they 
become soft and damp, and emit a fragrant odor 
The remainder of the manipulation is a re¬ 
petition of that practised in the preparation of 
Green Tea. The leaves are thrown into an iron 
basin, and roasted for about five minutes ; then 
they are rolled on the rattan tables. After roll¬ 
ing, they are spread in thin layers on sieves, 
and placed in the open air to dry. An ap¬ 
paratus for this purpose may be seen in front of 
every cottage in the tea-growing districts. 
The leaves are exposed in this manner for 
nearly three hours ; during this time the work¬ 
men pass from one sieve to another, and stir 
them to prevent their adhering. They gener¬ 
ally select for this part of the process a fine dry 
day when the sun is not very bright. 
The excess of moisture Lclng removed, and 
tne ma»o greatly reduced in bulk, the leaves arc 
submitted to further handling ; they are again 
thrown into the basin for three or four minutes, 
and roasted and turned as before. This part 
being finished a charcoal fire is lighted. A 
large, flat basket, made of bamboo strips, wide 
at both ends and narrow in the middle, is then 
placed over the fire ; they empty the leaves into 
it from the sieves until about an inch deep. 
After a space of five or six minutes, during 
which they carefully watch the leaves, they re¬ 
move them from the fire to roll them a third 
time. As the balls of leaves come from the 
hands of the rollers, they are collected into 
heaps until all are finished; then they are 
spread on the screens, and kept a short time 
over the fire. In some instances the roasting 
and rolling processes are repeated four times. 
The color has by this time become dark. The 
whole mass having been subjected to these 
operations, the baskets are again filled and 
placed over the fire. The workman makes an 
opening in the middle of the contents of the 
basket with his hand, so as to allow the smoke 
which arises from the charcoal to escape, as 
— i.,_±i_; a 
covered with a broad lid, the fire having been 
previously damped to moderate the heat. The 
tea remains over this slow fire till perfectly dry ; 
it is carefully watched, however, by the operator, 
and stirred from time to time, so that the heat 
may be equally distributed over the mass. The 
black color has been fully brought out, though 
it increases with time. The final operations, 
such as cleaning, selecting and refining follow; 
according to the convenience of the manufac¬ 
turer. 
The School Master Abroad.— Autobiography 
of the learned Dr. Stevens. —The following fax, 
gathered from several pages of detail, drawn up 
by the author himself, in view of your generous 
mention of him on the occasion referred to, to 
be transmitted for like treatment, will serve a 
purpose to the cause, if they prove matter wor¬ 
thy of your metal, and are accorded the privilege 
of appearance in your Magazine. The sketch is 
biographical, and opens with the announcement: 
i was bore on the widdo-’s plase in the yeare 
of our lorde ano domminy 18 hundred & 12 
Being 9th of nov. the nite being varey Boistrous 
and the Storm varey Grate. Some specifications 
follow, of the earlier portion of his life, which 
is so interwoven with the threads of second-party 
experiences, that to pursue it closely would in¬ 
volve other characters, whose claims upon the 
public are quite too insignificant to justify spe¬ 
cial advertisement. 
Information is announced farther on that his 
father removed to a Smal plase whitch he leasted 
durin’ his life-time at the Sume of 15 dols pr 
annum and during that periad i com to town f 
being 14 yeares and 28 days old, and was 
Bowned to learne taylerin’ for the terme of 6 
yeares 2 munths & 28 dayes. 
Here happened the first crisis in the Doctor’s 
