AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE.-—NO. 9. 
271 
sortment of plantation tools required. He succeeds 
in finding about half as many things as ordered, 
with corresponding names, and as for quality, he 
knows no more about that, than he would how to 
use them upon the plantation where they are bound. 
In about twelve months after being first ordered, 
they reach their final destination, half of them bro¬ 
ken, and half of the remainder as fine specimens of 
the ingenuity of the Yankee nation in manufactur¬ 
ing articles u suited to a southern market,” as ever 
were contrived to disappoint the purchaser and 
make him swear that he would never buy another 
u Yankee-cheating notion.” 
Dr. Philips has made a valuable discovery, and 
it seems by his letter, at p. 181, of your journal, 
that his neighbors are also beginning to make the 
same, by the dozen. I cannot better close this ar¬ 
ticle than by the following words of the doctor’s :— 
“ There has been too much slop work made up to 
send out south, on the score that anything will do 
for these folks; they don’t know any better, any¬ 
how.” Well, if they do not, I hope they will soon 
learn better. Solon Robinson. 
Crown Point , la., July 1 Oth, 1848. 
AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE. No. 9. 
Views Entertained on the Identity and Differ¬ 
ence in Tea Plants. —There are few subjects con¬ 
nected with the vegetable kingdom which have at¬ 
tracted such a large share of public notice as the 
tea plant of China. Its cultivation on the Chinese 
hills, the particular species, or variety, which pro¬ 
duces the black and green teas of commerce, and 
the method of preparing the leaves, have always 
been objects of peculiar interest The jealousy of 
the Chinese government, in former times, prevented 
foreigners from visiting any of the districts where 
tea is cultivated, and the information derived from 
the Chinese merchants, even scanty as it was, could 
not be depended upon. And hence it is, that au¬ 
thors contradict each other, some asserting that the 
black and green teas are produced by the same va¬ 
riety, and that the difference in color is the result of 
a different mode of preparation, while others say 
that the black teas are produced from the plant 
called by botanists Thea bohea , and the green from 
Thea viridis , both of which have been known for 
many years in the gardens of Europe and America. 
During my travels in China, since the last war, I 
have had. frequent opportunities of inspecting some 
extensive tea districts in the black and green-tea 
countries of Canton, Fokein, and Chekiang, and 
the result of these observations is now laid before 
the reader. It will prove that even those who have 
had the best means of judging have been deceived, 
and that the greater part of the black and green 
teas, which are brought yearly from China to Eu¬ 
rope and America, are obtained from the same spe¬ 
cies, or variety, namely, from the Thea viridis. 
In various parts of the Canton province, where 
I had an opportunity of seeing tea cultivated, the 
species proved to be the Thea bohea, or what is 
commonly called the black-tea plant. In the green- 
tea districts of the north (I allude more particularly 
to the province of Chekiang), I never met with a 
single plant of this species, which is so common in 
the fields and gardens near Canton. All the plants 
in the green-tea country, near Ning-po, on the is¬ 
lands of the Chusan archipelago, and in every part 
of the province which I had an opportunity of vis¬ 
iting, proved, without exception, to be the Thea 
viridis. Two hundred miles further to the north¬ 
west, in tlfe province of Kiang-nan, and only a 
short distance from the tea hills in that quarter, I 
also found in gardens this same species of tea. 
Thus far my actual observation exactly verified 
the opinions i had formed on the subject before I 
left England, viz., that the black teas were pre¬ 
pared from the Thea bohea, and the green from 
Thea viridis. When I left the north, on my way 
to the city of Foo-chow-foo, on the river Min, in 
the province of Fokien, I had no doubt that I 
should find the tea hills there covered with the 
other species, Thea bohea, from which we gene¬ 
rally suppose the black teas are made ; and this 
was the more likely to be the case as this species 
actually derives its specific name from the Bohee 
hills in this province. Great was my surprise to 
find all the plants on the tea hills near Foo-chow 
exactly the same as those in the green-tea districts 
of the north. Here were then green-tea planta¬ 
tions on the black-tea hills, and not a single plant 
of the Thea bohea to be seen. Moreover, at the 
time of my visit, the natives were busily employed 
in the manufacture of black teas. Although the 
specific differences of the tea plants were well 
known to me, I was so much surprised, and I may 
add amused, at this discovery, that I procured a set 
of specimens for the herbarium, and also dug up a 
living plant, which I took northward to Chekiang. 
On comparing it with those which grow on the 
green-tree hills, no difference whatever was ob¬ 
served. 
It appears, therefore, that the black and green 
teas of the northern districts of China (those dis¬ 
tricts in which the greater part of the teas for the 
foreign markets are made), are both produced from 
the same variety, and that this variety is the Thea 
viridis, or, what is commonly called the green-tea 
plant. On the other hand, those black and green 
teas which are manufactured in considerable quan¬ 
tities, in the vicinity of Canton, are obtained from 
the Thea bohea, or black tea. And, really, when 
we give the subject our unprejudiced consideration, 
there seems nothing surprising in this state of 
things. Moreover, we must bear in mind that my 
previous opinions were formed upon statements 
made by the Chinese, at Canton, who will say any¬ 
thing which suits their purpose, and rarely give 
themselves any trouble to ascertain whether the 
information they communicate be true or false. 
Soil , Aspect , and Culture. —The soil of the tea 
districts is, of course, much richer in the northern 
provinces than it is in Quantung. Tea shrubs will 
not succeed well unless they have a rich sandy 
loam to grow in. The continual gathering of then- 
leaves is very detrimental to their health, and, in 
fact, ultimately kills them. Hence a principal ob¬ 
ject with the grower is, to keep his bushes in as 
robust health as possible ; and this cannot be done 
if the soil be poor. 
The tea plantations in the north of China are 
always situated on the lower and most fertile sides 
of the hills, and never on the low lands. The 
shrubs are planted in rows about four feet apart, 
and about the same distance between each row, 
