1863.] 
QG5 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
The New Tea Substitute—or “New- 
Jersey Tea.”—( Ceanothus Americanus.) 
Several readers ask for some account in 
the Agriculturist , of the plant which has been 
spoken of in other papers as affording a good 
substitute for tea. We intended to do this be¬ 
fore, but a press of other matter has crowded 
it out until rather late in the season. The plant 
in question is Ceanothus Americanus , or “ New 
Jersey Tea.” We are not able to trace out the 
meaning of the botanical name, Ceanothus , but 
its common name, New-Jersey Tea, is given it 
for the reason that it was used in New-Jersey 
as a substitute for tea, during the war of Inde¬ 
pendence. It is one of the common shrubs of 
our dry woodlands, and is found throughout 
the Northern States. In Europe it is cultivated 
as an ornamental plant, and if it should prove 
to be an object, there is no doubt that plant¬ 
ations might be readily established. Our en¬ 
graving represents a flowering branch of the 
shrub, which is low and bushy, and from one to 
three feet high. The stem is of an olive green 
below, striped with markings of brown, while 
the young shoots are of a lively green which 
turns to brown on drying. The leaves are 2 to 
2] inches long, by 1 to H inches wide, with three 
strong ribs; they are on short foot-stalks, and are 
smooth on the upper surface, and a little downy 
on the under side. The flowers are very small, 
and are borne in dense white clusters at the end 
of long downy foot-stalks, which come from 
the axils of the upper leaves. The flowers are 
followed by a dry three-sided pod, which bears 
three seeds. As mentioned above, the leaves 
were formerly used in place of tea; now that 
the high price of tea and coffee leads those ac¬ 
customed to these articles to look for some 
substitute, it is quite natural that the New-Jersey 
Tea should come 
again into notice. We 
trust that our engrav¬ 
ing and description 
will enable those who 
wish to try the experi¬ 
ment, to identify the 
plant. As to the qual¬ 
ity of the article, the 
only special informa¬ 
tion we have is from 
John Salmon, Esq., of 
Clinton Co., Pennsyl¬ 
vania. He considers 
it equal to the import¬ 
ed tea. lie says that 
in one township in 
his county there is a 
manufactory which 
employs a Chinaman 
to manufacture the 
“ tea,” and that they 
now have about a 
thousand boxes on 
hand; that he has 
used it for a year past, 
and considers it equal 
to the best black tea 
from China. Mr. S. 
thinks that if ade¬ 
quate capital and skill 
were engaged in the 
business, we should 
be able to produce 
our own tea. We give 
the statement as it 
comes to us, without 
any further knowl¬ 
edge on the subject than what is presented 
above. Except for old tea-topers, this sub¬ 
stitute may answer as a “ warm drink.” We 
frequently hear from those who profess, and 
doubtless think that clover tea is more de¬ 
licious than anything from China. 
Plan of a Farm House. 
The accompanying plan of a house, which 
has some good features, was contributed to the 
Agriculturist by “ W,” of Mount Hope, N. Y., 
who writes: “ Having built a house about a year 
ago, I am aware of the difficulty one has in se¬ 
lecting a good plan. At least in my case it was 
difficult, for I wanted the most rooms and in the 
most convenient positions, at the lowest cost. I 
examined such works as Downing’s, Backus’s, 
etc., as well as my files of the American Agricultu¬ 
rist and Country Gentleman, but found none 
that would suit my views without costing more 
than I felt willing to pay. I very soon came 
to the conclusion that the nearer square a house 
is built, the easier can it be divided and retain 
the great advantage of easy access to the differ¬ 
ent apartments. Every step saved to the women 
is so much less wear of patience and disposition. 
In the accompanying plan, the hall is in the 
centre and runs from the front door, (which in 
my house has two long glass panels), to the 
kitchen. Opening off the hall on the right is 
the dining room or living room; while opposite, 
on the left is the parlor. The parlor is only 
14.2x13.9 to admit of having a good sized bed¬ 
room in the rear of it—for I hold that the par¬ 
lor is generally the most useless room in the 
house, if the living room is properly attended 
to, that is, for us who reside out of town. The 
bedroom has a door from the parlor and also 
one into the kitchen. The dining room has one 
door from the hall and one into the kitchen, and 
the kitchen has one from the hall, one opening 
on the back stoop, and also a store room about 
7x6, and a water closet 5x6 opening off from it. 
This last arrangement was greatly objected to 
by many, in fact nearly all who saw the plans, 
or the house while building [and for good rea¬ 
sons, we should say.— Ed.] In practice I have 
found no trouble, but great convenience from 
the arrangement. I had the foundation wall 
left open for about 4 feet and built so as to come 
under the double partition between the water 
closet and the store room, forming the sides of 
solid masonry, and the bottom also was made 
of stone. The opening of the foundation wall 
is fitted with a door and casing, and it has earth 
thrown in every week or two, and the entire 
vault cleaned out once a month, and the con¬ 
tents removed into the manure shed. With this 
method there has been no manner of offence to 
the eye or nose. The inside is lined with water 
cement—and, as said before, the partition be¬ 
tween the closet and the store room, is double. 
The stairway from 1st to 2d floors has a closet 
under it—though if the cellar was under the 
whole house I should have the cellar stairs 
there. I had a small cellar built for my house, 
the wall crossing the house under the partitions 
between the bedroom, kitchen, storeroom, and 
the parlor, hall, dining room—also serving to 
support the two chimneys which are made so as 
to have a flue from each room for stoves, and 
also one for ventilators.—There are four good 
sized bedrooms on the second floor, with two 
large closets, and from the back bedroom on 
the right, a door opens to the cupola stairs, un¬ 
der which stairs is another closet. You will 
perceive that each room is capable of receiv¬ 
ing very thorough ventilation, and the furniture 
can be arranged in each bedroom without 
having a bedstead cross either window or door. 
After living in this house a year or more, we 
have not found any fault with it, except in re¬ 
gard to the cellar not extending under the whole 
house. This, however, can be easily remedied.” 
