1846.] 
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
553 
the Phillipine islands, and was greatly injured by the frosts, while those procured 
from China have resisted the severest cold of our winters. 
Therefore the similarity of the climate of Northern China and the United States 
would lead us to expect that the productions of the former would thrive in the lat¬ 
ter; for the mean temperature of Pekin, for the warmest month in summer is 84° 
38, and the coldest 24° 62, while that of Philadelphia is 77° and 32° 72. 
Albany is 72° 38 and 23° 38; and it is very probable that southern and tropical 
plants, during the space of many centuries, may have gradually been taken to the 
north, and thus become enured to the cold of the seasons there. 
These considerations would certainly warrant an investigation of the products 
of this extensive empire, as one which may be of incalculable value in the future 
improvement of our country > 
Naturalists nearly all agree now in considering tea, (the great staple of China,) 
the production of one species, (thea viridis,) notwithstanding the many varieties 
which are known in commerce, more than thirty different kinds being known to 
the Chinese, but a few of these being exported. I obtained in Canton twenty-five 
different varieties, but have not yet had an opportunity of infusing and opening 
the leaves, but a specific difference may not be found alone in the leaf; and I was 
informed by Mr. Hallam, tea inspector in the American consul’s hong, that 
of the kinds known in foreign commerce, he has not been able to detect a specific 
difference, but that the different varieties are produced by culture, manufacture, 
time of gathering, &c., &e. 
The black tea of commerce is grown and manufactured in the province of 
Fokyen, with the exception of about one-third of that sort called by us Bohea, 
which one-third part is produced in the north-east corner of the province of Can¬ 
ton, in a district called No-ping, which gives the name to the tea in question. 
The green tea is all grown in the provinces ofKiang-nau, Kiang-si, and Che¬ 
kiang, but chiefly in the two former. Green tea has been made in the districts 
from whence the blak tea comes, and vice versa. Some of the buds of the plant in 
Fokyen, are picked in the early part of the spring, before they have burst; these 
form the Pekoe, the most valuable tea. A small portion of these buds is mixed with 
the best parcels of Congo, to give them a flavor. Pekoe is also brought to Canton, 
unmixed with other leaves. The tea sent to Russia is said to be Pekoe, slightly 
adulterated by the mixture of other leaves. 
In the beginning of May, the leaves are stript off the plant; a new crop is then 
thrown out, and picked about six weeks afterwards, and a third crop about the 
end of the summer. The two first pickings are the best, and nearly equal in quali¬ 
ty. The third crop of leaves yields tea of little strength, and inferior flavor; 
hence the best crops are composed wholly of the choice leaves of the two first ga¬ 
therings, with a small sprinkling of the buds of Pekoe. The inferior crops eon- 
tain a large share of the third pickings, and none of the Pekoe. 
Green teas, like the black teas, are formed by selecting the better from the in¬ 
ferior leaves after they have been dried, the light leaves being separated by a win¬ 
nowing machine from the heavier hyson-skins. Much of the skins of Twankay, 
are sold as hyson skins. Copper is never used in making green tea. The bloom 
appearance of hyson, gunpowder, &c., is said to arise from the effects of carefully 
roasting the leaves in iron vases, placed over a fire, and by rubbing them against 
the sides of the vessel. In this process with the green teas much skill is requisite, 
and there is a class of persons who are hired by some of the tea merchants to su¬ 
perintend their respective factories. 
Bohea tea is composed partly of the lower grades of the Woo-y-shan tea, which 
has been left unsold, after the departure of the last ships of the season, and partly 
of the tea grown in the district of Canton called Wo-ping. The most productive 
tea districts in China, according to all accounts, lie in the maritime provinces of 
Fokyen, Kyanti, and Kiang-nam, chiefly between 27 Q 30 ; and 31° north latitude, 
and longitude 112° to 117° east. One kind, Cunguacba, a superior sort of hyson, 
is said by the Jesuite missionaries to be produced so high as north latitude 38°, 
and east longitude 100°; and another, Paeulcha, brought from the province of 
Yannam, is said to be procured from mountains in the latitude of 25°, on the fron¬ 
tiers of Ava and Pegue. 
The tea plant is grown on the sloping sides of mountains or in vallies, but chief- 
