554 
FOURTH BULLETIN OF 
[1846. 
ly at the foot of mountains. It is also produced on level tracts, but less advanta¬ 
geously. Besides the explicit information given by Dr. Abel, from actual ex¬ 
amination of one district, it is sufficiently certain that the rock formations in most 
of the tea districts are chiefly primary, from their being productive of metals which 
are only found in such formations. 
The best soils are said to be light gravelly, sandy and whitish, (probably cal¬ 
careous,) with little accumulation of vegetable mould. Le Conte says the best 
tea is produced in a gravelly soil; and inferior in yellow, (probably clayey soil.) 
It also thrives best with an open exposure to the south. 
The circumstances of climate, therefore, in regard of temperature and moisture, 
under which the tea-plant is cultivated in China, may be stated thus; that tea is 
produced over an extent of country where the mean annual heat ranges from 73° 
to 54° 5' Fahrenheit, where the heat of summer does not descend below 80°, and the 
cold of winter ranges from 54° to 26°, where the difference between summer and 
winter heat is on the nor ..hern limit 59° and on the southern 30° Fahrenheit; that 
it is cultivated in highest perfection, where the mean annual heat ranges from 56° 
to 64°. That rain falls in all months of the year; and that the moisture of the cli¬ 
mate is on the whole moderate. 
The foregoing remarks will apply, in some measure, to some portions of our 
southern countries, where, if labor could be had at a more moderate rate, would 
probably form a profitable article of the planters attention. 
In Brazil, the tea-plant lias been introduced for some years by the government, 
and Chinese accustomed to the culture in China were employed for some time, but 
notwithstanding it languished, for some cause unknown to me; but of late years, 
the culture has be(m reviv d in the province of St. Paul’s, where I was informed 
that it was the most profitable crop raised, and flourished well, where coffee fre¬ 
quently failed from frost. It is being exported from the province now, in con¬ 
siderable quantities. 
Ginseng—The root of the Panax quinquefolium has long been used in China 
in large quantities, being obtained in Tartary, and also brought from the United 
States. That from Tartary they consider vastly superior to the American, and think 
it altogether distinct, and are greatly surprized to hear that we think it identical 
with our own; but the only difference that I could perceive, is that the roots were 
smaller, better clarified, and appeared to be prepared with greater care; yet from 
the root alone it is impossible to determine whether it is the same, t * a different 
species. As the Chinese are very superstitious and whimsical in their opinions 
and actions, and governed or influenced more or less by them, it is owing to this 
that they put so much more value on that brought from Tartary, as I was informed 
by several Chinese, that their ginseng comes from the “ cold country,” (Tartary,) 
and is found but on one island, which is inhabited by tigers, making it very dan¬ 
gerous to visit it, and that the ginseng is without leaves, and therefore cannot be 
seen in the day-time, but at night.a flame issues from it, at which time the island is 
visited by those who wish to procure it, and shoot arrows at the place, leaving them 
to mark the spot, until the next day, when the roots are dug up. Immense 
quantities are consumed by the Chinese, who consider it a panacea, and think that it 
gives great efficacy to other medicines, with which they always mix asmall quanti¬ 
ty, or the more wealthy use it alone in tea, esteeming it a great tonic and aphro¬ 
disiac. That brought from the United States in 1834 sold for twenty five cents per 
pound ; in 1838, it brought fifty cents; and in 1845, it was worth sixty cents. No 
doubt much higher prices coulu be obtained, if more care was taken in the prepara¬ 
tion and transporting it, as the American appears in the market in Canton as very 
inferior. The Tartar ginseng is carefully put up in boxes, made of pasteboard and 
handsomely gilt. 
The root is also enveloped in gilt paper stamped with the druggist’s name who 
vends it, and other particulars, and the box is half filled with roasted rice. Pre¬ 
pared in this manner, some of the best clarified roots, with odd forms, will sell for 
more than their weight in gold . The Panax quinquefolia is found in the United 
States, from Canada to Alabama, growing in thick shady woods on the mountain’s 
side, but is most abundant in North Carolina, where a large quantity is dug every 
year, and sold to persons in a green state for six and seven cents per pound, who 
clarify it by steaming and then drying it. If the process of preparing it were better 
