CHINESE  METHOD  OF  SCENTING  TEA. 
531 
«  The  flowers,  at  this  part  of  the  process,  had  impregnated  the 
leaves  with  a  large  portion  of  their  peculiar  odor,  but  they  had 
also  left  behind  them  a  certain  portion  of  moisture,  which  it  was 
necessary  to  expel.  This  was  done  by  placing  the  tea  once  more 
over  slow  charcoal  fires  in  baskets  and  sieves  prepared  for  the 
purpose  of  drying.  The  scent  communicated  by  the  flowers  is 
very  slight  for  some  time,  but  like  the  fragrance  peculiar  to  the 
tea-leaf  itself,  comes  out  after  being  packed  for  a  week  or  two. 
Sometimes  this  scenting  process  is  repeated  when  the  odor  is  not 
considered  sufficiently  strong ;  and  the  head  man  in  the  factory 
informed  me  he  sometimes  scented  twice  with  orange  flowers,  and 
once  with  the  6  Mo-le  ' — Jasminum  Sambac. 
"  The  flowers  of  various  plants  are  used  in  scenting  by  the 
Chinese,  some  of  which  are  considered  better  than  others,  and 
some  can  be  had  at  seasons  when  others  are  not  procurable.  I 
considered  it  of  some  importance  to  the  elucidation  of  this  subject 
to  find  out,  not  only  the  Chinese  names  of  these  various  plants, 
but  also  by  examining  the  plants  themselves,  to  be  able  to  give 
each  the  name  by  which  it  is  known  to  scientific  men  in  all  parts 
of  the  world.  The  following  list  was  prepared  with  great  care, 
and  may  be  fully  relied  upon.  The  numbers  prefixed  express 
the  relative  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  asterisks 
point  out  those  which  are  mostly  used  for  scenting  teas  for  the 
foreign  markets : — 
1.  Eose,  scented  (Tsing  moi-qui  hwa). 
1  or  2.  Plum,  double  (Moi  hwa). 
2*.  Jasminum  Sambac  (Mo-le  hwa). 
2  or  3*.  Jasminum  paniculatum  (Sieu-hing-hwa). 
4*.  Aglaia  odorata  (Lan-hwa,  or  Yu-chu-lan). 
5.  Olea  fragrans  (Kwei  hwa). 
6*.  Orange  (Chang  hwa). 
7*.  G-ardena  florida  (Pak-sema  hwa). 
It  has  been  frequently  stated  that  the  Chloranthus  is  largely 
used.  This  appears  to  be  a  mistake,  originating,  no  doubt,  in 
the  similarity  of  its  Chinese  name  to  that  of  Aglaia  odorata. 
The  Chloranthus  is  called  «  Chu-lan  ; '  the  Aglaia  <  Lan  '  or  <  Yu- 
chu-lan.' 
«  The  different  flowers  which  I  have  just  named  are  not  all 
used  in  the  same  proportions.    Thus,  of  orange  flowers  there  are 
