placed on a ta-ble and care-ful-ly picked o-ver, ev-er-y un-sight-ly or im-per-fect-ly dried leaf that is de-tect-ed be-ing re-moved from the rest, in or-der that the sam-ple may pre-sent a more even and a bet-ter ap-pear-ance when of-fered for sale.

The names by which some of the prin-ci-pal sorts of tea are known in Chi-na, are taken from the pla-ces in which they are pro-duced; while oth-ers are dis-tin-guished ac-cor-ding to the peri-ods of their gath-er-ing, the man-ner em-ployed in air-ing, or oth-er ex-trin-sic cir-cum-stan-ces. It is a com-mon-ly re-ceived o-pin-ion, that the dis-tinct-ive col-our of green tea is im-part-ed to it by sheets of cop-per, up-on which it is dried. For this be-lief there is not, how-ev-er, the smallest found-a-tion in fact, since cop-per is nev-er used for the pur-pose. Re-peat-ed ex-per-i-ments have been made to dis-cov-er, by an un-err-ing test, wheth-er the leaves of green tea con-tain an-y im-preg-na-tion of cop-per, but in no case has an-y trace of this met-al been de-tect-ed.

The Chi-nese do not use their tea un-til it is

a-bout a year old. It is con-sid-er-a-bly old-er when brought in-to con-sump-tion in this coun-try in con-se-quence of the length of time oc-cu-pied in its col-lec-tion and trans-port. The peo-ple of Chi-na par-take of tea at all their meals, and frequent-ly at oth-er times of the day. They drink the in-fu-sion pre-pared in the same man-ner as we em-ploy, but they do not mix with it sug-ar or

milk. The work-ing class-es in that coun-try are o-bliged to con-tent them-selves with a ver-y weak in-fu-sion. It is re-la-ted by a mem-ber of an em-bas-sy to Chi-na, that the na-tives in at-tendance nev-er failed to beg the tea leaves re-main-ing af-ter the Eu-ro-pe-ans had break-fast-ed, and with these, af-ter sub-mit-ting them a-gain to boil-ing wa-ter, they made a bev-er-age, which they ac-know-ledged was bet-ter than an-y they could or-din-ar-i-ly ob-tain.

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COFFEE.

COF-FEE is so named from the king-dom of Caf-fa, in Af-ri-ca, where it grows a-bun-dant-ly. It was known in Lon-don for the first time a-bout two hun-dred years a-go. It is a na-tive of A-ra-bi-a, but is cul-tiv-a-ted in the West In-dies, and man-y oth-er parts. It is a ver-y hand-some plant, from fif-teen to eight-een feet high; but when un-der cul-ture, it is kept at five or six feet, for the conve-nience of col-lect-ing the ripe ber-ries. The trees are plant-ed in reg-u-lar rows; and when they are in full bloom, noth-ing can ex-ceed the beau-ty of their pure, white clus-tered flow-ers, and the sweet per-fume which they ex-hale; the air is filled with fra-grance, and the trees seem as if cov-ered with a show-er of snow, af-ford-ing a fine con-trast to the dark green fo-li-age. But

this en-chant-ing scene is of tran-sient du-ra-tion; the flow-ers de-cay in a few hours af-ter they are full blown, and all the beau-ty and fra-grance which de-light-ed the sen-ses in the mor-ning have van-ished be-fore noon. The ber-ries, which suc-ceed the flow-ers, are first green, when ful-ly grown be-come red, ripen in-to a dark pur-ple, and if not gath-ered, at last shriv-el and drop from the tree. The fruit is fit for col-lect-ing a-bout seven months from the ap-pear-ance of the flow-ers. The fruit, when ripe, is like a small o-val cher-ry, and gen-er-al-ly con-tains two seeds. These seeds, af-ter be-ing care-ful-ly ex-tract-ed and dried, are packed up in large bags or chests, and ex-port-ed to va-ri-ous parts of the world. Be-fore be-ing used they are roast-ed in an i-ron cyl-in-der turned rap-id-ly by the hand o-ver the fire, by which the ber-ries be-come roast-ed e-qual-ly all o-ver; they are af-ter-wards ground as they may be re-quired for use.

Encyclopedia.

SUGAR.

SUG-AR is made from a plant which is called sugar-cane. This plant grows in cer-tain is-lands called the West In-dies, where the soil and the cli-mate are found to fa-vour its growth. It would not grow well in a cold coun-try. The persons who have e-states for rais-ing sug-ar-canes, get the

I

name of plant-ers. Sug-ar-canes are plant-ed in rows like beans in a garden.

When ripe for use, the canes are cut off near the roots. They are then car-ried to a press, and put be-tween two i-ron roll-ers. These roll-ers, mov-ing round, squeeze out the juice from the canes, and the juice falls in-to a tub placed beneath. After this, the juice is put in-to a cop-per pan, where it is boiled, so as to car-ry off some of the wa-ter in va-pour. When it is cooled, the moist part or trea-cle, is drawn off and put up in casks, and sold un-der the name of mo-lass-es. The thick sub-stance that re-mains be-hind is the sug-ar, which is al-so packed up in casks or barrels, and shipped off for those coun-tries that consume it. In this state it is called raw, or yel-low, or brown, or soft sug-ar. It is made in-to white sug-ar by be-ing boiled a-gain and a-gain, till the trea-cle or brown part is whol-ly taken a-way, and it be-comes white as snow. Bul-locks' blood or steam, is used when they boil the raw sug-ar; and those who make it in-to white, are said to re-fine it. This is called al-so loaf sug-ar, because it is formed in-to the shape of loaves. And it is called lump sug-ar, be-cause it be-comes hard, and may be broken down in-to lumps. Sug-ar, both brown and white, is very much used by all class-es of the peo-ple; and it is said to nourish the bod-y, as well as to please the

taste.

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to stretch a-part its front legs. In pre-pa-ring to lie down, it kneels like a cam-el. When pur-sued, it trots so fast that even a good horse is scarce-ly a-ble to o-ver-take it; and it has an ad-van-tage in be-ing a-ble to keep on its course for a long time with-out ta-king rest.

It is found on the plains of Af-ri-ca, and is some-times at-tacked by li-ons and oth-er beasts of prey; and though it might at first sight ap-pear de-fence-less, we are told that "by its kicks it fre-quent-ly wea-ries, dis-cour-a-ges, and distan-ces even the li-on." The use of the lit-tle tuft-ed horns with which its head is a-dorned is