The most difficult part of this question is to determine whether the green and black teas are produced by one or two distinct species of plants, as the statements of apparently equally well qualified judges are not only contradic tory, but directly the reverse of each other. The Chinese tea-makers in Asam and those in Java alike state that the black and green trees may be prepared from the same plant.
. Tea having become so extensive an article of commerce, and a source of considerable revenue, various attempts have been made to introduce it into other countries ; but the climates are very different in which the several experiments have been made, as in Rio Janeiro and the warm part of Brazil, and latterly in the hilly parts of Java and Brazil, in Penang, Asam, and the Himalayas. Favour able reports axe given of the teas grown in the East Indies, but as yet only small quantities are brought into the European markets. [AsAm.] The first importation by the English East Inclia Company took place in 1669 from thq. Company's factory at Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to 'send home by their ships one hundred pounds weight of the best Tey they could get.' In 1678 were imported 4713 lbs., but in the six following years the entire imports amounted to no more than 410 lbs. According to Milburn (' Oriental Commerce'), the consumption in 1711 was 141,905 lbs.; 120,695 lbs. in 1715; and 237,004 lbs. in 1720. In 1745 the amount was 730,720 lbs. In 1844 it was 41,363,7701bs. The tea consumed in the United Kingdom, and the revenue which it yielded, in 1818, 1840, and 1850, were as follows : 1848 .... 48,347,789 lbs 5,329,9921.
1840 .... 50,021,576 lbs 6,471,4221.
1850 .... 51,178,215 lbs 5,597,7071.
There have been great changes in the taxes levied on tea. In 1835 the excise duty on tea was repealed from and after July 1, 1836, when a customs' duty of 2s. Id. per lb. was levied on all sorts of tea, which, with 5 per cent. added in 1845, makes the duty now paid 2s. 21d. per lb.
For above a century and a half the sole object of the East India Company's trade with China was to provide tea for the consumption of the United Kingdom. The Company had an exclusive trade, and were bound to send orders for tea, and to provide ships to import the same, and always to have a year's con sumption in their warehouses. Tho teas were
disposed of in London, where only they could be imported, at quarterly sales. The act of 1834 opened the trade to China. The impor• tation of tea is no longer confined to the port of London, and the trade has increased both in the quantity and variety of the exports to China.
The tea-duty produces about one•twelfth of the total revenue. In 1801 it was 1,423,6601., in 1844, 4,524,1031. The amount in later years is stated above. As it was foreseen that on the opening of the tea trade there would be a considerable reduction in price,• so that an ad valorem duty would- not, even with the increased consumption, be so productive as formerly, a fixed duty was imposed. Up 'to 1836, each of the hundred thousand tea dealers in the United Kingdom was visited once a month by the officers of excise, who took an account of his stock ; and no quantity exceeding 8 lbs. could be sentfrom his premises without a permit, of which above 800,000 were required in a year. Tea is now sold by the importing merchants by public auction and private sales.
The duty on tea is still too high, and it is certain that an increased consumption would fellow a diminution of the duty.
Russia is supplied with about 7,000,000 lbs. of tea annually through Kiakhta; France re quires about 2,000,000 lbs. ; and Holland about 3,000,000 lbs. With the exception of China no other country consumes so much tea as England. The tea-trade of the United States is, however, rapidly increasing. In 1850 there were 173,317 chests of green tea and 01,017 of black tea exported from Canton to America ; these quantities with a further portion purchased from England, made a total of about 23,000,000 lbs. of tea which crossed the Atlantic in 1850.
Ten, like many other commodities is too frequently adulterated with various substances, —tests for detecting which are pointed out by Dr. Normandy. The same authority tells us that the much advertised veno bozo, for 'improving' the flavour of tea, is nothing more than a mixture of catechu with broken tea leaves.