of which is here given. The intimate mixture of these substances having been effected, the whole is put while yet hot into tin moulds, where it hardens in cooling, and in this form, if preserved from the air, it will keep good for a considerable time. Chocolate is not very much consumed in England; it is in greater esteem in France; it forms the ordinary breakfast in Spain; and in Mexico, according to Humboldt, it is not considered an object of luxury, but rather of prime necessity.

VANILLA-Vanilla aromatica-is a native of Mexico, and of some parts of India. The Spaniards found its fruit in use among the Aztecs at the time of their first invasion of Mexico. At this day, although a considerable quantity of vanilla pods is collected in that state for the purpose of exportation, the people do not themselves employ them in the manufacture of chocolate-the only use to which they have ever been anywhere applied-conceiving them to be possessed of unwholesome properties.

The vanilla is a parasitical plant; its leaves are lanceolate and ribbed, eighteen inches long, and three inches broad. Its flowers are white, intermixed with stripes of red and yellow colours; these are succeeded by long and slender pods, which at first are green, but become yellow as they ripen, and are then collected for use. The cavity of the pod contains, besides its numerous seeds, a substance which is black, oily, and balsamic; when recently gathered this is humid, and its odour is said to induce a kind of temporary intoxication. The pods are harvested during the three latter months of the year, and are carefully dried by exposure to the sun's rays they are made warm, in which state they are wrapped in woollen cloths, to promote and absorb evaporation. By this process the vanilla acquires a black hue, with

until

a somewhat silvery appearance. Five of the pods, thus treated, will usually weigh one ounce.

The vanilla plant is very easily propagated by cuttings; these, each about a foot in length, are planted at the root of the tree about which it is intended to climb. These plants will yield pods in their third year, and each will continue to furnish about fifty annually for thirty or forty years. What is a singular advantage in that climate, no insect will attack this plant.

THE history of commerce does not, perhaps, present a parallel to the circumstances which have attended the introduction of tea into Great Britain. This leaf was first imported into Europe by the Dutch EastIndia Company, in the early part of the seventeenth century; but it was not until the year 1666 that a small quantity was brought over from Holland to

this country by the Lords Arlington and Ossory; and yet, from a period earlier than any to which the memories of any of the existing generation can reach, tea has been one of the principal necessaries of life among all classes of the community. To provide a sufficient supply of this aliment, many thousand tons of the finest mercantile navy in the world are annually employed in trading with a people by whom all dealings with foreigners are merely tolerated; and from this recently-acquired taste, a very large and easilycollected revenue is obtained by the state.

The tea-plant is indigenous to China or Japan, and probably to both. It has been used among the natives of the former country from time immemorial; and, from the age of Confucius, has been the constant theme of praise with their poets. It is only in a particular tract of the Chinese empire that the plant is cultivated; and this tract, which is situated on the eastern side, between the 30th and 33rd degree of north latitude, is distinguished by the natives as "the tea country." The more northern part of China would be too cold; and further south the heat would be too great. There are, however, a few small plantations to be seen near to Canton.

as

The tree or shrub whence the tea of commerce is derived, is the Thea of botanists. There is only one species of this plant; and although it has been said by some writers that there are two varieties, differing in the breadth of their leaves, this assertion confidently denied by others, who affirm that the differences discernible in the qualities of the dried leaves are owing to the period of their growth at which they are gathered, and to some variations in the methods employed for curing them.

The Chinese give to the plant the name of tcha or tha. It is propagated by them from seeds, which are deposited in rows four or five feet asunder;

and so uncertain is their vegetation, even in their native climate, that it is found necessary to sow as many as seven or eight seeds in every hole. The ground between each row is always kept free from weeds, and the plants are not allowed to attain a higher growth than admits of the leaves being conveniently gathered. The first crop of leaves is not collected until the third year after sowing; and when the trees are six or seven years old, the produce becomes so inferior that they are removed to make room for a fresh succession.

The flowers of the tea-tree are white, and somewhat resemble the wild rose of our hedges: these flowers are succeeded by soft green berries or pods, containing each from one to three white seeds. The plant will grow in either low or elevated situations, but always thrives best and furnishes leaves of the finest quality when produced in light stony ground.

Tea-gathering-from a Chinese drawing.

The leaves are gathered from one to four times during the year, according to the age of the tree. Most commonly there are three periods of gathering;

the first commences about the middle of April; the second at Midsummer; and the last is accomplished during August and September. The leaves that are earliest gathered are of the most delicate colour and most aromatic flavour, with the least portion of either fibre or bitterness. Leaves of the second gathering are of a dull green colour, and have less valuable qualities than the former; while those which are last

collected are of a dark green, and possess an inferior value. The quality is farther influenced by the age of the wood on which the leaves are borne, and by the degree of exposure to which they have been accustomed; leaves from young wood, and those most exposed, being always the best.

The leaves, as soon as gathered, are put into wide shallow baskets, and placed in the air or wind, or sunshine, during some hours. They are then placed on a flat cast-iron pan, over a stove heated with charcoal, from a half to three quarters of a pound of leaves being operated on at one time. These leaves are stirred quickly about with a kind of brush, and are then quickly swept off the pan into baskets. The next process is that of rolling, which is effected by carefully rubbing them between men's hands; after which they are again put, in larger quantities, on the pan, and subjected anew to heat, but at this time to a lower degree than at first, and just sufficient to dry them effectually without risk of scorching. This effected, the tea is placed on a table and carefully I picked over, every unsightly or imperfectly-dried leaf that is detected being removed from the rest, order that the sample may present a more even and a better appearance when offered for sale. With some finer sorts of tea a different manipulation is employed; the heated plates are dispensed with, and the leaves are carefully rolled into balls, leaf by leaf,

with the hands.

in