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We cannot better conclude this part of our work than by giving the following chapter on Common Things-those common articles and substances which, though in common use in our families, and whose names are household words, are still but imperfectly understood; and if questioned as to how prepared or whence procured, few comparatively could give intelligent answers. Hence the importance of the information which follows, and which will answer the many questions that arise in respect to the articles illustrated and explained.

TEA-The leaves of a shrub grown chiefly in China and Japan; of which countries it is a native. It is an evergreen; grows to the height of from four to six feet, and bears pretty white flowers, resembling wild

roses.

Those most cultivated are the thea bohea and thea viridis; it was formerly believed that these two plants produced the black and green

teas, and from this belief they derived their names; but it is now proved that the difference arises in the mode of preparation, and either kind of tea can be made from either plant without any difficulty.

In China there are great numbers of tea farms, generally of small extent, situated on the upper valleys, and on the sloping sides of the hills, where the soil is light, and rich, and well drained. The plants are raised from seed, and generally allowed to remain three years before a crop of leaves is taken from them, as this operation of course injures their growth; even with care they become stunted, and unprofitable in about eight or ten years. When the crop is ready, the leaves are carefully picked by hand, one by one, and there are usually three or four gatherings in each year, the first crop in the spring being of the most value; a well grown bush, well treated, will produce two or three pounds of tea annually.

For green tea the leaves are only allowed to dry for an hour or two, after gathering, before they are thrown into heated roasting-pans, placed over a wood fire; they are stirred quickly with the hands, and allowed to remain for a few minutes; they are next rolled by hand on a table covered with mats, and afterward roasted and rolled again; the color is by this time set, and the after processes of sorting and refiring, which, for the finer sorts are repeated several times, may be deferred till a leisure time. In the preparation of black tea the leaves are allowed to remain a long time, say a whole day, drying before they are fired; they are tossed about and patted whilst cooling, and are finally dried, over a much slower fire.

The Chinese drink it pure; generally a handful of tea is put into a china basin or cup, and boiling water poured over it, which is renewed three or four times, till all the strength is gone; sometimes they add salt and ginger, and sometimes sugar, but not often. Tea-shops are very common by the road sides, and the road in front of them is usually thatched over, that those who stop for a cup of tea may be shaded from the sun.

Tea is sent from the farms to the coast for exportation, mostly by coolies, who carry the chests over the mountains till they reach some navigable river or canal, by which it can be conveyed to the coast. It is said to be a curious sight to watch, from the top of a wild mountain pass, long trains of coolies laden with chests of tea, which they carry on their shoulders or balanced at each end of a bamboo, winding along in one direction; and others returning laden with cotton goods and other merchandise received in exchange.

Tea has recently been introduced into some parts of North America, and also into the high valleys of the Himalaya range, where it appears likely to thrive.

Tea was first brought to Europe in 1610, by the Dutch East India Company; and it must have been in use in England by the year 1660, as appears from an Act of Parliament passed in that year, in which a tax of 1s. 6d. was laid on every gallon of tea sold at the coffee-houses. There is also the following entry in Pepy's Diary, dated September 25th, 1561: “I did send for a cup of tea (a China drink), of which I had never drunk before." In six years more it had found its way into

his own house as this entry shows: "Home-found my wife making of tea, a drink which Mr. Pelling the potticary tells her is good for her cold," etc. About this time the East India Company ordered "one hundred pounds weight of goode tey" to be sent home on speculation. The price was about fifty or sixty shillings the pound; and two pounds three ounces of the best tea was not deemed an unfitting present from the East India Company to the king.

Coffee.—Coffee is the seed of an evergreen shrub, the coffea Arabica, which is said to have been discovered in Abyssinia by the Arabs. It is chiefly cultivated in Arabia, the southern states of North America, Costa Rica, Brazil and other tropical parts of South America, the East and West Indies, Java, and Ceylon; but the climate of Arabia, where it was first cultivated, appears most suited to its growth; frequent rains and the brilliant, unshaded light of its almost cloudless sky, stimulate vegetation, and cause the secretion of those principles on which depends the delicate aroma.

Elevated situations are most suitable for the growth of coffee, and the plantations have much the appearance of English pleasure-grounds; the trees are raised from slips, which are allowed four or five years to grow before they are cropped; they attain the height of eight or ten feet, and continue in bearing about from thirty to fifty years. The shrub or tree resembles a handsome laurel, and bears a profusion of clusters of fragrant white flowers, which are succeeded by brilliant red berries, sweet and pulpy, which ripen to a purple color-each contains two coffee seeds or stones.

The only care required is the pruning of the trees and picking of the berries; after they are gathered they are pulped in a mill formed for the purpose, by which the beans, as they are called, are deprived of the surrounding pulp and outer skin. In a second mill they are peeled of their inner skin and winnowed; they are then dried in the sun on large open clay floors, picked over by hand, and finally packed in bags or barrels to be exported.

The beans are roasted, in a close revolving cylinder, over a clear but moderate fire; they should afterward be cooled quickly by exposure to the air, and then ground in a covered mill; the sooner the infusion is made after roasting and grinding the finer will be the flavor of the coffee.

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Coffee was first used in England in the early part of the seventeenth century, probably a little before tea was introduced, as that beverage is first spoken of as being sold at the coffee-houses; it is said that the first coffee-house keeper in London was a Greek servant, named Pasqua, brought to England by a Turkey merchant to make his coffee. pears to have been first used as a drink at Aden, thence introduced into Egypt, and thence into Turkey, where it is still very much in use. Dr. Livingstone, the African traveler, mentions that the coffee-tree was taken by the Jesuit missionaries to the western coast of Africa, where it has since become naturalized, and covers vast spaces of waste land.

Cocoa is the bruised seed of various species of theobroma, a tree which grows wild in the West India Islands, Brazil, and various parts