the packing-cases, from the want of shelter during
the severe frosts of February, from the excessive heat in June, and
from the drought of 58 days' continuance in July and August. The
plants were divested of their leaves and generally of their branches
and twigs in February, during my absence in New York. Knowing that
the plants were tender, and not fortified by age and mature growth
against severe weather, I had directed them to be covered in case a
material change of temperature should occur. But these orders were
neglected, and they consequently suffered from that cause.

The plant is sufficiently hardy to resist any weather occurring in
this part of the country, when seasoned for one year.

The plant has grown thrifty since April, and the quantity of
foliage, buds, and blossoms, show that the root has taken strong
hold, and is now fully equal to produce its fruit next autumn, which
always follows the year after the blossoms. I have a variety of both
black and green tea-plants. The buds and blossoms of the latter did
not appear until a fortnight after the black tea-plant. But the
blossoms were larger when they did appear in September, October,
November, and December. From present appearances, I think the
blossoms of some of the late plants will continue to unfold until
spring. It is not an unusual thing for the blossoms and the fruit to
appear at the same time upon the same plant. In this particular it
differs from any plant I have seen. As my chief object, at present,
is to cultivate and increase the tea-nut, it will be a year or two
perhaps before I attempt to convert the leaf into tea. The root
supports the leaf and fruit, and the leaf the root, so that neither
can be spared without detriment.

This climate appears congenial to the growth of the plant, and the
soil is so diversified in this mountainous district, that there is
no difficulty in selecting that best adapted to seed-growing plants,
or that designed for the leaf only. Upon the plantation purchased
this summer, I have light-yellow, dark-brown, and red clay subsoil,
of a friable character, with a surface soil sufficiently sandy to
answer the demands of the plant. I do not see any reason to doubt,
from a year's experience, that the tea-plant in its varieties will
flourish in what I heretofore denominated the tea-grow