antee of equitable contracts.

The mountain range, which runs through the centre of the island, is
the most productive, because the tea gardens, extending from near the
base, high up the mountains, reach an atmosphere tempered by
elevation. The plant escapes the scorching heats of the torrid zone,
and finds a climate, by height rather than by latitude, adapted to its
nature. But the plant is not confined to lofty ridges. In the plains,
the hedges and fences, if one may so call them, are all planted with
the tea shrub, which flourish in greater or less perfection throughout
the island. But, as has already been intimated, the equatorial
latitudes are not the most auspicious for the vigorous growth of a
plant that requires a temperature equally removed from the extremes of
heat and cold, and the quality of the tea is as much affected by the
climate as the growth of the plant. A considerable quantity of tea is
annually shipped from Java to Europe; but the extension of the
cultivation is no doubt checked by the exceeding fertility of the
soil, and its adaptation to the growth of the rich products of
tropical regions.

Mr. Jacobson, inspector of tea culture in Java, has published at
Batavia a work in three volumes, upon the mode of cultivating this
plant, upon the choice of grounds, and the best processes for the
preparation and manipulation of the leaves. This book, the fruit of
many years of experience and care given to the subject, has been well
received by the cultivators who devote themselves to this branch of
industry. If, by means of careful experiments and experience, the
government succeed in conferring on the island of Java this important
branch of commerce, she may hope to obtain brilliant results; at all
events, it will open to the country a new source of prosperity and
riches.

An interesting account of the tea plants, and the manufacture of tea,
will be found in Fortune's "Wanderings in China," in Ball's "Account
of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea," Boyle's "Illustrations of
Himalayan Botany," and his "Productive Resources of India."

From Fortune's "Travels" I take the following extract:--

"There are few subjects connected with the vegetable kingdom which
have attracted such a large share of public notice as the tea-plant
of China. Its cultivation on the Chinese hills, the particular
species of variety which produces the black and green teas of
commerce, and the method of prepa