convenient lengths; and it is then flattened, and slightly charred, to contract the pores. This sub

stance is the rough cork of commerce; and it is thus fit to be cut into floats, stoppers, shoe-soles, and other articles of domestic use, by the manufacturer. The cork of the best quality is firm, elastic, and of a slightly red color. Two thousand five hundred tons of cork were imported into Great Britain in 1827. Cork burned in vessels of a particular construction gives the substance called Spanish black.

THE TEAK TREE.

THOUGH the Teak Tree is a tree of quite a different family from the oak, and a native of India, it is used in ship-building like the oak, and has some resemblance to it in its timber. It is a tree of uncommon size, with leaves twenty inches long, The and sixteen broad, and bears a hard nut. country ships in India, as well as many very fine ones that trade between India and this country, are built of it. A specimen was introduced into England, about sixty years ago; but from the warmth of the climate of which it is a native, it can never become a forest-tree in this country.

Besides its value as timber, the teak has great beauty as a tree. It is found more than two hundred feet high, and the stem, the branches, and the leaves, are all very imposing. On the banks of the river Irrawaddy, in the Birman empire, the teak forests are unrivalled; and they rise so far over the jungle or brushwood, by which tropical forests are usually rendered impenetrable, that they seem almost as if one forest were raised on gigantic poles, over the top of another. The teak has not the

broad strength of the oak, the cedar, and some other trees; but there is a grace in its form which they do not possess.

Our enemies increase with our conquests, and our poverty with our possessions.

The art of living upon good terms with the world, appears to consist, chiefly, in the indulgence and assumption of false feelings.

One of the greatest instances of cruelty is to require what you condemn.

TEA.

Tea was first imported into Europe by the Dutch East-India 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 England 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 shipping 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 a native of China or Japan, and probably of both. It has been used among the

natives of the former country from time immemorial. 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 33d degrees of north latitude, is distinguished by the natives as "the tea country." The more northern part of China would be too cold; and farther south the heat would be too great. There are, however, a few small plantations to be seen near to Canton.

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.

The leaves are gathered from one to four times during the year, according to the age of the trees. 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 following cut of tea-gathering is from a Chinese drawing. The leaves that are earliest gathered

are of the most delicate color and most aromatic flavor, with the least portion of either fibre or bitterness. Leaves of the second gathering are of a dull green color, 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