Class IT.]

TEAS ; SERIES ILLUSTRATED IX CHINESE COLLECTION.

■which are flavourless; also some apples, pears, and cher-ries, which are better.

10. Prussia exhibits a case of 24 bottles of dried gar-den and orchard fruits, good, and well flavoured.

11. Spain. —The collection of Spanish dried fruitsdeserves Honourable Mention for general excellence. .There are dried raisins, dried peaches, prunes, and thin-skinned figs, walnuts of great size and good flavour;almonds, Barcelona nuts, ground-nuts, pistachio nuts,chestnuts, and belotes. Of these the following exhibitorshave been considered worthy of Honourable Mention:—Don Juan d’Alvear; plums. Don J. R. Casalo; rai-sins(105,p. 1335). Don Joaquin Enriquez; figs (107,p. 1335). Don Jose Olmo ; peaches (176, p. 1339). Thepimientos de vico (Logrono ), or sweet capsicum, of R.Manso (133, p. 1337), likewise merit Honourable Mention.

12. Portugal . —The series from this country is par-ticularly fine, and consists of copious samples put up inlarge bottles, all of good quality. Those contributedfrom Villa Real (412 — 416, p. 1312), by Pinto da Fon-seca Vaz, consisting of plums, figs, pears, peaches, andapricots, have been awarded a Prize Medal. A PrizeMedal is also awarded to J. L. Gomes, for his magnifi-cent figs (403, 418, 419, 420, p. 1312); and HonourableMention is made of the dried pears (404, p. 1312) of Pinto ■da Fonseca Vaz. Besides the above, there are fromthese and various other exhibitors almonds, walnuts, fil-berts, chestnuts, belotes, raisins, plums, &c.

13. Greece contributes raisins, currants, and figs; butnone of fine quality.

14. Tuscany sends pine-seeds, an article of great con-sumption in the Italian provinces.

15. Tunis . —The collection of dates exhibited by Et-teibMehsen(pp. 1415,1416), including upwards of thirtyvarieties, all in excellent condition, and in great quan-tities, has been awarded a Prize Medal. Though datesare not imported into this country from Tunis , that partof Africa is celebrated beyond all others for the varietyand excellence of this fruit. There are, also, almonds,raisins, pistachio-nuts, apricots, and figs.

16. Egypt . -There are seven kinds of dates in thiscollection, none remarkable. The fruit of the doom-palm (Crucifera thebaica) is a novelty; it is commonlycalled Alexandrian gingerbread, and is much eaten,though worthless as an article of food in English esti-mation.

17. Turkey exhibits an extensive series of fruits andsmall articles for dessert; but all in insignificant quanti-ties, and very dirty. The jujubes are remarkable forsize and variety.

18. Of cocoa-nuts there are very few exhibited, andnone worthy of notice. Ceylon and the Mauritius con-tribute some. The “ double ” or “ sea cocoa-nut” of theSeychelle Islands, sent from the Mauritius , is a cu-riosity, but not an edible one.

19. Betel-nuts are exhibited from Sarawak in Borneo ,Ceylon, Singapore , and the East Indies.

Though not ranking as “ dried fruits,” olives andolive-oil have been included in this division by the Jury;of these the exhibition is admirable. The Spanish olives are magnificent, both those preserved in oil and inwater; and Honourable Mention is made of the “ mauza- ’nillas h, la Rena” of Manuel Carabe, Seville (112,p. 1335). Portugal also exhibits admirable olives, ofwhich the small black kind of the Viscount de Fonte ;Boa (441, pp. 1312, 1313) merits Honourable Mention.The other exhibiting countries are Egypt, Algiers , andTunis. Olive-oil is abundantly exhibited by France ,Algiers, Tuscany, Spain, Sardinia, Corfu, Portu-gal, Madeira, and South Australia ; but, amongstgreat general excellence, there is no novelty or particular ’merit.

C. I.— Tea.

The exhibitors are few in this division, and have con-fined themselves to imports from the Eastern World,whence this product is, however, admirably illustrated. ;China tea is exhibited in abundance, and of the finestquality. The British Indian produce, again, has never :before been displayed in England as it is here by the

Assam Tea Company, and the Honourable Court ofDirectors of the East India Company , who send goodsamples of the Himalaya and Java growths in the bestcondition. The Jury regret the absence of samples fromMadeira, and especially from Rio de Janeiro , as also fromChittagong , and various other countries in which thecultivation of tea has been attempted with more or lesssuccess.

1. China Teas .— The collection formed by P. W.Ripley (17, p. 1423), at Canton, expressly for this Exhi-bition, is quite unrivalled, whether we regard the excel-lence of the specimens, the completeness of the series, therarity and costly nature of many of its perishable con-tents, or the scientific value it possesses from the admira-ble arrangement followed. Some of the teas exhibitedhave never before been seen in England, whilst these andothers command prices, in the China market, six timesgreater than the most expensive fetch, when sold retail,in England. Some are so perishable that the voyageinjures, and the subsequent keeping and exposure in theExhibition ruins them ; whilst all are curious and highlyinstructive; circumstances quoted to sHow how regard-less of every consideration but the complete illustrationof this branch of commerce Mr. Ripley has been.

The Jury regret to find that the rules of the RoyalCommissioners preclude Mr. Ripley from receiving anystronger proof of the high estimation in which his collec-tion is held than the award of a Prize Medal. The fol-lowing scanty data are recorded for the information ofthe public on a branch of industry which lias never be-fore been adequately illustrated.

Full chests of various Pekoe teas are exhibited, someof which fetch 50s. per lb. in the China market; whilst7s. is the very highest price any of the sort will fetch inEngland, and this only as a fancy article. The plainand orange-scented Pekoes now fetch little with us ; but,as caravan teas, are purchased by the wealthier Russian families. The finest, however, never leave China , beingbought up by the mandarins; for though the transit ex-penses add 3 s. to 4s. per lb. to the value when sold in Russia ,the highest market price in St. Petersburg is al ways under50s. Among these scented teas are various Caper teas,flavoured with chlorantlius flowers, and the buds of somespecies of plants belonging to the orange tribe, magnoliafuscata, olea flowers, &c.

The Cong Souchong, or Xing-young teas, are chieflypurchased for the American market. Oolong tea is thefavourite drink in Calcutta , though less prized in England,its delicate flavour being injured by the length of thevoyage.

For delicacy, no teas approacli those usually called“ Mandarin teas,” which being but slightly fired, andrather damp when in the fittest state for use, will bearneither transport nor keeping. They are in great de-mand among the wealthy Chinese , and average 20s. perlb. in the native market. The pouchongs, souchongs, andcongos better illustrate the English trade, and are of themost admirable description.

Of the Moyune district teas there are eight varieties;they are much prized in the American markets, but notso much so in England. Among the most importantcuriosities in the collection are the counterfeit teas ofCanton. These are made of any refuse, such as moist-ened tea-leaves from the pot, beat up with gum and rice-water in a mortar, coloured with Prussian blue andgypsum, and curled, twisted, or granulated so ingeniouslyas to counterfeit the most costly varieties. The gunpow-der and scented caper are over-done, the appearance ofthe counterfeit being more equal and beautiful than thegenuine teas ever are.

Various curious teas used by the labouring classes ofChinese are exhibited ; some are merely coarse, and bad,sun-dried leaves; better qualities, chiefly from Ankoy,are put up in baskets and boxes, and exported to theIslands of Java, &c. Curiously rolled and twisted sam-ples, such as the “ old man’s eyebrows,” “ ball tea,” audother fancy manufactures, are all illustrated. Medicineteas follow these in the series, and consist of cakes,lozenges, &e., made of leaves mixed with various drugs,herbs, liquorice, and sweetmeats.