a In 27 vessels; b in 17 vessels; c in 24 vessels. This closes the separate view of the minor consuming countries. The present consumption of tea by all the world, save China and Japan, may be estimated in round numbers as follows: Great Britain and Ireland will consume this year. .lbs 52,000,000 Continent of Europe and other countries, exp't'd f'm Eng. 4,500,000 2,500,000 7,000,000 Deduct for "other countries" 2,000,000 Leaves for the continent of Europe, except Russia.. 5,000,000 British North America, East and West Indies, Cape of Good Hope, &c., through England and direct.. 8,500,000 Australia. 3,500,000 Russia.. 10,000,000 United States of America, including exports to various countries.. 20,000,000 500,000 Total pounds.... 94,500,000 In concluding the series of these papers, we annex the following account of the growth and curing of tea, &c., extracted from Mr. Martin's Report to the committee of the British House of Commons : The territory in which the large amount of tea consumed in Europe and America is grown, is south of the Great Yan-tze-Keang River; the whole region lying between the 27th and 31st degrees of north latitude, and from the sea coast inland for 500 to 600 miles, may be considered capable of producing tea; but the most favored region is the generally sterile hilly province of Fokein, and the provinces of Keangsoo and Chekeang, between the 25th and 31st degrees of north latitude. This territory which extends over 350 to 400 square miles, is composed principally of the debris of a coarse granite, and of a ferruginous sandstone, crumbling into decay; but when well comminuted and irrigated, yielding sufficient nutriment for the hardy tea plant, (a camellia,) whose qualities, like that of the vine, are elicited by the nature of the soil, the elevation, the climate, and the solar aspect to which the shrub is subjected.* It is generally stated that green and black teas are produced from the shrubs of the same species, with a slight variety; the leaf of the green being larger and broader than that of the black; the former leaf is rounded, the latter elliptic, flatter, and more coriaceous. The cultivation in different soils, the picking of the leaves at different stages of expansion, and subjecting them to greater or less degree of heat and manipulation in dying, is the cause of considerable variety; probably the same difference exists as between the red and white grape, or the black and white currant. The shrub is cultivated with great care, planted in quincunx rows, in beds, by seeds, chiefly along the sides of hills with a southern aspect, and on a poor gravelly soil, among the debris of decayed granite and disintegrated sandstone, and where nothing else will grow, and it is used for hedgerows or boundaries. The height varies from three to seven feet, and it is very leafy. The flower resembles the wild rose or briar flower, common in English hedges in autumn; the seed vessel is a nut of the size of a small hazel, or rather like the castor-oil nut, but rounder: three red kernels are in each nut, divided by capsules, and from these a quantity of oil, termed "tea oil," is extracted, and used for common purposes by the Chinese. Six or seven seeds are put into each hole when planting; in 12 or 18 months transplantation takes place, and about the third year the leaves are first plucked. At seven years of age the top is cut almost down to the stem (as gardners do with old currant trees,) and a more leafy set of shoots spring up the ensuing year. The age of the tree is unknown; it has a useful duration, probably to 15 or 20 years. It is an evergreen, and blossoms from the end of autumn throughout the winter until spring. The leaves are dried by placing them first in flat baskets, and exposing them to the air and a moderate degree of sun. They are then further dried or tatched in thin pans of iron, heated by a small furnace of charcoal, the leaves being kept constantly turned round by the hand, and rolled or rubbed between the fingers, to give the leaf a rounded form. When sufficiently fired, it is picked and packed for Canton in chops of 100 to 1,000 chests, each chop having marked on it the name of the maker, the district where the tea is grown, its quality, date, &c. Copper is not used in the preparation of any description of tea; iron pans are solely employed. I visited a tea manufactory five miles above Canton, where about 500 men, women, and children were engaged in converting coarse-looking refuse leaves into several sorts of green tea. A series of large flat iron pans were placed over a range of furnaces heated by charcoal, in several successive degrees. The teas, which had been previously picked and sorted, were then placed successively in these pans by men, who each rolled them to a certain extent. After passing four or five pans a small quantity of turmeric was sprinkled over the leaves, in a pan highly heated, and in the next pan a blue powder, composed of prussian blue and gypsum was added, which gave a delicate green bloom to the leaf, which formerly had been of a dingy black or brown hue. The tea was then gradually cooled in large shallow baskets, then placed in a winnowing machine and sifted into different sizes, the smaller being packed and sold as gunpowder or pearl tea. Thus the greatest refuse of tea, or the leaves which had passed through the teapots of the Chinese, were converted into "Gunpowder," " Hyson," and other teas for exportation, as the Chinese never drink green tea. The proprietor of the manufactory told me that the green tea thus prepared was sold to the Americans, who consume but little black tea. It is said I found the tea shrub in several parts of China planted as hedge-rows or fences to fields and vegetable gardens.-R. Montg. Martin. to be difficult to detect this colored tea from the pure, and as the Americans have good tea-tasters at Canton, the English probably receive their share of the adulterated manufacture. The names of teas are a very imperfect criterion of their quality. Formerly Bohea was the principal tea in use; now the title is used to designate the lowest description of black tea. It may be useful to indicate the designation of the names in general use. 66 Bohea is an English corruption of the words "Woo-e," "Voo-yee," or Ba-yee," some hills of that name, about 12 miles in circumference, in Fokein, on the borders of Canton province, yielding a common tea of that name, which is gathered three times a year. It is called by the Chinese “Tacha” (large tea.) Congo, from "congfoo," laborer, is of a better quality than Bohea, less dusty, and with a rougher and more astringent flavor. Wo-ping teas are so called from a district of that name in Canton province, and when mixed with Bohea form "Canton Bohea." Ankoi, a coarse tea from the district of that name. Campoi, from Keinpoi, selected. It is a stronger tea than Congo. Souche or Caper, from swangche, double preparation, or choolan, fragrant pearls. A great deal from Ankoi district. Souchong, from seaore-chong, scarce or small, good thing. It is carefully made from trees three years old, grown in good soil. Older trees, in a similar situation, produce Congo; older still, Bohea and other inferior teas. There are different sorts of Souchong, and it is not easy to get this tea pure and good in England. The leaf is of agreeable fragrancy, somewhat like newmade hay; the leaf crisp, of a glossy black color, and when subjected to boiling water, of a sick-red hue; and the liquid is an amber brown. Peko, or Peho, from pih, have white petals or hair, so called from being made of young leaves, gathered in when the blossoming is over spring, when there is a whitish hair or down on the leaf. The tea flowers are fragrant mixed with the leaf, and give a fine odor and flavor to the tea. Twankay, from Tunkay, a district where the tea is generally made. In green teas it corresponds in quality to Congo among black teas. Singlo, from Sunglo, a mountain in Ganhway. Both these teas have large flat leaves, and are not much rolled. Hyson, from hechuen, genial spring or first crop, when the young leaves are gathered. Hyson Skin, Puha tea skin. In Chinese "skin" signifies the refuse. It is formed of the leaves rejected in the preparation of Hyson. The dealers in London give it the name of bloom tea. Young Hyson, from yee-tseen, before the rains. It is a very small leaf. Gunpowder is the picked, small, well-rounded Hyson, like shot, also called Pearl or Imperial tea. Several other teas with new names are being introduced. The different teas are prepared roughly by the tea farmers, and then taken to the manufacturers, who prepare and sort the teas according to the districts in which they are grown, the variety and age of the tree, the size and quality of the leaf, &c. The leaves are passed through sieves of different sizes before their quality is determined. The judgment of the manufacturer in selecting and sorting, and the skill of his workmen in firing or tatching the leaf, is of the first consequence. The better quality teas are more frequently roasted, and each leaf separately rolled. The finest descriptions do not reach England; the mandarins pay very high prices for those teas, and their flavor is so delicate that they would not bear four or five months' sweating in the hold of a ship. The production of tea for the use of the Chinese middle and lower classes must be very great, as it is used at every meal. The tea found in Russia, conveyed by land and river carriage thither, is said to be superior to the tea generally used in England. This may be owing to the leaf being less fired; many of the finest teas drunk in China would not bear five or six months' stowage in the hot and humid atmosphere of the hold of a ship, and therefore the teas conveyed to Europe by sea require to be dried and fired to a degree which must injure their quality. Teas that I drunk at Foochoo, Ningpo, and Shanghae were not highly dried, and had a very delicate flavor, when drank as the Chinese do, without milk or sugar; but these teas could not be preserved more than a few months. The Chinese say, that the high-dried superior black teas improve in flavor by being closely packed in air-tight leaden cases for one or two years. Some of the finest teas in China scarcely color the water, and the preparation consists solely in pouring boiling water on a small quantity of the leaves placed in a teacup, fitted with a close cover; among the highest classes a silver strainer is placed at the bottom of the teacup. Tea made up into balls, or compressed into the form of bricks, or of flat cakes, is exported to Tartary, Tibet, Burmah, &c., boiled with milk, and constitutes an agreeable and nutritious beverage. The constituent properties of tea are, The tannin blackens salts of iron. the quality of the tea. A salifiable crystals, has been obtained from tea. The ashes of black and green teas yield silex, carbonate of lime, magnesia, chloruret of potash. In distillation tea yields a volatile oil, and according to some, a small quantity of resin, soluble in alcohol, and possessing the odor of The effects of tea on the human system are, first stimulant, and then narcotic, according to the strength of the beverage. In moderation tea is an excellent diluent; it promotes digestion, and stimulates the renal glands. The proportions of tannin must vary with base, named "theine," in regular colorless tea. MERCANTILE LAW CASES. ENGLISH LAW OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES, WITH THE LATEST DECISIONS THEREON. We published in this department of the Merchants' Magazine, for March, 1850, the first of a series of articles on this subject, which originally appeared in the London Bankers' Magazine, remarking, at the time, that as the English law of Bills of Exchange, &c., was very generally adopted in the United States, and the decisions under that law cited or referred to in all our Courts, the transfer of the article would, doubtless, be acceptable to the commercial readers. In the article referred to (see Merchants' Magazine, vol. xxii., page 314) the points connected with form and requisite of bills, notes, and letters of credit are discussed, and the cases referring to the rights and liabilities of the different parties to their instruments are investigated. The subject is continued in the London Magazine for March, 1850, in a second paper which treats of Joint and Several Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes; and foreign bills and notes as distinguished from inland bills, as follows: SEC. 5. JOINT AND SEVERAL BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES.Joint and several bills of exchange and promissory notes are drawn or accepted, or made by more than one person. When the instrument is joint, all the parties must sue or be sued. When it is several, each party must sue and be sued separately. When it is both joint and separate, the parties to it may sue and be sued, either altogether or separately, at the option of the holder. It is some times a question of importance to ascertain whether an instrument is joint and separate or not. It has been held, that a note beginning, "I promise to pay," and signed by two parties, is joint and several. Clark v. Blackstock (Holt, 474.) The facts were as follow: It was an action on a promissory note, brought against the administratrix of John Blackstock, deceased. The note stated, “I promise to pay to Mr. J. Clark, or order, the sum of £30, with lawful interest for the same, value received. Signed, Thomas Jackson, John Blackstock." It appeared, that the note was originally signed by Jackson, to whom the money was lent; and that Clark afterwards required some new security from Jackson, in consequence of which Blackstock's name was added to it as surety. Littledale, for the defendant, objected, that a note, the tenor of which was," I promise to pay," signed by two persons, was a joint note and not a several note. Williams, contra, a note drawn in the words of the present note, is joint or several, as the payee may choose to consider it. March v. Ward (Peak, N. P. 130.) Mr. Justice Bayley said, “I think this note may be considered as a joint and several note, the letter 'I' applies to each severally, Lord Kenyon has ruled it so." Points of this sort frequently arise in the courts of bankruptcy, where it becomes necessary to decide whether a creditor shall be at liberty to prove under the joint or separate estate. It was held in Hall v. Smith (1 Barnewall and Cresswell, 407,) that a member of a country bank signing for himself and partner's notes, beginning with the words, "I promise to pay," was severally liable, and that the holders of such notes had a right to prove against his separate estate. But this case has been lately overruled, after a discussion of its merits in several courts, in another case of exparte Buckley (14 Meeson and Welsby, 469,) where Baron Parke said, "This is, prima facie, one promise of the four; and if Mitchell had authority from the four, the firm is bound, Hall v. Smith. When you come to look at it, it cannot be supported. The question on this note is, does it bind the agent personally, or does it bind the firm? No doubt it binds the firm." SEC. 6. FOREIGN BILLS AND NOTES.-Foreign bills, as distinguished from inland bills, are such as are drawn or payable, or both, abroad, or drawn in one realm of the United Kingdom, and payable in another. (Byles on Bills, 204.) One of the most important distinctions between an inland and a foreign bill, is, that the acceptance of a foreign bill need not be in writing, whereas it must in the case of an inland bill. One of the latest cases in which the facts that are necessary to amount to an acceptance of a foreign bill were discussed, is that of Grant v. Hunt (9 Jurist, 229;) in which the following judgment was delivered: "It was an action by the plaintiffs, as drawers, against the Hampshire Banking Company, as acceptors of two bills of exchange drawn at Genoa. The defendants pleaded that they did not accept. At the trial before me a verdict was taken for the plaintiffs, subject to the opinion of the court, on a case which stated that the plaintiffs having made purchases at Genoa for one Baker, a corn merchant in London, drew the bills in question on the defendant for a part of the purchase-money, that being the mode in which they had, by Baker's direc tion, obtained payment for goods bought for him on other occasions. The plaintiff sent to the defendant a letter bearing date at Genoa, 3d August, 1842, in which they stated that they had valued on them, for account of Henry Baker, for £579 16s. 5d. sterling, as per note at foot, and which they doubted not would meet their kind protection. On the 10th August, 1842, Baker, who had a banking account with the defendants, wrote to them as follows:--" Messrs. Grant, Balfour & Co., unexpectedly to me, have drawn on you for £579 16s. 5d. This please accept, to the debit of my account. Please return to me also the bill of lading of the Flora. Inclosed is bill on King and Melville for £2,560, for the credit of my account.' And, on the following day, Trew, the manager of the bank, wrote him an answer. 'We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of yesterday, inclosing bill on King and Melville at four month's date, for |