The cultivation of tea, now introduced into several colonies, has produced admirable results in Assam. Not only is the product of a superior quality to that of average Chinese teas, but the quantity obtained increases rapidly. In 1870, three million pounds of tea were produced in British India; in 1878, thirty-seven million pounds; and in 1880, a harvest of seventy million pounds was looked for.[577] Tea will not bear frost, and suffers from drought. As I have elsewhere stated,[578] the conditions which favour it are the opposite to those which suit the vine. On the other hand, it has been observed that tea flourishes in Azores, where good wine is made;[579] but it is possible to cultivate in gardens, or on a small scale, many plants which will not be profitable on a large scale. The vine grows in China, yet the manufacture of wine is unimportant. Conversely, no wine-growing country grows tea for exportation. After China, Japan, and Assam, it is in Java, Ceylon, and Brazil that tea is most largely grown, where, certainly, the vine is little cultivated, or not at all; while the wines of dry regions, such as Australia and the Cape, are already known in the market. +Flax+—_Linum usitatissimum_, Linnæus. The question as to the origin of flax, or rather of the cultivated flax, is one of those which give rise to most interesting researches. In order to understand the difficulties which it presents, we must first ascertain what nearly allied forms authors designate—sometimes as distinct species of the genus _Linum_, and sometimes as varieties of a single species. The first important work on this subject was by Planchon, in 1848.[580] He clearly showed the differences between _Linum usitatissimum_, _L. humile_, and _L. angustifolium_, which were little known. Afterwards Heer,[581] when making profound researches into ancient cultivation, went again into the characters indicated, and by adding the study of two intermediate forms, as well as the comparison of a great number of specimens, he arrived at the conclusion that there was a single species, composed of several slightly different forms. I give a translation of his Latin summary of the characters, only adding a name for each distinct form, in accordance with the custom of botanical works. _Linum usitatissimum._ 1. _Annuum_ (annual). Root annual; stem single, upright; capsules 7 to 8 mm. long; seeds 4 to 6 mm., terminating in a point. α _Vulgare_ (common). Capsules 7 mm., not opening when ripe, and displaying glabrous partitions. German names, _Schliesslein_, _Dreschlein_. β. _Humile_ (low). Capsules 8 mm., opening suddenly when ripe; the partitions hairy. _Linum humile_, Miller; _L. crepitans_, Böninghausen. German names, _Klanglein_, _Springlein_. 2. _Hyemale_ (winter). Root annual or biennial; stems numerous, spreading at the base, and bent; capsules 7 mm., terminating in a point. _Linum hyemale romanum._ In German, _Winterlein_.