is poured into each cup or _glass_ and a slice of lemon added, as tea is drank chiefly from glasses set in metal frames in Russia, and the glass refilled with boiling water from the Samovar. * * * * * It is strange that nothing is ever done in this country by dealers to attempt to educate or enlighten their customers how to properly prepare their tea, study the water or preserve its aromatic properties after purchasing, seeing, as they must, how little the art is understood in this country particularly. Good tea can be kept intact, like good wine, for years with considerable advantage to both dealer and consumer alike, and there is no valid reason why consumers of tea should not be as particular and fastidious as buyers of wine. But to obtain good tea in the first place the consumer should purchase only the best, it requiring much less of the finer grades to make a good infusion—purchasing only from the most reputable dealers, those who know or study to understand their business. As a nation, the American people want the best of everything, or, as they characteristically express it, “the best is good enough for them,” and they intend to have it if money can purchase it. But of what avail is the best—tea for instance—if it be not prepared properly or in such a manner as to develop and secure its more delicate, subtle, volatile, refreshing and exhilarating properties. A country that expends annually upwards of sixteen millions of dollars on this commodity alone ought to devote a little more time and trouble in studying the best methods of preparing it and in extracting its most desirable and fragrant qualities. Tea may be made depressing and injurious, or exhilarating and wholesome, according to the manner in which it is treated and prepared for use. Many who imagine that a high, dark-colored liquor indicates strength, boil the leaves, while others, again, spoil the tea by putting the leaves into the boiling water, some people putting the leaves in cold water and then placing the vessel over the fire to boil, prolonged infusion being still another serious mistake. All of these methods produce the same evil results—that of extracting an increased amount of the tannic acid—thereby destroying the flavor of the tea by giving it a bitter and astringent taste as well as imparting an almost ink-black color to the infusion.