“That the Teas of India have at length come to be fully appreciated in England may be taken, we presume, as an admitted fact; and it is of importance that planters should direct their attention to modifying their methods of manufacture so as to suit the public taste, and, if possible, turn out an article free from the objections still advanced against the Indian leaf as a daily beverage. There are, we know, those who argue that enough has been done, and that consumers will acquire a taste for the produce of our gardens in time; but we have daily evidence that in the most trivial matters there is no greater tyrant than the public. It behoves those then who cater for this tyrant to consult its taste and satisfy its demands, however exacting and capricious they may be. The remarks we are about to make are based on experiments and enquiries extending over some years in this country and in England, and we leave those engaged in the enterprise to estimate their value. All Teas grown in the plains of India are known to the trade in London under the general name of Assam, and are chiefly used for mixing, seldom reaching the consumer in a pure state. When they do, the objections raised are that the leaf is too pungent and rough for most palates; and purchasers are in the habit of mixing it with Chinese to tone down those astringent qualities. In other words, it wants the delicacy of flavour which is the chief characteristic of the Chinese leaf, meaning of course that vended by respectable houses, not the abominable trash that formed part of the cargoes of the _Lalla Rookh_ and _Sarpedon_, containing, according to Dr Letheby’s Analysis, ‘40 to 45 per cent. of iron filings and 19 per cent. of silica.’ Nor is this lack of delicacy of flavour to be lightly regarded, for the efforts of our manufacturers have been directed unwittingly and indirectly to foster the peculiarity, as the test of Indian Tea has hitherto been its strength and pungency, to fit it for _salting_ weak, thin, inferior sorts of Chinese. This is what the dealers have demanded, and what, consequently, brokers in their turn have insisted on, with the result that the out-turn of our Assam and Cachar plantations is now, if anything, too powerful to suit public taste. Whether means of manipulation may be hit upon by which aroma can be retained without sacrificing strength, we leave those most interested to determine; but it is worthy of note that this objection to strength and roughness is almost confined to women, the sterner sex preferring Assam unmixed, while the working classes of both sexes are unanimous in favour of the unadulterated Indian article. Experiments were further tried by substituting Neilgherry Tea, and after a short interval the verdict of the majority was in its favour. We need now only point out the difference in the manufacture between the