(_a_) _Bohea_, or _Voo-yee_, so called from the country in which it is produced, is sometimes collected at four gatherings. As the leaves are picked, they are put into flat baskets, which are placed on shelves or planks, in the air or sun, from morning till night; after which they are thrown, by small quantities at a time, into a flat cast-iron pan, which is made very hot. They are twice stirred quick with the hand: then taken out, again put into the baskets, and rubbed between men's hands to roll them. After this they undergo another roasting in larger quantities, over a slower fire: and are then sometimes put into baskets over a charcoal fire. When the tea is, at last, sufficiently dried, it is spread on a table; and the leaves that are too large, and those that are unrolled, yellow, broken, or otherwise defective, are picked out, and the remainder is laid aside to be packed. The best bohea tea is a small blackish leaf, is dusty, smells somewhat like burnt hay, and has a rough and somewhat harsh taste. The average annual importation of bohea into this country, in the ten years from 1791 to 1800, was 3,310,135 pounds. (_b_) _Congo_, or _Cong-foo_, derived from a word which implies much care or trouble, is a superior kind of bohea, less dusty, and with larger leaves. These are gathered with peculiar care, and there is some little difference in the preparation of congo and bohea. The leaves of the latter, of souchong, hyson, and the fine single teas, are said to be beaten, with flat sticks or bamboos, after they have been withered by exposure to the sun or air, and have acquired toughness enough to keep them from breaking. Of congo the annual average quantity imported in the above years amounted to 9,564,202 pounds. (_c_) _Souchong_, from a Chinese word which signifies small good thing, is made from the leaves of trees three years old; and, where the soil is good, even of the leaves of older trees. Of true souchong very little is produced; what is sold to Europeans for this is only the finest kind of congo, and the congo usually purchased by them is but the best sort of bohea. Such is the delicacy of this tea that, upon a hill planted with tea-trees, there may only be a single tree, the leaves of which are good enough to be called souchong, and even of these, only the best and youngest are taken. The others make congos of different kinds, and bohea. (_d_) _Pekoe_ is distinguished by having the small white flowers of the tree intermixed with it. This, which is chiefly consumed in Sweden and Denmark, is usually made from the tenderest leaves of trees three years old, gathered just after they have been in bloom, when the small leaves that grow between the first two that have appeared, and which altogether make a sprig, are white, and resemble young hair or down. _Green Teas._