Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/324

 312 NEW JERSEY NEW LEBANON NEW JERSEY, College of. See PRINCETON. NEW JERSEY TEA, the most common name for ceanothus Americanus, which is also called, in common with several other plants, red-root. The genus ceanothus (a name of unknown meaning), belonging to the buckthorn family (rhamnacece), is represented in the Atlantic states by only four species, while on the Pacific coast there are about 20, several of which are large shrubs or small trees, others low pros- trate mountain shrubs, and some have ever- green leaves. New Jersey tea is found from Canada to Florida, usually growing in dry woods as a low much-branched under-shrub, seldom over 3 ft. high ; it has a dark red root ; ovate, finely serrate, three-ribbed, very veiny leaves, which are downy beneath ; and minute white flowers in dense clustered panicles. The flower has five-hooded petals on long claws, the same number of stamens, and a single pis- til, which in fruit splits into three one-seeded New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americanus). carpels. It blooms in July, and so profusely as to be worthy of a place among ornamental shrubs. The leaves were among the many sub- stitutes used for tea during the revolution. During the civil war they were used in some of the southern states, and were made the basis of an attempted fraudulent speculation at the north. It was announced that the true Chinese tea plant had been discovered in the mountains of a certain county in Pennsylvania, and its identity was certified to by an expert from Assam. After a time the prospectus of a com- pany appeared, with engravings of the true tea leaf ; but the fraud was soon exposed. An infusion of the leaves of New Jersey tea, pre- Eared in the same manner as the true tea, as somewhat the taste of the commoner grades of the imported article, but it is prob- ably quite destitute of any stimulating prop- erties. The strong three-ribbed leaves dis- tinguish it at sight from the true tea. The root has some astringency, and has been used in affections of the bowels, and to dye wool a cinnamon color. A similar species, C. ovalis, has narrower, smooth leaves, pointed at both ends, and somewhat larger flowers. Some of the species of the far west are fine ornamental shrubs. G. ihyrsiflorus is a small tree pro- ducing an abundance of light blue flowers, and known as the " California lilac." They are not hardy in the eastern states, though some of them succeed in England. NEW JERUSALEM, the name applied in Rev. xxi. 2 to the city which John saw coming down from God out of heaven. Emanuel Sweden- borg interprets this symbol as signifying the new church whose doctrines he was commissioned to teach. Hence the ecclesiastical organiza- tions of his followers call themselves societies, &c., " of the New Jerusalem," or " of the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem." (For an account of their doctrines see SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL.) Swedenborg himself seems not to have contemplated the formation of such organizations, and gave no instructions for the purpose. In 1788, 16 years after his death, Robert Hindmarsh and others hired a chapel in London, and established public worship and preaching according to his doctrines. Their example was followed in other places, and about the beginning of the present century a general conference was formed of Swedenbor- gians in Great Britain, which in 1873 em- braced 58 societies, containing altogether 4,019 members and 26 ministers ; 24 of these socie- ties, containing 2,147 members, were in Lan- cashire and the neighboring counties. The first Swedenborgian church in this country was formed in Baltimore in 1792 ; and in 1817 a general convention was called, which has met annually ever since, and in 1873 had connected with it 74 ministers and 93 societies, with 4,408 members, of whom 1,320 were in Massachu- setts. There are besides a number of inde- pendent societies in the United States and on the continent of Europe, with an aggregate membership of perhaps 1,000. The denomi- nation has no uniform liturgy or discipline, each society being left to itself, very much on the congregational system. Baptism (of in- fants as well as adults) and the Lord's supper are observed, and the worship and preaching resemble those of Protestants generally. NEW RENT, a S. E. connty of Virginia, bound- ed N. E. by the Pamunkey river, and S. W. by the Chickahominy ; area, about 200 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 4,381, of whom 2,361 were col- ored. Its surface is moderately uneven, and the soil light and sandy. The Richmond, York River, and Chesapeake railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 20,719 bushels of wheat, 92,676 of Indian corn, 19,959 of oats, 8,600 Ibs. of tobacco, and 5,122 gal- lons of sorghum molasses. There were 358 horses, 661 milch cows, 399 sheep, and 3,078 swine. Capital, New Kent Court House. NEW LANARK. See LANARK. NEW LEBANON, a town of Columbia co., New York, bordering on Massachusetts, on the