Chapter XIV: Section I (6)

The slowness of its growth requires patience. But when once
established, the tea-nuts will supply the means of extending
cultivation, and the duration of the plant for twenty years
diminishes the expense of labor. To illustrate the hardihood of the
plant, I may observe, that notwithstanding the zero severity of
February frost destroyed the leaves and branches of most of the
plants, and those now blooming in great beauty and strength are from
roots the growth of this summer, I have one green tea-plant the stem
and branches of which withstood the frost of February without the
slightest protection, and is now a splendid plant, covered with
branches and evergreen leaves, affording undeniable evidence not
only of its capability of resisting frost, but of its adaptation to
just such a degree of temperature.

I have often remarked that the tea-plant requires for its perfection
the influence of two separate and distinct climates, the heat of
summer and the cold of winter. The thermometer in this vicinity
during the heat of summer generally ranges from 74 at 6 o'clock a.m.
to 82 at 3 o'clock p.m., only one day during the summer so high as
86.

This is a most agreeable temperature, nights always cool, which the
tea-plant enjoys, and the days hot and fanned with the mountain
breeze.

The drought I found the most difficult point to contend with, owing
to the want of adequate means for irrigation. I lost 20 or 30 plants
through this, and learned that no tea plantation should he
established without irrigation. After two or three years there will
be little necessity for it, because the depth of the roots will
generally then protect the plant.

My plantation at Golden Grove is well supplied with water, or I
should not have purchased it at any price.

It is the first and most important point to secure a southern or
western aspect, a gentle declivity the second, salubrious air and
suitable soil the third.

Our country is filled with natural tea plantations, which are only
waiting the hand of the husbandman to be covered with this luxuriant
and productive plant.

I know the public is naturally impatient of delay. Like corn, it is
expected that the tea-nuts will be planted in the spring, and the
crop gathered in the autumn. But they forget that the tea-plant does
not interfere with any other crop, and when once planted it does not
soon require a renewal.

I have sometimes felt this impatience myself, and longed for a cup
of tea of my own growing, but I have never had one. As a husbandman,
I must wait some time longer, and let patience have her perfect
work."

Again, under date May 1, 1850, he states that he has succeeded admirably in the culture. The plants bear the winter well, and their physiology and general characteristics remain unchanged by the change of climate and soil. The leaf puts out at the same period of the year that it does in China.

On the 27th of May, 1850, Dr. Smith received a further batch of trees, fresh, green and healthful, as if still growing in the plantations of China; after a passage of little more than five months. These plants, together with the seedlings and nuts, were of the green tea species, and obtained from a quarter situated about 700 miles from Canton.

In a letter, dated Grenville, S.C., June 17th, 1850, with which I have been favored, he adds:--

"I never heard of the failure of the tea-crop. All vegetation may be
retarded, or lessened, or augmented, in its production, in a slight
degree, by excessive rains, or drought, or cold, or heat, or
atmospheric action; but the tea-plant is sure to produce its leaf.
From all I have observed, a decided drought is the most detrimental
to the health of the tea plant. The almost continued rains which
marked the advance of the past spring, seemed perfectly agreeable to
the tea-plant, and facilitated the germination of the tea-nuts.
Where any vitality remained in the nut, it was sure to germinate.
Curiosity, on this point should be restrained, and no picking and
pawing up of the nuts permitted. I have seedlings with tap roots
four inches in length, where no appearance of germination is visible
upon the surface of the ground. The chances are ten to one that the
seedling would be destroyed by the tamperings of idle curiosity. Let
nature have her own most perfect work, and see that the enemy, the
drought, is vanquished by an abundant supply of water.

From experience, I notice that nothing is more congenial to the
germination of the tea-nut than a good stiff blue, clayed soil. The
marly colour of the soil is undoubtedly the result of a rich loam,
combined with the clay of a lighter hue. The adhesive nature of the
clay retains moisture in an eminent degree, and the fertilising
qualities of the loam are well known to every bottom land farmer.

Plants put out three weeks ago, after a long voyage from China, are
now taking root, and look fresh and vigorous, notwithstanding the
recent heat and dryness of the atmosphere. But I have taken
unwearied pains in the cultivation. Every plant is sheltered from
the scorching influence of the sun, now from 70 deg. to 86 deg. of
temperature. Although the soil is naturally moist and clayey, and
half bottom land, from the work of gentle acclivities, rising on
either hand, yet I have given the plants a liberal watering in the
evening. By last summer's drought of fifty-seven days, I was taught
the absolute necessity of deep digging and deep planting. None of my
plants, of this season's planting, are more than two or three inches
above the surface of the ground.

If any of the plants have leaves, as most of them have, below that
height, they are planted with the leaves retained; none are removed.
Some of the older plants have no leaves remaining, and looked like
dry sticks. Many of these are now beginning to break, and put forth
fresh leaves."

In 1851, Mr. Frank Bonynge set on foot a subscription list of fifty dollars each, to procure tea and various Indian plants for culture in America. That tea can be grown successfully in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, is almost certain, because the experiment has been pretty fairly tried, as above shown, by Dr. Smith. The thermometer at Shanghai indicates the cold as more severe by thirteen degrees than at Charleston, South Carolina. The cold winter of 1834-5, which destroyed the oranges in Mr. Middleton's plantation, in Charleston, left his tea plants uninjured.

The question of cultivating tea in California has been seriously discussed, and will no doubt be gone into when the gold digging mania has a little subsided. There is the necessary labor and experience on the spot, in some 12,000 or 14,000 Chinese, most of whom doubtless understand the culture and manufacture. The climate, soil and surface of California exactly answer the requirements for the growth of this plant. The time may yet come when the vast ranges of hills that traverse this State shall present terraces of tea gardens, cultivated by the laborious Chinese, and adding millions to the value of its products.

A company for the cultivation of tea, under the title of the Assam Company, was established in March, 1839; and which, with a called-up capital of £193,337, has made up to the present time very profitable progress; having now got its plantations into excellent cultivation, and all its arrangements in admirable working order, it has sold teas to the amount of £90,000, and has a steam-boat, a considerable plant and machinery.

In the report of the Company, at their annual meeting, held at Calcutta, in Jan., 1850, it was stated, as the result of their operations, that during the year 1849, the manufacturing season was unusually cold and ungenial, in consequence of which the development of leaf for manufacture was much checked. Although some loss was sustained, there was considerable increase in the crop notwithstanding, attributable to the continued improvements in the culture which had been obtained, and improvements over the previous season in some departments of the manufacturing process. The gross quantity of unsorted tea manufactured in the southern division was 207,982 lbs., being 2,673 lbs. less than that of the previous season, but the actual net out-turn was expected to reach 200,000 lbs. As much as 157,908 lbs. of the crop had been already received and shipped to England. These teas consisted chiefly of the finer qualities. Whilst the crops have been thus sensibly advancing in quantity and quality, and the value of the company's plantations permanently raised by extended and improved culture, and some increase to the sowings, the total outlay had been somewhat less than the previous year, the expenditure being limited to £500 for a crop of 12,000 acres of tea. With more extended gardens, the produce will be raised at a yet lower rateable cost than at present.

The number of acres in cultivation in 1849, was about 12,000; these were not all in bearing, but would shortly be so, and the produce from this extent might be estimated at 300,000 lbs., and the cost of producing this would be about £11,000. 1,010 chests of the produce were sold in London on the 13th of March, 1850, at a gross average of 1s. 11½d. per lb. The produce of 1847, sold in England, was 141,277 lbs., at a gross average of 1s. 8d. per lb.: that of 1848 was 176,149 lbs. which sold at the average of 1s. 8½d. per lb. The produce of 1849 was 216,000 lbs., and there was every expectation of the average prices realised being higher than those of the previous years. The season was cold and unfavorable, or the crop would have been 10,000 lbs. more.

The exact amounts obtained for the Company's teas in the five years, ending with 1851, will be seen from the following figures:--

Net produce, lbs. Average price. £
1847 144,164 at per lb. ls. 7-1/16d. 11,513
1848 182,953 " ls. 8¼d. 15,436
1849 216,000 " ls. 9½d. 19,350
1850 253,427 " ls. 6-1/8d. 18,153
1851 271,427 " ls. 8½d. 22,152
1852 esmtd. 280,000

This exhibits a progressive increase in the aggregate value of the Company's produce, and this has been effected, it is stated, without any sensible increase of the current expenditure. It exhibits also a rise in the value of the tea (157,942 lbs. having been sold at the high average price of 1s. 11¼d.), a fact strongly indicative of its increasing excellence. The details of the crop of the season of 1849 showed a net produce of 237,000 lbs. of tea; so that the Company are increasing their cultivation to the extent of nearly ten per cent, per annum, and the increase will doubtless proceed with greater rapidity, whenever the increase of capital enables the directors to extend their operations.

In a report submitted to the Directors, by Mr. Burkinyoung, the managing director in Calcutta last year, he thus speaks of the Company's field of operations and future prospects:--

"The box-making is especially worthy of notice for its effective
organisation and economical arrangement; the work is performed
chiefly by Assamese boys instructed at the factory: the number of
boxes required for the year's consumption will not be short of four
thousand, the whole of which will be made at the factory,--an
achievement that cannot be too highly estimated in a country so
destitute of mechanical labor.

Notwithstanding the high standard of quality and strength to which
our teas have already attained, I am of opinion that, as experience
advances, and our knowledge and system of plucking and manufacturing
the crops become improved, and better organised, a higher standard
of quality and value may yet be realised; in this opinion the
superintendent concurs with me, and the attainment of this object is
one to which his attention's prominently directed.

In the course of my enquiries and trials of different samples of tea
in Assam, my attention was directed to one description of black tea,
of rough strong flavor, made by a quicker process than that
ordinarily used in the manufacture of black tea: under this mode of
manipulation, a quality of tea is produced sufficiently distinctive
in its flavor and appearance to render it worthy of attention and
trial, and I think, when perfected in the process of manufacture,
calculated to come into popular estimation. Samples of this tea the
superintendent will forward to the board for trial.

In conducting the operations in Assam, the chief difficulty of
importance which has not yet been effectually met is the paucity of
labor; this does not, however, exist to the extent of materially
checking any of the important operations connected with the
production of the tea, but it is felt in the arrear of various
descriptions of work, in providing bricks for building, and in the
preparation of a stock of seasoned timber and boards for building
and box-making; while the out factories would be benefited by a
larger proportion of agricultural labor. Great advance, however, has
been made by the superintendent in the employment of Assamese labor
in contract work: under the arrangement he has established, these
contracts are now, for the most part, fulfilled with much
punctuality, and there is reason to expect that this system of labor
will be further extended. The Kachorie Coolies are a valuable class
of laborers, but they do not appear to be sufficiently numerous, or
to emigrate in sufficient numbers to afford with the native Assamese
a supply of labor altogether equal to our wants, so as to render the
concern independent of Bengal labor.

The tea lands are for the most part advantageously situated, within
convenient reach of water-carriage, either by the 'Dickhoo,'
'Dêsang,' and 'Dehing' rivers, or by means of small streams leading
to them. The Plantations of the Satsohea and Rookang forests, and on
the banks of the Tingri in the Northern Division, are all valuable
centres of extension in each district. The lands suitable for tea
cultivation are ample in extent, and of the highest fertility; while
the Hill Factories of the Southern and Eastern Divisions, although
secondary in importance, are, as regards extent and quality of soil,
equally eligible as bases of extension.

The prospects of the future, I entertain no doubt, will keep pace
with the satisfactory results that have hitherto been realised,
looking to the sound organisation that now exists in our
establishment at Assam, an organisation that has already taken
healthy root, and must in its growth gain strength and permanence. I
think we may safely calculate, after the current year, upon an
annual increase in our production of 40,000 lbs. of tea, until a
larger system of operations can be matured, of which the basis is
already laid down, in the new lands cleared and sown during the past
cold season, averaging 225 to 250 poorahs; and this extended basis
will be doubtless followed up by annual extensions of similar, if
not larger, area. The concern is now taking a position which will
place it on a scale of working commensurate with the objects
entertained upon the first incorporation of the company, the profits
now likely to be realised being adequate to all the outlay
necessary."

The prices in the last two years in London have been fully maintained at 1s. 3d. to 4s. 4d., according to sorts. Of Assam tea, the sales in the London market in 1851 amounted to 2,200 packages, against 1,900 packages in 1850, and all were freely taken (on account of their great strength) at very full prices. Seventy-six packages of Kumaon tea, both black and green, grown by the East India Company, in the Himalayas, as an experiment, were also brought to sale. They were teas of high quality; but being of the light flavored class, and not duly esteemed in this market, they realised only about their relative value as compared with China teas of similar grade. The Souchong and Pouchong sold at 1s. 1¼d. to 1s. 3½d.; the Hyson, Imperial, and Gunpowder realised 1s. 7¾d. to 2s. 6½d.

Mr. Robert Fortune, who, in the service of the Horticultural Society of London, gave such satisfaction by his botanical researches in China, was, on his return to England, in 1848, engaged by the Directors of the East India Company to proceed again to the Celestial Empire, and procure and transmit to India such a quantity and variety of the tea plant, that its cultivation in the north-western provinces would be a matter of mere manual labor. Having penetrated about 300 miles into the interior, he left Hong Kong in the middle of 1851 for Calcutta, with a large quantity of choice plants, selected in the green tea districts, and these have flourished as well as could possibly be expected; so that, in the course of a few years, there is every probability that tea will form a considerable article of export from our Indian Presidencies. Mr. Fortune secured the services of, and took with him, eight Chinese, from the district of Wei-chow, under an agreement for three years, at the rate of fifteen dollars a month each. Six of these are regular tea-manufacturers; the other two are pewterers, whose sole business is that of preparing lead casings for tea-chests.

In the British portion of the Punjaub, it has been resolved to expend £10,000 a year on the cultivation of the tea plant on the banks of the Beas, as well as at Anarkullee, and Kotghur in the Simla jurisdiction. Beyond the Beas there is a series of valleys on to Noonpoor, viz., the Palklun, Kangra, Rillo, &c., from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, separated from each other by small ranges of hills. The valleys are from three to four miles in breadth, and from sixty to seventy in length: they are sheltered on the north by high mountains. They are described as admirably suited for the cultivation of the plant, now about to be attempted under the able management of Dr. Jamieson. Should it prove successful, the benefits it will confer on the country will be enormous. Tea is a favorite beverage everywhere with the natives: at present their supplies come in scanty measure and bad condition, at extravagant charges, across the frontier.

The cultivation of the tea plant in the highlands of the Punjaub, is likely to be successful, even beyond the hopes of its promoters. Thousands of plants sown in 1849 have attained a height of four or five feet, and there seems no reason why tea should not ultimately become an important article of trade in the Punjaub, as well as in Kumaon. The Indian teas are already becoming popular in the English market, and the cultivators have the advantage of a demand which is almost unlimited, and of prices which seldom fluctuate to any great extent.

The experiment of growing tea in the Madras Presidency has been often successfully tried, on a small scale. A number of plants supplied by government, through Dr. Wallich, were planted in the Shevaroy hills, about twelve or fourteen years since, and have thriven well; but though no doubt is entertained of the ease with which they could be propagated over a wide extent of country, no attempt has been made to give the cultivation a practical turn, or to make a cup of tea from the southern Indian tree. In Coorg, too, the experiment has been tested with like results, so that sufficient warranty exists to justify trials on the largest scale.

Tea plants grow in luxuriance in the open air, at the Botanical Gardens, at Kew. Mr. Bonynge has seen this plant growing wild in N. lat. 27 deg. 30 min. on hills from three to 500 feet in height, where too, there was an abundance of frost, snow and hail.

Those persons in England who possess tea plants, and who cultivate them for pleasure, should always bear in mind that, even in the tea districts of China, this shrub will not succeed if it be planted in low, wet land; and this is, doubtless, one of the reasons why so few persons succeed in growing it in this country. It ought always to be planted on a warm sloping bank, in order to give it a fair chance of success. If some of the warm spots of this kind in the south of England or Ireland were selected, who knows but that our cottagers might be able to grow their own tea? at all events, they might have the fragrant herb to look upon.

The Dutch made the first movement to break the charm of Chinese monopoly, by introducing and cultivating the tea plant in their rich and fruitful colony of Java. That island lies between the sixth and eighth degrees of south latitude.

In 1828, the first experiment in the cultivation of tea was made in the garden of the Chateau of Burtenzorg, at Java, where 800 plants of an astonishing vigor, served as an encouragement to undertake this culture, and considerable plantations were made in many parts of the island. The first trials did not answer to the expectations, as far as regards the quality of the article, the astringent taste and feeble aroma of which caused the conjecture that the preparation of the leaf, and its final manipulation, are not exactly according to the process used in China. At present tea is cultivated in thirteen Residencies: but the principal establishment, where the final manipulation is made, is in the neighbourhood of Batavia. The tea which Java now furnishes yearly to the markets of the mother country, may be stated at from 200,000 to 300,000 pounds. It is intimated that the government intends to abandon this culture to the industry of private individuals, under the guarantee of equitable contracts.

The mountain range, which runs through the centre of the island, is the most productive, because the tea gardens, extending from near the base, high up the mountains, reach an atmosphere tempered by elevation. The plant escapes the scorching heats of the torrid zone, and finds a climate, by height rather than by latitude, adapted to its nature. But the plant is not confined to lofty ridges. In the plains, the hedges and fences, if one may so call them, are all planted with the tea shrub, which flourish in greater or less perfection throughout the island. But, as has already been intimated, the equatorial latitudes are not the most auspicious for the vigorous growth of a plant that requires a temperature equally removed from the extremes of heat and cold, and the quality of the tea is as much affected by the climate as the growth of the plant. A considerable quantity of tea is annually shipped from Java to Europe; but the extension of the cultivation is no doubt checked by the exceeding fertility of the soil, and its adaptation to the growth of the rich products of tropical regions.

Mr. Jacobson, inspector of tea culture in Java, has published at Batavia a work in three volumes, upon the mode of cultivating this plant, upon the choice of grounds, and the best processes for the preparation and manipulation of the leaves. This book, the fruit of many years of experience and care given to the subject, has been well received by the cultivators who devote themselves to this branch of industry. If, by means of careful experiments and experience, the government succeed in conferring on the island of Java this important branch of commerce, she may hope to obtain brilliant results; at all events, it will open to the country a new source of prosperity and riches.

An interesting account of the tea plants, and the manufacture of tea, will be found in Fortune's "Wanderings in China," in Ball's "Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea," Boyle's "Illustrations of Himalayan Botany," and his "Productive Resources of India."

From Fortune's "Travels" I take the following extract:--

"There are few subjects connected with the vegetable kingdom which
have attracted such a large share of public notice as the tea-plant
of China. Its cultivation on the Chinese hills, the particular
species of variety which produces the black and green teas of
commerce, and the method of preparing the leaves, have always been
objects of peculiar interest. The jealousy of the Chinese government
in former times, prevented foreigners from visiting any of the
districts where tea is cultivated; and the information derived from
the Chinese merchants, even scanty as it was, was not to be depended
upon. And hence we find our English authors contradicting each
other; some asserting that the black and green teas are produced by
the same variety, and that the difference in colour is the result of
a different mode of preparation; while others say that the black
teas are produced from the plant called by botanists _Thea Bohea_,
and the green from _Thea viridis_, both of which we have had for
many years in our gardens in England. During my travels in China
since the last war, I have had frequent opportunities of inspecting
some extensive tea districts in the black and green tea countries of
Canton, Fokien, and Chekiang: the result of these observations is
now laid before the reader. It will prove that even those who have
had the best means of judging have been deceived, and that the
greater part of the black and green teas which are brought yearly
from China to Europe and America are obtained from the same species
or variety, namely, from the _Thea viridis_. Dried specimens of this
plant were prepared in the districts I have named, by myself, and
are now in the herbarium of the Horticultural Society of London, so
that there can be no longer any doubt upon the subject. In various
parts of the Canton provinces where I have had an opportunity of
seeing tea cultivated, the species proved to be the _Thea Bohea_, or
what is commonly called the black tea plant. In the green tea
districts of the north--I allude more particularly to the province
of Chekiang--I never met with a single plant of this species, which
is so common in the fields and gardens near Canton. All the plants
in the green tea country near Ningpo, on the islands of the Chusan
Archipelago, and in every part of the province which I have had an
opportunity of visiting, proved, without an exception, to be _Thea
viridis_. Two hundred miles further to the north-west, in the
province of Kiangnan, and only a short distance from the tea hills
in that quarter, I also found in gardens the same species of tea.
Thus far my actual observations exactly verified the opinions I had
formed on the subject before I left England, viz: that the black
teas were prepared from the _Thea Bohea_, and the green from _Thea
viridis_. When I left the north, on my way to the city of
Foo-chow-foo, on the river Min, in the province Fokien, I had no
doubt that I should find the tea hills there covered with the other
species, _Thea Bohea_, from which we generally suppose the black
teas are made; and this was the more likely to be the case as this
species actually derives its specific name from the Bohea hills in
this province. Great was my surprise to find all the plants on the
tea hills near Foo-chow exactly the same as those in the green tea
districts of the north. Here were, then, green tea plantations on
the black tea hills, and not a single plant of the _Thea Bohea_ to
be seen. Moreover, at the time of my visit, the natives were busily
employed in the manufacture of black teas. Although the specific
differences of the tea plant were well known to me, I was so much
surprised, and I may add amused, at this discovery, that I procured
a set of specimens for the herbarium, and also dug up a living
plant, which I took northward to Chekiang. On comparing it with
those which grow on the green tea hills, no difference whatever was
observed. It appears, therefore, that the black and green teas of
the northern districts of China (those districts in which the
greater part of the teas for the foreign market are made) are both
produced from the same variety, and that that variety is the _Thea
viridis_, or what is commonly called green tea plant. On the other
hand those black and green teas which are manufactured in
considerable quantities in the vicinity of Canton, are obtained
from the _Thea Bohea_, or black tea.

In the green tea districts of Chekiang, near Ningpo, the first crop
of leaves is generally gathered about the middle of April. This
consists of the young leaf buds just as they begin to unfold, and
forms a fine and delicate kind of young hyson, which is held in high
estimation by the natives, and is generally sent about in small
quantities as presents to their friends. It is a scarce and
expensive article, and the picking off the leaves in such a young
state does considerable injury to the tea plantation. The summer
rains, however, which fall copiously about this season, moisten the
earth and air; and if the plants are young and vigorous, they soon
push out fresh leaves. In a fortnight or three weeks from the time
of the first picking, the shrubs are again covered with fresh
leaves, and are ready for the second gathering, which is the most
important of the season. The third and last gathering, which takes
place as soon as new leaves are formed, produces a very inferior
kind of tea, which is rarely sent out of the district. The mode of
gathering and preparing the leaves of the tea plant is very simple.
We have been so long accustomed to magnify and mystify everything
relating to the Chinese, that in all their arts and manufactures we
expect to find some peculiar practice, when the fact is, that many
operations in China are more simple in their character than in most
parts of the world. To rightly understand the process of rolling and
drying the leaves, which I am about to describe, it must be borne in
mind that the grand object is to expel the moisture, and at the same
time to retain as much as possible of the aromatic and other
desirable secretions of the species. The system adopted to attain
this end is as simple as it is efficacious. In the harvest seasons,
the natives are seen in little family groups on the side of every
hill, when the weather is dry, engaged in gathering tea leaves. They
do not seem so particular as I imagined they would have been in this
operation, but strip the leaves off rapidly and promiscuously, and
throw them all into round baskets, made for the purpose out of split
bamboo or ratan. In the beginning of May, when the principal
gathering takes place, the young seed-vessels are about as large as
peas. These are also stripped off and mixed with the leaves; it is
these seed-vessels which we often see in our tea, and which has some
slight resemblance to capers. When a sufficient quantity of leaves
are gathered, they are carried home to the cottage or barn, where
the operation of drying is performed."

This is minutely described, and the author continues:--

"I have stated that the plants grown in the districts of Chekiang
produce green teas, but it must not be supposed that they are the
green teas which are exported to England. The leaf has a much more
natural color, and has little or none of what we call the 'beautiful
bloom' upon it, which is so much admired in Europe and America.
There is now no doubt that all these 'blooming' green teas, which
are manufactured at Canton, are dyed with Prussian blue and gypsum,
to suit the taste of the foreign 'barbarians;' indeed the process
may be seen any day, during the season, by those who give themselves
the trouble to seek after it. It is very likely that the same
ingredients are also used in dyeing the northern green teas for the
foreign market; of this, however, I am not quite certain. There is a
vegetable dye obtained from _Isatis indigotica_ much used in the
northern districts, and called _Teinsing_; and it is not unlikely
that it may be the substance which is employed. The Chinese never
use these dyed teas themselves, and I certainly think their taste in
this respect is more correct than ours. It is not to be supposed
that the dye used can produce any very bad effects on the consumer,
for, had this been the case, it would have been discovered before
now; but if entirely harmless or inert, its being so must be
ascribed to the very small quantity which is employed in the
manufacture."

In short, the black and green teas which are generally exported to England and the United States from the northern provinces of China, are made from the same species; and the difference of color, flavor, &c., is solely the result of the different modes of preparation.

I shall make an extract, also, from Williams's "Middle Kingdom:"--

"The native names given to the various sorts of tea are derived for
the most part from their appearance or place of growth; the names of
many of the best kinds are not commonly known abroad. _Bohea_ is the
name of the Wu-i hills, (or Bu-i, as the people on the spot call
them,) where the tea is grown, and not a term for a particular sort
among the Chinese, though it is applied to a very poor kind of black
tea at Canton. _Sunglo_ is likewise a general term for the green
teas produced on the hills in Kiangsu. The names of the principal
varieties of black tea are as follows: _Pecco_, 'white hairs,' so
called from the whitish down on the leaves, is one of the choicest
kinds, and has a peculiar taste; _Orange Pecco_, called _shang
hiang_, or 'most fragrant,' differs from it slightly; _Hungmuey_,
'red plum blossoms,' has a slightly reddish tinge; the terms
_prince's eyebrows_, _carnation hair_, _lotus kernel_, _sparrow's
tongue_, _fir-leaf pattern_, _dragon's pellet_, and _dragon's
whiskers_, are all translations of the native names of different
kinds of Souchong or Pecco. _Souchong_, or _siau chung_, means
_little plant_ or sort, as _Pouchong_, or _folded sort_, refers to
the mode of packing it; _Campoi_ is corrupted from _kan pei_ i.e.
carefully fired; _Chulan_ is the tea scented with the chulan flower,
and applied to some kinds of scented green tea. The names of green
teas are less numerous: _Gunpowder_, or _ma chu_, i.e. hemp pearl,
derives its name from the form into which the leaves are rolled; _ta
chu_ or 'great pearl,' and _chu lan_, or 'pearl flower,' denote two
kinds of _Imperial_; _Hyson_, or _yu tsien_, i.e. before the rains,
originally denoted the tenderest leaves of the plant, and is now
applied to _Young Hyson_; as is also another name, _mei pein_, or
'plum petals;' while _hi chun_, 'flourishing spring,' describes
_Hyson_; _Twankay_ is the name of a stream in Chehkiang, where this
sort is produced; and _Hyson skin_, or _pi cha_, i.e. skin tea, is
the poorest kind, the siftings of the other varieties; _Oolung_,
'black dragon,' is a kind of black tea with green flavor. Ankoi teas
are produced in the district of Ngankí, not far from Tsiuenchau fu,
possessing a peculiar taste, supposed to be owing to the ferruginous
nature of the soil. De Guignes speaks of the Pu-'rh tea, from the
place in Kiangsu where it grows, and says it is cured from wild
plants found there; the infusion is unpleasant, and is used for
medical purposes. The Mongols and others in the west of China
prepare tea by pressing it, when fresh, into cakes like bricks, and
thoroughly drying it in that shape to carry in their wanderings.

"Considering the enormous labor of preparing tea, it is surprising
that even the poorest kind can be afforded to the foreign purchaser
at Canton, more than a thousand miles from the place of its growth,
for 9d. and less a pound; and in their ability to furnish it at this
rate, the Chinese have a security of retaining the trade in their
hands, notwithstanding the efforts to grow the plant elsewhere.
Comparatively little adulteration is practised, if the amount used
at home and abroad be considered, though the temptation is great, as
the infusion of other plants is drunk instead of the true tea. The
poorer natives substitute the leaves of a species of Rhamnus or
Fallopia, which they dry; Camellia leaves are perhaps mixed up with
it, but probably to no great extent. The refuse of packing-houses is
sold to the poor at a low rate, under the name of tea endings and
tea bones; and if a few of the rarest sorts do not go abroad,
neither do the poorest. It is a necessary of life to all classes of
Chinese, and that its use is not injurious is abundantly evident
from its general acceptance and extending adoption; and the
prejudice against it among some out of China may be attributed
chiefly to the use of strong green tea, which is no doubt
prejudicial. If those who have given it up on this account will
adopt a weaker infusion of black tea, general experience is proof
that it will do them no great harm, and they may be sure that they
will not be deceived by a colored article; Neither the Chinese nor
Japanese use milk or sugar in their tea, and the peculiar taste and
aroma of the infusion is much better perceived without those
additions; nor can it be drunk so strong without tasting an
unpleasant bitterness, which the milk partly hides. The Japanese
sometimes reduce the leaves to a powder, and pour boiling water
through them in a cullender, in the same way that coffee is often
made."

The following valuable details as to the cultivation and manufacture of tea in British India, are from interesting reports by Dr. Jameson, Superintendent of the Company's Botanical Gardens in the North West Provinces, published in 1847 in the Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Calcutta;--and from Mr. Robert Fortune's report to the Hon. East India Company:--

_The quantity manufactured_.--The quantity of tea manufactured from
five plantations, of 89 acres in all, amounted in 1845 to 610 lb. 2
oz., and in 1846, on 115 acres, to l,023 lb. ll oz. The small
nursery of Lutchmisser, consisting of three acres of land, gave a
return in 1845 of 216 lb., or 2 maunds and 56 pounds; in 1846 the
return was 272 lbs., or 3 maunds and 32 pounds.

The small plantation of Kuppeena, established in 1841-2, and then
consisting of three acres (but increased in 1844 to four), yielded
in 1845, 1 maund and 56 pounds, and in 1846, 2 maunds and 56 pounds.
Thus we have received from a plantation of only five years'
formation, and of four acres (one of these recently added), upwards
of 2½ maunds of tea, and from another, Lutchmisser, of three acres,
which was established in 1835-6, 3 maunds and 30 pounds, equal to
272 pounds. I have, in a former report, asserted that the minimum
return of tea for an acre of land may be estimated at 1 pucka maund,
or 80 lb. The only plantations that I can as yet bring forward in
favour of my assertion, are the two above-mentioned: Kuppeena has
not yielded the proportion mentioned, but it was only established in
1841-42, and the tea-plants do not come into full bearing until the
eighth year; on the other hand, Lutchmisser has given more than the
average return. I think, therefore, that the returns already yielded
are highly favorable, and that though the data are small, they are
very satisfactory.

_Soil best adapted for the tea-plant_.--The soil in which the
tea-plant is now thriving in the Himalayas and in the valley of
Deyrah Dhoon, varies exceedingly. At Bhurtpoor and Russiah it is of
a light silico-aluminous nature, and abounding with small pieces of
clay slate, which is the subjacent rock, and trap (green-stone),
which occurs in large dykes, cutting through and altering the strata
of clay slate; mixed with the stony soil, there is a small quantity
of vegetable matter. The clay slate is metamorphic, being almost
entirely composed of mica. In some places it is mixed with quartz,
forming mica slate. From the decomposition of these rocks, mixed
with a small quantity of vegetable matter, the soil is formed. At
Kuppeena and Lutchmisser, the soil is also very stony, formed from
the decomposition of clay slate, which, in many places, as at
Russiah and Bhurtpoor, passes into mica slate, or alternates with
it, and a little vegetable matter. The same remark applies to the
plantations of Guddowli, Kouth, and Rumaserai. At Huwalbaugh part of
the soil consists of a stiff clay, of a reddish-yellow colour, owing
to peroxide of iron. Here, too, the tea-plants, provided that the
ground around them is occasionally opened up, thrive well. In Mr.
Lushington's garden at Lobha, in Kumaon, and in Assistant
Commissioner Captain H. Ramsay's garden at Pooree, in Gurwahl,
plants are thriving well in a rich, black, vegetable mould. The soil
in the Deyrah Dhoon varies exceedingly from clayey and stiff soil to
sand and gravelly soil, or light and free. The soil at Kaolagir is a
compound of the two, neither clayey, nor free, nor light soil, but
composed partly of clay and sand, mixed with vegetable mould, and in
some places mixed with much gravel, consisting of limestone, marl,
sandstone, clay slate, and quartz rock, or of such rocks as enter
into the composition of the surrounding ranges of mountains, viz.,
the Sewalick range to the south, and the Himalayas, properly so
called, to the north, From the above statement, we find that the
tea-plant thrives well both in stiff and free soils, and in many
modifications of these. But the soil which seems best adapted to its
growth may be styled free soil, as at Russiah, or a mixture of both,
as at Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon.

In limestone districts, where the tea has been tried, if the
super-imposed soil has been thin and untransported, and this proved
from the decomposition of the subjacent rock, the plant has
generally failed; and this has been particularly the case where the
limestone, by plutonic action, has become metamorphic. These
districts, therefore, in forming plantations, are to be avoided.

From the writings of various authors, it appears that the districts
where the tea-plant thrives best in China, have a geological
structure very similar to that met with in many parts of the
Himalayas, being composed of primitive and transition rocks.

_Altitude above the sea best suited to the tea plant_.--To state
what altitude is best adapted to the growth of the tea-plant, and
for the production of the best kinds of tea, will require much more
observation. At present the tea-plant thrives equally well at
Kaolagir, in the Deyrah Dhoon; at Russiah, in the Chikata district;
at Huwalbaugh; at Kuppeena and Lutchmisser; and at Rumaserai, or at
heights ranging from 2,200 feet above the level of the sea to 6,000
feet.

Moreover, the tea manufactured from leaves procured from Kaolagir,
has been considered by the London brokers equal to that made from
leaves procured from Lutchmisser and Kuppeena.

_On the method of preparing ground prior to forming a
plantation_.--In forming a plantation, the first object of
attention, both in the hills and in the Deyrah Dhoon, is a _fence_.
In the former, to prevent the depredations of wild animals, such as
wild hog, deer, &c., which abound in the hills, and though they do
not eat tea leaves, yet hogs, in search of tubers, in the space of a
single night will do much damage by uprooting young shrubs--in the
latter, to prevent the straying of cattle. The first thing to be
done, therefore, is to dig a trench three feet broad and two deep,
and to plant a hedge, if in the hills, of black thorn (_Cratoegus_);
if in the plains, the different species of aloe are best adapted for
the purpose. The fence being formed, all trees and shrubs are then
to be uprooted; this is very heavy work, both in the hills and
plains, from the vast number of shrubs, allowed by natives (from
indolence to remove them) to grow everywhere throughout their
fields. Roads are then to be marked off.

After this has been accomplished, the land is to be drained, if
necessary, by open drains--under drainage, for want of means and the
expense, being impracticable--and then ploughed three or four times
over. The beds for young tea-plants are then to be formed; these
ought to be three feet in breadth, alternating with a pathway of two
feet in breadth. By arranging beds in this manner much time and
labour is saved in transplanting; in irrigation the water is
economised, and in plucking tea leaves a road is given to the
gatherer. In transplanting, each plant is allowed 4½ feet; this is
at once gained, the beds and pathways being formed by placing in one
direction the plant in the centre of the bed.

_Trenching_.--On the tea beds being marked off, they are to be
trenched to a depth of from two to three feet, in order to destroy
all the roots of weeds, which are to be carefully removed. The
trenching is to be performed by the _fowrah_, or Indian spade.

In the hills, in many places the _fowrah_ cannot be used, owing to
the number of stones. The work is then to be done by the _koatlah_,
a flat-pointed piece of iron, of about eight inches in length, which
is inserted into a wooden handle. It is in form like the pick, and
is much used in hill cultivation for weeding and opening up the
ground. It is, however, not much to be commended for trenching
purposes, as natives, in using it, never penetrate the ground beyond
a few inches. For weeding, however, it is particularly useful, and
to such soil is much better adapted than most other implements.

_Formation of roads and paths_.--In addition to the pathways of two
feet in breadth, recommended to be formed between each bed, there
ought, for general use, to be a four feet road carried round the
plantation, and one of 10 feet through the centre. This applies to a
limited plantation, that is, of from 200 to 400 acres. If, on the
other hand, it was on a more extensive scale, several hackery roads
of 10 feet in breadth would be necessary, in order to cart away
weeds, &c., or carry manure to seedling beds.

_On seeds when ripe, and method to be adopted to ascertain it_.--In
all September and October the tea seeds ripen, but in the more
elevated plantations, as at Rumaserai, many do not ripen until
November. The seeds are contained in a capsule, and vary in number
from one to seven; to ascertain that they are ripe, open the
capsule, although green, and if their color is a nut-brown, they are
sure to be so. If they are not ripe, they are of a reddish-brown
above, mixed with white. If the seeds are allowed to remain a short
time on the bushes, after they are ripe, the capsules burst, and
they fall out; it is necessary, therefore, to remove them before
this takes place.

_On the method of sowing seeds, and season, and on the treatment of
the young tea plants after they have germinated_.--The ground having
been first well trenched and manured, that is, from sixty to seventy
maunds of manure given to the acre, the seeds are, when ripe, to be
removed from the capsules, and immediately sown to the depth of one
inch, and very close, in drills 8 to 10 inches apart from each
other. The sooner that they are sown after being removed from the
capsules the better, as their germinating properties are apt to be
destroyed if they are kept for any length of time. Some germinate in
the space of a few weeks, others lie dormant until February and
March, and others do not germinate until the rains.

The method of sowing seeds in China is thus described, being similar
to the native plan of sowing mangoes in India. "Several seeds are
dropped into holes four or five inches deep and three or four feet
apart, shortly after they ripen, or in November and December; the
plants rise up in a cluster when the rains come on. They are seldom
transplanted, but sometimes four to six are put quite close to form
a fine bush."[9] By this method nothing is gained, and the
expenditure of seeds great.

If the plants germinate in November, which, as already stated, many
do, they ought to be covered with a _chupper_ made of bamboo and
grass.

In the hills, everywhere at an elevation of 6,000 and 7,000 feet,
the ringal, a small kind of bamboo, of which there are several
species, is found in great abundance, and well adapted for the
purpose, and in the Deyrah Dhoon the bamboo occurs in vast quantity;
the market of the Upper Provinces being chiefly supplied from that
valley and other forests at the base of the Himalayas. Bamboos are
also met with to the height of six and seven thousand feet on the
Himalayas in the neighbourhood of Almorah. During the day, in the
cold weather, the _chuppers_ ought to be removed, and again replaced
at night; as the weather becomes hot, it is necessary to protect the
young plants from the heat of the sun, that is, in April and May,
and until the rains commence; the _chuppers_ at this time ought to
be put on about eight a.m., and removed again about four p.m.

_Method of rearing plantations by layers, and by cuttings_.--The
best season for laying down is when the sap is dormant, or in cold
weather; or when in full action, as in the rains. "Laying," as
expressed by Dr. Lindley, "is nothing but striking from cuttings,
which are still allowed to maintain their connection with the mother
plant by means of a portion of their stem." There are various
methods of making layers, but the most simple and efficient is to
bend down a branch, and sink it into the earth after having made a
slit or notch in the centre of the embedded portion. By so doing,
the descent of the sap is retarded, and thus the formation of
radicles or young roots is promoted; about five or six inches or
more, of the branch, is to be allowed to remain above ground, and in
a position as perpendicular to the point where the plant is notched
as possible. In three or four mouths these layers are ready to be
removed and transplanted; the removal of the layers is to be
gradual, that is, they ought first to be cut half through, then a
little more, and finally altogether separated.

The best season for propagating by cuttings is the cold weather,
that is, from November to February; they may also be propagated,
though not with the same success, during the rains; it is necessary
to protect them against frost in the cold weather, and from the rays
of the sun in the hot. Cuttings put in during the cold weather are
ready to transplant in the rains, and if put in during the rains,
they are generally fit for removal in February.

_On the method of transplanting and season_.--In transplanting young
tea-plants care should be taken to lift them with a good large ball
of earth attached to their roots, as they throw out a long central
or tap root, which, if cut through, invariably destroys the plant.
On being placed in the ground, the earth around them is to be well
pressed down and watered; the watering is to be continued every
third or fourth day, until the plants have taken hold of the ground.
During the rains, grass springs up with great rapidity, so as to
render it impossible for one man to keep three acres (the quantity
assigned by us) clean. This, however, is not necessary, if care be
taken to make a golah round each plant, and keep it clear of weeds;
these golahs ought always, in hill plantations where the ground is
irregular, to be connected by small _khauls_ or channels, in order
to make irrigation easy; by so doing too, water, if the supply be
scanty, which often happens in the hills in the hot weather, will be
economised.

+-----------------------------------------+
| b b |
| a a a | a Tea plant.
Thus-- | X----------X----------X | b Bed
| c c | c Watercourse
| b b |
+-----------------------------------------+

We have already stated that 4½ square feet ought to be assigned to
each plant. In China, according to Professor Royle, three to four
feet are given; this, however, is too small a space to allow the
plant to grow freely. After the tea plants are transplanted, it is
not necessary to protect them.

The best seasons for transplanting are towards the end of February,
or as soon as the frost has ceased, and throughout March, and during
the rains, and until the end or middle of November, depending on the
season.