Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. II.pdf/65



THE geographical limits within which the cultivation of the tea plant has in modern times been carried probably lie between the 25th and 37th parallels of north latitude, Japan being the northernmost country in which the shrub is grown, and Assam the furthest point south to which its culture has been at all successfully extended. Fortune considered that the districts in which tea can be grown to greatest perfection are those between 27° and 31° north; and it seems probable that the finest qualities of tea are still to be found on the slopes, terraces, and steppes of the Dohea range of mountains. The two varieties of this plant which are best known in China are Thai Boltm and Thea viridis. From the former black teas are manufactured, while Then viridis supplies the best descriptions of green. The tea plantations, with few exceptions, are small in size, as is the case also with the plantations of mulberry in the districts where silkworms are reared. The fact is that the growers are most of them small farmers, men who possess little or no capital of their own, but obtain advances on their crops through the landowners, or the agents of the native tea merchants, to whom they dispose of their tea. Most of the capitalists engaged in the tea traffic are sharpwitted, far-seeing traders, belonging to Canton.

The tea plants are reared from seed sown in a nursery, and when they are sufficiently matured, the finest of them are selected, and planted out in rows about four feet apart, a like interval being left between each of the plants, so that every clump enjoys an equal share of soil and sunshine. See Nos. 60 and 61. Manuring is rarely resorted to, as the plant is a hardy one, which, if kept free from weeds, will mature in about three years' time. It is then ready for picking, and is never allowed to flower. The first crop of the early leaves is gathered in the month of April, the young leaves then yielding the finest teas, while the older leaves are collected in May and during the early part of June. The leaves thus gathered are sold to the tea agents, who, when they have obtained a sufficient quantity to make up a parcel of say 600 chests, so mix the leaves together as to secure that degree of uniformity in the manufactured tea which will admit of its being brought to market under a specific name. In the production of a good sound tea a great deal undoubtedly depends upon the quality of the leaves, but the marketable character of the article owes quite as much to its subsequent manipulation in the firing and sifting rooms. Black teas / are produced by first allowing the fresh leaves to ferment and blacken by the oxidation which follows their exposure in the open air and light, while green tea is obtained from the same plant by arresting the exposure of the leaves while they are still green, and before the process of fermentation has set in.

It has been reported by Mr. Fortune that certain green teas owe their hues to an admixture of deleterious colouring matter; I have, however, never seen this process of tea-dying in operation.

There are spurious teas exported— those made up of tea-leaves that have been already in use. It is impossible to say what foreign matter, either designedly or by accident, may have been introduced into such as this, but the teas that are bought and sold at fair prices are remarkable for their purity.