Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/627

 TEA 599 The sepals and petals are usually five, the sta- mens numerous, a portion forming by their united bases a cup within which are numerous sparate stamens; the fruit or pod is usually iree-celled, with a single large seed in each ill. The plant in the wild state is a bushy irub, and sometimes a small tree, but in cul- tivation is kept dwarf by pruning. Like oth- er plants long in cultivation, tea has produced several marked varieties, which have been de- scribed as distinct species. The original coun- of tea is not known ; it has been found in truly wild state in Assam. In the East it lay be cultivated through a wide range, from India to Japan. In this country the plant bare- ly survives the winter at Washington, but a lit- tle south of that city it succeeds, and in North >lina and Georgia bears fruit abundantly. )n the Pacific coast, where the climate is es- 3cially favorable for broad-leaved evergreens, >th native and exotic, the tea plant flourishes mch further north than at the east. The time its first cultivation in China is not known, mt its use in the Indies is comparatively re- ant is inferred from the fact that there is no lame for the plant or its product in the Sans- crit. The Portuguese are said to have been first to import tea into Europe, and were Saainted with it early in the 16th century; y in the 17th it was introduced by the Jutch. Previous to that time it was the cus- >m among European nations to make use of lot infusions of various leaves, notably those )f the sage (salvia), which at one time had a ' reputation, and was regarded as a sort of panacea ; its dried leaves were taken to China by the Dutch East India company, to be ex- changed for the tea leaf. About the middle of the 17th century a Eussian embassy to Chi- na brought back to Moscow packages of tea, which were received with much favor ; and in 1664 it is recorded that the English East India company made the queen of England what was considered the brilliant present of two pounds of tea. When first introduced ito England, tea sold by the pound at 6 to /10 ; it was known there previous to its di- introduction, having been brought from [olland, but was only used on rare occasions. ?he first considerable importation was in 1667, rhen the East India company brought in 4,713 which was a supply for several years. are classed as black and green, distinc- ions not due to their production by different )ecies, but to the age of the leaf when gath- ered and the methods of preparation ; each of these has several subvarieties named from the provinces producing them or the points of exportation, or some peculiarity in the arti- cle itself. The Chinese districts which sup- ply the export demand lie between lat. 25 and 31 N. Tea has long been in cultivation in Japan, and since the opening of that country to commerce a large trade in it has grown up. Various parts of India are eminently favor- able to the culture ; the government of British India has encouraged the introduction of the Chinese plant, and also the cultivation of that found wild in Assam, and large supplies are sent from India to England. In Java and Penang the culture has been established with favorable results. About 1850 the plant was introduced into Brazil, and by the aid of Chi- nese laborers some tea was produced ; but lit- tle mention has been made of the results in later years. The experiments in cultivating tea in the United States have been numer- ous ; the most noted was that of Dr. Junius Smith of Greenville, S. C., who gave in the reports of the United States patent office from 1848 to 1859 full accounts of his results ; his labors and those of others show that there are localities in the southern states well adapted to the production of excellent tea, and that its success in this country is only a question of the price of labor. In California, where the plant flourishes admirably, an experiment in tea culture has recently been undertaken by a colony of Japanese. While the many varieties of tea are no doubt produced by the same species, the quality of the product being large- ly determined by the preparation given to the leaves, it is also much influenced by the soils and situations in which the plants grow. The tea of the hills is different from that of the low lands, and that which receives but little care gives a product inferior to the highly cultivated. The slopes of the hills are pre- ferred, at an elevation depending upon the climate ; almost any good arable soil, free from stagnant moisture, will serve for the culture. In China the plant blooms in November, and the seeds are ripe by the next autumn ; these, kept in sand till the following spring, are sown in a seed bed, or in rows where the plants are to grow ; the plants stand 4 or 5 ft. apart each way, and when about 18 in. high have the leading shoots pinched to induce them to be- come bushy. The plants yield a small picking in their third year, and attain their maximum yield in the eighth or tenth, after which they deteriorate and give way to young plants ; in some localities the land is enriched with litter, sewage, or other fertilizers ; the plant, which would naturally form a tree, is, for the con- venience of picking, kept pruned down to 5 ft. The quality of the tea depends largely upon the age of the leaves at the time of picking ; the younger the leaves the more delicate their flavor, and of course the smaller the yield. The earliest picking, the first of April, consists of the buds and the very youngest leaves ; a second gathering, at the end of April or early in May, consists of more developed leaves, and is the most important crop ; an inferior quality of leaf is gathered in July, and in some localities another picking of old and poor leaves is made still later. The picker has a basket slung by a cord around his neck, to leave both hands at liberty; he holds the shoot with one hand, and breaks off the blade of the leaf with the other, for, except in the earliest picking of the very