Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-05-27

vi WIN Alt .
FitZhugh was a valuable member.
Resolced, That the foregoing proceedings be
published. X. K GuRLEY, sec'y.
>aS6559955se-
CULTURE OF TEA.
The following interesting account of the culture
and preparation of Tea, was elected from Mr..
Majoribanks before the committee of the British
House of Commons, on the subject of the Indian
trade. Mr.. NJ. had been seventeen years in the
service of the East India Company, (of which he
was lately chairman, and a resident in China du-
ring the greater part Of the time,
The black tea is grown and manufactured in
the province of Fokien, with the exception of a.
bout one third of that sort called bohea, which
third part Is produced on the northeastern corner
OF the province of Canton, in a district called
Wo-Ping, which gives its to the tea in ques-
ton. The green tea is all grown IN the provin-
ces of kiang-non, Kiangsi, and Che Kiank, but
chiefly in the two former. The tea plants of all
these provinces are supposed to be of one spe-
cies: the difference i'll the manufactured article
arising from difference of soil, climate and manu-
~facture. Green tea has been made in the dis
trict from whence the black tea comes, and rice
,erSa. Some of the buds of the plant in Fokien
are picked in the early part of the spring, before
they have burst: those from Pekoo tea, the most
valuable part of the plant; of which buds a small
portion rs mixed with the best parcels of Congo.
to give them a flavor. Pekoe is also brought to
Canton unmiXed with other leaves.
The tea sent to Russia is said to be Pekoe,
slightly adulterated by the mixture of other leaves.
In the beginning Of May the leaves are stripped
of the plant; "a new crop is then thrown out and
picked in abouSsix weeks afterwards, and third
crop about the end of summers; the two first pick
ed are the best, aud nearly equal in quality
| the third crop of leaves Yields tea of little strength
and inferior flavor; hence the best crops are
composed wholly of the choice leaves of the two
first gatherings, with the small sprinkling of the
buds and PekOe. The black tea in Fokien is
said to be cultivated largely by c~ottagers IN small
plots of ground or gardens. The leaves are
picked by the family, and are Immediately car
ricd to market, where persons, whose BUSINESS
lies in that line. collect quantities of them, and
manufacture them in part. that is, expose them
to be dried bv the wind under the shade and al
forwards to be further dried in a hea'ed ware
house. The persons whom we call the merchants
and the agents uf the hong merchants, come to
the tea districts and rurchase from he men be-
fore mentiond. quantities Of the dried leaves OF
the first, second and th,rd gatherings, dlscrimin-
ating the leaves of Young and old plants. of those
grown in we'll known favorable spots, sc. &c.
They then complete the driving process, accor-
ding as it may be requisite, and employ the wo-
men and children to select the hard, the best
leaves, with more or less discrimination accor-
ding to the object IF making very fine, mlddling
orrcommon tea. The tea is made into parcels Of
from ION to 600 chests each, with a distinctive
name to each parcel. and conformity of quality,
where the tea merchant acts honestly; hence
those parcels of tea, which under Chinese names
have proved in a series of years of excellent quail
ity and similar characters. and which are greatly
sought af ,er at the London sales, are not the pro-
ducc ofany particular farm. but owe their charac-
ter to the skill and good faith with which tea
merchants or the hong merchants, agents have
executed their commission IN selecting ONLY SUI
perior parcels of leaves in the market OF Woo-y-
shan. Green tea is brought from the three pro-
vinCes above mentioned. Like the black tea
the different classes are formed by selecting the
better frOm the inferior leaves after they have been
dried. the light leaves separated by a wlnnowln5
machine from the heavier. form Tyson sklns.-
Copper is never used in making green tea. The
blooming appearance of hyson. gunpowder. &c.
is SAID to arise from the effects of carefully roast
INC the leaves IN vases placed over d hEe' anu w
rubbing them against tie sides of the vessel. In
this process with the green teas much skill is re-
q%uisite, and there is a class of persons who are
hired by some of the tea merchants to superin-
tend their respective manufactures. Bohea tea
is composed partly of the lower grades of the W.
v-shan tea. which has been left unsold after the
departure of the last ships of the season, and
partly of the tea grown in the district of Canton,
called Wo-ping.
Refreackment The Secretary OF the Navy,
in his letter to Committee on the expenditures