The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-04-11
The Cultivation OF Tea.

The Cultivation OF Ieas
The leaves of quite a number Of shrubs are
in use in different parts of the world for making
the teas which have become so universal bey.
erage. The most common of these shrubs is
the China tea plant. It is quite uncertain when
this first began to be used, but tradition fixes
the period as early as the third century, though
it seems certainly as late as the seventh that
the use became general in China, where the
plant is a native growth. Early in the ninth
it was introduced into Japan, but it was not
brought to Europe till tine sixteenth or seven
teenth century. 1t was considerably past the
middle of the latter that the East India Com
pany thought it rare gift to present to the
Queen of England two pounds of tea, while
about the same time, it seemed thing worthy
of record that the Russian ambassadors brought
back to Moscow some carefully packed green
tea, which was received with great, acceptance
But probably the use of no article has ever ex-
tended itself more rapidly, and it is now o
common beverage, not only in Europe and
America, but in almost every country of the
world. Indeed, it is believed to be used at
present by five hundred million people, or hall
the inhabitants of the world.
Though indigenous in China, the native
growth there is not much depended on for o
supply. On the contrary, the plant is most
carefully cultivated, and affords one chief en-
ployment to the people of that vast empire
The region adapted to its growth is very ex-
tensive, reaching through more than twenty
degrees of latitude, and more than twice as
many of longitude, though the more important
district is near the coast about Shanghai and
Southwark. The plant is grown in almost
every variety of soil, but that best adapted to
it is a light loan, more or less stoney, abound
ing in vegetable mould, and moist but not wet.
The seeds are gathered in October, and kept
in sand till the following spring, when they
are sown, either in rows in the field where
they are to grow, or else in beds, from which
they are transplanted if the latter, they are
put out the second year in rows three or four
feet apart. In growing, they look not unlike
a field of gooseberry bushes with US. They
are hardy, yet if the weather is very cold they
need protection; if dry, the cultiyators resort
to irrigation. The gathering of the leaves
sometimes commences the third year, though
often not till the fourth. There are three or
four harvests-the first, of leaf buds, early in
April, though many prefer to forego this, and
allow the leaves to grow. If gathered, these
buds make the choicest variety of black tea,
known as Pekoe. But new leaves soon appear,
and a second gathering occurs the last of April,
vi CdllJ III NAY, WulSn 10 buC udi-
vest, and affords fine tea as the product. A
third gathering occurs early in July, which
furnishes leaves of an inferior quality, and
sometimes there is fourth gathering in Au-
gust or September, which furnishes leaves still
coarser and poorer. The plants rarely last
more than eight or ten years, when they are
dug up and replaced with new stock. In
gathering, the leaves are stripped off without
much care, and carried to building where
they are assorted and dried.
The drying process varies according to the
kind of tea to be produced, for our varieties
of green and black tea are not so much the
product of different species or regions as re-
suit from different ways Of curing the same
leaf.
The green teas are cured almost as soon rs
the leaves are brought from the field, being
allowed to remain not more than an hour or
two thinly spread upon trays to dry off any
superhuous moisture, before they are put into
the roasting pans. These latter have been in
the meantime heated by brisk fire, and into
them are thrown few of the leaves, which
are allowed to remain four or five minutes,
rapidly shaken and stirred, when they are
thrown out upon table and rolled with the
hands. Afterward they are again thrown into
a pan heated by slow steady fire, and allowed
to remain an hour or an hour and halt, being
kept all the time in motion by the hands of the
workmen. Sometimes they are thrown upon q
table to be rolled second time. This COM
pletes the chief part of the operation, though
afterwards, when a considerable quantity has
thus been finished, it goes through further
process of winnowing and sitting to separate
impurities, and asserting into different varie-
ties, and reheating also to be sure that the dry
ing is complete. GrocerS Price Current.