Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1873-02-15
Tea.raising in China.

The tea grows in every province OF NJ
ma. except three or four upon the north
crnmost Siberian border, but the quality
and quantity produced depends largely
upon the locality. The tea-plant grows
five or six feet high. and is l. Ike our cur
rant shrub, only Il little thicker. The
leaves are in shape and size like those OF
the willow. They are picked about the
middle of April, in May, and in July:
sometimes there are %lcanin"S as late as
August. The leaves are not picked one |
by one. but stripped of in handouts by
men. women and children, who go about
doing this work. There are very few
large tea plantations: it is rare even To
find one of Il hundred acres. but there are
tea patches everywhere. The real bust
ness OF the country people is raising rice
| for food, but they cultivate tea and j Tx Is
/ extras, and for pocket money. as the Irish
/ man raises a pig. When the leaves are
! stripped off. they are exposed in Il cool,
dry place, for a day or two, then rolled
into a ball on table of baE,b boo stats, and
dried in the sun. The rolling is to cX-
tract portion of the juice of the leaves.
After they have been dried in the sun,
they are put into an ecg-shaped iron pan
over charcoal fire. and unnecessarily stirred
until a certain point of dryness is reached.
The operator stlrs with his hands, thrust
ing them in all portions of the pan, and
practice enables him 10 dry the leaves al
most exactly alike. The raiser goes
through this process, and then brings ms
tea i'm bamboo baskets to the tea merchant.
who Judges its quality and buys it at pri-
ces VARYING from SIS TO $40 per picul.
equal 1873 l-3 pounds. The merchant mix
les his purchases together in a large reScr-
voir. and at his convenience weighs out a
number of pounds Of tea leaves. and wO-
men and children spread them upon a
large stage and separate the leaves into
grades, according to quality. The tea
, stalks are the lowest grade. and the sort
- ers are paid by the number of ounces OF
stalks they bring in. Children earn from
four to five cents IA day; the very best
: workers rarely earn As much as ten cent
! / a day. Americans could hardly live upon
/ such wages, and until other nations cal
raise tea for II cents pound they cannot
Is compete with China in its production.
Il After the sorting, each grade is packed
l. by itself i'm chests or bamboo baskets The
E. first for expectation, the latter for HON,
7. consumption. a cle't of tea in Chin;
:, weighs from 100 to 10 pounds, half
20 chest from 60 to 20. and there are smaller
il boxes or caddies. containing from five t
~ ten pounds. The chests are filled to thei
p. utmost capacity, the packers even jump
ing in the boxes to get I'm the last possible
ounce. The chests are made perfect,
Z tight. and matted and interlaced OUTSIDE
~ with bamboo netting. as we get them OF
Dr this side the water. The tea is then read,
;. for export. and is ordered by importer
IL through tea faster. The faster is pal,
from $1,000 to $4,000 per year. and his mo
lie duS Operandi is as follows: He has long
70 narrow table, on which GO or 40 cups ar
10 set; a boy weighs exactly one ounce from
al a sample box into one of these cups, ant
81 if he has samples enough, all the cups ar
used. Hot water is then poured into eac
lie cup, ana after five minutes the boy call
m the master. who sips from every cur
10 holds the liquid in his mouth a moment
j. then elects it and notes in his book tn
III quality of the tea. The purchaser order
upon his taster'S estimate. and when hi
of packages arrive at the warehouse, abOu
n one in 20 is opened for comparison wit
ic the sample. lift proves of inferior grade
le a material reduction is at once made in tn
of price, so that without cOnnivance with tn
4 tea-taster the adulteratiOn of tea is mex
to impossible in China. Sometimes afte
IN the first drawing the leaves are cOllecte
i. and redressed, but this is the only way i
" which adulteration is prscticed. In con
20 pairing the contents of the chest with tn
NJ sample, the leaves are examined to se
! whether they are old or young or middle
of aged. The younger the leaves the choice
will be the tea.