The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-06-11
4 Dish of Tea.

The Wholesale adulteration OF this
domestic article which have lately been
detected in New York set one to think
ing about the familiar Chinese staple.
The well-known camellia japonica is
of the same family rs the tea-shrub;
both have the same firm, dark, glossy
green leaves. both the same kind
flower. The fruit contains two or
three seeds OF mouse color, and from
these plants may be raised. When tea
was first introduced into Europe, in the
seventeenth century,. it was costly
article, the price being about twenty
dollars pound. When the founder OF
a celebrated London coffee-house ad
vertised it at ten shillings. or two dol
lars and half. a pound, some fifteen
years later, it had already been de-
nounced us interfering with the sale Of
beer and other liquors; and in lG60 n
duty OF eight pence per gallon was
levied upon "all the liquor produced
from tea which was made and sold in
coffee-houses." Notwithstanding this
great discouragement, it gradually
went on making its way, till at last it
became one of the most important arti-
cles of British commerce, and the duty
was no longer levied upon the infusion,
but upon the article itself.
If we take Il map of China and mark
with pencil line at twenty degrees
of northern latitude, and another at
thirty-onc degrees. we shall include all
the tea producing district of the Celes-
tial empire. Further north is Japan,
growth of tea. The finest tea is grown
in the country about Nankin. situated
mid way between Pekin a d Canton,
where tie climate is mild and tenn
perate. The leaves are gathered one
by one; and, tedious as the operation
may seem, the daily average thus col
lected by each laborer is said to be
from ten to fifteen pounds, according to
the size of the leaves at the period Of
each of the three tea-harvests. The
fin st harvest is toward the latter end OF
February, the second about the begin
ming of April, and the third in June.
The finest shrubs frequently grow on
the steep declivities of hills, where
considerable hazard is encountered in
the gathering process.
In the tea districts everybody culti-
Yates the shrubs and the poorest cot
tager has his tea garden; even the
priests who attend upon the temples
are also tea-farmers, and the hills with
low trees surrounding the pagodas, so
Olttn Sttu utDlClCd uDOn Oui
and table dishes, represent the tea
plantations of the priests. A new
plantation is made by sowing the seeds,
and the first crop is not obtained until
the close of the third year. After four
years more it ceases to yield fully and
is cut down to the ground, when it will
put forth fresh branches and bear fine
leaves in great abundance. This pro-
cess is repeated until the plant is some
| thirty years old. when it runs out and
must be renewed by planting fresh
seed. Its growth and culture have
been attempted in India on large
scale, and with some degree of success.
1t also matured and yielded harvest
in some of our Southern States and on
the Pacific coast. but China is, par ex
cellence, the true tea country, and
will doubtless always maintain the
supremacy in its production.
The properties OF tea nave been much
extolled, and no doubt, moderately an d
properly taken, it acts as a gentle
astringerit and mild corroborative, Civ
| ing tone to the stomach, and assisting
digestion. 1t quenches thirst more
readily than most fluids, and refreshes
the spirits in heaviness and sleepiness.
These qualities seem to be admitted on
| all hands, yet the most careful inqnirers
regard il as a narcotic, the stimulating
period of which is the most conspicu-
Gus and of longest duration. Hence,
for very young children it is improper.
rs, like all narcotics, it is apt TO pro-
duce n morbid state of the brain and
nervous system. In persons who do
not take much active exercise, particl-
larly in the female sex, tea promotes
healthy bile, and assists digestion ma
terially; and to those whose diet is
chiefly vel etable, it IL most beneficial
from the same american Cnlti-
udi0r.