The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-03-12
THE TEA PLANT OF JAPAN.
HOW 1T IS CULTIVATED AND PRE-
PARED FOR MARKET.

Three Harvests Are Gathered Each
Year, the First Being Best-Cur-
ing the Leaves.
The tea plant does not begin to furnish
tea until the fourth year of its age. The
yield increases up to the tenth year, then
gradually decreases for five years more,
when the garden must be renewed. The
bushes are about three feet apart in each
direction. By trimming they are kept
little more than table in height. The
soil is kept well worked, free from weeds,
and fertilized often four times year, the
largest supply being given in the spring,
when the new growth begins. The first
harvest begins about the middle of May,
the second after the rains, about two
months later. A third picking of leaves
yields only older and cUarser leaves for
home use, or for the production of brick
tea-that is, tea pressed into the form of
bricks and exported to Siberian Russia,
where 1t is used as a nourishing food, as
well as beverage.
The tea gardens of U-ji, noted for their
fine product, are rooted over before the
first harvest by mating supported on
bamboo framework, the object being to
protect from dew and keep the heat re-
celved by day from wasting by radiation
in the night. The modified light length
ems the young shoots and makes the leaves
more tender. 1t is this region also which
furnishes the very finest Japan teas used
in the ceremonious tea parties called
'cha-no-yu." Such teas are often sold
as high as twenty-five yen equal to nearly
500 per pound.
The native tea as cured by the native
tea gardeners will keep good in Japan for
a year if packed in stone jars, but in that
form it will not bear expectation, as it
contains about twelve per cent. of moist
ure, aud it is to rid the tea of this moist
ure that the tea firing go down is in
stituted. First the native tea, which
comes in wooden cases from the country,
each containing one picul equal to about
13O pounds, is emptied into bins about
ten feet square by five feet high, with
movable sides. When full, one of the
sides is taken down and with a rake the
contents are carefully mixed to insure
uniformity in color and size. The tea in
this condition has no odor which reminds
ono of tea as we know it, at all.
In very large and lofty one-story
building are arranged brick furnaces in
ranks of eight. Over the small fire pit
of each is a rather deep, rounded iron
pan capable of holding about twenty
gallons. The building contains about
800 of these pans, the whole premises
about 1900 of them. The pans are gen.
orally worked by japanese women, a
certain number of them having an over
seer, generally Chinese. At a given
signal about five pounds of the native tea
is put into each pan and the attendants
at once commence working it round and
round with their hands, never ceasing an
instant until the temperature of the tea
rises to about 40. At first it grows soft,
but finally, at the end OF fifty minutes,
assumes lighter color, has shrunk, and
becomes dry to the touch, developing q
peculiar pyro-olec odor allied to that of
tea as we know it in America. In short,
it is a sort of toasting process, and de-
velops an artificial character allied to the
development of the aroma of coffee by
roasting it. OF course the experience of
the Chinese foreman decides the degree
of heat, the time of manipulation, and
the finished condition. During the busy
season, May and June, this house keep
1900 people busy from morning till
night at this toasting of tea. 1t is one
babel of noise, and the heat from the
fire pits in the summer is sitting. The
fumes of the charcoal used in the fur
naces, which have no chimney, the vapor
from the tea and more or less dust from
it make tea firing go down anything
but paradise After firing the tea is
placed on cooling floors, made uniform
by repeated siftings, and Immediately
placed in chests as we see it IN America.
These hold from eight to twenty pounds.
Each chest is lined with thin sheets of
lead, over which is a thin coating of tin
toward the tea side. This lead lining is
backed by strong paper and the top
sealed hermetically by means of solder
before the cover is placed udon it. The
chest is then papered and large facings
of colored labels, the full size of one
end of the chest, pasted on it. A great
variety of these face labels are made in
the factory by japanese artists, who
make their own designs, sometimes re-
quiring four colors, cut the blocks and do
tho printin,r thnmeplvps Def,.oif Ercs