St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-06-07
In AN INDIA TEA FIELD.
A Brooklynite Who Knows An
About the Fragrant Leaf


~ - ouEVEAo1uX now utGl0 PeOpk0
know about tea The consumption Of
this article in the United States
amounts to thousands Of chests annu-
ally, and yet not one person In . thou
sand knows any thing about the growth
and subsequent preparation of the
fragrant leaf before it Is put on the
market and may add that very few
know how to make tee when they have
the material At hand"
This was what Mr.. James Virtue. Of
465 Fifth avenue, said to Brooklyn
Eagle writer the other day. Mr.: Virtue
Is Scotchman by birth and for eight
cen years was . superintendent Of tea
fields or commands. as they are called
in India Most Of this time he spent in
the D0aars and Dagelling provinces,
which are in the northeast portion Of
India and about four hundred and ffty
miles from Calcutta Being asked TO
tell something Of what he knew Of tea
culture Mr.. Virtue continued: "The
general idea is that all teas come from
China or Japan. This il IN erroneous
suppositipn.. The tea planting industry
in India il by NO means now one, and
its steady success has comm anded for it
extended territory, and has been the
means OF giving employment to
Thousands of natives who would other.
wise have been idle or next door to it.
Tea gardens o. plantations In India Are
known in the trade - 'comands, with
only one n In China and japan these
comands' are from one and half to two
acres in extent, rarely moro than four,
while in India they win include from .
thousand to fifteen hundred acres, and
this would be about the svesage, al
though there ase soue much iarKer.
The Assam Tea Company, for instances,
has comand' orr 600 acres On It are
employed seventy Europeans-chieny
English -aas overseers and q. 900 natives
who do the work. The company has its
avn store supplies all groceries. CLOTH
Ing. liquors. etc. to its employees. has .
theater. and in fact the eomaud' 10
really . city within itself The manu-.
facturer Of tea depends 70 . largo extent
upon the h0aesty Of the men engaged In
the business There can be either . |
straight or faced tea. BY straight
tea l mean : leaf straight from the
bush; BY . faced tee I mean tea that |
has been cut and used and again bruised
and faced with iron filings. inAigo.
aloes and various other compounds. The |
former manufacture 10 Indian, the lat |
ter Chinese. The tree planters Of India |
arc generally honest, and pride them
selves upon giving . straight article.
Indian tea, especially Assams, are
grown in very forcing climate marked
By great warmth and humidity. Tho
Doil 10 loamy and steny. Tho climate
b detrimental to Europeans. being
mugKy and full of malaria, and few bat
natives can reside there for any length
pf time. Europeans are always en-
ployed - managers or overseers, who
watch the natives 1t their work, being
incapable themselves Of doing any
manual labor on account Of the intense
heat The workers are natives of Hin
aostan and most of the pickers are
women. As rule, they are very tract
lble. The women work eleven OF twelve
hours day, and the mon, who are tho
eight hours only. Tho tea
who arc also men, work
txteen hourx Tea is grown from .
'eed which. Of course, II obtained from
he tree. and is either planted seed st
take (which means that small stake
. used to make . hole in the soil, the
'eed dropped in and covered), or from
what Is called transplanting seeding,
which Is taken from . forcing bed and
in the regular soil This
is done in the rainy season.
shich lasts from May to November.
his seed wants great deal Of atten-
Ion The lines or rows must be regu- |
arly dug and weeded BY hand st least
moo . month to prevent the growth Of I
unGie which is very prolific in such
climate. Each plant requires .
pace to itself about Ave feet
quare, and . seed at stake will show
'bove ground in from three to four
months after planting. A transplanted 4
eedling will appear in half the time.
rhe plant grows just like . young Or Z
re. 1t requires much caro- and clean I
e until the end Of the second season
'hen the hush viii have attained .
eight Of from three to three and half 4
eet have known . tree to grow - I
Ugh - twelve feet. II it was left alone Z
ne tea plant would reach . height Of
lfteeA Or twenty feet and. - I said,
'oold b like Ar tree in shapa but Ne 4
rune It about twenty inches from the Z
round. . - to educGSe It to spread and I
nus yield dner leaf. to give more q
urface and . more delicate product II
Fe allowed 1t 70 grow, IL would sap t.
ELF and its leaves would b worthless
me pruning u dose In December and .
ne pluckinR began immedistely the {
ap rises which Is about from the mid 9
lc Of March to the drst week in April !
ne branch ben the parent stem viii