The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-08-26
TEAS THAT ARE
WORTH FORTUNES
Twelve Hundred Kinds Are In China's
Show at the Worlds Fair.--Tte Most
PopulOus Nation of the World For
the First Time Makes an Exhibit
Worthy OF Her Greatness.

Many eXpositions of stupcndous char
acter make up the Worlds Fair of
1904. Each part is Il vast and distinct
show. Each building shelters many
acres of wonderful things
because they are the choicest of their
kind. Every nation on the globe is
represented. Every state and territory
is here with its best and making the
most of its greatest opportunity.
The fact that China has not been a
large exhibitor at worlds fairs gives
to her great exhibit here a prominence
quite exceptional. 1t is Il wonderland
of ingenious productions. We know
China best by reason of her extensive
exports of teas, which have found q
vast market in the United States for
generations. Her commercial interests
therefore prompted her to make a dis
play Of teas that we should not for
get
In sealed glass jars China displays in
the Liberal Arts Palace some ! 200
kinds of tea. Young Tyson and Old
Tyson have string of tea relations
Plymouth Rock. They are neatly Sc
!ectod Chops" in the language of the
tea farmer, and these classes do not
embrace medicinal teas, which are
quite another lot in the rather modest
number Of 400
The teas exhibited vary in price from
few cents pound to some rare and
l. ID. J,,,t
weight in gold. the tea in the latter
cases being placed on one side Of the
scales and pure gold on the other
that is to say, the tea Of this expensive
kind is worth about $50 gold an ounce.
Only very small quantity Of this ex-
elusive leaf is exhibited, and it is
grown in carefully guarded tea planta-
tons or gardens right under the shad-
ows of the great wall of China. Its cul-
tivation is prohibited for any use save
for the imperial family Of China and
few of the favored high officials.
Mention has been made Of the word
Chop in connection with tea, and it
may be interesting to the everyday
reader to know what the word actually
signifies The tea leaf is grown in va
rious districts Of the Chinese emnire on
rarge areas or ground which are often
mistaken for single plantations. This
is hardly ever the case, as the large
tracts are very often owned by hun
dreds of different men, whose individ-
ual plots Of ground bearing the tea
plants are carefully mapped out, so
that each individual owner may cult
vate and pick his own crop Of tea.
Each owner likewise markets his own
"chop," on the packages. Hence the
term "chop" signifies an individual
growth or picking Of tea by one owner.
In an area Of tea land Of, say, thou
sands acres, I'll apparently under one
ownership, there may be some forty,
fifty or more owners Of the plantation
and consequently like number Of
"chops" Of tea.
1t must not be imagined that all these
different owners of the tea get the
same price for their commodity-far
from it, as each Of these individual tea
growers has his own secrets for i'm
proving the quality and flavor Of tea.
Take, for instance, the Annoy and Flu
chau districts, whence most of the tea
for the United States comes. The own
ers Of "chops" Of tea varying from 10
to 200 chests Of So pounds each bring
samples Of their goods to the various
foreign merchants for sale. These lat
ter turn the Chinese tea growers over
to the good offices Of the foreign or
American professional tea faster, who
passes on the goods as to price The
tea faster has the samples infused, not
boiled, in his presence and passes upon
the quality, favor, twang and manner
OF curing, fixing price accordingly,
from which there is never any varia-
ton and which the tea grower must &C.
cept or go elsewhere to dispose of his
wares. In single tract Of tea land
like the one cited above the price has
ranged from IA cents, the lowest, to
4s1a cents, the highest, per pound
among sixty-one different tea produ-
GERS. A matter of great moment that
also figures in the price Of tea is
that very often tea from the same dis
trict will have the various "chops'
blended together in order to produce
special favors.