El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-14

methods of cultivation and curing are
far different there than they are on
these big plantations of Hindustan- In
the former countries the tea is raised
IN small patches. The ordinary tea
garden of Japan is not much bigger
than city lot and that Of China would
not be larger than the ordinary Ameri
can garden. The tea is raised by
multitude of small farmers, each of
whom works after his own rule and in
his own way. When the leaves are
picked there are traders who go about
through the tea districts and buy up
the crops. They sell to other traders
and one crop may go through half
dozen different hands before it is ship
ped to Hankow, where it gets one of the
big steamers for Europe.
Here in India the plantations are
large. Some of them have hundreds Of
acres and employ thousands OF men and
women as labOrers. They are handled
after business methods The soil is stu
died and carefully cultivated. AT pres
ent there is more than 500, 600, 600 in
vested in the business and in the neigh
borhOOd of 100000 people are employed
upon the plantations. The area under
cultivation is steadily increasing and it
is said that the crop may be raised all
along the southern slopes of the Hima-
layas at an altitude of about 5000 feet
above the sea. The plantations here are
| 5000 or 1000 feet up and there are some
tea fields which are a full half mile
above sea level The most of the land
used is flat sandy loan with a free
subsoil. The tea seeds are first planted
in beds. After they have sprouted and
reached the age of a year they are set
out in rows a few feet apart. They are
carefully cultivated and trimmed, in
order to make them grow bushy. The
soil is often top dressed with wood
loan and artificial manures are fire.
quently used AS to the droppings of
cattle, none are to be had in India,
for the people pick them up and use
them for fuel After the plants are
three years old they are ready for
plucking. The leaves are carefully
pulled. a certain number being left to
keep the plants growing. 1t takes five
or six years for shrub to mature and
at that time it should produce a pound
or more of tea every year. Some of the
trees about here are forty years old and
there are some in China whose age IS
so great that no one knows when they
were planted
How a Tea Plant Looks.
But let me tell you how the tea looks
in the fields In the plantations about
here the plants range in height from
ones waist to his head. Some have
trunks six inches in diameter and others
mere stems The leaves are like those
of the willow tree. They smell like tea
when you crush them. The shrub is a
species of the camellia. It is an ever
green not unlike the maple, and the
leaves are beautiful. The plant is sup
posed to have come originally from
China, but there is no account of its
having been cultivated until about $50
A. D. It grows wild on this side of the
Himalayas, and there are certain vari-
cites of it which reach the height of
small trees. The planters are crossing
the various varieties in their attempts
to make new and better teas.
I passed through many of these plan
tations on my ride up the mountains
The shrubs rise in terraces up the sides
of the hill looking not unlike wei
trimmed lockwood hedges. Here and
there one sees gaily dressed women
picking the leaves, their black skins
and bright calico gowns showing out
against the green, while their jewelry
flashes in the sun. Each woman has
a basket which will hold about two
bushels. on her back. kept there by a
band which rests over the forehead. The
leaves are plucked with the hands and
thrown into the baskets. which, wher
full, are carried to the factory : am
told that the planters usually have five
they have seven. This is far ahead of