226 TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



limited, agree that, except perhaps in the Sandwich Islands, 

 nowhere else is the toil of freckles exacted by the sun less 

 aggravating, and an open-air life more enjoyable. 



Not only in the field are the services of the fair sex required, 

 but in our model tea factory they are utilised also. It is well 

 known to travellers and residents in China that the finest and 

 most expensvie tea of that country is never exported, because, 

 being only sun-dried, and scarcely fired at all, it cannot stand 

 the voyage to Europe or America, but would decay on the way 

 and arrive in a state of decomposition. But although incapable 

 of enduring a long carriage, the few days occupied in reaching 

 Australia from Auckland would probably inflict no appreciable 

 damage, so that this exquisite tea might readily be enjoyed for 

 a few weeks every season by our relatives in Sydney, Melbourne, 

 and the other parts of that continent. Accordingly, the prepara- 

 tion of this charming article, the samples of which are never 

 seen in Mincing Lane, is left almost wholly in the hands of the 

 ladies connected with our New Zealand Chasericultural Com- 

 pany, as, there being no rolling, fermenting roasting, and very 

 little firing necessary — only a little curling, exposure to the sun, 

 and loose packing in small canisters or jars — such trifling yet 

 careful manipulation is undertaken by even the least robust 

 among them, and seems more like pastime than labour. The 

 ladies have also the satisfaction of knowing that this eflbrt of 

 their fair fingers commands an exceptional price, not unlike a 

 kindred tea in China alluded to by Mr. Simmonds in his C(ym- 

 mercial Prodvycts of the VegetaUe Kingdom. " For delicacy," he 

 says, " no teas approach those called ' Mandarin teas,' which 

 being slightly fired and even damp when in the fittest state for 

 use, will bear neither transport nor keeping. They average 

 twenty shillings per lb., and are in request among the wealthy." 

 In the preparation, too, of brick and tile tea, powder tea after 

 the Japanese formula for native Asiatic use, compressed tea, and 

 concentrated essence from the broken leaves and dust for the 

 convenience of the army, navy, and travellers, many situations 

 are available for the deft fingers of the fair ; whilst at the ter- 

 mination of every harvest employment in producing tea-seed oil 

 and oil-cake from the refuse is ready for hundreds of more robust 

 although uneducated women and children. 



In the midst of the dust, heat, and noise of the manipulating 

 and firing chambers it is hardly to be expected there would be 

 openings for ladies, but in the weighing and packing departments 

 their artistic taste comes into play in the supply of decorative 

 designs and sketches of native scenery and character wherewith 

 to ornament the packages. 



Meanwhile the silk harvest for the year has been obtained in 

 the shape of 72,000 lbs. of green cocoons fed upon 100 acres of 



