72 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jttly 2, 1883. 



weight of tea every year* averaging 6.61 pounds per head 

 of the population. t Great Britain comt's next with 4'59 

 per head. The drint is suited to thu climate and charac- 

 ter of the people, and the colonies use abaut -150 miiliou 

 gallous of tea infusion every year. Probably the production 

 of manufactured tea for all countries exceeds 600,U00,O(X), 

 and the known export exceed 350,000,000 pounds, without iu- 

 cluding the overland trade between China and Russia, which 

 is something considerable. 



On the slopes of the Himalayas vast tracts of country 

 are found covered with the indigenous tea plaut which there 

 grows to a good sized tree, from 15 to 30 feet high. Prob- 

 ably fi-oni this locality the Chinese first obtained the 

 plants which have since been so successfully cultivatedaud 

 manufactured into tea by them. IVIarco Polo, w^ho spent 

 some years in Cathay (China), between 1271 to 1295, and 

 wrote a work on the country, makes no mention of tea, and 

 the first account of the product is credited to Giovanui 

 Bolero iu 1590. 



After the war between Great Britain and China, the British 

 Government and the East India Company did all iu their 

 power to encourage the cultivation of the plaut in India, 

 and much money was spent with this object, skilled labor 

 was introduced from China, and Mr. Fortune made a large 

 collection of tea seeds and plants from every district in that 

 country, with the result that India now annually exports 

 about '55,000,000 pounds weight of tea. 



Ceylon, Java aud Japan are steadily increasing their out- 

 tura of tea. Natal and Fiji have started growing the pro- 

 duct, and no doubt portions of Queensland and the Northern 

 Territory will be found suitable for its cultivation. 



The best land in China is devoted to the cultivation of 

 cereals and other produce used for food, whilst the poorest 

 land and steep slopes (with some exceptions) are used for tea 

 planting. This example was followed by the early Indian 

 growers, but the practice carried out, proved its fallacy, and 

 no doubt kept back the industry for some year. Experience 

 has taught " that flat rich lands, with good rainfall, are iu 

 every respect the best for tea cultivation.'' (Col. Money.)]; 



Further the European growers now find that the indi- 

 genous plant isthebest,§ for it does not run so muchtowood 

 as theChma plant, it produces new tender leaf much more co- 

 piously, oftener, and ofter sotexture, whilst the mainifactnred 

 article is finer, stronger, aud has more aroma, and commands 

 a higher price in the London market. AVith the introduction 

 of machinery the old methods employed by the Chinese 

 for making tea are superseded, and the work done far more 

 satisfactorily. 



Plants as now cultivated in many parts of China arc 

 stunted in growth and twiggy in character, probably from 

 the impoverished nature of the ground, yet shrubs raised 

 from the same seed and grown in rich soil somewhat change 

 their character, vigorous in growth and more like their con- 

 gener the Assameusis. A good example of this is seen iu 

 the healthy vigorous specimens grooving in the Botanical 

 Gardens, Melbourne. The Chinese report th:it they pluck 

 the leaves at intervals and as crops, thus the first crop is 

 always the best, and appears to have the most pains bestowed 

 on it, whilst the so-called second, third, and fourth crops 

 follow, and are usually inferior showing careless plucking 

 ormanufacture. 



Indian tea planters on the other hand say plucking can 

 only be done as fast as the young leaves or flushes develope 

 that there is no such thing as first, second and third crops 



* If New Zealand is included, and if a considerable por- 

 tion of the tea imported is not again exported to Europe, 

 the figures are surely too low. The imports into AustraUa 

 and New Zealand were nearly 23,000,000 lb. iu 1882.— 

 Ed. T.A. 



t The consumption of sugar per head is in proportion 

 bemg between 80 and 1001b.— Ed. T. A. 



I Flat lauds certainly not, unless an expediturc is in- 

 curred for drainage which would be ruinous. Not oidy are 

 gently undulating lauds good, but some of the finest tea 

 in the world aud iu remunerative quantity is grown on 

 the steep slopes of the Eastern Himalayas, around Dar- 

 jiling. No more misleading maxim was ever laid down than 

 that which Colonel IMouey fathered, to the effect that a 

 climate good for human health cannot be a good tea climate. 

 —Ed. T. a. 



^ As a general rule, the best in every respect is a 

 hybrid closely approaching the indigenous. — Ed. T. A. 



though there may be many flushes, sometimes twenty-fiv^ 

 in a season ; that it is a mere matter of manufacture, the 

 youngest loaves are alway the best ; and size of leaf de- 

 termines the qualities in nearly every case. Probably the 

 careful preparation of the first teas for market has been 

 a custom of the Chinese for a long time, and afterwards 

 quantity and not quaUty guides them. The notion of crops 

 guiding quality, so long held by tea brokers, must be 

 abandoned as untenable. No machinery is used in the manu- 

 facture of tea by the Chinese, each little garden plucks and 

 partially manufactures. The final process of picking over 

 re-firing and sorting is completed by the tea Hongs {usually 

 a company of merchants,) who buy from all the little groovers, 

 and make htrge chops (or lots) of uniform sample. One 

 of these hongs lately sold 3o,000 packages of tea, a portion 

 of which reached the colouies and was prounced unit for 

 human food. 



All teas are now cUvided into two classes, the fermented 

 and the nnderfermented. These can be made from the one 

 plant; it is a mere matter of maunfactm-e, the former in 

 dried over a brisk fire as soon as possible after plucking, 

 whilst the latter, after rolling, is kept for some hours is 

 heaps or roils, when a change takes place, very like that 

 of barley into malt.* Chinese fermented or black teas 

 are called Congous and Souchongs. 



Chinese nnderfermented teas are called oolongs, Pou- 

 chongs, kooloos, flowery pekoes, S. O. pekoes, S. capers, 

 gunpowders, young hysons, imperials, &c. The Chinese as a 

 rule devote the best leaf and the most labor to the manu- 

 facture of underfermented teas. Indian fermented or 

 black teas are called flowery pekoes, orange pekoes, pekoes, 

 pekoe souchongs, souchongs, and the broken of each kind, 

 with fannings and dust. ludiau nnderfermented kinds 

 have the same names, but are also called namoonas. The 

 Indian growers as a rule devote the best leaf and the most 

 labor to the manufacture of fermented or black leaves. The 

 nnderfermented kinds are usually the strongest chemically 

 and in the cup, though almost colorless in liquor, color as 

 denoting strengtli being a popular fallacy ; but because 

 these descriptions give off th^ largest amount of tannin they 

 are not the best to di'ink. Fermented teas have a rich 

 browu leaf when infused, with a bright liquor, and of many 

 flavors. They are the best to use. Indian teas now take 

 the lead in quality overall other gi'owths. The DarjiUngs, 

 with their fine delicate aroma and sveet fruity liquor, will 

 please almost any palate.f Assams and Oachars, with 

 their rich aroma, great strength and body, are at present 

 mostly used to bring up the quality of weak China sorts. 

 Kangras, Dooars, Sylhets, and Chittagongs, are getting well 

 known and liked. The silly cry got up against Indian teit, 

 that it is too strong, is amusing, because the remedy is 50 

 simple, viz., use less tea or add more water. 



Imports of Indian tea into the colonies for the following 

 years are : — 



1879 1880 3,000 pounds weight. 



1550 1881 700,000 „ 



1551 16S2 1,000,000 „ 



1852 1883 2,300,000 „ (9 mouths only.) 



Probably no new article has achieved such rapid success 

 and withui such a short space of time. The finest teas from 

 China come from Hankow, in the n6rth, and some of the 

 Ningchows, Kntons, Keemuus, and Toongmowquans im- 

 ported this season have been of excellent quality. For years 

 past the quality of teas from Foochow has steadily de- 

 teriorated, aud it seems pi-obable that the colonies will have 

 to fall back on Hankow for their supplies of good teas. 

 Outsiile a few choice Paklums and Chingvvoo's (the Pan- 

 yongs not up to the mark this season.) The bulk of the 



*As far as our experience goes, few black teas in India 

 or Ceylon are fired until four hours after having been 

 rolled. That seems to be the average time needed for 

 the fermenting or malting process. During this process 

 the rolled tea is covered over, aud the assumption by the 

 leaf of a salmon colour is one of the tests wliich sohw 

 that '■ fermenting" has been carried far enough. But Mr. 

 Moody is writing of China teas. — Ed. T. A. 



t N. B. And those Darjilings are grown on steep slopes. 

 The Tukvar estate near Dirjiling, we were told when on 

 it, ran down from over 5,000 feet to 1,700 feet: that is a 

 difference of altitude of at leas.t 3,300 feet on land cultivated 

 as one property.— Ed. T. A. 



