76 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1885. 



the previous season, was yen 4 per kwan-me, and the tea 

 men were al! loud in their complaints that, although the 

 cost of labour was so much cheaper this year, the prcsfut 

 would be a losiDg season to them, and that it would not 

 pay to gather the second crop. This, however, has not 

 proved the case, and, contrary to many expectations, the 

 total yield this year of Jajian tea seems likoly to be little 

 short of last season's supply. I am, therefore, inclined 

 to think that the figures of cost as given to me at Sliid- 

 zuoka were excessive, and we must probably wait for that 

 long-hoped for period of the opening of the country to 

 foreign enterprize before this Society can be correctly in- 

 formed of the cost of producing tea in Japin. 

 lfotc.~V20 me = 1 lb. 1 i5«(io=3fi square ft. 



1 kwan-me = S3 lb. 1,210 „ =1 acre. 

 16 „ =13ajlb. 1 acre =43,5(10 sq.ft. 



Ipicul =133^ lb. 

 At the date of writing these notes one dollar was equal 

 to 130 yen (paper) and the sterling exchange was 3s 8d. 

 per dollar, thus making the pound sterling equal to 7'09 

 paper yen. 



The further manipulation that Japan tea has to under- I 

 go before it can be exported to America or Canada (its 

 only markets) is familiar to most of us who reside at the 

 treaty ports. During the season we have daily experience 

 of the aroma issuing from the open windows of the tea- 

 firing godowns, of the troops of tea-firing men, women 

 and children who clatter past our windows at an unearthly 

 hour in the morning, and who make day hideous witli 

 their noise, singing and crying. Probably most of us have 

 also been inside these godowns and seen these women at 

 work, stirring the tea in iron pans with unceasing vigour 

 and song, only interrupted by the occasional shouts of the . 

 overlookers or by the motherly attentions required by the ) 

 children slung on their backs or tugging at their skirts. 

 There are two systems of finally firing Japan tea : Pan 

 firing and basket firing. 



Pan Firimj. — This is done iu rows of iron pans (21 

 inches diameter by 13 inches deep) set in britk wiuk and 

 heated by charcoal. The tea which has been bought probably 

 in small lots of different qualities has been bulked into 

 large enough quantities of the same description and is then 

 carried by the women in baskets to the firing godown. 

 At a given .signal all the baskets are emptied into the 

 pans (about 5 lb. weight into each), and the fires being 

 well lit and afterwards constantly attended to, the stirring 

 of the leaves continues until the overseer (generally a 

 Oliinaman) considers the tea sufficiently fired, when the 

 signal is given to take out the tea and carry it back to 

 the packing godown, or put it through a second process 

 of stirring in cold pans. According to the quality of the 

 tea and the ideas of the tea-taster, the pan firing of one 

 lot of tea may last from 40 to C5 minutes in the hot and 

 from 25 to 60 minutes in the cold pans. "When finished 

 it is taken into the packing godown, where it is sifted 

 to remove the dust, and then packed while still warm, into 

 the half-chests lined with leads, which are to convey it 

 to the grocers and tea-drinkers of America. 



Colourhit/. — When colouring matter has to be used it is 

 thrown into the pans at the proper moment by the Ohinese 

 OVtrseer and quickly gets absorbed by all the tea. The 

 use of colouring matter has lately given rise to consider- 

 able discussion, and thei'e can be no doubt that, as far 

 as it goes, it is a species of adulteration — just as much 

 adulteration as the use of colour to make some 

 sugar plums white, others piuk or other .salmon 

 colour. Certain tastes for colour are developed in 

 the consumers of tea as in the consumers of .'-ugared 

 almonds, and it becomes the necessity of the manufacturer 

 to meet the requirements of bis customers. The American 

 dealers have called for more or less coloured tea, and 

 their demand has been met here by those who prepare it. 

 That demand is now undergoing some change, and tea 

 merchants in Japan will be only too glad when it has ceased 

 altogether. A large quantity of tea is now sent without 

 any colouring matter whatever, and even where it is still 

 used it cannot be condemned as being in any way in- 

 jurious to health, in the infinitesimal quantities in which it 

 is mixed with the tea. The outcry against colouriug matter 

 has been principally caused by the excessive colour and 

 actual weight-adulterations of the lower grades of China 

 green tea ; also by the re-manufacture in Loudon or New 



York of teas shipped from the East — a process' for which 

 merchants here are not responsible. Dr. Divers, Principal 

 of the Kobu-Dai-Gaku, has kindly contributed a special 

 report upon this part of the manipulation of tea, which 

 will be found attached to this paper and will be read with 

 interest as representing the opinion of an able and independ- 

 ent expert. 



Basket Firinrj. — Basket firing consists in simply refiring 

 the tea without any of the stirring process as gone through 

 in the pans. A bamboo basket, shaped like a dice box, 

 but open at both end.s, is placed over a large iron brazier 

 containing lighted charcoal (well covered with ashes) and 

 the tea is strewed, about an inch in thiclcness, ou a 

 close woven bamboo tray which fits the neck of the dice 

 box. The baskets are occasionally removed from the brazier 

 and the tea turned over by hand in order that all may bo 

 equally fired ; they are carefully replaced on the brazier, 

 without allowing any dust or leaves to fall through the tray 

 on to the charcoal, and in the course of 40 to 60 minutes 

 the tea is ready for packing. 



Gonyou.— The foregoing description appUes to the pre- 

 paration of ordinary' Japan tea, during which no ferment- 

 ation of the leaf has been allowed to take place. But in 

 the preparation of Black Tea (Oongouj, of which a consider- 

 able quantity was made some seasons ago, fermentation 

 has to occur and the process deserves special notice. The 

 financial result of Japan-made congous has not hitherto 

 been a success, but there is no reason why further per- 

 severance should not make it so ; and it is in every way 

 desirable that the Japanese should continue this industry, 

 and thus limit the const^mtly increasing supply of green 

 tea, which year by year is found to be in excess of its 

 demand in America and Canada. These now are the onlj- 

 markets for the Japan green tea ; but they wou!d also 

 absorb a certain quantity of Japan-made congous, whilst 

 the latter would find an outlet in Europe and Australia, 

 where the Japan greens are not now appreciated. 

 To anyone reading this account it would occur, that, 

 surely, instead of linal-finng factories in the towns, there 

 ought to be central factories in the districts. The ob- 

 jection, no doubt, is, that tiie patches of tea are not only 

 too smallbut too widely scattered to enable such country 

 factories to be worked with a profit. Mr. Gribble 

 speaks of no rolling before steaming, but the pictures 

 we previously noticed would seem to indicate that the 

 leaves are rolled to some extent before they are 

 steamed. The jirocess of withering is nowhere indic- 

 ated, either in the native pictures or in Mr. Cribble's 

 descriptions. 



If Mr. Gribble's figures for yield are correct, 

 the result would seem to be 4,500 lb. green tea, or 

 1,125 lb. dry per acre ; but, even with constant manur- 

 ing and the system of small husbatdry adopted, this 

 figure seems very high. It may probably b-ar reduc- 

 tion by one-fourth. The figures for cost would seem 

 to prove that tea laid down at Yokohama cost about 

 50 cents per lb. of our money, but Mr. Gribble iudic- 

 ates that the native information is untrustworthy. If 

 the tea did not yield some profit, the landholders would 

 surely cease to grow and prepare it. Our readers will 

 observe that the tinal processes in the European 

 godowns include manipulation in cold pans, as a 

 sequel to firing in hot pans. What can be the philo- 

 sophy of the odd p.iu process, unless it be to give a 

 polish to the leaves or rather " spills " ? Refiring 

 with baskets, it will be observed, dispenses altogether 

 veith pans, just as the mode adopted by the vast majority 

 of Indian and Ceylon planters now does. The last para- 

 graph quoted shows the vast difference between Japan 

 green and black teas to be that the former undergo 

 no process of fermoutation. The steaming process is re- 

 presented as evolving a "natural oil" from the leaves. 

 Is there any such oil as can be appreciably noticed ? 

 There is, no doubt, an essential oil, but it could scarcely 

 act as represented ? 



Black tea as well as green is made iu Japan, a 

 deputation of Japanese having been sent a few years 

 ago to India |to collect information as to the process 

 pursued there, Mr, James Greea of Kobc^, who, vre 



