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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1885. 



up the boxea) aad marking Now coma " Roping 

 and Fiuisliing."" A ForeigD Tea Firing Godown," in- 

 terior view presents a busy and animated scene, with 

 its long rows of furnaces, pans and firers. There are 

 separate representations of "the tiring pan in l.riok 

 \rork and plaster"; "carrying basket for taking 

 tea to the pans" ; " hand-6Coop for removing the 

 tea from the. pans " ; and a longitudinal perfnrattd 

 "sievo." Fiually we have, in this curious and instruct- 

 ive eet of native drawings a representation of " basket 

 firing," the bosUets looking like Indian di urns. There 

 are a " gonPr:il view and section of basket, centre 

 tray for receiving tlie tea, small broom and fan." In 

 the sectional view of the basket (wide at both ends 

 and narrow in the middle), we see that the (ire 

 is beneath the basket and that the drying tiay laden 

 vith leaf is in the centre, tlie heat and vapour pass- 

 ing np through the top part of the basket. This, 

 we suppose, is about the simplest Jprm of firing which 

 can well be adopted. 



Having thus noticed the interesting illustrations to 

 Mr. Gribble's puper, we shall mw give our readers an 

 abstr.ict of the valuable information embodied in the 

 elaborate paper itself, " On the Preparation of Tea in 

 Japan," preparation which, like culture in J.ipan, 

 differs essentially from what is familiar to planters in 

 India and Ceyh n. 



At the commenc' ment we have a good story 

 from Kaempter's; History of Japan, about a 

 woman who, being desirous of gettiug rid of her 

 husband, was .advised to feed him eutiiely on pork 

 and otiier fat things. Wish ivi to expedite the 

 desired event, however, she took further advice, pur- 

 suant to which she gave her husband, now reduced 

 to a skeleton, large drafts of tea. The result was 

 his perfect restoration to heabh 1 After quoting many 

 absurd denunciations of ti'a, and Dr. .Johnson's apology 

 for his own liive of the infusion, Mr.Uribble characterizes 

 tea as givmg the Yokohama merubants their oocup.ition 

 (he purposely avoided saying; profit) by supplying fome 

 35 millions nf pounds weight to the thirsty inhabit.iuts 

 of the United States. Tliis was in October 18S3, 

 and, we believe, tliat 40 millions is now nearer the 

 mark, the United States being almost the sole market 

 for Japan green teas, the revelations about facing 

 and adulteralinn having almost annihilati-d the trade 

 in green tea for Britain. The more *s the pity, for 

 pure green teas .ire fjisily m-de and could lie more 

 cheaply supplied tliau bla'k. Tea seems to have 

 fouud its way from Assam to China about the fifth 

 century of the Christian era, and from China seeds 

 were brought to Japan in 805 A.D. It was rot, 

 however, until tlie twelfth century that a Buddhist 

 priest succeeded in getting the J.ipanese properly to 

 appreciate the virtUK-s of the tea-plant, and it would 

 seem that, until quite recently, only nobles and rich 

 people mdulgi d in th" luxury of the le.il infuaiin. It is 

 curious to see KaenipCer quott-d to the effect that Buddha 

 was an Indian and a negro, born 1028 B.c ! Tho 

 Japanese tradition is that Dnrma, who introduced 

 the tea-plant to China, crossed to Japan riding on 

 a tea-leaf, an original paracluito truly ! We quote 

 a couple of par.agiaiihs ; — 



Probahly the earliest nientimi of Japan Tea by an Euglish- 

 man is to he found in the " Diary of Kichard Oocks," tho 

 Agent of the Hon'ble Kast Iiitlia C^onipany at Kirando 

 (Hinido), l(il.-)-lU22, lately published by the HakluytSoei- 

 ety, in which more than or.e reference is mail(3 to *' cup.s 

 fur rhair,^^ and where one entry records the receipt from 

 Miaco (Kiyoto) of " iij 'jars of ano " for Mr. AVickhani, 

 who bail been the company's resident at O.saka. It is 

 noticeable that Cocks throughout bis iliary niakis no men- 

 tion of tea (Iriiikiiit^. an omission which \vouid Ir.urdly have 

 taken place if the custom had been at all a prevalent tone 

 in Hirdo, or indeed if ho had at any lime partaken 

 beverage theie on his several trips to the uortji. For a 



long time Tea was too expensive a luxury even to the 

 Japanese themselves to be indulged in by any but the 

 nobles, and Kaempfer, writing in 1692, describes how the 

 tea used at the Imperial court was then grown and pre- 

 pared at Uji under the care of the chief purveyor of Tea ; 

 how, for at least two or three weeks before the gathering 

 of the leaves the persons who were to pick them were 

 prohibited from eating fifh or any unclean food, lest 

 their breath should contaminate the leaves ; how, during 

 the gathering season they had to wash themselves twice 

 or three times a day ; nor were they allowed to touch 

 the leaves except with gloved hands. When finally pre- 

 pared, the Tea was sent up to court under a good 

 guard; sometimes a simple pot of this tea, containing 

 no more than tliree or four catties, being attended by 

 nearly two hundred people. This Imperial tea cost thirty 

 or forty Tnels for one catty, and when receiving a cup 

 at his audience at court, Kaempfer was told by the at- 

 tendant that the single cupful cost one ichibn. 

 Mr. Gribble gives a botanical description of the tea- 

 plants, and states that the large and small leaves 

 (one inch and two inches long !) are fouud growing 

 on the same bush, the native planters stating that they 

 cannot tell beforehand which variety will be germ- 

 inated from any given seed. In some districts the 

 different kinds are called male (otoko) and female (ona). 

 The chemistry of tea is added, but for this detail we 

 wait until .ve" come to a very able paper by Dr. Divers, 

 which embodies the mostcorrect and fullest information. 

 We quote what is said about planting and grow- 

 ing, directing the jjarticnlar attention of our readers 

 to the extraordinary system of cramming 30 seeds 

 into a circle of 2 feet diameter, the centre of each 

 circle being 5 feet distant from its neighbour. The 

 result must be that the ground is completely covered, 

 for although there is a distance of 8 feet between 

 the rims of the circles, on the surface, yet the branches 

 from the outside plants of each circle must nearly, 

 meet. No wonder, though seed thus sown should 

 develop into " a compact bush," the 30 plants, 

 or all tiiat result from the 30 seeds put into each 

 circle of 2 feet diameter, becoming, in fact, one mats 

 of stems and twigs. It is hedge-planting, after a 

 fashion. This is what Mr. Griblile writes :— 



I'lanling. — The tea plant requires a well-drained soil ; 

 it grows well on level ground with well-kept drains, but 

 is more often seen on gentle hill-slopes and again on 

 steep inclines, where terraces are cut to maintain small 

 level patches and to prevent too violent rushes of water 

 during heavy rains. These terraces on the hill-sides, when 

 covered with plants, look very picturesque ; but they are 

 only selected as being the cheapest ground procurable, 

 and not because the tea requires any such elevation. A 

 new plantation is started from seed, planted in circles of 

 about two feet diameter; each circle receives about 30 

 seeds and its centre is placed at a distance of about 

 five feet from its niMghbour. 



(lrotmii(l.—T\\e circle of seed developes into a compact 

 bush, some shoots of wliicli will be fouud to bear leaves 

 of a darker colour and of harder texture than the others 

 and also much smaller. This difference in the leaf on the 

 same tea bush is one of the difficulties of the tea-farmer 

 and te.a-piclcer, and it .seems difficult to believe that 

 with more lare this f rouble cannot be avoi<led. In the 

 third year of its growth the tea plant bears leaves 

 ready for picking, and it is considered at its best '^rom 

 the fifth to the tenth vear. But age does not deterior- 

 ate the plant, the only difference being that with years 

 it requires more ni.anure. Tin' shrub is not allowed to 

 grow beyond a height of three or four feet, necessary 

 both for the convenience of picking and for tho strength 

 of the new shoots. , „ . ■ ■ 



pid.lm/.—As the .season is early or late, the first pick- 

 ing com'meuces at the litter end of April or beginning of 

 May, and la.sts about twenty days or a mouth. The 

 second crop is gathered in June and July, and some- 

 times a third one later on. This work is performed 

 almost entirely by girls, who deftly picK off the new 

 leaves, but very often also the whole of a new shoot, 

 80 that long stems are frequently met with in their 



