378 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



length, which commonly have two or three. The plant, in 

 some pans of China, is not suffered to grow to a height of 

 more than six or seven feet; in other parts, to the height 

 of ten or twelve. In the southern Provinces of that Country 

 it is considerably used tor making hedges. 



The leaves are gathered at the begining, the middle, and 

 the end of Spring, and their color differs at each time ; the 

 first being bright, the second livid, and the third deep- 

 green. The qualities of the leaves depend on the times of 

 gathering; the first being the best, the second midling, 

 and the last of the least value. Their qualities, at each 

 gathering, depend also on the parts of the tree whence the 

 leaves are taken ; those of the higher parts, being the ten- 

 derest, are the best of the crop; those of the lowest, the 

 hardest and worst; and those of the middle, of a medium 

 between the two extremes. 



After each gathering^ the leaves are exposed to the steam 

 of boiling water, and are then made to shrivel, or roll to- 

 gether, by being placed on plates made of copper, of iron, 

 or of baked earth, with a fire underneath. The leaves of 

 the meaner sorts are then dried in the sun, which darkens 

 their color, and these are the black teas. The better leaves 

 are not exposed to the sun in drying, and these are the 

 green teas ; and in the preparation of some of the finer 

 sorts, particularly that called tchu-tcha, every leaf is rolled 

 singly by hand, the finer preparation of which we call gun- 

 powder tea. 



Mr. Osbeck, a Traveler in China, says that tea, in the 

 course of preparation, passes through many dirty hands; 

 and that in packing it down in chests it is troden by the 

 naked, and someiimes bleeding, feet of a Chinese Porter, in 

 a state of perspiration. As the Chinese are proverbial for 

 their nastiness, it were to be wished that our Females, who 

 are so attached to drinking tea, could see the manner in 

 \vhich it is prepared; as this might probably tend very 

 much to lessen their relish for this exhilirating, but ener- 

 vating, beverage, that has added the hysterics to the cata- 

 logue of their disorders, and that has probably contributed 

 much towards making the Chinese a race of Cowards, from 

 the Emperor rfown to the meanest Peasant. 



The tea-plant has been successfully raised in England, 

 from seed brought from China, and might probably be raised 

 here, with equal success, in all the States south of Penn- 

 sylvania. It is doubtful, however, whether it could be cul- 

 tivated here so- as to be afforded as cheap as that imported 

 from China; owing to the great disparity in ihe price of 

 labor in the two Coumries. There has been considerable 

 difficulty in making the seeds of this plant gevrmr.atc, when 

 brought from that Country. In the <> Emporium of Arts > fc^c.* 



