32 TEA 



undergo the fermentation processes successfully, and 

 poor results generally attend the efforts made to obtain 

 a good black tea. The Oolong varieties have the colour 

 and appearance of black tea but possess the flavour 

 of green tea. Japan proper produces very little Oolong, 

 but large quantities are shipped from Formosa. 



The teas most interesting to the British planter, 

 however, are the Gyokuro and Sencha green teas, for 

 these are the grades exported to the American continent, 

 where green teas have a great hold upon the popular 

 taste. They further form the bulk of tea consumed by 

 the Japanese themselves. 



The Japanese tea-planter prefers the lower slopes of 

 the hills for setting out his bushes, although, providing 

 that the drainage is satisfactory, successful plantations 

 can be laid out on the level plains. The famous Uji 

 tea gardens are mostly on the plains. It frequently 

 happens that the tea is interplanted with other crops, 

 mulberries and plums being often grown between the 

 tea bushes, while in one district pears are grown on 

 trellises placed above the tea. The bushes are usually 

 allowed to reach a height of about three feet, but in 

 the Uji gardens they frequently attain to six feet. A 

 peculiarity of the Uji district is that a large part of thr 

 tea is cultivated under artificial shade, the effect being 

 to produce a better quality of leaf of a darker green 

 colour. Bamboo poles are set up at intervals and 

 arranged to support horizontal mats also made of 

 bamboo. After the crop has been plucked the matting 

 and poles are taken down. The shade-grown tea is 

 highly valued by the Japanese, and is grown exclusively 

 for home consumption. Picking usually begins at theT\ 

 end of the third or fourth year and the best leaf is \ 

 obtained from the eighth to the fifteenth year. The 

 ordinary life of the bush is about twenty-five years. 



