54 CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION. 



or noxious plants, certain notions prevailing concerning 

 the injurious influence of such trees when growing too 

 near the tea plants. When the soil is good and the 

 season favorable the leaves can be picked when the 

 plants are two years old, but if poor and dry, three years 

 are usually required for them to mature. On the larger 

 plantations three years are generally allowed before 

 beginning to gather the first crop or picking. A tea 

 plantation at this age when seen at a distance resembles 

 a shrubbery of evergreens, the view being very pictur- 

 esque, the gardens representing a series of terraces 

 descending to the plain, and the rich dark-green leaves 

 affording a pleasing contrast to the strange and oft-times 

 barren scenery with which they are so frequently sur- 

 rounded. There is a close analogy between the tea 

 plantations of China and the vineyards of France, the 

 quality of the tea varying according to the situation of 

 the sites, the nature of the soil and their exposure to 

 climatic changes. Thus, there are in China plantations 

 of tea enjoying reputations equal to those of the best 

 vineyards of Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux. 



There are three regular pickings in the course of a 

 year. The first known as the Shon-cheun or " Early 

 spring," occurring about the middle of April or begin- 

 ning of May, according to the district, the product of 

 which is termed Taou-cha or " head tea," a very supe- 

 rior kind, consisting of the youngest, tenderest, and most 

 delicate leaves and leaf-buds just expanding. The quan- 

 tity obtained from this picking is limited in quantity but 

 simply superb in quality, the very finest teas known to 

 commerce, being prepared from them. The leaves are 

 selected with the greatest care and picked with the 

 utmost caution, such pains being taken to insure its 

 excellence that for weeks before the harvest commences, 



