VARIETIES AND CULTIVATION. 69 



young-hyson, hyson, imperial and gunpowder. These varieties are 

 placed in the order of their relative value from the lowest upwards. 

 About a dozen kinds are quoted in the Hamburg and New-York mar- 

 kets, but only six or seven in England. 



The principal sorts in China are called from the places where they 

 are grown, and others are known by the periods at which they are 

 gathered, the mode of curing, &c. The five kinds of bohea are named 

 from the mountain Vou-yee, covered with tea plantations. The first 

 crop of leaves here is Saatyang (souchong) and Pekoe or back-ho ; the 

 second gathering, when the leaves are more mature, is the Kong-fou, 

 or more common bohea tea. The province whence comes the green 

 tea affords the Poa-sut-tcha, or padre-souchong, which is there esteem- 

 ed for its supposed medicinal virtues. The three kinds of green tea 

 are called hayssuen, or hyson, and consist of leaves carefully picked 

 and dried with less heat than other sorts and costing a fourth more 

 than souchong. The kind most abundant is called Singlo, from the 

 name of a mountain on which it grows, 150 miles from Nan-king. 

 The gunpowder tea consols of tender leaves rolled in the hand into 

 the form of a ball, which sells for 15 per cent, more than hyson. 



There are green and black tea districts ; and the various qualities 

 of tea chiefly depend on this, the time of gathering and mode of pre- 

 paration. The first crop is gathered about the first of April when the 

 leaves are young and tender. These have an aromatic flavor, and are 

 the imperial tea, often used on great occasion-s in China, and reserv- 

 ed for the wealthy. They consist of buds and half expanded leaves 

 which, though strong, scarcely color the water. The 2d gathering is 

 early in summer when the leaves are full size. And the 3d crop is 

 made in autumn. A 4th gathering is also sometimes made. The 

 two last crops are of an inferior quality. The Chinese are said not to 

 use their tea until about a year old, it being considered too strongly 

 narcotic. It has acquired little less age, indeed, when brought to this 

 country. The East India Company are obliged by their charter to 

 have on hand at their London warehouses a supply for one year's con- 

 sumption. 



The cultivation of tea is mostly prosecuted in the eastern parts of 

 China, called " the tea country," between lat. 30 and 33 N some 

 say 27 and 31. The plant prefers and succeeds best in valleys or 

 the side of mountains with a southern aspect and a light, strong soil, 

 consisting chiefly of red sand-stone and granitic rocks. The leaves 

 of plants must be exposed, and those from young wood are always the 

 best. Seeds are grown some in hot houses in Europe and this coun- 

 ty, in sandy loam and peat. Those of the species C. sassanqua are 

 used to produce the female plant for new varieties. This plant may 

 be successfully cultivated in parts of Florida and Texas, no doubt, by 

 slave labor. A plant has recently been discovered in Texas which 



