94 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Camellia Thea, Link.* (Thea Chinensis, 



The Tea-shrub of South-Eastern Asia, said to be indigenous also to 

 some localities of Japan, for instance Surugo, traced as spontaneous 

 as far as Manchuria [Fontanier], also in Yunan, Khasya-Hills, 

 according to Kurz. This evergreen and ornamental bush has proved 

 hardy in the lowlands at Melbourne, where in exposed positions it 

 endures quite unharmed light night-frosts as well as the free access 

 of scorching summer-winds. But it is in humid valleys, with rich 

 alluvial soil and access to springs for irrigation, that the most pro- 

 ductive tea-fields can be formed. The greater the rainfall in any 

 region, otherwise adapted, 'the richer the yield of the Tea-plant. The 

 plant comes into plentiful bearing of its product as early as the Vine 

 and earlier than the Olive. Its culture is not difficult, and it is 

 singularly exempt from fungus-diseases, if planted in proper localities. 

 Pruning is effected in the cool season, in order to obtain a large 

 quantity of small tender leaves from young branches. Both the 

 Chinese and Assam tea are produced by varieties of a single species, 

 the tea-shrub being indigenous in the forest-country of Assam also. 

 The cross between the China and the Assam Tea-plant is particularly 

 prolific and much cultivated in India. Declivities are best adapted 

 and usually chosen for tea-culture, particularly for Congou, Pekoe 

 and Souchong, while Bohea is often grown in flat countries. In 

 J*apan the tea-cultivation extends to 43 north latitude, where the 

 thermometer occasionally sinks to 16 F. [Simmonds], and where in 

 winter-time the ground is frozen several inches deep for weeks 

 [General W. Gr. Le Due]. The Chinese variety has withstood the 

 winter of Washington in sheltered positions without protection [W. 

 Saunders]. The Assam-variety succumbs to frosts. For fuller 

 details Fortune's work, "The Tea-Districts of China," might be 

 consulted. The very troublesome Tea-bug of some parts of Asia is 

 Helopeltis theivora. Fumigation and the application of bird-lime are 

 among the remedies to cope with this insect. The third volume of 

 the Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India 

 is mainly occupied by Lieut.-Colonel Edw. Money's and Mr. Watson's 

 elaborate essays on the cultivation and manufacture of tea in India. 

 For more advice on the culture and preparation of tea consult also 

 the writer's printed lecture, delivered in 1875 at the Farmers' Club 

 of Ballarat, further the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 Washington, 1877, pp. 349-367, with illustrations ; also Bernays' 

 Cultural Industries for Queensland, pp. 181-190. Other Works dwell 

 also on tea-culture. The tea of commerce consists of the young 

 leaves, merely heated curled, sweated and dried. The process of 

 preparing the leaves can be facilitated by steam-machinery. Already 

 in 1866 three machines for dressing tea were patented in England- 

 one by Messrs. Campbell and Burgess, one by Mr. Thomson, and one 

 by Mr. Tayse. To give an idea of the quantity of tea which is 

 consumed it may be stated that from June to September, 1871, were 

 shipped 11,000,000 Ibs. of tea from China alone to Australia, and 

 that the produce of tea in India from January to June of 1872 was 



