THE TEA PLANT. 81 



when the soil is sterile, the old roots are dug up 

 to be planted elsewhere. They easily take root 

 again. It is in this manner that the shrubs are 

 preserved and reproduced, and never by branches 

 that are slipped off. They may also be propagated 

 by seed ; but with less success, and much slower. 

 The cultivators of tea take no pains to prevent the 

 growth of the shrubs, for the larger they are the 

 more profitable ; but as, in the second or third 

 year after they have been planted or cut down, 

 the leaves are gathered once, and afterwards three 

 times a year, their growth is thereby checked. 

 Yet in plains, and on the mountains where the ground 

 is good, they grow to the height of more than 

 thirteen feet. 



" With respect to the culture, it consists in this. 

 Every year in February and August the ground is 

 weeded, raking up even the grass. When the 

 ground is hilly, and appears exhausted and sterile, 

 after having weeded it in February, it is usual to 

 go and dig soil from a neighbouring mountain, and 

 bring it and place it around the roots of the shrubs. 

 If this new soil be previously exposed to the sun, 

 or even burnt, it improves it. No other manure or 

 watering is required, for the plantations are neither 

 so low, nor so flat, but they are easily irrigated. It 

 is on this account that no tea shrubs are found on dry 

 and arid places. We have seen the crops fail more 

 than once, because no rain had fallen between the 

 winter solstice and spring." The writer here means 



G 



