THE TEA PLANT. 85 



high-flavoured teas are not likely to answer to the 

 importer, whose object is necessarily gain. They 

 will probably gradually disappear from the market ; 

 but it was a matter of principle with the East 

 India Company to sustain the character and quality 

 of their teas, and to consult the discriminating 

 taste of the rich, as well as to satisfy the demands 

 of the poor, without a strict regard to profit ; so 

 that they imported some teas, as they exported 

 woollens and other British products, at a loss. 

 Their aggregate profits enabled them to conduct 

 their trade on generous principles. 



The usual mode of culture of the finest descrip- 

 tion of green tea, known to Europeans by the name 

 of Hyson, originally consisted in taking the shrubs 

 from particular hills favourable to their growth, 

 and transplanting them into fields, gardens, and 

 hedge-rows, a light garden loam being considered 

 the best. Seed is also employed to keep up the 

 plantation, and to renew decayed or exhausted 

 shrubs, when in three years the leaves are fit for 

 use. The shrubs are manured twice a year, in 

 spring and autumn ; the ground weeded and turned 

 up about the roots four times a year. In about 

 seven years they are cut down, nearly close to the 

 ground, to produce an exuberance of succulent 

 shoots and leaves ; and in about thirty years they 

 become useless, when they are rooted up. The in- 

 ferior Hyson teas, denominated by the Chinese 

 " hill tea," and the common Singlo or Twankay 



G 3 



