86 CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT 



shrubs receive no attention beyond that of weeding 

 twice a year, when the grass and weeds thus raked 

 up are placed about the roots where they are left 

 to rot.* 



I shall here add a few notes on this subject. 

 It will be seen by Yon Siebold's account of the 

 cultivation of tea at Japan, that the mode of culture 

 adopted there accords more with that of green 

 tea in China, than black. Indeed, so far as my 

 information extends, the tea used in Japan, with 

 the exception of the bud of the leaf, is a green tea 

 of the class of Twankay. But we shall recur to 

 this subject in treating of the manipulation of 

 tea. 



* Tien Hing states that the planters frequently purchase 

 seedlings, which are transplanted and are fit for gathering in two 

 years. The price is 100 cash, or about eight pence for a 

 bundle containing a hundred ; half the amount is paid at the 

 time of planting, and the remainder in three months for those 

 that live. He adds they are planted in rows about two 

 cubits (twenty-nine inches) apart, between which they grow 

 vegetables : but this space seems hardly sufficient. The usual 

 space appears to be about four feet. The plants are manured 

 once in the eighth moon (September), a cavity being made about 

 the roots, into which the manure in a liquid state is poured. 



