1883. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



139 



and cultivator to pass tlirougli with case, as 

 it is upon the cultivation of the crop that the 

 grower must depend for success. Too much 

 cultivation cannot be given cabbage, for the 

 oftcuer the soil is stirred the better, and 

 especially in a dry season. No other plant 

 should be allowed to grow in the held, as 

 nothing succumbs quicker to weeds than 

 cabbage. 



The best manure for cabbage, if size with- 

 out quality is desired, is that from the hog 

 pen ; but if good, crisp cabbage, of fair size, is 

 preferred, manure from the stable, that has 

 become line and well rotted, is sure to give 

 good results. Of fertilizers a mixture of 

 superphosphate, plaster and guano will be 

 found excellent, and it is better to apply tlie 

 fertilizer at intervals during the growth of 

 the crop than at one operation. 



The obstacle in the way of growing cab- 

 bages at present is the cabbage-worm. So 

 tenacious of life is this pest that no remedy is 

 known thut may be considered entirely effec- 

 tual. The free use of saltpetre, dissolved in 

 water and sprinkled well over the plants, is 

 recommended by some, and, if it does not pre- 

 vent the ravages of the worm, is an excellent 

 substitute for the guano as a fertilizer. Paris 

 green, London purple and hellebore should 

 not be used on such plants, as it is dangerous. 

 Professor Sturtevant, in detailing the results 

 of his experiments, found that hot water ap- 

 plied to the cabbage destroyed a portion of 

 the worms, but caused the leaves to turn 

 yellow. The most satisfectory remedy, though 

 not entirely effectual in all cases, consisted of 

 half a pound each of hard soap and kerosene 

 oil in three gallons of'water ; but as the grow- 

 ing cabbage presents such a mass of leaves, 

 within which the worm may be concealed, the 

 application should be repeated occasionally. 

 The worm will be killed if the solution can 

 only be made to reach it. 



In saving seed select, late in the fall, the 

 best heads, and cut oft'the stalks close to them ; 

 then place the heads on the ground (whicli 

 should be slightly elevated) and cover well 

 with earth to protect during winter. As soon 

 as spring opens remove the covering, cut the 

 cabbage crossways with a sharp knife and it 

 will soon sprout to seed, a single cabbage 

 yielding quite a large quantity. It is neces- 

 sary to give some kind of support to the seed- 

 stalks, however, and the pods sliould be picked 

 or carried to the barn and the seeds beaten 

 out on a clean place. 



TEA CULTIVATION. 

 Tea is one of those common things about 

 which some points are not commonly known. 

 In China it has been used for more than a 

 thousand years, but there is nothing that is 

 well authenticated about the discovery of it 

 by the Chinese themselves or of its use prior 

 to its introduction into the civilized world. 

 Before the middle of the 17th century it was 

 not much known in England. Pepys' Diary, 

 under date of September 'JG, 1661, contains 

 the entry, "I sent for a cup of tea (a China 

 drink) of which I had never drunk before." 

 It was at first pronounced tay, as Pope indi- 

 cates in his lines : 



" Here thou, great Anna, whom 



Three realms obey, 

 Dost sometimes counsel take, 

 And, sometimes, tea." 



Two pomids and two ounces of tea wcie 

 sent, 1G61, by the Dutch East India Company 

 as a rare gift to the King of England, and six 

 years later it entered upon its trallic, followed 

 by the British East India Company. The 

 English people at that day used as their com- 

 mon beverages ales, and meads, and wines 

 imported from France. They also imported 

 quantities of sassafras from Virginia, the 

 colonists there having discovered that the 

 bark of the sassafras root made an aromatic 

 tea, to which they attributed great viitues. 

 The East India Company, which embraced 

 several influential members of Parliani"nt, 

 succeeded in having onerous taxes placed on 

 home-brewed ales, imported wines and sassa- 

 fras, and thus augmented the traffic in Chinese 

 tea. The unpleasantness that resulted trom the 

 attempt to connect taxes and tea in Boston and 

 Greenwich, New Jersey, harbors, less than a 

 century later, need not he more than referred 

 to in passing. 



The Tea Plant. 



Though (here are numerous tea plants, the 

 word tea, in its general acceptation, is ap- 

 plied to the shrubs grown iu China and Japan, 

 the teas of commerce. These are Thea 

 Viridis and Thea Bohea, though these are 

 held to be varieties of the same same species, 

 Thea Simensis. In his " Treasury of Botany, " 

 A. Smith objects to the practice cf some 

 modern botanists in combining the well- 

 known genera thea and camellia under the 

 single genus camellia. In a paper prepared a 

 few years ago A. C. Jones, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, after care- 

 fully examining this point, expressed the con- 

 clusion that the species are essentially 

 identical, " the difference in the article pro- 

 duced depending upon the period of gathering, 

 qualities of soil and the process of manu- 

 facture." 



Iu its wild state the tea is scarcely classable 

 as a plant, for, while the ordinary height of 

 the cultivated shrub is from 3 to 6 feet, the 

 "plant," when left to natural growth, at- 

 tains a height of twenty, and, in some in- 

 stances, even thirty feet, and a trunk of from 

 S to 10 inches in diameter. 



The leaf, the valuable part of the plant, 

 does not during life throw out that peculiar 

 aroma or flavor that is its marked character- 

 istic when prepared. This flavor is the result 

 of the judicious application of heat, which 

 develops an essential oil from the resinous 

 matter of the leaf. The process of prepara- 

 tion or manufacture is one requiring time and 

 care. The leaves are first exposed in open- 

 work bamboo trays or baskets to the action of 

 the sun and air for two or three hours, then 

 beaten between the hands gently, this process 

 being repeated three times ; they are then 

 placed in the pan, imder which a brisk fire is 

 kept up, and as soon as they become hot, l)eing 

 meanwhile rapidly turned with the hands to 

 prevent scorching, they are brushed out on a 

 close-worked bamboo tray ; this process is 

 also used three or four times, and is repeated 

 after the Iraves have been rolled. Finally, 

 the tea is placed in sni.all bamboo sieves, and 

 dried over a charcoal fire, and then separated 

 and packed. 



Shipment of Cargoes and Samples. 



Long before the introduction of steamships 

 and the submarine telegraph China was the 



only country that exported tea. Then the 

 old-fashioned slow sailing "East Indiamen" 

 were the carriers of the precious cargoes of 

 tea, silk, essential oils and other valuable and 

 luxurious products of the Celestial Empire. 

 In the early history of the trade Canton was 

 the only point of entry to that exclusive coun- 

 try, and the vessels engaged in the trade car- 

 ried to its peculiar people from this country 

 and Great Britain such cargoes as would find 

 ready and profitable sale among them, and 

 particularly Mexican, rix or silver dollars, to 

 pay for their produce. The arrival and de- 

 parture of an East Indiaman was then quite 

 an event, not only on account of the time 

 consumed in the voyage, but because of the 

 peril such vessels ran of attack by pirates that 

 infested the China Sea and Imlian Ocean. In 

 course of time tlic ports of Shanghai, Foo- 

 show, Amoy and Tamsul were opened to for- 

 eign trade, and the East Indiaman was su- 

 perseded by the fast-sailing clipper ship, 

 which in turn has been superseded by the 

 steamship. The result is that a voyage from 

 China to the United States, instead of taking, 

 as it did in former times, from four to six 

 months, is now accomplished by way of the 

 Suez Canal in about 52 days. The changes 

 that have followed rapid .transportation have 

 revolutionized the trade. Tea can now be 

 laid down in New York, from Yokohama, 

 Japan, via the Pacific Mail steamers and the 

 Pacific Railroad, in 30 days, while telegrams 

 can be sent to China from this city and re- 

 plies had in less than 24 hours. 



The samples of tea are scut in advance of 

 the cargo direct from China or .Japan via San 

 Francisco by mail or exjiress, and reach her 

 ten days or two weeks before the steamer 

 reaches New York. On each of tliese boxes 

 of tea samples are such legends as "Bengal 

 No. 4S," "Nova.Scotio No. 10." The words 

 are the names of the steamers on which the 

 ttpa was shipped, and the number represents a 

 grade of tea. A steamer will bring over from 

 30,000 to .TO.OOO packages of tea, the freight 

 on which may amount to $20,000. When the 

 cargo arrives five or seven chests of tea are 

 taken at random, the tea is emptied out and 

 weighed, and the chests are also weighed. 

 From these five chests, which are marked 

 "muster packages," an average is struck as 

 to the net weight of each chest, and this aver- 

 age serves as the standard for all the rest of 

 the cargo. The above refers to China teas, 

 whereas the net weight of its contents is 

 marked on each chest of Japanese tea. As a 

 rule, tea comes \n straw-covered half-chests 

 containing Irom 50 to 75 pounds, but the va- 

 riety known as English order tea comes in 

 chests without any covering. 



Keatures of the Trade. 



A noteworthy feature of the trade has been 

 the remarkable increase iu the consum])tion 

 of Japanese teas. Previously to about 30 

 years ago China furnished all the tea consumed 

 in the United States and Great Britain. In 

 1856 Japan commenced the exportation of 

 teas to this country. The second lot, consist- 

 ing of 50 packages, consigned to Cary & Co., 

 New York, was sent in 1S,57 ; now that 

 country furnishes us with 35,000,000 pounds 

 of our total present annual consumption of 

 75,000,000 pounds. 



Out of the total annual importation of 175,- 



