282 [ASSFMBLY 



do not require to be plucked singly like the buds, but they are 

 rather stripped off the branches. The third and generally the last 

 gathering, takes place so soon as the new leaves are formed, and 

 produces a coarser, and inferior kind of Tea, used profusely by the 

 laboring class of people. It will be perceived therefore, that the 

 same plant produces annually three or four different qualities of Tea, 

 and of course of different value. 



The labor of gathering the leaves is performed chiefly by women 

 and children. They wear a white cloth over their heads to protect 

 them from the heat of the sun. Each person carries a little stool 

 with one sharp loot, which is stuck into the ground and serves as a 

 seat; also a small round basket which holds about a peck and a 

 half* Thus equipped, you will perceive the labor is light and the 

 ployment agreeable; indeed it furnishes a suitable occupation at a 

 suitable season of the year, for the aged matron, who can sit upon a 

 stool and pick a leaf, or the infant of tender years who cannot be 

 overtasked by so simple and light employment, or the lady of high 

 degree who may prefer the gentle exercise and fresh breezes of the 

 morning air, to the close confinement of domestic duties. 



It is considered a good day's work, to gather from twenty-five to 

 fifty pounds of green leaves. The women and childrpn, are paid 

 about one-third of a cent, for gathering a pound of green leaves, or 

 ten cents for thirty pounds. Five pounds of green leaves, produce 

 one pound of dry tea. 



Curing. — Although I design to avail myself of the Chinese mode 

 of cultivation and of cuiing teas, so far as it is applicable to our 

 country, yet I shall neither adopt mysrlf, nor recommend to others 

 any particular practice because it is Chinese. More especially do I 

 consider this course expedient, when I consider that this singular 

 people are not distinguished for independence of thought, or intel- 

 lectual pre-eminence, but have continued to follow in the footsteps 

 of their ancestors, from generation to generation, without making the 

 slightest improvement in their government, laws, literature, agricul- 

 ture, commerce, and religion. An absurdity once established, is an 

 unmodified absurdity forever. 



I am aware that we have much to learn from our own experience, 

 but there are some philosophical principles which lie within the 



•Chin-se Roposilory. Foreign Missionary Magazine. William's Middle King- 

 dom of the Chinese Empire. 



