LIFK OX A (^EVLOX TEA I'LANTATIUN 27 



anco with a carrying chair, so that wo can get a Uft, 

 one at a time. Thus you can begin to imagine what a 

 business it was to wedge these paths out of the hill- 

 sides ; they arc miniature copies of the road along 

 which wc travelled in ricksiiaws to Dambatonne, and 

 you will lind the journey along them much more ad- 

 venturesome — so any of you who cannot trust your 

 nen'es to steady your feet had better stay behind. 



When a clearing has been made, Httlo tea plants 

 are brought from an open-air nursery and put in this 

 new home, where they are given plenty of room to 

 grow. They are generally put in lines, a distance of 

 4 feet being left from plant to plant, and a similar 

 distance from line to line. We are just going to visit 

 the nurseries on this estate, for our guide has rejoined 

 us, and is ready to show us round. 



A short and easy walk brings us to the district where 

 the young tea-plants are reared from seed. Their 

 nursery is just the kind of place they like in their baby- 

 hood — they are cradled in a dell, and are near a stream. 



*' What do the seeds look Uke, and how do they 

 grow ?" you are wondering. 



A^JiJa-bush. ia a Howcring shrub. When in bloom, 

 it has numbers of httle white or flesh-coloured blo.ssoms, 

 which scent the air with a delicate perfume. The.^e 

 give place to fruit, which is of a globular form, and has 

 three compartments ; and in each compartment there 

 is usually a single seed, which looks something like a 

 chocolate-cream that has had the shine taken of! it. 

 Plants grown for seed are kept apart from those grown 

 for Icflf, and are encouraged to flower according to 

 their natural habit, insteml of being trained to produce 

 a compact and wide area of foliage. 



