IN JAPANESE TEA LANDS 66 



umlergo fermentation, the leaves remain green after 

 infusion. Hut the leaf of (Oolong Tea after infusion i.s 

 of a reildish-brown lolour rouiui the edge, while tlio 

 middle part is green, showing that it has undergone 

 fernuMitation round the edge oidy. 



Formosa is indebted for its Oolong tea-planti^ to some 

 emigrants from the Fukien Province, who went over 

 to the island in the early part of the nineteenth century. 

 The climate and soil of this island have proved so 

 favourable to the cultivation of this variety of tea- 

 plant that it grows better in its adopted land than in 

 its homeland. China produces several kinds of Oolong 

 tea, sueh as Amoy Oolong, and Canton Oolong, but 

 none to rival the finest quality Formosa Oolong. 



The plants are propagated by means of layers, for 

 it is feared that young ones raised from seed might 

 have some marked peculiarity of a remote ancestor, 

 instead of the outstanding characteristics of the family 

 breed. The method of cultivation in Formosa is very 

 simple. The districts where the best tea is produced 

 are in the north of the island, situated among the hills 

 along the upper stream of the Tamsui River. Eight 

 varieties of the Oolong plant are grown, and as each 

 has certain fads and fancies as regards soil, the cuttings 

 are planted out according to their variety in particular 

 regions. The bushes begin to yield when they are 

 three years old. The fields are weeded and ploughed 

 four times a year, and the bushes are kept down, by 

 pruning, to a height of from about IJ feet to 3 feet. 

 Until quite recently it was thought that manuring 

 would spoil the special character of Formosan tea, but 

 a special fertilizer has now been discovered, and it is 

 said that by the use of this the yield of tea eould bo 







