Cultivation of Tea in China. 



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which are gathered earliest in the spring make the strongest 

 and most valuable tea, such as pekoe, souchong, &c. ; and the 

 latest gatherings are inferior, and are called congou, bohea, &c. 

 Green or hyson can be made of any of the gatherings, only by 

 a different mode of drying. There is an unctuous quality in 

 the leaves, which is almost all extracted in the process of dry- 

 ing. Small proportions of leaves of other plants are sometimes 

 added, but care is taken that it be not detected, as this is con- 

 sidered a deterioration ; these are the leaves of the Olea fra- 

 grans {fig. 121. a\ and sometimes those of the San-cha-yu 



(Camellm sasanqua, b); and, in the sort called pekoe, small 

 silvery leaves may be observed, which appear to be those 

 of the To~1cune (Azalea indica, c); all, however, perfectly 

 harmless, though they have subjected several English dealers 

 to undeserved prosecution. The Chinese, however, deny that 

 any of the latter leaves are ever intermixed. 



The first gathering of the leaves begins about the middle 

 of April, and continues to the end of May ; the second from 

 midsummer to the end of July ; the last during the months of 

 August and September. When the leaves are gathered, they 

 are put into wide shallow baskets, placed on shelves in the 

 air, or wind, or mild sunshine, from morning till noon ; then, 

 on a flat cast-iron pan, over a charcoal stove, ten or twelve 

 ounces of the leaves are thrown at a time, stirred quickly with 

 a short hand-broom twice or thrice, and then brushed off 

 again into the baskets, in which they are equally and care- 

 fully rubbed between men's hands to roll them ; after which, 

 they are again put into the pan in larger quantities, over a 

 slower fire, to be dried a second time. When fired enough, 

 the tea is laid on tables, to be drawn, or picked over, putting 

 aside all the unsightly and imperfectly dried leaves, in order 

 that the sample may be more even and marketable. To make 

 singlo or hyson, the first two gatherings are chosen, and, as 



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