214 BLACK TEA DISTRICTS OF FOKTEN. ([Cuar. XI. 
and manufacture which came under my own obser- 
vation in the province of Chekiang. 
The black tea districts of F okien, which I visited, 
are managed in the same way as those of Chekiang. 
I have already said that the species of plant which 
produces the black teas near Foo-chow is the very 
same as that found in the green tea districts of the 
north. Being further south, and of course in a 
hotter*climate, the tea plant of Fokien is generally 
grown at a high elevation amongst the hills. At 
the risk of some little repetition I will insert an 
account of my visit to the tea hills of Fokien. 
Every cottager, or small farmer, has two or three 
patches of tea shrubs growing on the hill sides, 
which are generally planted and kept in order by 
the members of his own family. When the gather- 
ing season arrives, the cottage doors are locked, and 
all proceed to the hills with their baskets and com- 
mence plucking the leaves. This business, of 
course, only goes on during fine days wit the 
leaves are dry. 
The first gathering takes place just when the 
leaf-buds begin to unfold themselves in early 
spring. This tea is scarce and of a very superior 
quality, being, in fact, the same, or nearly the 
same, as that which is made from the young leaves 
in the green-tea district. The second gathering 
produces the principal crop of the season; the 
third crop is coarse and inferior. 
When the leaves are brought home from the 
hills, they are first of all emptied out into large 
