TEA. 



83 



A great deal of scattered information has been published of late 

 years with regard to tea culture, and the Indian Government has 

 devoted much attention to the subject. With the diffuse mass of 

 matter one has to deal with, I find it somewhat difficult to condense 

 into a reasonable compass the conflicting opinions and elaborate 

 details given. The third volume of the ' Journal of the Agricultural 

 and Horticultural Society of India ' is mainly occupied with Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Edward Money's and Mr. Watson's elaborate essay on 

 the cultivation and manufacture of tea in India. 



The Council of the Society of Arts, a few years ago, offered their 

 silver medal for the best' treatise on the profitable production of 

 tea ; but, although many essays were sent in, the Indian Committee, 

 under the recommendation of the judges appointed, did not feel 

 justified in awarding this medal, although they commended the essay 

 of Mr. James Macpherson. 



Culture in China. — The tea plant (^Thea Chinensis, Sims; Camellia 

 tlieifora, Griff.) has a bushy stem, with numerous branches, and very 

 leafy. It flowers with a white blossom, and ranges in height, when 

 fully grown, from three to six feet. It is hardy, and readily grows 

 in Asia from the equator to the 45th degree of latitude ; but in China, 

 although grown in most of the provinces, its cultivation is chiefly 

 restricted to the five maritime provinces — viz. Kuangtung, Fukian, 

 Kiangse, Kianguan, and Chekiang, lying in the south-east part of 

 the empire, between the 21st and 33rd degrees north latitude. It is 

 only from these that tea is brought for the great export demand, 

 though it is grown in every other, as far north as 42 degrees for 

 mere local consumption. It is also produced in the Japanese Islands 

 which are north of 35 degrees ; in Cochin China, and, to some ' 

 extent, by runaway Chinamen in Luzon and Java. It has been found 

 to succeed, too, in St. Helena. The climate that seems to suit the 

 plant best in China is that of the country included between the 26th 

 and 36th degrees of north latitude. The plant does not yield a 

 crop imder two or three years. A low alluvial soil is not favourable 

 to its growth, a hilly country being decidedly the best adapted to its 

 full development. There is little or none near Canton, for this 

 reason, and also because the climate is too warm. All accounts agree 

 that it thrives best in a temperate climate and upon the sides of 

 hills. The crops are gathered in the spring. 



Baron Mueller remarks that it seems very doubtful whether the 

 tea plant is really indigenous in the Chinese Empire, unless in the, 

 to us, largely unknown western districts ; for, as far as we are aware, 

 it has been carried from Assam and Cachar, and possibly also from 

 Siam and Cochin, just like the coffee plant, which is not really a 

 native of Arabia, as was so long supposed, but came originally from 

 Abyssinia. The culture commenced, so far as can be historically 

 ascertained, in China, during the fourth, and in Japan during the 

 ninth century, from whence tea was obtained exclusively for every 

 other part of the globe till the time of the present generation.* 



Tea grows in every province in China except three or four upon 

 the northernmost Siberian border, but the quality and quantity 

 depend largely upon the locality. The leaves resemble those of 



* Lecture at the Ballavat Farmers' Club, Victoria, May 15. 1875. 



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