220 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIV. 
gathering. The young plantations are generally allowed 
to grow unmolested for two or three years, or until they 
are well established and are producing strong and vigor- 
ous shoots : it would be considered very bad manage- 
ment to begin to pluck the leaves until this is the 
case. Even when the plantations were in full bearing 
I observed that the natives never took many leaves 
from the weaker plants, and sometimes passed them 
altogether, in order that their gi'owth might not be 
checked. 
But, under the best mode of treatment, and with the 
most congenial soil, the plants ultimately become stunted 
and unhealthy, and are never profitable when they are 
old : hence in the best-managed tea-districts the natives 
yearly remove old plantations and supply their places 
with fresh ones. The length of time which a planta- 
tion will remain in full bearing depends of course 
on a variety of circumstances, but with the most care- 
ful treatment, consistent with profit, the plants will not 
do much good after they are ten or twelve years old : 
they are often dug up and the space replanted before 
that time. 
The tea- farms about Tsong-gan, Tsin-tsun, and Woo-e- 
shan are generally small in extent. No single farm which 
came under my observation could have produced a chop 
of 600 chests. But what are called chops are not made 
up by the growers or small farmers, but in the following 
manner : — A tea-merchant from Tsong-gan or Tsin-tsun 
goes himself or sends his agents to all the small towns, 
villages, and temples in the district, to purchase teas 
from the priests and small farmers. When the teas so 
