180 THE TRtJPTfcAL AGRICULTURIST. [September 2, 1889. 
tea is kept in earthen pots with narrow mouths ; 
but the best sort of tea used by the Emperor and 
nobility is put in porcelain or China vessels. The 
Bantsjaa, or coarsest tea, is kept by the country 
people in straw baskets, made in the shape of barrels, 
whioh they place under the roofs of their houses, 
near the hole that lets out the smoke, and imagine 
that this situation does not injure the tea. This is 
the relation we have from Ksempfer of the method 
in which the Japanese collected and cured their tea. 
In the accouuts of China, authors have in general 
treated very slightly of the cultivation and preparation 
of tea. Le Oompte, indeed, observes that to have 
good tea, the leaves should be gathered while they 
are small, tender, and juicy. They begin commonly 
to gather them in the months of March and April, 
according as the season is forward ; they afterwards 
expose them to the steam of boiling water to soften 
them, and as soon as they are penetrated by it, 
they draw them over copper plates, kept on the fire, 
which dries them by degrees, till they grow brown, 
and roll up of themselves in that manner we see 
them. However, it is certain from the Chinese draw 
ings, which exhibit a faithful picture, though rudely 
executed, of the whole process from beginning to end, 
that the tea tree grows for the most part in hilly 
countries, on their rocky summits and steep declivi- 
ties ; and it would seem by the pains the Chinese 
are at in makiBg paths and fixing a kind of scaffold 
to assist them, that these places afford the finest 
tea. It appears from these drawings that the trees 
in general are not much taller than man's height : 
the gatherers of the leaves are never represented 
but on the ground ; they make use of hooked sticks 
indeed, but these seem rather intended to draw the 
branches towards them when they hang over brooks, 
rivers, or from places difficult of access, than to bend 
down the tops or upper branches of the trees on plain 
ground. They pick the leaves as soon as gathered 
into different sorts, and cure them nearly in the man- 
ner described to be practised by the Japanese. They 
build a range of stoves like those in a chemist's labora- 
tory, or great kitchen, where the men work and curl 
the leaves in the pans themselves. It seems also that 
they repeat the drying. They dry it likewise after 
having spread it abroad in shallow baskets in the sun ; 
and by the means of sieves separate the larger from 
the smaller leaves, and these again from the dust. 
The Chinese put the finer kinds of tea into conic 
vessels like sugar loaves made of tutenague, tin, or 
lead, covered with neat matting of bamboo ; or in 
square wooden boxes lined with thin lead, dry leaves 
and paper, in which manner it is exported to foreign 
countries. The common tea is put into baskets, out of 
which it is emptied, and packed up in boxes or chests 
as soon as it is sold to the Europeans. [There are 
several disgusting circumstances attending the pre- 
paration of tea. Osbeck says the Chinese servants 
tread the tea into the chests with their naked feet.] 
One thing should be mentioned to their credit ; when 
their harvest of tea is finished, each family fails not to 
testify by some religious rite their gratitude to the Giver. 
Section VIII. — Vabieties of Tea. 
It has been already observed that many different 
eortments of tea are made during the times of collecting 
the leaves, and these are multiplied according to the 
goodness of their preparation, by which the varieties 
of tea may be considerably augmented. The distinc- 
tions with us are much more limited being generally 
confined to three principal kinds of green, and 
five of bohea. I. Those of the former are: — 
1. Bing, Imperial, or bloom tea, with a large, 
loose leaf, of a light green colour, and faint delicate 
smdl. 2. Hy-tiann, hi-kiong, or hayssuen, known to 
u- <<y the name of Hyson tea, so called after an 
East Indian merchant of that name, who first im- 
ported it into Europe, The leaves are closely curled 
and small, of a green colour, verging towards blue. 
[Tbe Chinese have (mother kind of Hyson tea, which 
they c ill Hysou-XTtchin, with narrow short leaves. 
Another sort of green tea they name Go-be, the 
leaves of which are narrow and long.] 3. Siuglo, 
or songlo, which name it reoeivcs like many other 
teas from the place where it is cultivated. 
II. — The Bohea Teas. 
1. Soochuen, or Sutchong, by the Chinese called 
Saatyang, and Saet-chaon, or Su-tyann, is a superior 
kind of long-fou tea. It imparts a yellowish green 
colour by infusion. [Padre sutchong has a finer taste 
and smell than the common sutchong. The leaves 
are large and yellowish, not rolled up, but ex- 
panded, and packed up in papers of half a pound 
each. It is generally conveyed by caravans into Russia. 
"Without much care it will be injured at sea. This 
tea is rarely to be met with in England.] 2. Camho, 
or Soumlo, called after the name of the place where 
it is gathered : a fragrant tea with a violet 
smell. Its infusion is pale. 3. Cong-fou, congo, or 
boDg-fo. This has a larger leaf than the following, 
and the infusion is a little deeper coloured. It re- 
sembles the common bohea in the colour of the leaf. 
[There is a sort of tea called lin-kisam with nar- 
row rough leaves. It is seldom used alone, but 
mixed with other kinds. By adding it to congo, the 
Chinese sometimes make, a kind of pekoe tea.] 
4. Pekao, pecko, or pekoe, by the Chinese called back- 
ho, or pack-ho. It is known by having the appearance of 
small white flowers intermixed with it. 5. Common bohea, 
called maji by the Chinese, consists of leaves of one 
colour. [The best bohea tea is named by the Chinese 
tao-kyonn. An inferior kind is called An-kai from 
a place of that name. In the district of Honam, 
near Canton, the tea is very coarse, the leaves yellow or 
brownish, and the taste the least agreeble of any. 
By the Chinese it is named Honam te or Kuli t6. 
III. There has also been imported a sort of tea, 
in balls of a different form from any of the pre- 
ceeding, made up into cakes or balls of different 
sizes, by the Chinese called Poncul-tcha. 1. Tne 
largest kind of this cake tea that I have seen weighs 
about two ounces : the infusion and taste resemble 
those of good bohea tea. 2. Another sort, which 
is a kind of green tea, is called tis t§ : it is rolled 
up in a round shape, about the size of peas, and 
sometimes as large as a nutmeg. 3. The smallest 
kind done in this form is called Gunpowder tea. 
4. Sometimes the succulent tea leaves are twisted 
into cords like p ick thread, about an inch and a half 
or two inches long : and usually three of these are 
tied together at the ends by different coloured sdk 
threads. These resemble little bavins, one of which 
might suffice for tea for one person. I have seen them 
both of green and bohea tea. 
The Chinese likewise prepare an extract from tea 
which they exhibit as a medecine dissolved in a 
large quantity of water, and ascribe to it many 
powerful effects in fevers and other disorders when 
they wish to procure a plentiful sweat. This ex- 
tract is sometimes formed into small cakes, not much 
broader than a sixpence, sometimes into rolls of a 
considerable size. That there is only one species of 
tea tree has already been mentioned, from whichall 
the varieties of tea are procured. Ksempfer, who is 
of this opinion, attributes the difference of teas to 
the soil and culture of the plant, age of the leaves 
when gathered, and method of curing them. These 
circumstances will severally have more or less influence, 
though whether they account for all the varieties 
observable in tea may be doubted. The bohea tea 
trees now introduced into many botanic gardens near 
London exhibit very obvious varieties. The leaves 
are of a deeper green colour, and not so deeply 
serrated : the 6talk is usually of a darker colour, 
and the whole shrub appears less luxuriant than 
that represented in the annexed plate of the bohea 
tea: but the botanical characters are the same. 
I infused all the sorts of green and bohea teas. I 
could procure, and expands 1 the different leaves on 
paper, to compare their respective size and texture, 
intending thereby to discover their age. I found 
the leaves of green tea as large as those of bohea, 
and nearly as fibrous : which would lead one to sus- 
pect that tbe difference does nor, so much depend 
upon the age as upon other circumstances. We know 
that in Europe the soil, culture, and exposure have 
great influence on all kinds of vegetables ; but 
the same species of plants differ in the same pre- 
vince, and even in the same district ; and in Japan 
