March i, 1890.] 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
On the 2nd January 1886' the Magistrate was kind 
enough to lake me to see some tea trees at a place 
called Lu-ying, three-quarters of a mile to the north- 
west of the city, where he had a big arbour erected 
of bamboos covered with fir branches to sit and talk 
in. There were only five trees, of which one stood 
about 12 feet high, consisting of seven stems, the 
biggest of about 4 inches diameter ; this tree was 
said to be very old. The magistrate told me that 
these trees were the remnant of an extensive plan- 
tation that was cut down and burnt during the 
Mahommedan rebellion, and that they were of ex- 
actly the same species as that from which P'u-erh 
tea is made. Whether this is so, or whether these 
are merely wild tea trees, which are found here and 
there all over Southern China, it is impossible to 
say. According to popular tradition, tea was intro- 
duced into this part by the great K'ung-ming when 
he .conquered the south. 
At ail events, it does not seem likely that shrubs 
on the Ssu-rnao plain ever gave good tea, or the 
leaf would not be brought here from 6 to 14 days' 
journey south, over bad roads; and, further, it is 
only within the last eight or nine years that the leaf 
has been brought out and made up at Ssu-rnao at all. 
It would be Decessary to visit the tea-hills to give 
a satisfactory account of the trade ; meantime the 
following notes, the result of many inquiries, may be 
useful. Neglecting the official account,* which does 
not square with present facts, we must begin with 
he distinction between tea grown on the hills, I-bang, 
I-wu, Mansa, and the neighbouring heights, called 
" yen ch'a " (strong tea), and that which grows on 
the lower slopes and in the valley of the Me-khong 
and its tributaries, called " san ch'a" or "yeh ch'a" 
(wild tea). 
The finest tea, made of the young spring leaves 
from shrubs on the hills, is called "ya ch'a" or 
"mao-chien." This is only made at the hills, and I 
could not obtain a specimen. Some of this good leaf was 
said to go to Yunnan Fu, and there to be made up 
into balls as big as a man's head, for the Court at 
Peking. The next quality is called " pai chien " or 
"hsi ch'a," and is sent in small quantities to many 
parts of the empire, where very high prices are paid 
for it. 
The tea made up at Ssu-rnao is for the most part of 
the second description, i.e., " san ch'a." During the 
season, which extends from March to September, the 
leaf from the lower levels is picked, rolled, dried 
and sent to Ssu-rnao, packed on tbe backs of oxen ; 
there it is sorted out iuto heaps according to quality. 
Tbe manufacture of the leaf into tbe familiar cake 
of P'u-erh tea, well known all over West China, goes 
on all the year round. I saw the process, which is 
very simple, in the godown of a firm tradiug under 
the name of " New Spring Thunder." A large round 
iron boiler, of the well-known Chinese pattern, is 
covered by a wooden barrel, held in position by a 
heavy stone, so that a vigorous jet of steam issues 
from a single vent at the top. Nine Chinese ounces 
of tea are weighed out and sprinkled into a copper 
vessel perforated below, which is then placed over 
the vent so that the tea is permeated by steam. 
After about a minute the vessel is removed and the 
tea poured iuto a cotton bag, the ends of which are 
wound round and squeezed into a lump in the middle 
of the cake. The bag is then placed beneath a heavy 
* Notes from the " Topography :" the six tea-hills 
are Yu-k\ Ke-teng, I-bang, Mang-chih, Man-chuan, 
and Mansa (another extract substitutes Chia-pu, Hsi- 
fe'ung, and [-wu for Yu-le, Mang-chih, and Mansa). 
The hills occupy an area with a circuit of 800 li. 
There is a tree called the tea-king, singular as being 
much bigger than any other tree nt the hills. It 
was planted by K'ung-ming; oven to the present day 
the aborigines worship it. The flavour of the tea 
^r, ir.s with varying soils; it is best grown on red 
earth or amongst stones of different kinds; it theu 
helps digestion, dissipates fever, and acts as as an 
antidote. 
78 
stone, ou which a man stands, and pressed into a 
quoit-like shape, the ends of the bag making the in- 
dentation in the centre. The cake is then jjlaced 
in a rack to cool. When cold the bag is removed, 
and the cake is iu the condition of the P'u-erh tea 
of commerce. The same process is said to be followed 
at the hills. 
In the case of the particular tea of which I watched 
the manufacture, the finer sort of Ssu-rnao tea, that 
goes to Ssu-ch-'uan, four descriptions of leaf were 
used — the 9 oz., consisting of £ oz. fine young leaves 
aud 1| oz., 3 ozs., and 4 ozs., of three other qualities 
coarse in proportion to their weight ; aud the whole 
art of the process appeared to consist in a judicious 
arrangement, by which the white delicate leaves were 
made to take up a conspicuous position on the out- 
side of the cake, while the coarsest sort was carefully 
billeted in the centre. No. 1 was "paichien;" Nos. 
2 and 3 were from the smaller hills in the neighbour- 
hood of I-baug and I-wu, called " so pieu " (what 
is at the side) ; and No. 4 came from the plain of 
Me-khong, and was probably wild tea, from which 
the coarsest leaves had been sorted. 
It will surprise no one acquainted with China that 
the rule that the best tea is to be made up at the 
hills is very badly observed. What rule is not ? In 
fact, the merchant Thunder, managing partner of the 
New Spring Thunder House, told me that No. 1 was 
from I-wu. The truth is that the making up in a 
cake so favours blending that no tea seems to come 
from one place or to be of one quality. The only 
way to get an idea of the trade is to make v-;ry 
broad distinctions. Taken in this wa.y P'u-erh tea 
may be divided into five classes, viz : — 
1. The finest tea, called " mao-chiena," " ya ch'a" 
&c. This is made in small quantities at the hills, 
and I could get neither reliable particulars as to 
price nor specimens. 
2. Tea of good quality called " hsi ch'a," &c, of 
which there is a large export to other provinces 
through Yunnan Fu, especially to Ssu-ch'uan. The 
tea of which I watched the manufacture above, was 
an inferior tea of this class (specimen sent to India): 
3. "Ping lao," this is " so-pien " tea, just as it 
is picked without being sorted. Sent to I-hsi or 
Western Yunnan (Ta-li Fu, Yung-ch'ang Fu, Stc.) 
(specimen sent to India). 
4. Inferior tea, made chiefly at Ssu-rnao, and con- 
sumed in the province of Yunnan- 
5. " Chin-t'uan," made in balls for the Ku-tsung 
aud Thibetan market. This is made of the coarsest 
yellow leaves picked out from other varieties, with 
a shallow coating of " so-pien " on the outside of the 
ball (specimen, sent to India). 
The four first descriptions are packed in a " t'ung," 
or packet, of seven cakes, which therefore weighs 03 
oz., or with the covering of bamboo bark 4 catties. 
Twelve such packets are placed in a bamboo case, 
which forms one side of a horse's load, the load being 
thus 96 catties. The seven balls of class No. 5 are 
packed iu a roll, which is supposed to be of the same 
weiaht as a packet, but the Thibetans are regularly 
squeezed some ounces on each roll. 
Prices at Ssu-rnao, duty paid, are said to have 
averaged during 1885 as follows : — 
No. 2, '• hsi ch'a," 14 teals per 100 catties ; No. 3, 
" piiif?-lao," 12 taels per 100 catties; No. 5, "chin- 
t'uan," 9 taels per 100 catties. Carriage from Ssu- 
rnao to Yunnan Fu ranges between 3 taels and 3 t. 
5 m. per 100 catties. Duty at Ssu-rnao is 7 mace, 
and li-kvn 1 tael to 1 t. 2 m. per 100 catties accord 
ing to quality. 
The estimates of the amount of tea turned out 
during the year varied from 12,000 to 24,000 [?J loads. 
There are two roads by which the tea comes, one 
from I-bang through Ssu-rnao, and the other from 
I-wu through Meng-nai to Mo-hei, There are li-hin 
stations both at Ssu-rnao and Meng-nai. The most 
reliable estimate was given me by the li-hin collector 
at Ssu-rnao, who said that Ssu maO sent 3,000 to 4,000 
loads in the year, aud the hills about 12,000, making 
in all a production of about 15,000 loads, about half 
of Nosi 2 and 4, and half of Nos. 3 and . Taking- 
