May i j 1888 ] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, 
723 
exports of I ndia and Ceylon teas increased by nearly 
thirty-five million pounds. The report of tlio com- 
mittee actually recommends the ('Innese Government 
to despatch a number of intelligent and practical 
Chinamen to onr Indian Kmpire and to Ceylon, in 
order to study tho methods of cultivation and pre- 
paration in uso in those regions. Tilings, indeed, seem 
to be coining to a pretty pass when the tea-growers 
of tho Middle Kingdom are to bo despatched to 
foreign parts to learn the art of making their toa 
fit for tho market. What next, and next ? Will 
nig. tailed students travel to Sevres to take lessons in 
the manufacture and painting of porcelain Y Will they 
go to Lyuus to pick up a few hints about silk-weaving, 
or visit Hatton-garden in order to acquire the art of 
turning and carving ivory '( It must be added, however, 
that the committee of experts have recommended tho 
Government of Pckiu to set up, at the Imperial cost, in 
the tea-producing districts, one or two factories fully 
supplied with modern machinery, in crder to teach the 
people how it is that foreign competition is not gradual- 
ly, but swiftly, beating them. 
It would be idle to inquire for how many centuries 
ti eming millions of the Chinese Empire havo beeu 
growiug and manufacturing tea. There does not 
appear to have beeu at anytime any departure from 
the primitive modes of preparation handed down from 
ge 1. -ration to generation. The charge a 1 ; present made 
against tho Chinese is that they fire or dry thoir toaMoo 
rapidly and too negligently. So toon as tho leaves are 
gathered, and oven before tbey are sifted, thoy 
arc sptead on iron plates, and when thoy are quite 
hot rolled in tho palm of the hand. The heat 
is applied to deprive them of tho narcotic qualities 
which they possess, while the rolling enables them 
to bo kept in a restricted space without losing their 
aroma. In some districts tho fresh leaves are thrown 
for a few seconds into hot water ; it is said to bo 
another way of killing the narcotic clement. These 
operations, simple as they seem, demmd much deli- 
cacy and skill in their performance; for, if the 
leaves are fired at too great a heat, tbey will luso 
their colour, and consequently their price ; whereas, 
if 1 hey are not mado hot enough, they will not 
keep the fold into which they havo been rolled, and 
requite to be placed on the chaling-plate again and 
again. The exports of Shanghai point out that native 
growers are in such a hurry to tiro their tea that in 
the course of a few months tho loaves become vapid 
and M ivourles'. This carelessness also tends to the 
iiitenupli 11 of fermentation; audit is to this fermen- 
tation that Indian and Cingalese teas owe the strong 
rich liquor on which thoy depend for their repute, 
(■recti tea, such as Hyson, Tvvankey, and Young 
Hyson, has never, it would seem, been subject to 
fermentation, and is only very slightly rolled. As 
for the Imperial tea, which only the Emperor and 
the ineiiibirs of the Imperial family aro privileged 
to imbibe, it appears to bo cultivated and manufac- 
tured with seme attention to cloanliness. The culti- 
vators aro forbidden under the severest penalties to 
eat garlic or to smoko opium, lest the young leaves 
should bo infected by unlovely exhalations. The Im- 
perial tea is also " pearly," from the circumstance 
of the leaves being very small and very tightly 
twisted; while cousiu-germao to the Imperial is gun- 
powder ton, which is even a smaller leaf, and should 
be of a darkish green shot with a slight silvery tint. 
Black teas are exposed for a certain time after boing 
gathered to some degree of moisture, so that they may 
ferment, during which process thuy lose their pleas- 
ing green Imo to take that of a blackish brown. 
Black ton in China, ospociilly Bohea, is by nil ac- 
counts often shamefully adulterated. Leaves of 
different species, but having somo slight analogy in 
flavour and colour to the products of tho tci-plant, 
are mixed with a small quantity of genuine tea nui 
exposed to a high temperature in bamboo baskets, 
wh-ro fermentation brings about 11 vast amount of 
amalgamation. This fradiileul composition —or "lie" 
tea, as the Celestials appropriately term it — may bo 
known by its badly-rolled, broken, and half pulverised 
loaves, its want of uniformity of tint, and tho red- 
dish, iueipid infusion which it produces after coctiou 
but Congo and Souchong should bo much more care- 
fully prepared. Then como tho luxurious black teas. 
Ponchang leaves aro so scrupul msly seloctud from 
Souchong that the proportion kept for producing the 
first- named commodity is not more than two per 
cent; and Pokoc — meaning white down — chosen from 
young leaves of tho first crop, should be recognisa- 
ble by tho leav s being covered by a minute downy 
deposit, ai d its odour should be as sweet and aro- 
matic as that of the rose ; the infusion will bo of a 
palo golden tint. Thore are many fancy teas which 
scarcely ever reach Europe. "Pall tei" is a conglo- 
meration of leaves kneaded together to the size of 
a walnut and wrapped in a sheet of rice-paper. 
"Pigtail" tea presents a certain resemblance to p. g- 
tail tobacco ; and then comes a c'ass of coarse and, 
to Europeans, repulsive teas which are greedily con- 
sumed by the Oriental races. There is tho toa 
pressed into the shape of a tube, which is eagerly 
imbibed by the peoples of Central Asia, and which, 
to suit their palate, is generally boiled in a caul- 
dron with salt, flour, and rancid butter. "Brick tea," 
so called from tho form of the tablets into which it ia 
pressed, is consumed to an amazing extent by tho Kus- 
siau peasantry and by tho Calmuc Tartars. It is drunk 
boiled and 11 ivourcd with grease, camel's milk, and a 
little flour. 
If the Chines? aro ambitious to kjep that hold 
on tho European and American markets which they 
have possessed for so many generations, they must 
export such a tea as that described by the special 
committee of experts at Shanghai. They seem, on 
the contrary, to have fallen into a very stupid and 
vicious system, of attempting to make large quanti- 
ties of tea ready for exportation under one mark 
or "chop," and this hasty und often dishonest mode 
of procedure is said to be one of the main causes of 
the deterioration and con;equ'Mit depreciation in tho 
market of Chinese teas. The "one chop" system 
means that undue time is spent iu getting a sufficient 
quantity of leaves tog-.ther, and the leaves are cou- 
scquently stale and void of their juices before they 
aro roasted. In India the "chops" are of moderate 
volume, consisting as they do of the pickings of a 
single day, when tho leaves are fresh aud full of their 
best qualities. Frequently inferior qualities are mixed 
with tea purporting to bo of one standard of excellence 
alone; and, although this fraud may escape detectiou 
in China, the voyage to Europe or to America brings 
out the coarse flavour. Tho skilful, steady, and up- 
right Japanese are gradually depriving the wily Chi- 
namen of their green tea trade, just as India and 
Oeylin are rapidly taking from the Celestials the 
trade iu black tea. The unfortunate Chiuese tea- 
growers are also heavily handicapped by onerous 
transit dues imposed in the Empire itself ; still, they 
no doubt find it profitable to contiuue to tend to 
the rod-headed barb.triaus extensive ^consignments of 
" lie ten," or the sweepings of Chinese warehouses. 
The United Kiugdom, United States, Australia, and 
New Zealand want more and 'more millions of pounds 
of tea every year — full, rich, honest tea — and it is 
liiKhly gratifying to Britons to learn that onrfellow- 
BDojects in Hiudoatau and Oevlou can send us such 
a toa iu practically unlimited quantities — tea carelully 
grown, scientifically gathered, skilfully cured, deftly 
rolled, cleanly silted, well packed, and in every re- 
spect superior to the dirty aud inferior stuff which 
the Chinese have boou for somo time past exporting. — 
Daily leleyraph. 
CEYLON UPOOUNTRY PLANTING KEI'OttT. 
Tjik Dnonini— Ooi 1 rK— Cacao. 
I'.'tb March is--. 
Wo arc still suffering much from tho WANT 0* kain. 
How much money this prolonged dry seiimn is g""'g 
to cost us would be hard to estimate. Our coolies 
sulfur, a- well ns we do : in fact the far reaching- 
noss of its effects is more than can bo told. Esti- 
matos are getting short beyond all hope of recovery : 
the bushes, especially where tho tea is young, 
