November 2, i£9i.] 
THE TROPICAL AQR10ULTUR18T.' 
3SS 
BLACK TEA AND GREEN. 
Wliat !a (ho li fferoDco between black tea and green 
leal' Are they produced by different planta or merely 
by different metboda of treating the leavea ? And 
are the Oolong and Japaoeao teas, so popular in thia 
eouiitry, really grecu tens or black? One ao often 
bears these queatioua sskod, and so aeldom geta a 
reliiiblo answer, that our readers may be interested 
in the following account of Japanese tea-production 
which we ipioto from Mrs. Seidmoro’a Jinrikisha 
D^s in Japan." 
The Tea-plant, as every one knows, is a hardy 
evergreen of the Camellia family. It grows a 
tbiok and solidly massod bush, and at first glance 
at a field regularly dotted aud bordered with the 
round bushes setting close to the ground, one might 
easily mistake it for Box. In the spring the yonog 
leaves crop out at the euda of the shoots and 
branches, aud when the whole top of the bush is 
covered with pale, goldcn-groeu t'ps, gonorally in May, 
the first pioking takes place. The second picking 
belongs to the fire-fly season in June, aud after that 
green festival tea comes in from the plantations in 
decreasing quantities, until the end of August. The 
ehoioer qualities of lea are never exported but consumed 
at home. Choice basket-fired tea, such os is used in 
the homes of the rich and well-to-do Japanese, solla 
for one or two dollars a pound. There are ehoioer, 
moss oarclnlly grown and prepared teas which cost 
as high aa from seven to ten dollars a pound, but 
suoh teas arc shaded from the hot suns by matted 
awnings and the picker, going down lines of these 
oirefully tended bushes, nips off ooly tho youngest 
leaves or buds at the tip of each shoot. The average 
tea brought by the exporters for ebipment to the 
TJuited Etates and Canada, is of the commonest quality 
and, acoordiug to Japanese trade etntistics, the ave- 
rage value is eleven oenia a pouu 1, us it stands, subject 
to the export duty and ready for shipmeot abroad. 
Japan tea came into market aa a cheaper sub- 
atitnte for the green teas of China, thnao oarefully 
rolled Young Hysons and Gunpowders of our graud- 
mothors’ fancy. Europe has never received the Japan 
teas with favour, but tho bulk of Auferiean importa- 
tions is Japaneso. . . ; For green tea, the leaves 
are dried over hot fires almost immediately after 
picking, leaving tho theine or active principle of the 
leaf in full strength. For black tea, the leaves are 
allowed to wilt and Fermeut in hesf s for from five 
to fourteen days, or until the leaf turns red and ho 
harmful properties of the thtint have been partly 
destroyed. The Oolong tea of south Ohiaa is nearest 
to green tea, its feiineutatiou being limited to three 
or five days only while the richly flavoicd black 
teas of north China are allowed to ferment for twioe 
that period, to prepare them fur the Knasian and 
English markets. . . , U'he Japanese guverumeut 
made experiments in the maunfacturu of black tea 
in tho province of Ise, bnt the results were not 
BBtisfuotory, and no farther efforts have been made 
to cumpoto in that line witli Chius. Japan will oontiuue 
to famish the world's supply of green tea. . . , 
Tho young tea-leaves, picked in May and early June, 
comprise more than half the whole season’s crop, 
snooeeding growths of leaves being coarser aud hav- 
ing less Haver. Tea which is to be exported is 
treated to an extra firing, to dry it thoroughly before 
the voyage, and, at the same time, it is "polished," 
or coated with indigo, I'russian blue, gypsum and 
other things, which givo it the gray lu.>tre that no 
dried tea-leaf ever naturally wore, but that American 
tea- drinkers insist on having. Itufuro the tea-leaves 
are put in tho pans for the second firing, men whole 
arms are dyed with indigo to the elbows, go down 
the lines and dust a little of the powder into each pm. 
Then the tossing and stirring of the leaves follows, 
and the dye is worked thoroughly into them. . . . 
This skillet labor is paid tor at rates to make the 
Knights of Lab^r groan, tho wagn-list showing 
how impossible Tea culture is for tho United States until 
{ iroleotioniat tea-drinkers are ready to pay tendol- 
ars a pound for tho commonest gardens. During the 
four busy months of the tea-season the flrers are 
paid the equivalent of eleven and four-tenths cents, 
United States gold, for a day’s work of thirteen hours. 
Less expert bands, who give the seooud firing, or 
polisbiDg, receive nine and six-tenths cents a day. 
Those who sort and finally paok the tea and who 
wurk as rapidly and automatically as maoliines, get 
the immenio enm of fifteeu eeuta, , , . Each year 
the United States pays over 87,000,000 for the nerve- 
racking green tea of Japan . — Garden and t'orett. 
[Mrs. Beidmoro must surely have been sadly mis- 
infuruied as to length of fermentation aud aa to harmful 
qualities in theine; this is the first we have beard 
of them. — E d. T. A.'] 
WOOD PULP INDUSTRY. 
Extract from the Report of the Cblef of the Division 
of Forestry, U. S. A. for 1890, by B. Pernow. 
It can be said, withont fear of oontradictioa, that in 
no field of industrial notivity baa a more rapid develop- 
ment takou place within the last few years than in that 
of the use of wood for pulp maunfacture. Tho impor- 
tance of this comparatively new iudostry for the pre- 
sent, and still more (or the (atnre, oan hardly be over- 
estimated. Its expension daring the next few decides 
may bring revolntionary ohnngoa in oar wood oonsump- 
tioD, due to the now material, cellulose, fiber or wood 
pulp. 
Though rapid in its growth, the industry has by no 
means reached its full development. Not only is there 
room for improvemeuts in the prooeeses at present 
employed, but there are all the time new applications 
found (nr tho material. While it was In the first plaos 
designed to be need in the manufaotnio of paper only, 
by various methods of indurating it, its adaptation 
has booomo widespread | pails, water pipes, barrels, 
kitohen utensils, wsshlnhs, bath tubs, washboards, doorh 
oaskets, carriage bodies, floor coverings, fiiruitare and 
building oruaments, and various other materials are 
made of it, and while tue naa of timber has been super- 
seded in shipbuilding, the latest torpedo ram of the 
Australian navy received a protective armor of cclln- 
lose, and our own new vessels are to be similarly pro- 
vided. While this armor is to render the effeat of 
aho's less disastrous by stopping up loaks, on the othe( 
hand bullets for rifle use are mads from paper pulp. 
Of food products, sugar (glucose) and alcohol can be 
derived from it, and materials roscmbling loathor, cloth, 
and silk have been suceessfully mauafaotared (tom it. 
An entire hotel has bcoa lately built in Rambnrg, 
Germany, of material of wbioh pulp forms the basis, 
and it also farms the basis of a anperiot lime mortar, 
fire and water proof, (or covering aud finishing walls. 
Ten years age there were in Europe about fivo hun- 
dred woodpulp establishments, making in round figares 
15,000 tons of ground pnip, valnud at over 86,000,000. 
With tho development of the chemical processes since 
then, it is hardly possibly to tell from day to day bow 
fast tlie production inotentos . — Indian Forester. 
Tbansaoxions in jute fell oil to a remarkable ex- 
tent in ’Tippera last year. The Commissioner of the 
Chittagong Division writes that the price of jute in 
Tippera fell from R5 8 to Rl-8 per maund, and that, 
ill oonsequence, the oultivators wore reported in soma 
plaoca to have lefttbo jute onont. No actual distreas 
was felt, though the extraordinary fall is said to have 
largely affected the revenno administration of the 
district.— Calcutta Eiujlishman. 
Inskcticides, etc. — Our growers, wlioso general 
apathy with regard to the oiiiploymont of romedios, 
oven for oxporimontnl purposes, is profound, and who 
appear to leave unread the evidence that is put be- 
fore them, are, at any rate, not tlio only persons 
siiiiilarly affeotod. 'i'his is what is said by tho 
Colonial Uolanist at the Capo ;—“l have urged several 
importers to apooulato in a Baiiiplo, and done every- 
thing except thiiinp them over it. But tlicy, one and 
all, seem to think the Capo fruit grower will not bother 
over his fruit trees, or put oitlior money or elbow- 
grease into the protective iiicasuros wliioh tlio Yankee 
fruitist finds to pay hand over liand. Lot us hono 
they wro mistakon."— cfflcdcHfrj’ QhmitU 
