AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
dough. Rub the butter and flour together, and 
add the other ingredients. Roll it out in sheets, 
cut thin, butter your tins, place them, and wash 
the cake over with molasses and water before 
they are put into the oven. They require a 
very moderate heat to bake them, as they easily 
Scorch. 
-- 
CULTIVATION 03? THE TEA PLANT IN CHINA. 
“A "Voyage to the Tea Districts of China,’’ 
lately published, by the author of “ Wanderings 
in China,” who is now well known to the horti- 
cultmal world both as a traveller and writer, 
contains some very interesting information con¬ 
cerning the history and treatment of the tea 
plant. Mr. Fortune has been a close observer 
of the various processes to which the leaves are 
subjected in the course of preparation, and has 
made himself familiar with the whole method 
of cultivation. In the last number of the Flore 
des Serves we have a description of a tea plant¬ 
ation, and the following extracts from Mr. 
Fortune’s work, which we translate for the 
Agriculturist: 
The cultivation of this shrub has been lim¬ 
ited, till lately; and almost entirely confined to 
the eastern parts of Asia, though extending 
over a vast extent of that country. Thunberg 
tells us that it is to be found in abundance in 
Japan, both wild and cultivated. Dr. Wallich 
says it grows in Cochin China, and I have my¬ 
self seen it in cultivation in China, from Canton 
in the south, to the 31st degree of north lati¬ 
tude; M. Reeves has observed it in the province 
of Shantung, near the city of Tang-Chow-foo, in 
latitude 36° 30' N. 
The principal tea-bearing districts of China 
at least those which furnish the greatest quan¬ 
tity of the tea exported to Europe and America, 
are situated between the 25th and 31st, and 
the best, between the 27th and 31st degrees of 
north latitude. The shrub cultivated near Can 
ton, which furnishes the tea used in that city, 
is known to botanists under the name of Thea 
Bohca, while the northern variety, cultivated in 
the green tea region, is named in our books, 
Thea viridis. The first species owes its name 
apparently to the supposition that it alone pro¬ 
duced the black tea of the Rohea mountains, 
and the second was called viridis, indicating 
that it furnishes all the green tea of commerce. 
Misled by these terms, many persons believed 
until the last few years, that the Tea Bou could 
only be obtained from Thea Bohea, and green 
tea from viridis. 
In my ‘Wanderings in China,’ published 
in 1846, I offered some remarks on the plants 
which furnish tea in different parts of that 
country. Admitting the specific difference of 
the Thea Bohea of botanists, (from Canton,) and 
Thea viridis, (the northern variety,) I endea¬ 
vored to prove that black and green tea could 
be obtained from either ; the difference, at least 
so far as color was concerned, depending en¬ 
tirely on the method of preparation. To sup¬ 
port this assertion I instanced the black tea 
plant observed by me near Foo-Ohow-foo, a 
short distance from the Bohea mountains, and 
which appeared identical with the green tea 
plant of Chekiang. 
To this it was objected that, though I had 
visited the tea districts on the shore, I had not 
seen the vast districts of the interior, which 
furnish the tea of commerce. This objection 
cannot any longer be advanced, as at present 
I am acquainted with the green tea region of 
Hwuy-Chow, as well as the black tea country of 
Woo-e-Shan. The experience acquired by these 
long journeys has not, however, altered the 
accuracy of my former statements. 
The Chinese, it is true, seldom make the two 
kinds of tea in one and the same district, but 
this is owing more to custom and the con¬ 
venience of the workmen, than to any other 
cause. 
The best tea is, of course, made by the work¬ 
men to which its preparation is most familiar, 
but tins rule has its exceptions. It is well 
known, for example, that in these fine districts 
of Moning, near lake Poyang, where the culti¬ 
vation of black tea is at present so far advanced 
and.daily increasing in importance, nothing but 
green tea was formerly prepared. 
At Canton the two sorts are made according 
to tb« tacic of the operator, and the wants of 
the moment. 
I will here relate a circumstance to which I 
was witness after my arrival at Calcutta, and 
which appeared to me more curious than that of 
the manufacture of black and green tea from the 
leaves of a single botanical species or variet}^. 
I was on my way to the tea plantations 
of the English company, in the northwest pro¬ 
vinces of India, in company with six Chinese, 
skilled in the preparation of tea, and furnished 
with a valuable collection of plants and imple¬ 
ments, necessary for this undertaking. Dr. 
Falconer, director of the Botanic Garden of 
Calcutta, with w r hom I stopped a few days, ex¬ 
pressed a wish to see the process of tea-making, 
and desired me to communicate this desire to 
the men. They set to work, selected the neces¬ 
sary implements, and constructed a small fur¬ 
nace. They placed on two hearths two iron 
basins, just as in the preparation of the article 
in China. Up to this point all proceeded well; 
but where were the leaves to be procured? 
There were none either in the Calcutta garden, 
nor in any part of India nearer than the Him¬ 
alayan plantation. “How are we to make tea 
without tea leaves ?” exclaimed my astonished 
Chinamen. I made them understand that Dr. 
Falconer and his friends wished only to to see 
the manner of working, for which a similar 
operation would be sufficient, and not the usual 
preparation. It was necessary at length to find 
in the garden some leaves for the purpose, 
which could be used as a substitute for the 
genuine ones. These matters being arranged, 
the Chinese went in search of leaves and soon 
returned with those of a plant which we recog¬ 
nized as Pongamia glabra, a leguminous plant, 
somewhat like Bobinia (the common locust 
tree) in appearance. A quantity of the leaves 
were gathered by the poor laborers, and were 
laid aside for use, in a proper place, while my 
men had all prepared for the work. The pans 
were placed on the fire, and the leaves of Pon¬ 
gamia thrown in. They wpre turned in a few 
minutes, then lightly rolled, spread out thin on 
bamboo-boards, so as to dispel any remaining 
moisture, and again thrown into the pans, and 
stirred with the hand till perfectly crisp and 
dry. They proceeded then to separate them into 
different heaps and to divide the whole into 
commercial sorts, such as Hyson, Young and 
Imperial Hyson, Gunpowder, &c. Some kinds 
were returned to the heating-pan several times 
to be more perfectly dried, and a portion of 
some lots was artificially colored, 
The process being finished, the product so 
much resembled genuine tea, that nineteen per¬ 
sons out of twenty would have received it as 
such. Thus it may be seen that green tea, very 
passable as far as appearance goes, was produced 
from a plant as different as possible from the 
tea shrub. There is no doubt, but that with a 
little ingenuity, they could have made some¬ 
thing resembling black tea from the same 
leaves. 
"Without entering into a minute description 
of the process of making green and black teas, 
I will mention briefly the principal operations. 
The two methods we are about to examine, 
differ from each other in points sufficiently im¬ 
portant to explain the difference in color of the 
product. We may here remark, that for both 
kinds the leaves are gathered from the tree in 
the same manner, those which have arrived at 
maturity being most commonly chosen. 
Green Tea. — As soon as the leaves are 
brought from the plantations, they are spread 
out in thin beds on bamboo hurdles to evavo- 
rate the remaining moisture ; they remain thus 
exposed for a short time, generally for two 
hours, but this depends much upon the state of 
the atmosphere; when this is done, the pans 
are heated over a brisk wood fire. Some leaves 
are then thrown in, which are quickly stirred, 
both hands being used for this purpose. Sud¬ 
denly affected by the heat, the leaves begin to 
make a crackling noise and become moist and 
flaccid ; at the same time a large quantity of 
steam escapes from the mass. This lasts for 
four or five minutes, after whicli the leaves, re¬ 
moved from the fire, are placed on the table to 
be rolled. 
The rolling process is performed by a number 
of persons who place themselves round the table, 
and divide the heap of leaves among them. 
Each takes for his portion as many as he can 
press with his hands, and presses them into 
the form of a ball. This ball is rolled on a 
table with rattan branches, (Calamus Botang,) 
and then pressed with force, for the double pur¬ 
pose of expressing the juice and twisting the 
leaves. The balls are beaten and passed from 
hand to hand in succession until they reach the 
chief workman, who examines them carefully 
so as to determine if they have been sufficiently 
rolled. If so, they remove the rolling-table and 
throw them on fiat hurdles, where they remain 
until this operation has been completed with 
the remaining leaves. In no case, however, are 
they left long in this state, and sometimes they 
are immediately transferred to the roasting-pan. 
When the leaves are returned to the roast- 
ing-pan, a slow and constant fire of charcoal 
is maintained, and they are constantly and ra¬ 
pidly stirred with the hands, and sometimes 
they are carried again to the table to give them 
a second rolling. After an hour or an hour and 
a half they are dry enough; their color is well 
fixed and there is then no fear of their becoming 
black; their tint, a dull green, becomes brighter 
by keeping. 
The principal part of the preparation is now 
completed. The second part of the operation 
consists in screening the tea, by passing it 
through sieves of different degrees of fineness, 
so as to drive off the dust and other in purities, 
after which it is divided into commercial sorts, 
such as Hyson Skin, Hyson, Young Hyson, 
Gunpowder, See. During this operation the 
large sorts are passed once or twice before the 
fire, and the fine ones three or four times. It is 
at this time that its color is best judged of; 
the finest sort is of a dull green lightly tinged 
with blue, 
