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AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE.-—NO. 10 . 
AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE.—No. 10. 
Mode of Gathering and Preparing Tea Leaves .— 
The mode of gathering and preparing the leaves of 
the tea plant is extremely simple. We have been 
so long accustomed to magnify and mystify every¬ 
thing relating to the Chinese, that, in all their arts 
and manufactures, we expect to find some peculiar 
and out-of-the-way practice, when the fact is, that 
many operations in China are more simple in their 
character than in most other parts of the world. 
To rightly understand the process of rolling and 
drying the leaves, it must be borne in mind that the 
grand object is to expel the moisture, and at the 
same time to retain, as much as possible, of the 
aromatic and other desirable secretions of the 
species. The system adopted to attain this end is 
as simple as it is efficacious. 
In the harvest seasons, the natives are seen in lit¬ 
tle. family groups on the side of every hill, when 
the weather is dry, engaged in gathering the tea 
leaves. They do not seem so particular, in this 
operation, but strip the leaves off rapidly and pro¬ 
miscuously, and throw them all into round baskets 
made for the purpose out of split bamboo, or rattan. 
In the beginning of May, when the principal gather¬ 
ing takes place, the young seed vessels are about as 
large as peas. These are also stripped off and 
dried with the leaves; it is these seed vessels, 
which we often see in our tea, and which have 
some slight resemblance to young capers. When a 
.sufficient quantity of leaves is gathered, they are 
carried home to the cottage, or barn, where the 
operation of drying is performed. 
The drying pans and furnaces in these places are 
very simply constructed. The pans, which are of 
j When the pans are first fixed, the brick work 
i and chunam are smoothed off very neatly round 
their edges and carried up a little higher, particular¬ 
ly at the back of the pans, at the same time widen¬ 
ing gradually. Vvffien complete, the whole has the 
appearance of a row of large high-backed basins, 
each being three or four times larger than the shal¬ 
low iron pan which is placed at its bottom, imme¬ 
diately over the fiue. When the fire is applied, the 
upper part of these basins, which is formed of chu¬ 
nam, gets heated as well as the iron pan, though in 
a less degree. The drying pans, thus formed, be¬ 
ing low in front, and rising very gradually at the 
sides and back, the person, whosb duty it is to at¬ 
tend to the drying of the leaves, can readily manage 
them, and scatter them about over the back of the 
basin. The accompanying sketch, fig. 81, which 
was made on the spot, will render this description 
more clear. 
The leaves having been brought in from the hills 
are placed in the cottage, or drying house. It is 
now the duty of one individual to light the little 
fire at the mouth of the flue, and to regulate it as 
nicely as possible. The pans become hot very soon 
after the warm air has begun to circulate in the flue 
beneath them. A quantity of leaves, from a sieve, 
or basket, are now thrown into the pans, and 
turned over, shaken up, and kept in motion by 
men and women stationed there for this purpose. 
The leaves are immediately affected by the heat. 
They begin to crack, and become quite moist with 
the vapor, or sap, which they give out on the appli¬ 
cation of the heat. This part of the process lasts 
about five minutes, in which time the leaves lose 
their crispness, and become soft and pliable. They 
iron, and are made as thin as possible, are round | are then taken out of the pans and thrown upon a 
and shallow, and, in fact, are the same, or nearly | table, the upper part of which is made of split pieces 
of bamboo as represented in fig. 
82. Three or four persons 
now surround the table, and 
the heap of tea leaves is di¬ 
vided into as many parcels, 
each individual taking as many 
as he can hold in his hands, 
and the rolling process com¬ 
mences. I cannot give a 
better idea of this operation 
than by comparing it to a ba¬ 
ker working and rolling his 
dough. Both hands are used in 
the very same way : the object 
being to express the sap and 
moisture, and at the same 
time to twist the leaves. Two 
or three times during the ope¬ 
ration, the little bundles of rolled leaves are held 
up and shaken out upon the table, and are 
then again taken up and pressed and rolled as 
before. This part of the process also lasts 
about five minutes, during which time a large 
portion of green juice has been expressed, and 
may be seen finding its way down between the 
interstices of the bamboos. The leaves being now 
pressed, twisted, and curled, do not occupy a 
quarter of the space which they did before the 
operation. 
When the rolling process is completed, the leaves 
are removed from the table and thinly shaken out for 
Furnace and Drying Pans.—Fig. 81 . 
the same, as the natives have in general use for 
cookino- their rice. A row of these are built into 
brick work and chunam [lime], having a flue con¬ 
structed below them, with the grating, or rather 
fire place, at one end, and the chimney, or, at least, 
some hole to allow the smoke to escape, at the 
other. A chimney is a secondary consideration 
with the Chinese, and in many instances which 
came under my observation, the smoke, after pass¬ 
ing below the drying pans, was allowed to escape, 
asTt best could, through the doors and roofs of the 
houses, which, indeed, in China, is no difficult 
matter. 
