84 
Tea. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    February,  1903. 
another  picking,  and  in  some  tea  districts  the  flushes  follow  each 
other  at  such  short  intervals  that  the  picking  is  nearly  continuous 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  season.  In  other  districts 
there  are  but  three,  four  or  five  flushes  during  the  season.  At  the 
end  of  the  third  year  the  bushes  are  large  enough  to  allow  of  the 
first  picking  without  injury  to  the  plant.  At  about  the  eighth  year 
the  plant  is  cut  down  to  the  ground,  and  a  number  of  new  shoots 
spring  up  from  the  old  roots.  This  cutting  down  is  repeated  at 
intervals  whenever  the  crop  of  leaves  becomes  scanty,  until  about 
the  thirtieth  or  thirty-fifth  year.  The  plant  is  then  replaced  by  a 
new  one. 
As  a  rule  the  plantations  are  small  and  are  owned  or  worked  by 
individual  farmers.  Those  in  China  are  preferably  on  the  hillsides 
which  have  a  southern  exposure.  Many  of  the  hills  so  used  are 
very  steep,  having  a  slope  of  as  much  as  65  °.  But  the  cultivation 
of  tea  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  hillsides.  There  are  many 
plantations  in  China,  and  especially  in  Japan,  and  also  elsewhere, 
that  are  located  on  level  grounds.  The  more  sparsely  settled  the 
region  in  which  the  plantation  is  located  the  better  the  quality  of 
the  tea.  In  densely  populated  districts,  smoke  and  dust,  and  other 
kinds  of  dirt  which  are  always  abundant,  settle  upon  the  leaves  and 
lower  the  quality. 
V.   PREPARATION  FOR  MARKET. 
Picking. — The  time  of  first  picking,  the  number  of  pickings  dur- 
ing the  season  and  the  time  of  last  picking  vary  in  different  parts 
of  the  tea  district.  In  Ceylon  and  parts  of  India  the  picking  begins 
usually  in  March  and  there  are  often  as  many  as  twenty-five  pick- 
ings during  the  season  which  continues  until  October  or  even  later. 
In  China  the  pickings  begin  in  April  and  vary  in  number  with  the 
latitude  and  altitude.  In  Japan  the  picking  begins  late  in  April  or 
early  in  May  and  the  first  crop  gathered  is  the  famous  hyson 
quality.  In  that  country  there  are  not  generally  more  than  four  or 
five  pickings  during  the  season.  In  all  tea  countries  the  early  pick- 
ings make  the  finest  qualities  of  tea.  Late  in  the  season  the  leaves 
become  tough  and  less  succulent  and  the  twig  becomes  more  woody. 
Leaves  gathered  then  yield  a  very  inferior  grade,  which  is  not  usu- 
ally exported,  but  is  used  by  the  peasants  of  the  poorer  districts. 
Although  the  expense  of  the  primitive  methods  of  transportation 
