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University of California • Berkeley |
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Gift of |
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Dr. & Mrs. John |
C. Craig |
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE
OF
TEA
IN CHINA.
^
London : ^
Sfottiswoode and Shaw, New-Street-Square.
•■J^; -f:
'f^wm,.
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE
OF
T E A
IN CHINA:
DERIVED FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION
DURING AN OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN THAT COUNTRY FROM 1804 TO 1826 ; And illustrated l)y the best Authoi iti?s, Chineie as well as European :
WITH
REMARKS ON THE EXPERIMENTS NOW MAKING
FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CULTURE OF THE TEA TREE IN
OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
BY
SAMUEL BALL, ESQ.
LATE INSPECTOR OF TEAS TO THE HON. UNITED EAST INDIA COMPANV
IN CHINA.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATEK>OSTER-KOW. 1848.
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive
in 2008 witii funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.arcliive.org/details/accountofcultivaOOballricli
TO
SIR GEORGE THOMAS STAUNTON, BART. M.P.
LL.D. F.R.S.
&c. &c. IN TESTIMONY Or SINCERE REGARD AND ESTEEM,
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
BY HIS OBLIGED AND ATTACHED FRIEND AND SERVANT
THE AUTHOR.
A 3
PREFACE.
In laying before the public the following pages on the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China, I have been actuated by a hope of dispelling some of the prevalent errors and misconceptions with which this subject has hitherto been involved ; but mainly by a desire of supplying to the culti- vator a desideratum, long and ineffectually sought, in aid of those attempts which are now in progress for the cultivation of the tea tree, on an extended scale, in British India, and other parts of the world.
The immediate aim, then, of this book is utility rather than amusement ; and yet the general reader in turning over its pages may unexpectedly find his attention arrested by matter not altogether devoid of interest to him; while such as are sti- mulated by the gratification of a natural curiosity to seek some acquaintance with the modes of ma- nipulating the fragrant leaf which " smokes as an infusion on our tables," may possibly find some- thing which may instruct as well as amuse. At all events they will meet with a rational answer to a
A 4
Vlll PREFACE.
question frequently discussed at the tea-table, namely, " In what consists the difference between black and green tea ? " To the wholesale and retail dealer, if the task has been fairly executed, each page ought to have its interest ; and the merchant will find, on reference to the heads of chapters, more than is promised by the title-page, on subjects regarding price, and other topics of trade. For the chemist some experiments are detailed, and a novel theory is submitted for further development from his science, as to a change in the constituents of black tea, which is traced to a process of mani- pulation previous to roasting, on which its darkness and redness of colour in leaf and infusion, as well as flavour, is supposed to depend. In the de- velopment, however, of this theory, I must claim the indulgence of the man of science, a character to which I make no claim.
The highly responsible and laborious official duties of my appointment under the East India Company, left me little leisure for literary pursuits during the season of activity at Canton; and during the recess at Macao, it must be acknow- ledged that I found the enervating effects of a hot climate on a northern constitution indispose both body and mind to much exertion. It must also be confessed that the extreme retirement of my former life in China, with the absence of com- munion with literary and scientific men, as well as an imperfect supply of books, were great drawbacks
PKEFACE. IX
to any preparation for appearing before the public as an author.
Still, having by labour, perseverance, and long- continued exertion, expressly directed to this sub- ject, collected something which may be useful, and seeing no probability of the same being obtained in a more effectual manner, and exhibited under more attractive forms, I feel induced, with an absence, however, of all pretension, to bring that something forward.
It will be seen by dates incidentally adverted to, that the facts, and most of the materials of this work, were established and collected thirty years ago. As regards the processes of manipulation, they were at all times noted down by me during the performance of the several stages of the pro- cess. These facts, as well as other materials, were derived from conversation with growers and mani- pulators from the tea districts ; from written documeuts furnished by Chinese ; from published works in the same language diligently sought out ; and also from correspondence with a Spanish mis- sionary long resident in the province of Fokien. These were all put into their present form full twenty years ago, and were read to one or two friends during my residence in China. They have since that time received very little alteration, either in arrangement or expression.
They were not, however, so arranged with any view to immediate publication ; on the contrary, I
X PREFACE.
am too sensible, even at the present moment, of their great imperfection ; but this arises not from any want of perseverance or diligence on my part, but from the peculiarly unfavourable situation in which foreigners were formerly placed at Canton. They were thus disposed as the best mode of re- cording and keeping together, in an intelligible form, the facts and materials I had collected. It was my wish to try some experiments on other leaves, which I have since done, as subservient to the development of the particular theory which I then entertained, and which I believe I have now successfully established.
On my return to England circumstances induced me to lay aside for a time my investigation relative to this subject. In the year 1839 the publication of the Parliamentary Papers on the " Tea Cultiva- tion" at Assam attracted my attention, and di- rected my thoughts once more to this pursuit.
Since this period I have systematically and re- gularly pursued my inquiries, but for a long time without much success. No more publications issued from the India press relative to the cultiva- tion of tea. Mr. Bruce's report of the manufacture of black tea is minutely and well described, but it contained nothing novel to me. My endeavours to obtain information from Java were equally fruit- less ; I consulted M. Guillemin's account of the cul- tivation of tea at the Brazils ; and also Von Siebold's
PREFACE. XI
work on Japan, but altogether without advantage as regards the processes of manipulation.
Mulder's excellent analysis of tea, though it did not determine points on which I sought instruction and confirmation of my own views, was neverthe- less of the highest importance in directing my thoughts in the right channel ; and to this paper and also to Liebig's Chemistry of Agriculture, I am indebted for the means of working out the theory concerning black tea, which I now place before the reader.
But it was not till the year 1844, when I re- ceived from a very old friend, Mr Bletterman, for- merly chief of the Dutch Establishment at Canton, Mr. Jacobson's Handbook on the cultivation of tea at Java, that I found my own views so far con- firmed, and my information such as to justify me in bringing my labours to a close. It will be seen by the large extracts in the form of notes, which I have subjoined to some chapters, how much I am indebted to this useful work.
It is unnecessary here to particularize what parts of my work were written in China, and what since ; the subjects sufficiently explain themselves, and will be for the most part intelligible to the reader.
It has not formed any part of my plan to make quotations except from original sources; but I cannot pass over in silence the excellent work written by Dr. Lettsom ; nor the able chapters on this subject contained in Dr. Royle's work on the
Xll PREFACE.
" Botany of the Himalayan Mountains ; " and in his "Productive Eesources of India." It would be unjust to this able and scientific author to say that I had derived no assistance from these valu- able works.
For the translation of Mr. Jacobson's treatise, written in the Dutch language, I am indebted to Mr. Bruggermeyer, principal clerk to Messrs. Hofman and Schenk of the city of London. This work was published at Batavia in 1843 in three volumes. The first is an epitome of the other two. It is now under translation by Mr. Frith in Bengal* ; but unless that gentleman translates the other two volumes, he will convey a very imperfect idea of the merits and matter of the work itself. The se- cond and third volumes consist of 587 pages. I have made an abstract of them through an oral transla- tion, and have compressed them into about eighty pages, having, as I believe, seized on " all the mate- rial points. The notes given will enable the reader to judge how this task has been performed.
For a translation of Yon Siebold's chapter on Tea, contained in his " Nippon," and for Mulder's analysis, I have been indebted to friends.
The plates belonging to this work were engraved from drawings made by Mr. J. W. Archer from Chinese sketches. The two views of the " Inner
* See Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, vol. v. parts 3 and 4.
PREFACE. XUl
Eange " of the Boliea Mountains were engraved by Mr. James Willmore, A. R. A., and the figures manipulating tea by Mr. Mason Jackson. They were executed con amore^ and do credit to these able artists : and I avail myself of this mode of expressing my obligations to these gentlemen for the able and skilful manner in which they have preserved the spirit and character of the originals, while reducing them to the rules of art.
In conclusion, I would only observe that if this work should in any degree accomplish the objects for which it has been undertaken, I shall not regret the time and labour which I have devoted to its execution.
London, Dec. 30. 1847.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Discovery and early history of the tea tree in China — Intro- duction and gradual improvements of the processes required in its manipulation — Geographical distribution of the tree in China — Its extensive use, and mode of using it in China — At Japan — Von Siebold's opinion, that the tea tree was originally introduced into China from Corea, examined — Proved to be indigenous — Identity of Assam tree doubtful — Extensive geographical distribution of the Chinese tree-
Page 1
CHAP. II.
Climate of China influenced by monsoon winds — No wet and dry season as in India — Quantity of rain at Canton — At Peking — Increase of temperature and humidity great from March to May — Temperature at Peking — At Canton — In the green and black tea countries — Foo-chew-foo — Amoy — Frost severe but not continuous — Ice preserved through the summer — Temperature of Shang-hai — Chusan — Great variation of temperature principally in winter — Daily variation small — Climate generally salubrious — Tea tree exposed to great differences of climate — Climate most suit- able - - - - - - 19
CHAP. III.
Black tea — Districts where the best kinds are found and culti- vated — What situations are the most favourable — Exposure and nature of the soil — Accounts given in Chinese works — By European missionaries — The various opinions as to the most suitable soil examined — Attempt to reconcile some
XVI CONTENTS.
of these differences — Soil the most suitable — Analysis of tea soils from China and Japan - - Page 40
CHAP. IV.
Culture — Accounts given in Chinese works ■ — By European missionaries — Plantations seen by Mr. Gordon at Amoy — Cultivation of green tea different from black — Mode prac- tised in Japan — In Java - - - 78
CHAP. V.
Time of gathering — Three gatherings — Difference of quality of the gatherings — Only young succulent leaves fit for tea — Mode at Java - - - - - 91
CHAP. VI.
Manipulation previously to roasting — Mode described by a Chinese — Exposure or non-exposure to sun — Expedi- ents adopted in rainy weather — Description of the several processes — Fragrance, none in fresh leaves — Developed by manipulation — Personal observation of the several processes
— Redness of the leaf - - - - 103
CHAP. VII.
Roasting and final drying of the leaves — Two processes — Roasting vessels and stoves described — Mode of roasting
— Mode of rolling — Process of Ta-ching — Final drying
— Stoves and instruments used — Mode of drying — Markets established — Packing of the tea at the village of Sing-csun — Remarks on the processes of manipulation — Variations in the mode of manipulation — Observations on the modes described by Mr. Fortune — Some teas wholly manipulated in the sun — Experiments on this mode, and deductions there- from ------ 120
CHAP. VIII.
Manipulation of Pekoe, Caper, Nao-csce, and Long-csin teas — The scenting of tc^ — Bolwa tea — Originally brought from
CONTENTS. XVll
the tea country unmanipulated — Attempts to procure it manipulated — Size of chests found too large for inland carriage — Brought by sea — Also large quantities of Congou
— Jealousy of Chinese government at this innovation — Imperial edict prohibiting the shipment by sea from the port of Foo-chew-foo — Importance of this port — Doubts regarding the port examined and answered — Mode of roasting and drying Bohea tea at Canton — Brick-tp.a — Its form and manipulation — Its extensive use in Mongolia — "Description of a fete at Ourga — Caravans of this tea fre- quently fallen in with by travellers — Employed as a circu- lating medium — As money at horse races, feats of strength, and archery — Establishments of tea houses across the desert of Gobi frequent — Extensive use in Tibet — Mode of pre- paration for use throughout central Asia — Mixed with butter and flour, and churned — Capt. Turner's opinion of it — Mr. Manning's opinion — Teapots employed highly ornamented — TeaofBisahar - - - Page 154
CHAP. IX.
Green tea — The Hyson shrub is the Singlo shrub improved by cultivation — Gathering and manipulation — Roasting vessels described — Mode of manipulation of Hyson tea — Colour not factitious — Manipulation continued — Assortment of leaves into gunpowder, Hyson, Hyson skin, and young Hyson, by sifting and winnowing — Twankay tea — Mode of mani- pulation described by a Chinese — Factitious colouring of green tea — Experiments to determine on what the peculiar colour of green tea depends — Factitious colouring of green tea continued — IVIr. Warington's examination of this subject
— Experiments with steam — Observations on the use of machinery as abridgments of labour - - 206
CHAP. X.
Heat employed in the manipulation of tea in China — at Java
— Absorption of heat by the leaves limited by evaporation — Proved by experiment — Cause of leaves not burning — Amount of heat regulated according to the succulency of the
a
XVlll CONTENTS.
leaves — Heat employed at Java too low for green tea — Difficulty^ in determining the requisite amount of heat — Temperature recommended — Used at Java — Mode of measuring it^liable to error - - Page 246
CHAP. XL
Review of P. 'Mulder's analysis of tea — Colour of black tea not due to high temperature — Black tea not dried at a higher temperature than green — Gunpowder tea dried at the highest point of the scale of temperature, and Pekoe tea at the lowest — ^The red or brown colouring matter of black tea not due to high drying — The term black a misnomer — Analysis of tea — Odorous principle derived from a volatile oil — Developed in coffee by high temperature — The red or brown colouring matter of black tea in leaf and infusion traced to chemical causes — Other parts of the analysis reconciled with the preceding theory — Flavour dependent mainly on manipula- tion — Recapitulation of the modes of manufacturing black and green tea — Difference of quality of tea traced to vari- ous causes - - - - - 270
CHAP. XII.
Observations on the botanical and specific difference of tea — Opinion of the Chinese, soil the only cause of difference — Analogous cases in other vegetable productions — No differ- ence at Java — No certainty that we possess true specimens of the black and green tea shrub of commerce — The Thea Bohea a Canton plant — The Assam plant doubtful as to species — Examination of the grounds on which botanists have estab- lished a specific difference — Opposed to actual observation at Japan, Java, and the Brazils — Probably only one species but several varieties — All botanical difference destroyed in the course of packing — Probability that superior shrubs do exist in the Bohea and Hyson districts, the effect of long and careful cultivation _ . - - 307.
CHAP. XIII.
Introduction of the cultivation and manipulation of tea into India — Supposed low rate of wages in China, and great
CONTENTS. XIX
cost of production examined — Mode of living of the Hindoo cultivator — Of the Chinese cultivator — Comparative rate of wages in the two countries — Sketch of the trade under the East India company — Effects on price since the abolition of the charter — Great profits of the Hong merchant — Expense of transport of tea from the tea country to Canton and Foo- chew-foo compared — Cost of tea at its seat of growth — Cost to the European at Canton — At Foo-chew-foo — Price with which the cultivator will have to compete — Cost of pro- duction at Assam — Kamaon — Java and the Brazils.
Page 333 Appendix - - - - - 369
ERRATA.
Page 91. note, line 3., for " Ting Hing " read " Tien Hing." 273. line 6., for " higher " read "high." 324. line 13., for "at Japan" read "in Japan."
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE
OF
TEA m CHIT^A.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE TEA TREE IN CHINA
INTRODUCTION AND GRADUAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE PROCESSES REQUIRED IN ITS MANIPULATION GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBU- TION OF THE TREE IN CHINA ITS EXTENSIVE USE, AND
MODE OF USING IT IN CHINA AT JAPAN VON SIEBOLD's
OPINION, THAT THE TEA TREE WAS ORIGINALLY INTRODUCED INTO CHINA FROM COREA, EXA3IINED PROVED TO BE INDI- GENOUS IDENTITY OF ASSAM TREE DOUBTFUL EXTENSIVE
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE CHLNESE TREE.
The origin of the use of tea, as collectecl from the works of the Chinese, is traced to the fabulous period of their history ; not, however, so much from the vanity of assigning to it a high antiquity, as to a kind of courtesy sanctioned by ancient usage and oral tradition, which ascribes the dis-
B
2 EARLY HISTORY
covery of numerous medicinal plants, and of tea among the rest, to the Emperor Shin Nong *, es- teemed as the inventor of agriculture, and author of physic : — for the Chinese themselves admit their chronology of this period to be defective, and that they have no authentic histories prior to the time of Yao and Shun.f It nevertheless is a common practice among empirics, even at the present day, to ascribe the discovery of their several nostrums to the Emperor Shin Nong, though all such pretension is treated as fabulous ; and, with respect to tea in particular, receives no sanction from the more recent Chinese accounts of the history of that tree.
The earliest authentic account of tea, if any thing so obscure and vague can be deemed authentic, is contained in the She Kin 2:, one of the classical works of high antiquity and veneration among the Chinese, and compiled by their renowned philoso- pher and great moralist Confucius. J This work, however, contains no more than the following ob- scure expression which is considered by the Chi- nese commentators as having an allusion to tea — ^'Who says the Tu is better, it is sweet as the Csy." Now, we learn from other authorities, as well as from the standard dictionary of the country, published with the sanction of the Em-
* B. c. 3254.
f B. c. 2357, see translation of Du Halde, vol. i. page 143, note.
J Born 550 b. c.
OF THE TEA TREE IN CHINA. 6
peror Gang Hi, that Tu K was the ancient mode of writing Cha "^i^^ and that both cha- racters were used indifferently in so remote a period as that of Han, and down to the time of Lo- yu *, who lived in the Tang dynasty ; when the character Tu fell into disuse, and the term Cha was substituted in lieu of it. This author wrote a short and interesting treatise on tea, to which we shall again refer.
In the Kuen Fang Pu, a work on natural his- tory, there is a treatise called the Cha Pu, which is the most elaborate account of tea I have met with. In this treatise, under the article " Ancient History of Tea," an absurd story is related of the discovery of this tree in the Tsin dynasty. f Then follow others of an equally uninteresting nature, and of the same and subsequent periods ; when mention is made of its being used as a medicine on the recommendation of a priest of the sect of Fo, by the Emperor Yen Ty J, who established the dynasty of Suey, from which time its use as a
* A.D. 780.
•j" In the reign of Yuen Ty in the dynasty of Tsin (a.d. 217), an old woman was accustomed to proceed every morning at day- break to the market-place, carrying a cup of tea on the palm of her hand. The people bought it eagerly ; and yet, from the break of day to the close of evening, the cup was never exhausted. The money received she distributed to the orphan and the needy beggar frequenting the highways. The people seized and con- fined her in prison. At night she flew through the prison window with her little vase in her hand.
t A.D. 584.
B 2
4 EARLY HISTORY
beverage became generally known. The same work contains an allegory on tea, which ascribes its discovery and introduction to Imperial notice in the Heu Han dynasty * ; but it is designedly too full of poetical anachronisms to be deemed of any weight or authority. Nor does the author of this work attach much importance to such fables, nor even to accredited authorities which place the discovery of the use of tea so early as the Heu Han dynasty ; for he distinctly states, in a short preface to this treatise, " That though tea is included in Shin Nong's f account of aliments, yet it was first used as a beverage in the reign of Suey Ty, or Yen Ty, and acknowledged good, though not much es- teemed ; but from that time, and during the dynasty of Tang J, it gained in reputation, and was abun- dant in that of Sung §, being esteemed and used everywhere."
The preface here alluded to is immediately fol- lowed by the Cha Kin, written by the learned personage Lo-yu, already mentioned, who lived in the dynasty of Tang, which is perhaps the most ancient authentic description of tea contained in the Chinese annals ; and as it also treats of the qualities and eiFects of this plant, the reader may not be unwilling to know what this writer says on a subject which has occasioned such a diversity of
* A.D. 221 to 279. t ^'^- 3254.
J A.D. 618 to 906 § A.D, 960.
OF THE TEA TKEE IN CHINA. 5
opinion in Europe, and some even in China. After eulogising its fragrance and flavour, lie observes — " It tempers the spirits, and harmonises the mind : dispels lassitude, and relieves fatigue : awakens thought, and prevents drowsiness: lightens or re- freshes the body, and clears the perceptive facul- ties." Again, in the allegory alluded to, one of the emperors of the Han dynasty is made to say, " The use of it grows upon me surprisingly : I know not how it is, but my fancy is awakened and my spirits exhilarated as if with wine." The learned author Lo-yu then proceeds to state, that — " All tea is gathered in the second, third, and fourth moons. The leaves must not be gathered in rainy, or even in cloudy weather, but when it is fair and clear. Bruise and pat them with the hands ; roast them over a fire {poey) ; pack and close them up. In this manner tea is prepared ; and there are a thou- sand and ten thousand different kinds." Then follow other remarks and frivolous comparisons not very intelligible — at least to me. It is obvious, from the preceding account, that the Chinese were well acquainted with tea at this pe- riod ; and we also find from other authorities that during the reign of Te Tsong, in the sam.e dynasty, the consumption of tea was already so considerable as to attract the notice of government as an advan- tageous subject for impost. It is stated as a matter of history in the Kaung-moo, an abridged history of
B 3
6 EARLY HISTORY OF TEx\.
China, that a duty on tea was first levied in the fourteenth year of that reign.* In the dynasty of Sungf the duty was again increased, and tea was first sent up as tribute, or as an annual ofiering to the emperor. It must also be noticed, that the Arabian travellers who passed into China in the ninth century J, speak of tea as the common be- verage of the country.
Now, from the reign of the Emperor Yen Ty, who founded the dynasty of Suey, in whose reign the author of the Cha Pu ascribes the first use of this plant as a beverage to that of Te Tsong, in the dynasty of Tang, when the first duty was levied, two centuries had elapsed ; a period of time abun- dantly sufficient for its introduction into general use. This would place its origin as a beverage in the sixth century of the Christian era ; and to pur- sue this inquiry further, in order to elicit the truth from the mass of confused and apparently contra- dictory evidence contained in the Chinese works on tea, would require a research which the subject cannot be deemed to merit. We shall therefore conclude, that although this plant may have been known to the Chinese so early as the third and fourth century of the Christian era, and occasion- ally resorted to as a medicine, yet, agreeably to the author of the Cha Pu, its use as a beverage was not known prior to the sixth century ; that it be-
* A. D 783. t A= D. 960. j: A. D. 850.
ANCIENT MODE OE MANIPULATION. 7
came abundant in the seventh and eighth, and general over the empire in the ninth century.
If the origin of the use of tea is involved in much obscurity, it may readily be imagined that the early mode of manipulation is not less so. The subject, however, being one of little interest, we shall here adopt the opinion of the author of the allegory before alluded to, — that tea was origmally made into the form of cakes. Both prior and subsequent to the time of Lo-yu, allusion is made to this form among the early notices of tea ; and also of these cakes being ground to powder, and used as an infusion, sometimes as a medicine, and sometimes at feasts and banquets ; though when employed in early times at these entertainments, it always, perhaps, had some reference to its medicinal properties, as promoting digestion, or as stimulating the appetite. In the like manner camomile tea, and the Po-ul tea, are served in the present day at those tables, where a style refined and recherche is much studied. The ^^'iter has been present at an entertainment of this nature, where a strong infusion of camomile tea was served round after a numerous succession of dishes, con- stituting what may be called the first course, which had lasted more than an hour ; and where, among other luxuries, the opium pipe was ofi'ered to such guests as were willing to enjoy it ; but this was at a time when that fascinating- but noxious
o
B 4
8 ANCIENT MODE
drug, from its great cost, was used only by the rich and luxurious.
The only mode of manipulation spoken of in early times is by the agency of steam. The leaves were steamed, some say, to extract a bitter water from them, then rolled with the hands, or in cloths, and dried sometimes in the sun, and sometimes over a charcoal fire {poey). Whether the leaves were partially dried in the sun, or by fire, and then reduced to a powder to be formed into cakes ; or whether they were preserved entire, and then rolled and moulded into the form of cakes or bricks, does not appear. One author, in speaking of La Cha*, says, " it is ground to powder and made into cakes, which are dried in the sun, but it is better to dry them over a fire." Another says, " the leaves are steamed, afterwards dried over a charcoal fire, and then reduced to a powder." By the first method, I understand that the leaves were kept entire, though formed into a cake ; by the second, that the leaves were first reduced to a powder, and then formed into a cake. But it may be presumed that both these methods prevailed, since all these modes, forms, and even names, exist in the present day ; as we shall further have occasion to notice.
That the mode of manipulation as it exists at the present time, where each leaf is preserved in
* It is doubtful whether the La Cha was made from the tea tree or a substitute.
OF JVLANIPULATION. 9
its individual state, also obtained at a remote period, there seems no reason to doubt. The commonly received opinion among the Chinese is, that it has prevailed from the time of Lo-yu ; though we have no authority for this opinion, as far as I have been able to discover, beyond that of current belief and oral tradition. This learned personage does not speak of steaming the leaves, as other early authors do; nor of forming tea into cakes, which modes constitute an important difference. Nor does he speak of rolling the leaves, which is doubtless an omission, or an error which has crept into the cha- racter or symbol used. Nor does he notice the process of chao (the roasting of the leaves in an iron vessel); but simply that oi poey (the drying of the leaves over a charcoal fire). Neither do any of the early writers make use of the term chao. So that the method as described by Lo-yu in the Cha-kin, is simply that of beating and patting the leaves, and drying them over a charcoal fire ; unless indeed, which is not improbable, the leaves were rolled either before or during the process of drying. Either of these modes would be sufficient to give the leaf its tAvisted form, as at present used : which form it is believed also prevailed at this remote period.
There can be no doubt that the Pekoe tea was early known to the Chinese, and was much es- teemed by them. Indeed, they appear soon to have made the discovery that the young and sue-
10 PEKOE TEA.
culent leaves were the best ; or, as it is stated by them, that " the convoluted bud of the leaf is the best, and other leaves in propordon as least de- veloped." It is obvious, also, that the bud of the leaf, from its natural compactness of form, would require no rolling, or formation into cakes, but was very likely to have been kept in its natural and individual state, as its different appellatives, bird's tongue, ear of corn, grey eye-brows, falcon's talons, and others, sufficiently indicate : and all these names are of ancient as well as of modern use. Any imitation of this tea for purposes of fraud or commercial advantage, would soon lead to a general introduction of the manipulation into leaf, if found a superior method, as is universally acknowledged.
Nor is there any reason to suppose that these teas were not steamed like the rest, as this custom also prevails in the present day. The Long-csin tea of Che-kiang, and the Lien-czu-sin of Su-chao in Kiang-nan, and the Udsi tea of Japan, are examples of this mode of manipulation. These teas are green teas ; but when the bud of the leaf is roasted and dried agreeably to the method practised in the Bohea country, it is a black tea, and is known under the general denomination of Pekoe tea.
The processes of chao and poey^ that is, the roasting and drying of the leaves, as at present em- ployed in the manipulation of tea, will be found fully
PROCESSES OF CIIAO AND POEY. 11
explained under their respective articles. At wliat period these methods were introduced does not appear ; but the superiority of these modes is acknowledged by the author of the Cha Pu. The date of this work is not known to me. The author observes, on the manufacture of tea, that, " The leaves must be gathered just prior to the season of Ko-yu, picked clean, and heated with steam. When they change colour, spread them out, and fan off the steam mth a fan ; then roll and dry them over a charcoal fire {poey) ; and finally fold them up with the leaves of the Jo plant. It is said, that tea which is steamed in the first process is not so good as that which is roasted in an iron vessel (cJiao) : and in the second process, that which is sun-dried is not so good as that which is dried over a charcoal fire {poey). So that which is first roasted in an iron vessel, and finally dried over a charcoal fire is excellent." This latter method is the mode now adopted in the black tea districts for the preparation of the best teas.
Regarding the early geographical distribution and discovery of the tea plant, we again select the author of the Cha Pu as our guide. From this work we learn, that the tea plant, though spread over the " hills of note," was first discovered, or first attracted attention in the Yu-ye, or Bohea district (as Europeans have corrupted the name), in the province of Fo-kien. And this author, choosing to lend himself to fiction, partly from
12 EARLY GEOGRAPHICAL
deference to certain prevailing popular opinions and tradition, and partly, perhaps, to give a greater eclat to his history, by connecting it with one of the most celebrated and stirring periods of the Chinese annals, has placed that discovery in the dynasty of Han.*
It is further remarked by the same author, and also by other authorities, that the tea plant was discovered in the Mong-shan district of the pro- vince of Szu-chuen in the reign of Te-tsongf : again, in the Singlo Hill, or green tea district of Kiang-nan, during the Sung dynasty J : and in very early times, though the precise age, perhaps, cannot be determined, it was found in the pro- vinces of Fokien, Che-kiang, Kiang-nan, Kiang-sy, in the northern and southern divisions of Hoo- quong, and in Szu-chuen — every where among the hills or mountains. §
Certain statistical works || and herbals also enu- merate several places in all the provinces of the empire where tea is produced, as far north as Tang-chao-foo, in Shan-tong, 36° 30' N. lat. ; as far south as Canton and Quong-sy, and as far east as the province of Yunnan. The Jesuit
* A.D. 221 to 279.
I A. D. 780. vSo the Pen-csao-kiang-moo, and Knen Fang Pu.
I From the Moo-yuen-chy, a statistical work of that district. § So the Pen-csao-kiang-moo.
II The Pen-csao-kiang-moo, Kuen Fang Pu, Iloa-king, and others.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE TEA TREE. 13
missionaries also state, that tea grows in the province of Pe-chy-ly, though not in the imme- mediate vicinity of the capital ; and all my inquiries on the subject tend to confirm that opinion. I was especially informed by the Pere Amiot of the truth of tliis belief. Still the Chinese say, that the northern provinces of Pe-chy-ly, Shan-sy, Shen-sy, Shan-tong, and even Honan, are not favourable for the growth of tea. Bell states that he saw the tea plant in a garden at Peking, which appeared like a currant bush ; but adds, " the climate about that capital being too cold for this shrub, there are only a few bushes of it found in the gardens of the curious." (Bell's Travels, p. 235.) There can be no doubt that the tea shrub is very extensively cultivated in China ; and the pro- bability is, that every province, by means of its sheltered vallies, is enabled to contribute largely to its own domestic consumption. Still the ground allotted to the growth of this shrub, being com- monly only such as is unproductive, hilly, or other- wise unprofitable, as the embankments of arable and cultivated ground ; and as every part of the empire is not equally favourable to its growth, it has often been questioned, how far the use of this refreshing beverage is within the daily reach of the lowest order of the people. It is without doubt extensively used by all classes of the community, even the lowest, in some form or other, throughout this vast country ; but it is equally certain, that
14 ITS EXTENSIVE USE.
innumerable other leaves are employed as substitutes by many people among the poorer class, as fre- quent experience shows. I examined many samples of such tea brought down to Canton by the gentle- men connected with Lord Amherst's embassy. Long lists of plants, moreover, are found in many of the Chinese herbals, to which the same term "tea" is applied ; though the Chinese very well dis- tinguish the true tea from its substitute, by observ- ing, that the plants so used, " though they bear the name of tea, are not of the tea species." In fact, they use the term "tea" in a general sense as we do, to signify any infusion of leaves, as balm, camo- mile tea, and others.
Bell observes (Travels in China, pp. 297. 309,), that he went to a public tea house at Peking, where he saw many people drinking tea and smoking to- bacco ; and adds, that Avith a cash (about the tenth part of a penny English) a man can buy a dish of hot tea. The late Sir George Staunton also informs us, " That tea, like beer in England, is sold in pub- lic houses in every town, and along public roads, and the banks of rivers and canals ; nor is it un- usual for the burdened and wearied traveller to lay down his load, refresh himself with a cup of warm tea, and then pursue his journey." * It has already been observed, that the Arabian travellers who entered China in the ninth century, speak ol
* Lord Macartney's Embassy to Peking, vol. ii. p. 9G.
MODE OF USING IT IN CHINA. 15
r
tea as the common beverage of tlie country, even at this early period ; and all recent travellers furnish sufficient evidence of its general use in the present day. The wealthy Chinese simply infuse the leaves in an elegant porcelain cup, which has a cover of the same material ; the leaves sink to the bottom of the cup, and generally remain there without in- convenience, though occasionally some may float or rise to the surface. To prevent this inconvenience, sometimes a thin piece of silver, of filagree or open work, is placed immediately on them. Where economy is necessary to be studied, the tea-pot is used. The wealthy Japanese continue the ancient mode of grinding the leaves to powder ; and after infusion in a cup "it is whipped with a split bamboo, or denticulated instrument, till it creams*, when they drink both the infusion and powder, as coiFee is used in many parts of Asia."
It may here be proper to remark that, on the authority of certain Japanese authors, a doubt has been raised by the Doctor Yon Siebold, an in- telhgent botanist some time resident at Japan, as to the tea plant being indigenous in China. All are agreed that it is of exotic growth in Japan ; and was introduced into that country from China, in the sixth century, agreeably to Kaempferf , or
* Kssmpfer's Japan, Appendix, p. 15. ; also, Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Centurj, p. 187.
t Kcenipfer states (Japan, Appendix, p. 2.), that the tea plant was introduced into Japan from China in the year a.d. 519, by a prince of the name of Darma. It is remarkable that the Chinese
16 OPINIONS WHETHER THE TEA TREE
the ninth century (which seems more probable) according to Yon Siebold.* Both opinions are grounded on Japanese authorities. The latter author makes use of a very ingenious argument, based on the physical condition of the plant as exhibited at Japan, in further testimony of the truth of those historical accounts which affirm the tea plant to be of foreign introduction.
This intelligent author observes, that " the tea plant is found in the southern provinces of Japan, between the 30° and 35° of north latitude, growing abundantly along field-paths, way-sides, and ridges, as if. o,f spontaneous growth, and also planted in fields in unproductive ground : but on further advance towards the mountains it disappears." Hence, he assumes, perhaps judiciously, though not conclusively (the circumstances of climate being nearly the same), that the tea plant is an imported production at Japan. But the learned author seems to have confided too much in the
chronicles speak of a person of that name, describing him as a native of India, who visited China during the reign of Vu Ty, of the Leang dynasty, a.d. 543. He was in all probability a Fakir, and crossed over to Japan. During my residence at Canton, a devotee of this description visited that city, and came by sea.
* Mco-we, a Bonze, travelled into China, and brought back tea seeds from China. They were planted on the hill of To- ga-no-wo, in Jamasiro, about two leagues north-west of Mijako ; also at Udsi, a district of that province. (Japanese Encyclo- pcedia. Hak-buts-sin.) Another work states, " it was intro- duced A.D. 810." (Von Siebold's Nippon, part 6.)
IS INDIGENOUS IN CHINA. 17
authenticity of those Japanese authorities, which state that the Chinese received the tea plant from Corea. It has already been shown, that even a tax was imposed on tea by imperial mandate, more than thirty years prior to the assumed date of its first introduction into China by the Coreans (a.d. 828). And if we adopt the same ingenious line of argument with reference to China, which the learned author has employed regarding Japan, the converse of his proposition will be proved ; for the Chinese accounts all agree that the tea tree was first discovered where it is found growing in the present day — every where among the hills and mountains in the central provinces of the empire ; and, consequently, is indigenous.
Recent^ discoveries in Assam* also seem to justify the assumption, if nothing to the contrary be known, that it has spontaneously extended its growth along a continuous and almost uninter- rupted mountainous range, but of moderate alti- tude, nearly from the great river the Yang-cse-
* Dr. Falconer considers the Assam tea tree to be a distinct species, and Mr. M'Cleland a native product. This author con- cludes his interesting paper on the Assam tea plant in the following words : — " In this way, we derive from zoology additional aid in support of those views which the sister sciences afford, and are taught to look upon the tea plant in Assam, thus associated with the natural productions of Eastern Asia, not as an alien estranged from its own climate, but as an indigenous plant, neglected it is true by man, but in the full enjoyment from nature of all those peculiar conditions on which its properties will be found under proper management to depend."
C
18 INDIGENOUS IN CHINA.
kiano; to the countries flankino; the south-western frontier of China, where this range falls in with, or, agreeably to the opinion of a well-informed and scientific author. Dr. Royle, forms a continuation of, the Himalaya range. But in those countries, as in every part of China, if found in the plains, or in the vicinity of habitations, and cultivated grounds, it may fairly be assumed that it was brought and propagated there by the agency and industry of man.
Hence it appears that the tea tree is not only indigenous in China, but that it is cidtivated throughout the empire, in the northern climate of Pe-chy-ly, and the southern one of Quong- tong ; and that every province probably produces much of its own tea for common domestic pur- poses, though not for festive and ceremonial occa- sions. If there be any exceptions to this suppo- sition, it may be the provinces of Pe-chy-ly, Shan- sy, and Shen-sy. It also grows at Japan, Corea, and the Le-kieu Islands, the island of Chusan, at Tonkin, and in Cochin-China. Thus it extends over the vast space of 28 degrees of latitude, and 30 degrees of longitude ; and, consequently, is sub- ject to great variations of heat and cold, and other differences of climate.
19
CHAP. 11.
CLIMATE OF CHINA INFLUENCED BY MONSOON WINDS NO AV£T
AND DRY SEASON AS IN INDIA QUANTITY OF RAIN AT CANTON
AT PEKING INCREASE OF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY
GREAT FROM MARCH TO MAY TEMPERATURE AT PEKING
AT CANTON IN THE GREEN AND BLACK TEA COUNTRIES
FOO-CHEAV-FOO AMOY FROST SEVERE BUT NOT CONTINUOUS
ICE PRESERVED THROUGH THE SUMMER TEMPERATURE OF
SHANG-HAI — CHUSAN GREAT VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE
PRINCIPALLY IN WINTER — DAILY VARIATION SMALL CLIMATE
GENERALLY SALUBRIOUS — TEA TREE EXPOSED TO GREAT DIF- FERENCES OF CLIMATE CLUMATE MOST SUITABLE.
The climate of China is greatly influenced by tlie periodical winds termed monsoons, which are fa- miliarly considered to prevail during six months of the year from the X. to N. E., and throughout the remaining portion from the S. to S.W. ; thus stamping the same general features on the climate of this extensive empire. The one is attended by cold, frost, and dryness, thus giving a check to vegetation ; and the other by heat and moisture, stimulating its vitality in a high degree. These divisions of the year, however, can hardly be con* sidered as constituting a wet and dry season, similar to those of India ; for in China it rains throughout the year. Thus at Shanghai much rain and snow is said to fall in the winter season ; and light pass- ing showers are frequent at Canton and Macao, as
c 2
20 MONSOON WINDS.
well as tropical rain during the S.W. monsoon; and though the quantity which falls during the N.E. monsoon is greatly disproportionate to that which descends in the S.W. monsoon, it nevertheless, on an average of seasons, equals the quantity which falls in the neighbourhood of London for the same period, from November to April inclusive. The quantity which falls at Canton is 11*11 inches ; at Macao 13*58 ; and in London 10'28 ; whereas at Calcutta the quantity seldom reaches three inches.* Still, in a country bordering on the tropics, as Canton, this, from the activity of evaporation, to- gether with the force and aridity of the northern wind, is comparatively a state of dryness.
The quantity of rain which falls at Canton and Macao during the S.W. monsoon, when the winds come charged with moisture from the sea, amounts to 67*85 inches; whereas during the N.E. mon- soon, when the wind blows over the land> there falls, as already stated, 11*11 inches ; thus making the total quantity 78*96 inches. f
But the annual quantity which falls at Peking is only 27*98 inches J, which is less than in England, though that capital is situated further south by sixteen degrees.
Hence it appears that the southerly winds, in
* See Bengal Asiatic Journal, 1836 to 1838. "j" Kerr's Journal.
J Annuaire Magnetique et Meteorologique de I'Empire de Kussie, anne 1842.
TROPICAL KAINS. 21
their passage over this extensive empire, deposit the moisture with which they are saturated gra- dually and less copiously as they advance to the north, till finally both one and the other become exhausted as they reach Peking.
At Macao, from March to May the increase and varying relations of temperature and humidity are considerable ; and the quantity of rain which falls during these months, agreeably to Mr. Beale's journal*, increases in a geometrical progression. Towards the end of March and beginning of April, the atmosphere becomes stagnant, warm, and close ; mists and fogs cover the sea in the mornings, and sometimes in the day ; the hygrometer attains its highest range of humidity, and the air being thus saturated with aqueous vapours, a considerable de- position of moisture is perceptible on the painted walls of houses and other surrounding objects.
The increasing heat, evaporation, and alternation of brio^ht weather and lioiit showers which now accompany the progress of spring in April, produce a warm humid state of atmosphere, the effects of which are apparent in the vast stimulus given to vegetation. At length commence those tropical rains, accompanied with awful thunder and light- ning, which precede the setting in of the S. W. monsoon early in May, and continue at intervals throughout that monsoon.
* Davis's " Chinese," second edition, p. 339. c 3
22 TEOFICAL EAINS.
The central provinces of the empire participate in this state of atmosphere, and also in these reno- vating rains, but less copiously, and somewhat later. We learn from Fontaney that on arriving at I-cheu, in lat. 35° 18', on the 6th of May, he could get no meat to buy, because the sale of it had been interdicted by the Mandarins of the city, in hopes to obtain rain from that sort of fast.* We find, also, in Monsieur Stanislas Julien's inte- resting " Resume des principaux Trait es Chinois sur la Culture des Miiriers et I'Education des Vers a Sole," that much rain is expected in Chekiang in April and May, " de peur que la pluie du troi- sieme mois n'endommage I'ecorce," &c. p. 15. Again, p. 47.; "pour empecher que les pluies du qua- trieme mois ne penetrent le bois," &c. Further, De Guignes states that while the Dutch embassy under Yan Braam traversed this province in April, the winds veered to the south, and brought rain.f The green tea men also say that the winds become va- riable in April and May, and that the tea harvest commences between the 20th of April and the 5th of May. Again, " by the middle of April at Ning Po," says Mr. Fortune, " deciduous trees and shrubs were covered with leaves, barley was in full ear, and the oil plant (Brasica sinensis) was forming masses of golden yellow on the sides of hills and
* Du Haldc, translation, vol. i. p. 50. t Voyage a Peking, tome iii. p. 147.
TEMPERATUKE OE CHINA. 23
on the plains, where the air was perfumed with the fraofrance of its blossoms." * But north of Honan, or north of lat. 34°, the character of the rains and climate seems to partake more of that of extreme northern latitudes. Wheat, barley, buckwheat, maize, and millet, become the great staples of food in lieu of rice ; and tropical products, as sugar and cotton, are cultivated with diminished success.
Regarding the temperature of China, it is re- marked by Baron Humboldt, in his paper on Iso- thermal lines, that " the northern part of China, like the Atlantic region of the United States, ex- hibits excessive climates, and seasons strongly con- trasted. At Peking, for example, where the mean temperature of the year is that of the coast of Brittany, the scorching heats of the summer are greater than at Cairo, and the winter as rigorous as at Upsal." (Brewster's Edinburgh Journal,)
Situated nearly a degree south of Naples, this capital has her rivers frozen over from the middle of November to the end of March f; and the average degree of the thermometer is under 20° in the night during the winter months ; and even in the day-time is below freezing point. J In sum- mer it is generally above 80°, sometimes 90°. Humboldt gives the following as the result of five
* " Wanderings in China," p. 346.
t Du Halcle states from the end of November to the middle of March, vol. i. p. Qo., translation. \ Staunton's Embassy, vol. ii. p. 338.
c 4
24 TEMPERATURE OF TEKING.
years' observations at Peking, made at his request, by the Pere Amiot, one of the last missionaries resident at that capitaL
Mean Tem'perature.
|
Winter |
» |
- 26°-42 |
"Warmest months |
84°-38 |
|
Spring - |
- |
- 56°-30 |
Coldest months |
24°'52 |
|
Summer |
" |
- 82°-58 |
Greatest variation - |
59°-76 |
|
Autumn |
- |
- 54°-32 |
Annual temperature |
54°- 9 |
Oct. 13° Cent, about 45° Fahrenheit. • April 13°-9 „ 47°
Thus making a mean variation between the warmest and coldest months of 59° 76', and a mean tem- perature of 54° 9^ The severity of the winter may also be judged of by the thickness of the ice, and the difficulty with which it melts. The Father Hyakinth states that " the rivers are covered with ice two or three quarter ells thick ;"^ and large solid blocks may be seen in the streets exposed for sale, or employed to cool the fruits of the vender during the great heats of summer, while the tem- perature in the shade is seldom below 80 degrees, and where every peasant and labourer may indulge in the luxury of his slice of iced water-melon for the third part of a penny. " Fish," says the Pere Amiot, another missionary of the same name, ^' brought from the rivers of Leau-toung, are kept without salt in a frozen state for two or three months together. Every morning at sunrise the
* Denkwurdigkeiten liber die Mongolie, p. 26.
TEMPERATURE OF CANTON. 25
country in some districts of the province is subject to nitrous impregnations, and is as white as if a shght fall of snow covered the ground. The earth is frozen for three or four feet deep; and, once frozen, it does not thaw again till the end of March. This is sufficient," he observes, " to explain why the frost kills, in the vicinity of Peking, plants which Linnaeus has raised in Sweden, which is nearly 20 degrees north of the Chinese capital." (Memoires concernant les Chinois, tome vi. p. 339.)
At Canton, which borders on the tropics, N. lat. 23° 8^, and which is the most southern metropo- litan city of the empire, as Peking is the capital and most northern one, the average degree of the thermometer is 53° in the morninfy durino; the winter, and 82° at noon during the summer.* The mean annual temperature may be stated at 71°, the mean range from 57° to 84°, and the extreme range from 29° to 94°. f The mean of four journals kept at Canton and Macao by Messrs. Bletterman, Beale, and Kerr (a respectable and intelligent gar- dener, sent out by Sir Joseph Banks), for a series of years, and Mr. Colledge's Journal for one year, given in the Canton Register for 1838, furnish a mean temperature for the four seasons as fol- lows : —
Winter, 58; Spring, 71; Summer, 83; Autumn, 75; Annual mean, 71^^
* Sir George Staunton's manuscript Journal.
t Kerr's Journal, and Davis's "Chinese," second edition, p. 339.
26 TEMPERATURE OE CANTON.
It is not exaggeration to say that every year the rice fields in the neighbourhood are frozen for a few days, and that ice the thickness of a crown piece is occasionally seen carried through the streets for sale. From the middle of December to the end of March, Europeans are clad in their winter garments, and their houses are furnished Avith car^^ets, curtains, and fires. Nor is the thermo- meter a correct index of the intensity of the cold as regarding our sensations, owing to the force and dryness of the wind.
Should this degree of cold appear extraordinary in a country bordering on the tropics, it must be remembered that the northern winds, which prevail during five or six months of the year, come sweep- ing over the frozen arid ste23pes of Mongolia, and extend their influence throughout the China Sea to within five degrees of the equator. The inter- mediate provinces of the empire, being in many parts mountainous, with ranges running parallel with the monsoons, besides being greatly inter- sected by extensive rivers and lakes, some of which are occasionally frozen in the Avinter, must neces- sarily tend to keep up and support the cold now generated in more northern regions. Thus we find that the mountains which separate the two provinces of Quong-tong and Kiang-sy, though situated only three degrees from the tropics, and of moderate altitude, are occasionally covered with snow in the winter season. Indeed, on some oc-
TEMPERA TUKE OF CANTON. 27
casions, tlioiigli rare, snow has been known to fall in the streets of Canton. Thus we read in the Canton Register, that " on the morning of the 8th February, 1836, the roofs of the houses of that city were covered with snow, which had fallen in the night." The snow lay two inches deep. A similar fall of snow was remembered to have taken place about forty-six years previously, in the fifty- "fifth year of the reign of Kien-Long.
In the centre of these two extremes, Peking and Canton, and between the latitude 23° and 33° N., the tea plant was found indigenous at a remote period of the Chinese history. This comprises the central, as well as the most populous and flourishing pro- vinces of the empire; and includes that part most suitable to its growth, and where it is found to flourish in the present day. In this division of the country, between N. lat. 27° and 31° are also situated the districts connected with the foreion trade, whence the greater part of the tea most esteemed by the Chinese is also procured for their home consumption. These districts are, however, places of little note, remote from great cities and highways, and untrodden, perhaps, by Europeans, except, indeed, by those great and able men who were employed in early times in framing those highly valuable maps which we possess in the present day. Thus it is not jDossible to furnish any thing more than vague and general ideas of the meteorological state of this part of the country 3
28 TEMPERATURE OF THE TEA COUNTRIES.
but, in the absence of all scientific details, a few general observations and facts may not prove un- acceptable to those whose views may be directed to the introduction and cultivation of the tea tree in other parts of the world.
In the green tea country, situated in the district of Whey-chew-fu, N. L. 29° 58^ 30^^ in the province of Kiang-nan, the northern winds begin to prevail, the Chinese say, in September. In October persons in easy circumstances begin to clothe themselves in their fur dresses ; and in November the winter (or rather, perhaps, the N. E. monsoon) regularly sets in ; when the young tea shrubs are said to be bound round with wisps of straw, to prevent them from being broken or injured by the Avind and snoAV which falls in the winter season. The severity of winter, however, is not felt before December. From this time until March the weather continues cold ; frost frequently prevails, and snow occasionally : water freezes in the house ; but the Chinese houses are badly put together; windows and doors are roughly fitted ; in fact they are built for hot weather, not for cold. The Chinese defend themselves against cold by an additional quantity and difi'erent quality of clothing : their houses being thus much exposed to every change of temperature, a little tea acci- dentally left in a tea- cup over-night in any of the rooms will occasionally be found frozen in the morning. If we may rely on the statements of the Chinese (and recent accounts seem to confirm
TEMPERATURE OF THE TEA COUNTRIES. 29
them), snow is sometimes two or three feet deep on the plains, and several inches thick on the house- tops. In cloudy weather it may thus remain on the plains for ten days together ; but soon melts on the re-appearance of the sun. They further state that excessive cold is injurious to the plant; some are occasionally killed, and others injured and checked in their growth, by frost and snow. They add, however, that this part of the country is not subject to such sudden changes of temperature as are experienced at Canton. In April and May the winds begin to veer to the southward, and bring occasional showers; but the south-west monsoon does not set in steadily before the end of May, or beginning of June. In this latter month the great rains commence. In July the summer regularly sets in, and the intensity of the heat is equal to that of Canton.
The Bohea country, in Fokien, differs little from the Hyson districts in point of temperature. The tea men describe the cold as less severe ; and the fall of snow, as well as the thickness of the ice, as somewhat less. Indeed it is a mountainous dis- trict, with sheltered vallies, fenced in and protected from cold north-easterly and north-westerly winds by the lofty and continuous range of mountains which forms the barrier between this province and those of Cliekiang and Kiangsee. December and January are considered the coldest months. It is said that the Kieu-kio-kee, a shallow stream which
30 SNOW AND FROST
winds about the Bohea mountains, is annually frozen over. Here vagrants are seen ranging them- selves along the most frequented parts, begging alms, and exciting the compassion of passengers by strew- ing paddy-husk on the ice, to prevent slipping. The summer is as hot as at Canton ; though the mornings and evenings are sometimes sufficiently cold to render a Ma-qua-czu (a kind of spencer) necessary in traversing the hills.
I shall now subjoin an extract from a letter re- ceived from the aged and reverend Father Carpina, at this time the vicar-general of the province, and long resident in the eastern part of it, to whom I am also indebted for an account of the range of the thermometer, and much valuable information concerning the tea tree. He states, in answer to some questions put to him, that '' The tea shrubs were neither injured, nor the harvest retarded by the cold of 1815, notwithstanding there fell in the month of February four spans (about thirty-three inches English) of snow in Fo-gan, lat. 27° 4' 48^^, and six spans (forty-nine inches) in Ning-te ; so that the covers to the indigo plants, strongly fixed to protect them from the frost, sun, and wind, gave way under the weight of snow. At the close of the same year, about the middle of December, some days of severe cold and frost occurred. Upon one occasion, about three o'clock in the afternoon, on a beautiful sunshiny day," he observes, " I saw two boys, each with a piece of ice the size of a coach
FREQUENT AT FO-GAN. 31
window, and an inch in thickness, which they had taken out of the fields in the neighbourhood. I also observed, on the 24th January of the present year (1816) the surface of the water in the river Mo-yang was frozen, breaking and flying about like glass to the stroke of the oar. The volume of water in this river is equal to that of the Guadal- quiver, at the passage of Cordova. It freezes in these parts very often. Snow is not so fre- quent : this winter ive have had none^ except on the great and lofty mountains. Yet in a residence of twenty-four years I have twice seen snow on the plains even on the very day of the vernal equinox. Hoar frost frequently occurs between the month of December and April ; and it has happened more than once in my time that the recently planted rice has been destroyed, and this in the month of May, by the severity of the hoar frost." I observe, also, on reference to my own oflicial correspondence, that in 1809 the Chinese said that the leaves of the first gathering were injured by the frost and snow which had previously prevailed in the month of April.
It may further be observed that the Dutch em- bassy under Van Horn* remained from the 10th to the 2 2d February 1667 at the town of Pu-ching- hien, N. L. 28° 0' 30^' E. long, from Peking 2° 9' 10'^ in this province, in consequence of snow and rain )
* Ogilbj's China, p. 277.
32 TEMPERATURE OE FOO-CHEW-EOO, ETC.
and that after crossing these mountains, when they arrived at Kiu-cheu-fu, in Che-ldang, on the 5th March, they observed that the adjacent hills were all covered with snow.*
A register of the temperature kept at Fogan, N. lat. 27° 4' 48^^ in the eastern part of the province, furnishes a mean temperature so high as 70°. It is remarked, however, that when the thermometer in the open vestibule of the house fell to 37°, it froze in the fields. The following is the mean for
|
each month : — |
|||
|
May - 77-J- June July - 861 Aug. Sept. - sr Oct. |
- 771 - 84" - 72 Mear |
Nov. - 64 Dec. Jan. - 66 ? 56 Feb. Mp.rcli 57i April I 70°. |
- 57 - 581 - 641 |
Another, in a part of the province more N.W. : Jan. - 52 Feb. - 50 Ma^'cli - 53 April - 54
At Foo chew-foo, lat. 26° 2', the extremes of tem- perature extracted from Mr. Tray's journal exhibit 96 for the month of August, and 44 for the month of January ; thus giving a mean of 70°f . But during the Rev. George Smith's visit to this port, ice was gathered for a few days. J
At Amoy, lat. 24° 27' 36'', which is a tea dis- trict, producing teas suitable to the foreign markets, and some of very delicate flavour, the temperature seems hardly to vary from that of Canton. From
* Ogilby's China, p. 277.
■j" Fortune's Wanderings in China, p. 382.
J Exploratory Visits in China, p. 328.
FROST NOT CONTINUOUS. 33
a very elaborate and apparently carefully kept register on board the Maharnoodie, at Ngo-tsoo, in 1844, the annual mean temperature was 69to° ; the lowest temperature marked being 49° b\ and the highest 90°.
The preceding accounts are sufficient to show, that severe frost and occasional snow prevail in the tea districts ; and on some occasions, though rare, so late as the vernal equinox. Yet there is reason to believe, on an average of seasons, that the frost is not very intense, or of long duration. Ice the thickness of an inch does not indicate great severity of cold, or long continuous frost. In these lati- tudes, from 27° to 31°, it must be remembered that the sun, as well from its direct influence as from the frequently unclouded state of the atmosphere, has great power in the winter season ; so that in the central provinces of the empire there is much reason to believe that the frost, though occasionally intense, is not sufficiently continuous to allow ice of great thickness to form under the influence of so powerful a sun : nor is the monsoon inland and along the coast so steady but that the wind often veers to the south, and brings with it compara- tively warm damp weather, and rain.
Nevertheless it is now known that ice-houses of very simple and efficient construction are formed at Chusan and elsewhere. Ice is also collected every year at the city of Nan-king, lat. 82° 4' 80^^, in sufficient quantity for the purpose of
D
34 TEMPEKATURE OF SHANG-IIAI
packing fish, which is sent twice a week in the months of April and May to Peking. (Du Halde, translation, vol. i. p. 74.) Again, that in the month of Dec. 1841, snow lay on the ground " knee deep " in the vicinity of Ning Po, N. lat. 29° 56'; and that the thermometer ranged so low during the night as from ten to twelve degrees below freezing point. Still this frost only continued a few days. (Sir H. Pottinger's despatches, 24th Jan. 1842.)
It further appears that at Shanghai, N. lat. 31° 24', long. 121° 32' E., in the winter of 1845-6 the Woosung river was sufficiently frozen to aiford the English an opportunity of indulging in the amusement of skating ; but I was informed by Capt. Balfour that there was no foundation for the report that they were enabled to walk from their factories to their ships. Further, in the Rev. George Smith's instructive work on China, the thermo- meter is there shown to have ranged from 24° to 100° of Fahrenheit, and that the mean annual temperature was so low as 61^ degrees. The temperature of the diiFerent seasons extracted from the same work, may be arranged as follows : —
Spring, 57° ; Summer, 79° 4' ; Autumn, 66° 4' ; Winter, 41° 3'. The Mean of the two hottest months, July and August, 83° 5^ Do. do. coldest months, Jan. and Feb. - 40° 6'. Mean of year, 62°.
I was also informed by Capt. Balfour, our late consul at Shanghai, that snow will occasionally lie
AND CHUSAN. 35
on the extensive alluvial plain of that district for ten days together, and more than a foot deep. It rains all the year, as at Canton, but the principal rains set in in April and May.
The difference between the temperature of the harbour of Chusan and that of Shanghai is con- siderable: but registers kept on board ship seem generally to exhibit a higher temperature than those kept on shore. Commodore Chad's register kept at that port exhibits the following tempera- tures.
Spring, 64° 2'; Summer, 77° 6'; Autumn, 69° 5^ Winter, 53° 3\ Mean, 66° 2'.
The hottest month, viz. August, 81° 5^ "I Mean,
The two coldest months, Jan. and Feb. 51°. J 66° 2'.
It may also be seen in the Appendix that a re- markable agreement exists between the tempera- ture of Shanghai and the port of Nangasacki in Japan.
It is correctly stated by Capt. Loch, R.^.*, an intelligent and accurate observer, that every change of wind from the reo:ular monsoon occasions a considerable depression or elevation of temperature ; that is, when the wind shifts to opposite points as here alluded to. The great changes of tempera- ture described by Capt. Loch are not experienced in the south during the S.W. monsoon.
If we examine the variation of the hio'hest and
* Campaign in China. D 2
36 VAKIATIONS OF TEMPERATURE.
lowest range of the thermometer as given in the Appendix, we shall be surprised at the little variation Avhich really occurs, at least in the south. The variation of temperature which takes place in the course of a day, and from day to day in England, is frequently greater than that which happens during a whole month at Canton and Macao. The greatest variation occurs during the N.E. monsoon, the monthly mean of which may be stated at 25°, while that of the S.W. monsoon is about one half or 13°. The mean variation of the three coldest months may be stated at 30°, while the three hottest months, June, July, and August, exhibit only 11°. On some occasions at Canton, and ap- parently throughout the empire, a depression of thirty or more degrees has taken place within twenty-four hours. But these great changes of temperature are rare, and happen only during the N.E. monsoon, when the season of cold and dryness prevails, and vegetation is at rest. Indeed, the few vicissitudes of temperature to which vegetation is exposed during the period of its greatest activity from spring to autumn, when stimulated by the combined action of heat, bright sunshine, and moisture, and the uninterrupted dryness of the atmosphere, with some few exceptions on the sea- coast, during the winter season, may account, at least in an eminent degree, for the varied and widely extended dis-ribution and intermixture of inter and extra tropical products over this vast
CLIMATE GENERALLY SALUBRIOUS. 37
empire. And though the climate of China doubt- less is a strongly contrasted one, and excessive on a comparison of the heat of summer with the cold of winter, yet there is reason to think that, with the exception of the extreme northern provinces, the rise and fall of temperature is progressive and gradual, and the daily variation remarkably little : it probably seldom exceeds 8°, and on an average is not more than 5°. Thus the climate of the central provinces of the empire cannot be de- signated otherwise than as a temperate climate. Nor does it appear to me that even the Chinese of Peking need any commiseration ; nor in truth does the gifted Humboldt mean under the term excessive, and when he employs * the words of Dante, to in- clude them among the people condemned,
*' A sofferir tormenti caldi e geli."
Indeed I am disposed to believe that upon a more intimate acquaintance with the climate of China, it will be found that no portion of the earth's surface of equal magnitude is upon the whole more favoured in point of climate ; more congenial to animal and vegetable life, or more salubrious to man.
To vegetation pre-eminently is given a long season of repose during the dormant state of the sap ; brought about by a continued state of com- parative dryness, low temperature, and occasional
* Cosmos — (Sabine's translation, p. 319.).
D 3
38 TEA TKEE EXPOSED TO
frost, modified in its intensity and duration by position as regarding latitude : while a gradually increasing evolution of heat, accompanied by a humid state of the atmosphere, succeeded by copious rains, attend the renovation of its powers, and the increasing activity of its vital energies.
Thus it appears that the tea tree is alike exposed to intervals of severe frost, but of short duration, and the intense heat of a vertical sun ; that it grows in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast ; on islands, as Chusan and Japan ; and in the interior and western extremity of the empire, as in Szu- chuen, beyond all influence of the sea. If in- digenous in all these situations, and under such variety of climate and circumstances, nothing can more strongly prove the hardy nature of the tree (so far at least as its vegetative powers are con- cerned, as observed by Mr. M'Cleland) ; and, if propagated by art and culture, what can more clearly evince its great powers of adaptation to climate, and ease of propagation ? It may, in- deed, be variously modified with regard to flavour, astringency, and other properties on which ex- cellence of quality depends, but experiment alone can determine that fact. It seems less injured by cold than benefited by heat : that the part of China most congenial to its growth is between 27° and 33° of north latitude, where the mean annual tem- perature may perhaps be considered to range from about 62° to 68° ; where copious rains happen in
GREAT DIFFERENCES OF CLIMATE. 39
conjunction with a mean temperature, increasing from 64° to 77° as the season advances, between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, or the season of spring, when the vegetation of the shrub is in its greatest state of activity ; and where in- tervals of rain are followed by a succession of bricfht weather and increasino; heat : the one beins: necessary to the production of a rapid and luxuriant growth of leaves, and the other to fragrance and excellence of quality.*
* The climate found the most suitable at Java for the cul- tivation of tea, is that of the mountainous regions situated at 3500 to 4000 feet above the sea ; where the air is so cool that Fahrenheit's thermometer at sun-rise indicates 58° in the morn- ing ; and 74° at two o'clock in the afternoon. On still higher elevations, even 5000 feet and more, the tea will be highly fla- voured : but in lower districts the flavour deteriorates in propor- tion as the situation is low. Both this author and Von Siebold agree that the tea tree requires an atmosphere of much fog and dew, which is generally found in elevated sites. Mr. Jacobson further observes that it requires much freshness, coolness, and exposure to gentle breezes. {Handhoeli v. cl. Kultuur en fa- brikatievon Thee, d. J. J. L. L. Jacobson, d. 2. § 15. Batavia, 1843.)
D 4
40
CHAP. III.
BLACK TEA DISTRICTS AVIIERE THE BEST KINDS ARE FOUND
AND CULTIVATED WHAT SITUATIONS ARE THE MOST FAVOUR- ABLE— EXPOSURE AND NATURE OF THE SOIL — ACCOUNTS GIVEN IN CHINESE WORKS — BY EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES
THE VARIOUS OPINIONS AS TO THE MOST SUITABLE SOIL
EXAMINED — ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE SOME OP THESE DIF- FERENCES SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE — ANALYSIS OF TEA
SOILS FROM CHINA AND JAPAN.
The teas generally known to foreigners may be divided into two classes, the black and tlie green ; and as the manipulation of these differs essentially, it will be advisable to treat of each by itself. The black tea, which forms eight-tenths of the tea im- ported into England, is grown in the district of Kien-ning-fu, in the province of Fo-kien. The mountains of Vu-ye (or Bohea, as corrupted by Europeans) are situated in a particular division of that district, distant about two leagues from the little town of Tsong-gan-hien, lat. 27° 47' 38^', ac- cording to observations made on the spot by the Jesuit missionaries, between the years 1710 and 1718.*
A Chinese manuscript thus describes the teas of this district: — '' Of all the mountains of Fo-kien,
* Translation of Du Halde, vol. i. p. 10.
WHERE BEST BLACK TEAS ARE FOUND. 41
those of Yu-ye are tlie finest, and its water the best. They are awfully high and rugged, sur- rounded by water, and seem as if excavated by spirits : nothing more wonderful can be seen. From the dynasty of Csin and Han, do^vn to the present time, a succession of hermits and priests of the sects of Tao-czu and Fo have here risen up like the clouds of the air and the grass of the fields, too numerous to enumerate. Its chief renown, however, is derived from its productions, and of these tea is the most celebrated.
" The town to the north of Csong Ngan is called Sing-csun. Here are many houses, as well as markets and fairs, where the merchants or factors (Ke) resort. To the north of Sing-csun is situated the Chung Ling Chy Ky (a range of mountains so denominated), the country the most renowned. It is surrounded by many rocks and mountains, most extraordinary in their form, and irregular in their height, extending for more than 50 ly.*
" In the middle of those designated the Yu-ye mountains there is a rivulet which winds about them (called the Kieu Kio Kee, i. e. the stream of the nine windings), and divides the range into two districts. Those to the north are called the North Range, and the others to the south the Southern Range. It is here that the priests of the sects of Fo and Tao-czu select the level places upon which
* The Ij is about the third part of an English mile.
42 WHEEE BEST BLACK TEAS AKE FOUND.
tliey erect their temples and religious houses. Around these they plant the tea shrubs, the leaves of which they gather every year. The north range produces the best."
It is these mountains only which are properly considered the Bohea mountains. It is here that the Ming Yen tea and the finest Souchongs are pro- cured, teas which rarely find their way to Europe, and perhaps never but in very small quantities as presents. This tea is commonly known to Euro- peans under the denomination of Padre Souchong, from its being cultivated by the bonzes or priests, or Pao-chong tea, from being packed in small paper parcels ; and to the Chinese, in addition to these names, by the appellation of Yen or Gam tea, from its growing on the Yen, or ledges and terraces of mountains. Also Nei Shan tea, i. e. inner moun- tain tea, or inner range tea.
It is here that the imperial enclosures are esta- blished for the supply of the court of Peking, and chains are said to be employed for the purpose of collecting the leaves of shrubs growing on the summits and ledges of inaccessible and precipitous rocks. But it may be suspected, without much detraction, that this is one of the many artifices and devices here employed by the priests to in- crease the interest of their secluded residences, and to attract strangers and devout benefactors to the spot, as well as to enhance the price of their tea.
'lUiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH
WHERE BEST BLACK TEAS ARE FOUND. 43
Du Halcle * thus speaks of these mountains : — '' The priests, the better to compass their design of making this mountain pass for the abode of the immortal beings, have conveyed barks, chariots, and other things of the same kind, into the clefts of the steep rocks all along the sides of a rivulet that runs between ; insomuch, that these fantastical ornaments are looked upon by the stupid vulgar as a real prodigy, believing it impossible that they could be raised to such inaccessible places, but by a power more than human."
The annexed plate, engraved from a Chinese drawing, portrays some of the geological and picturesque features of these rocks ; while the im- press of gigantic hands exhibits some of the devices here alluded to.
The Chinese manuscript continues thus: — "In the surrounding country, extending twenty or thirty ly, there is a range of mountains which en- compass and shelter those of Yu-ye. The names of the places are, Csao Tuon, Hoang Pe, Chy Yang, Kung Kuon, Sin Cheu, Tu Pa, Chy She, &c. In each of these, tea sheds or roasting houses are erected, and shrubs planted. These mountains are also of the same nature as those of Yu-ye, and the tea is prepared in the best manner. It is fragrant in smell, and sweet in flavour. This tea is called Puon Shan tea, or Mid-hill tea, or
* VoL i. page 10., translation.
44 WHEEE BEST BLACK TEAS ARE FOUND.
Mid-range tea, and is gathered to be made into Souchong." Here, I imagine, most of the East India Company's best Souchong teas, as the chop. Lap Sing, &;c., were made. The districts now about to be described are those where the Con- gou teas are produced. The manuscript proceeds thus : — " The towns, which extend about 70 ly from Vu-ye Shan are called Py Kung, Tien Czu Ty, Tong Moo Kuon, Nan-Ngan, Chang Ping, Shu-Fang, &:c. The leaves are thin and small, and of 7Z0 substance ; and, whether green "^ or black, or 7nade with much care, yet have no fragrance. "^ This tea, however, is that used for Congou in quarter chests, and is called Way Shan tea, i. e. outside-hill tea, or outer-range tea. Tea is also produced as far as Yen Ping, Shau-U, Keu-U, Geu Ning, Kien Yang, Heu Shan, and other places, but is unfit for use." There is reason to believe, however, that the tea from the latter places is constantly mixed with low Congou, and that many of the Congous technically termed faint, whether the leaf be green or black, come from these places, as will be seen by the following account received from another Chinese, where some of the above places are enu- merated as producing tea forming a part of the tea imported as Congou.
* By green is meant the green leaves found in black tea, termed by the English dealers yellow leaf.
t Another Chinese observes that '' the flavour is bitter, the leaf yellow, and the tea will not keep long."
WHERE BEST BLACK TEAS ARE FOUND. 45
"The district of Kien Yang, adjoining Csong Ngan, produces much tea. Some of the leaves are fleshy and large, others thin and smalL This is coarse tea. At Geu Ning, adjoining Kien Yang, the leaf is thiii and small. This is coarse tea. At Ta Ping Lu, and other adjacent places, the leaf is thi7i and large, and no lahow^ can make it good. Among the infused leaves very few will be found red, and the dried leaves are open, yellow, and dull. But all these teas serve as coarse, or ordinary tea."
The Yu-ye Shan Chy, a statistical account of the black tea districts, enumerates several places in the neighbourhood which produce good tea, but observes that Yu-ye Shan is the best. In this work the qualities of the Yu-ye tea are divided into Yen and Cheu tea. " The rugged sides and terraces of the mountains are called Yen, and the low grounds Cheu. Yen tea is of superior, and Cheu tea of in- ferior quality. The mountains are divided into the northern and southern range. The tea from the northern division of these mountains is excel- lent ; that from the southern is not so good. The mountains beyond Yen Shan are called AVay Shan ; and the tea produced there is of indifferent quality. The plantations require sun and wind ; yet not too much wind, and if much sun, the tea loses its de- licacy of flavour."
Thus the situation the most favourable for tea, agreeably to the foregoing accounts, is on the Yen, or terraces, of rocky hills or mountains ; not, how-
46 SITUATIONS THE MOST FAVOURABLE.
ever, because the soil is stony, but most probably because the alluvial deposit formed during rain enriches the soil of these ledges. The hills whence the greater part of the tea connected with Euro- pean consumption is procured, agreeably to infor- mation received from the tea merchants, are of gentle ascent, and in no way remarkable for their height; neither do they possess the rocky nature or singularity of form of the Bohea Mountains.
I shall now subjoin some extracts from accounts procured by me through the Koman Catholic mis- sionaries resident in the province of Fo-kien in answer to questions proposed to them on the sub- ject of soil, situation, and manipulation of tea.
1. One observes — "The soil should consist of a vegetable mould, sprinkled with sand, light and loose, and rather moist, exposed to the wind, and fronting the east."
2. Another — " That tea may be planted either in a rich or a poor soil, sandy or garden soil ; but that which is moist is the most suitable, and the eastern aspect the best ; it need not be exposed to, or sheltered from the wind, neither does it require high hills or level ground ; either will do, but garden ground, and the embankments of gardens or fields, are the most favourable."
3. I shall here conclude these extracts with the opinions of the Spanish missionary first alluded to, whose account of the tea plant is so highly valu- able. He observes : "In the province of Fo-kien
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 47
there are many plantations, where the care and the method of preparing tea are nearly the same, whilst the tea is very different, whether we consider the leaves, the flavour, or the effects which it produces ; consequently the nature of the soil cannot be the same. The Chinese themselves sufliciently prove this, by their frequent declaration that the Ty Tu, or soil, occasions the principal difference in the quality of tea." *
4. " With regard to the soil which is the most favourable, I shall explain first what I have seen myself, and then what I have heard related of the district of Kien Ning Fu. In the southern part of the province there are many plantations in low situations, some of which are sandy and stony, as may be seen by those which are near rivers ; but they are rendered sufficiently moist in consequence of annual inundations. Others are placed in situa- tions a little raised, yet level^ like those which are seen at the foot of mountains ; the soil of which (as the Chinese express it) is red or pale, rather cold and damp. The other plantations, and these are the most numerous, are situated amidst the decli- vities of mountains, on sloping ground, many of which are stony and sandy at the surface, but the soil is deep, moist, and, in consequence of the fre- quent winds, rather cold. Those that are on level
* This observation is confirmed by my own inquiries. Ask a Chinese what causes the difference of quality in tea? and his reply invariably is, the Ty Tu, i. e. the soil.
48 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
ground, at the foot of mountains, are more busliy, but the quality of the tea is nearly the same.
5. "It therefore follows that the tea shrub de- lights in very high situations, a comj^act and rich soil^ a temperature cold and humid^ and the aspect the most favourable is that ^Yhioh. fronts the east,''^
6. The Chinese speak thus of the soil of the in- numerable plantations of Kien Ning Fu: — " There are some plantations on plains rather low, the soil of which is very compact^ a little muddy^ hlack^ neither very cold nor very hot, and rather damp. The tea of this place is worth tivo-thirds more than that of other parts of Fo-kien ; but the best of all is procured from plants which are upon high moun- tains, in steep places, sometimes like precipices ; and on this account iron chains are used to ascend them, and to gather the leaves. These are the famous mountains of Yu-ye, in the district of Kien Ning Fu. It is in situations that front the East that the tea of the first quality is procured. It is there that the Imperial enclosures are found, and the greatest part of that tea commonly called Pekoe. As all the tea which is found upon the neighbour- ing mountains is of quite a different kind, although the temperature is the same, it necessarily follows that the soil must be different."
The preceding accounts seem to agree, that a compact rich soil is the soil most suitable to the tea plant. Some difference of statement may exist relative to its degree of compactness, and that
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 49
again may depend on situation and circumstances. These statements, however, all agree that the soil should be moist or retentive of moisture, and that an eastern aspect is the best.
Now this conclusion, that a rich compact soil is favourable to the cultivation of tea, appears at variance with the currently received opinions on that subject ; for it has generally been believed that tea succeeds best in a stony, gravelly, sandy, or poor soil, where there is little accumulation of vegetable mould. This also was the description of soil which came under the observation of Dr. Abel on his journey from Peking, in company with the British embassy, under Lord Amherst; but he acknowledged that his opportunities of seeing the tea plant were few. Du Halde states that the soil of the Bohea mountains is light, whitish, and sandy. * I once received from that country a fine specimen of the tea plant, the soil of which corresponded very well \vith the above description, and yielded by simple washing -^^ of a light coloured fine sand.
Le Compte states that tea thrives best in a gravelly soil, next in a light sandy soil, and worst in a yellow soil.
The Pen Csao Kiang Moo observes that the best tea grows in a stony soil ; the middling in a
* Vol. i. page 11., translation. E
50 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
garden and arable soil, and the worst in a yellow soil.*
The opportunities afforded to the two British embassies of seeing the tea plant were too few to aid us in this inquiry. They, moreover, were not fortunate enough even to enter the particular districts connected with home or foreign supply. Lord Amherst's embassy, especially, was remote three degrees of longitude from the black tea country, and that of Lord Macartney more than a degree of latitude. Both routes were north and west of the extensive range of mountains which isolate, as it were, the province of Fokien from the rest of the empire ; the transit of which mountains alone occupies a three days' journey by the speediest mode of conveyance, a light bamboo sedan chair. Nor was either embassy within forty miles at least of the nearest point of the green tea country. The specimens they saw were, perhaps, with one ex- ception, such as were cultivated for the domestic use of the farms where they were grown, and probably afforded neither good examples of the plant nor of the soil. It is generally allowed by the Chinese that, with the single exception of the Hyson country, they employ only such ground for the cultivation of the tea plant as is unsuitable to more profitable culture ; and this explains why it
* This passage in Du Halde (vol. ii. p. 221. translation) is rendered thus: — "the best grows in rocky places, and the worst in a yellow soil."
1
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 51
is often found growing on the sides and tops of embankments of cultivated fields ; on tlie declivities of hills, independently of its natural habitat ; and such lands as are generally devoted to the growth of timber.
The opinions given by the ancient Jesuits must be deemed authentic, and of high authority. They were men not only distinguished by natural talent and great acquirements, but they were the only Europeans who have had any opportunity of ex- amining the tea plant in those particular sites, where it more especially flourishes, and where it is cultivated for foreign consumption. But whether their information be derived from personal ob- servation, from translations of Chinese works, or from verbal accounts received from the Chinese, does not appear, and this involves a very important distinction.
On the other hand. Dr. Von Siebold* states, that " the soil most congenial to the tea plant at Japan consists of a clayey heavy soil, rich in iron, con- taining fragments of wacke, basalt, basaltic horn- blende, and fossils peculiar to the trap formation. It is somewhat sandy and chalky, and on being washed exhibits very little vegetable mouldV^
A very elaborate analysis has since been made by two able chemists. Dr. Yon Essenbech and L. C. Marquart, of a specimen of soil brought home by
* Nippon, part 6. t Dammerde.
E 9
52 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
Dr. Von Siebold. These scientific men describe the soil as a " strong ferruginous clay in which no mix- ture of sand was perceptible to the naked eye." After analysis they classed it as " an intimate mixtiire of siliceous earth and clay, with oxyde of iron and manganese." The earth appeared like " atmo- spherically dissolved slate," and " from its deficiency of carbonic acid, humus, lime, and magnesia, could not be classed as productive ;" and it was their opinion " that it required stronger manure and an addition of alkaline matter. Its water-retaining property was considerable, on account of its great portion of clay, but the soil was deficient in light- ness from the absence of coarse sand."*
Several specimens of soil were obtained by me through different channels from the province of Fokien, some from the Bohea district. They were procured by respectable parties ; but what depen- dence can be placed upon them as being true or good specimens I cannot determine. An analysis of these soils, sufficient for agricultural purposes, was obligingly made expressly for me by Mr. Faraday, the result of which is appended to this chapter. It is there stated by that profound chemist that "the general character of these soils seems to be that of a ferruginous clay, but easily crum- bling, and falling down in water. None of them contained worn pebbles or worn sand, though some
* See note appended to this chapter.
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 53
included fragmented stones, as decomposing por- phyritic rock, granite, and felspar, mica in a finely divided state, small siliceous stones, and one or two specimens of some heavy greenish black particles. The proportion of sand differed very much, and the quantity of oxyde of iron was also remarkable. None gave evidence of containing carbonate of lime, except one, and in that only a single piece was observed, which was probably accidental."
Dr. Guillemin, botanical assistant at the Museum of Natural History at Paris, was charged with a mission to the Brazils with a view to obtain in- formation respecting the culture and preparation of the tea plant, and introduction of that shrub into France. In his report to the minister of agricul- ture and commerce, made on his return, he states, that " the general character of the cultivated soil at the Brazils is a ferruginous clay, derived from the decomposition of granitic gneiss, and more or less mixed with humus. This soil, which is ana- logous to the strong earths of the departments of ancient Brittany, is perfectly suitable to tea." He saw ^' tea cultivated in different exposures which received the mild winds of these countries, but the sides of the hills with a sunny aspect seemed to suit it best."* Whether this exposure had any in- fluence on the quality of the plant, his inquiries did not enable him to determine. This question.
* La Revue Agricole, Fevrier, 1840, p. 268. E 3
54 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
however, has already been answered in the affirm- ative. He further adds, that " care is always taken to hoe the ground well, and sometimes it is manured."*
This botanist, however, observes in the course of his report, that he visited the plantations of Major da Luz at Nossa Senhora da Penha, which were exceedingly well kept, and further states that "the ground, which was almost level, had formerly been under water, and had been drained at the expense of much labour by Major da Luz. The soil here," he adds, " is less argillaceous than in other places, and the vast quantity of vegetable detritus which remains in the uncultivated parts, gives it the appearance of a soil richly manured. Besides which the plants here have a vigour of growth I have not observed elsewhere ; almost all have attained the height of two or three metres." f But the ordinary height of plants in the settlement generally does not appear by the same author to exceed half that size, or one and a half metres. The plants there- fore of Major da Luz mark a great luxuriance of growth, ascribable no doubt to the richness of the soil, and the quantity of decomposed vegetable matter which it contains.
* In his summary or concluding remarks he considers that " an argillaceous ferruginous soil on the slopes of hills is more suitable to the cultivation of tea than light soils and plains." — La Rev. Agricole, Fevr. 1840, p. 272.
t lb. Janv. p. 218.
NATUKE OF THE SOIL. 55
With this example before us, we must conclude that the author, by his previous observations, means more especially to point out the analogy which exists between the strong soils of the department of ancient Brittany and those of the Brazils, and consequently their suitableness for the cultivation of tea. He leaves the reader to draw his own con- clusions respecting the superiority of Major da Luz's plantations, they having less immediate bearing on the object of his inquiry.*
The reader will doubtless recollect, that among the documents procured from Fokien, a tea is spoken of as being worth two thirds more than that produced in other parts of that province, with the exception of the Yen or Gam tea grown in the inner range of the Bohea mountains. And the plantations here alluded to are described as being " on plains rather low, the soil of which is veiy compact, a little muddy, black," &c. (p. 48. § 6.)
Thus a considerable discrepancy of opinion seems to prevail regarding the soil the most favourable for the cultivation of the tea plant ; but as it has
* With respect to climate, he considers the cool climate of St. Paul's, and the Serra dos Orgaos as the most favourable. He says, — "the vigour with which the plant grows there is wonderful," Although I found myself at St. Paul's in the middle of summer, I was not incommoded by the heat, and it seemed to me as if I were living in the south of Europe. He ascribes this not so much to the difference of latitude between St. Paul's and Rio de Janeiro, as to the heights of the table land of this province. — {La Rev. Agricole, Fevr. 1840, p. 268.)
E 4
56 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
been shown that this shrub possesses great powers of adaptation to climate, so also, as observed by Dr. Wallich, " it may be easily satisfied with respect to soil." *
Kcempfer f states that the tea shrub is planted everywhere at Japan without regard to soil ; and the same may be affirmed of China, when cultivated by the farmer for his own domestic use.
The vine, which seems to partake somewhat of the nature of the tea plant, as regards the extent of its geographical distribution and adaptation to climate, also shows great indifference with respect to soil. De CandoUe observes, that " grapes may be produced in almost any soil, provided the Vine he of a nature to suit it. The vineyards of Bour- deaux are planted in a gravelly soil, thence the name of Yin de Grave ; those of Burgundy in cal- careous clay ; Hermitage grows in granite ; and Lachryma Christi is raised in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius. The vineyards of Switzerland consist of a stiff compact calcareous earth." J
Mr. M'Cleland also, seeing the various condi- tions under which the tea plant grows at Assam, concludes that " there is a disposition in the plant to accommodate itself to any soil, as far at least as its vegetative powers are concerned." § And he
* Parliamentary Papers, Tea Culthation, 27th Feb. 1839. f Japan, Appendix, p. 4. J Marcet's Vegetable Physiology, p. 406. § Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, vol. iv. p. 28.
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 57
further observes, regarding the soil which came under his inspection, '^ that the vegetable matter in tea soils acts only as an absorbent of moisture, as appears by the fact, that where the vegetable matter is greatest, alumina^ the common absorbent principle of soil, is least '^ ; and the quantity of alumina is also in proportion to the degree of insulation of the soil, in regard to moisture and the greater drainage to which it is exposed ; '^ whence Mr. M'Cleland concludes that " the nar- rowest inference we can draw from this is, that the same soil would not be suitable to the plant in every situation." f
Now there are two circumstances elicited in this inquiry, in which the several statements procured from the missionaries in the province of Fokien agree, and in which the Chinese coincide, viz. that the tea plant delights in moisture, and that an eastern aspect is the best.
Mr. Jacobson of Java states that the tea plant requires a moist soil, but still one where water filters freely. J
Mr. Bruce also observes, " that one thing is worthy of notice, that all the Assam tea grows near water, of which it appears to be very fond, for wherever there is a small stream or jheel, tea is sure to be there." §
* Page 33. t Page 34.
X Handboek v. d. Kult. en Fabrik. v. Thee, § 33. § M. Guillemin states that "|the part of the botanic garden at Rio de Janeiro devoted to the cultivation of tea contains only
58 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
Then if this be true, which Mr. Wretgen believes, and in which Linclley* coincides, that it is the temperature and moisture of a soil, much more than its mineralogical quality, which determines its influence upon vegetation, an important fact is here established.
It has been shown, that after a long and uninter- rupted period of rest during the winter, copious moisture and rain happen in conjunction with a gradually increasing evolution of heat, at the com- mencement of spring, when the tea shrub begins to shoot forth its leaves ; circumstances which all allow are favourable to the perfection of vegetation and obviously so to the rapid growth of the leaf to its size and succulency.
It is further known by the size and succulency of the Pouchong, Souchong, and Gobee Hyson teas, together with their acknowledged and undoubted superiority, that these conditions can be combined with the highest degree of flavour and quality.
Similar conditions are also necessary to the pro- duction of quantity ; and quantity is no less impor- tant than flavour to insure a lucrative cultivation of tea. Indeed Europeans are unwilling to pay the price which the Chinese obtain in their own country for their high-flavoured teas ; nor is the
plants of a miserable appearance, perhaps owing to their situation too near the sea, or from the nature of the soil, for in that part of the garden which is near streams of running water vigorous plants may be observed." — La Revue Agricole, Fevrier, 1840, p. 268. * Theory of Horticulture, p. 112.
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 59
delicate flavour of the Pouchong tea suited to our mode of using tea, mixing it, as we do, with sugar and milk. We require a strong tea, and strength may depend more on astringency than aroma ; and that quality, in all probability, may be less ex- posed to injury by copious moisture, than the volatile principle on which flavour is very generally supposed to depend.
The soil then should be of a texture to receive and part with water freely. It is on the just balance between these extremes that its suitableness de- pends ; and this again must be regulated by its locality.*
There is a coarse kind of granite everywhere found along the coast of China, which easily breaks down and crumbles by the action of the atmosphere. If the plant be found growing on mountains of this description, in an elevated position, and on a some- what rapid declivity, in a climate where the rains are copious, and the sun ardent, we shall find the soil broken down, and the alumina washed away,
* Mr. Gordon, who seems an acute observer, and wliose de- scription of the tea plantations he saw at Amoy is exceedingly valuable, comes to the conclusion that " the tea plant requires ab- solutely a free soil, not ivet and 7iot dry, but of a texture to retain moistiire, and the best site is one not so low as that at which water is apt to spring from the sides of the hill, nor so high as to be exposed to the violence of stormy weather. There is no use in attempting to cultivate the plant in an easterly exposure, though it is sufficiently hardy to bear any degree of dry cold." — Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv.
60 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
in the form of a finely divided pulverulent clay ; the exposed surface will consist of quartz in a finely divided state, felspar, coarse sand and gravel ; where indeed there may be little or no accumula- tion of vegetable mould. But here the plant, sti- mulated by light and heat, while the roots are deprived of a corresponding supply of moisture, becomes a bushy, stunted, and distorted shrub, with leaves small and thick, like those specimens preserv- ed in the British Museum, erroneously (I believe) marked " Wild Plants."
The same degeneracy of the plant may be ob- served in an arid soil, even on plains ; and similar specimens may be obtained among the Honan plan- tations at Canton, whence I imagine those in ques- tion were procured.
So, on Mr. Gordon's excursion to the Ankoy tea districts, he found some plantations in very sterile ground. " One, in a very bleak situation with nothing but coarse red sand by way of soil, seemed abandoned. In another situation, some of the shrubs scarcely rose to the height of a foot (cubit) above the ground, so bushy, that a hand could not be thrust between the branches, with leaves [only] three quarters of an inch in length. In the same bed, however, there were other plants four feet in height, and about two in diameter, with leaves of from one and a half to two inches in length." *
But this was in the month of November, when
* Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv.
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 61
the leaves were principally old leaves, having attained their maturity of size and growth ; and yet the largest of these leaves were only about the size of the young and succulent leaves of Pou- chong tea, whose leaves of full growth measure ^ve inches.
We therefore here see the degenerating effect of an arid soil. Indeed, Mr. Gordon observes that ^' the best soil was little more than mere sand."
If we turn to Assam, we there find the effects of the opposite extreme, excess of moisture. There the plant, agreeably to Mr. M'Cleland, "grows under the shade of dense forests and a gloomy and excessively humid atmosphere, in 'a barren soil, along the verge of rivers, lakes, and marshy lands *," being never wholly inundated, but nearly so.
Thus the plant, "struggling for existencef," being over-excited by excessive absorption of moisture by the roots, while the leaves, deprived of the stimulus of direct solar light and heat, are unable to throw off a proportionate quantity of fluid by perspiration and evaporation, the delicate stem forces its way Avith difficulty through the dense brushwood, and rises " a tall and slender tree, varying from ten to twenty feet in height, and mostly under an inch in diameter, with its branches high up," and with large
* Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, vol. iv. p. 35.
t Parliamentary Papers, Tea Cultivation, Feb. 27. 1839, p. 112.
62 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
delicate leaves from four to nine inches long. So that these slender trees, as remarked by Mr. Bruce, when deprived of their support from the surround- ing jungle, — which in some instances had been cut down, — seemed scarcely capable of sustaining their own weight.^
We here see examples of the two extremes of dryness and moisture ; but it must be acknowledged, that the plant seems to bear extreme moisture better than excessive dryness ; and it has already been remarked that tea is never found growing in arid places.
Pursuing this investigation, and bearing in mind the principle that the tea plant delights in a fertile soil, retentive of moisture, but of easy filtration, we may, perhaps, be enabled to reconcile some of the apparent discrepancies on this subject.
In the first place, "a vegetable mould mixed with sand, light and loose " (p. 46. § 1.), on plains where the drainage is imperfect, or on the gentle slopes and levels of hills, where it is slow, may be a soil of a very suitable character. Indepen- dently of the nutritive quality of such a soil, it obviously afibrds easy filtration, the genial admis- sion of air and heat to the roots, and free evapora- tion. It will also be seen under the article " Green
* Parliamentary Papers, Tea Cultivation, p. 113. One of the largest trees Mr. Bruce found to be two cubits in circum- ference, and full forty cubits in height ; but he supposed that few attained that size. (lb. p. 112.)
NATURE OF THE SOIL. 63
Tea," that an immense improvement was effected in that tea by transplanting it from the hills into the plains, and by cultivating it in garden soil, fit for vegetables ; moreover, by the use of manure. The black tea, however, is not manured.
Again, in situations '' on the banks of rivers, where the ground is level, and subject to inunda- tion," the soil may be " sandy, and stony on the surface " (p. 47. § 4.), but the subsoil being formed and benefited by filtration from a rich alluvial deposit, the plants are thereby furnished with an inexhaustible source of nourishment; and while the stony and sandy superstratum defends the roots against the scorching heat of the sun, they receive the genial influence of its rays, and are afforded ventilation, evaporation, and filtration.
So on the ledges and terraces of the " inner range " of the Bohea mountains, a light sandy soil, as described by Du Halde, may be beneficial on these flats. A light soil with a rocky bottom must obviously favour filtration, which these levels or easy slopes, in common with plains, more especially demand ; and if in addition to the progressive dis- integration which may naturally be supposed to be going on in the rocky substratum by acid excre- tions from the roots, and from the free action which a light sandy soil affords to moisture and atmo- spheric influence, these ledges or flats be enriched by alluvial deposits from igneous or primitive rocks, by alumina, and decomposed vegetable fibre from
64 NATURE OF THE SOIL.
the adjacent and overhanging hills ; then the ele- vated situations of these sites, enjoying an open exposure to the morning sun — especially useful in dispersing the mists and exhalations which collect in the night in mountainous districts having running streams — seem to combine most of those advantages which the Chinese of this province deem beneficial to the growth and perfection of the tea tree.
It is to be regretted that we have not more au- thentic and detailed accounts of this soil, or any certain and satisfactory specimens of these rocks to guide us as to its nature. Two or three specimens sent to me with the soils in question, said to be from this particular district, consisted, as has already been observed, of worn pebbles of slate, which were apparently taken out of the bed of a river; and a piece of conglomerate sandstone, or grauwacke, with a Chinese name written upon it, stated to be the name of the tea hill, or rock whence it was taken.
If we may be permitted, in the absence of posi- tive information, to speculate on the nature of these rocks from the views represented by the Chinese in their drawings, or rather maps of this district, the rocks and hills, from their laminated sides in some cases, and their grotesque forms in others, appear to consist of schistose and limestone formation. Those of the more rounded and pointed forms may be sandstone and granite.
SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE. 65
But whatever the peculiarity of the structure of these hills may be — and that they have such the universal testimony of the Chinese will not allow us to doubt — yet it may be fairly surmised that the priests, who have selected this romantic spot as the scene of their seclusion and devotion, have lent a helping hand in rearing up that fame which this particular site has exclusively acquired through- out the empire for the superiority of the flavour and quality of its tea. Careful cultiyation through a period of a thousand or twelve hundred years, has doubtless exercised an important influence in modifying the original constituents of this soil, and largely contributed to its improvement, and, per- haps, to that of the plant.
In other situations in this neighbourhood, per- haps in that part which is termed the " middle range," it is said "there are some plantations on plains rather low, the soil of which is very compact, a little muddy, black, and rather damp. The tea of this place is worth two-thirds more than that of other parts of Fokien, with the exception of the * inner range ' of the Bohea Mountains." * M. Guillemin notices a similar description of soil at St. Paul's, which had been recovered from a kind of morass, where the shrubs exhibited great vigour of growth.
These examples afford proof that the tea tree
* P. 48. § 6. F
66 SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE.
flourishes, and arrives at a high degree of excel- lence in a soil rich in decomposed vegetable matter, and comes in contradiction of the supposition that a poor, sandy, or gravelly soil, with little accumu- lation of vegetable mould, is alone favourable to the cultivation of the tea plant.*
When cultivated on the embankments of garden grounds or fields of grain, the soil obviously must partake of the nature of those fields, being in some cases a light garden mould, and in others of a more compact and argillaceous character.
The embankments here alluded to are generally about from six to eight feet wide on their summits, and from their inclined position and construction favour filtration. They form sometimes divisions of fields, and sometimes fences, against the en- croachments of rivers. They are mostly planted with fruit trees, or other useful plants, as the tea, the mulberry, the orange, and the plantain.
With respect to the outer range of the Bohea
* Mr. Fortune states that the soil of the plantations he saw in Fokien and Chekiang consists of a rich sandy loam. He moreover shows that the tea shrub requires a rich soil. ( Wan- derings in China, p. 200, 201.) Mr. Jacobson of Java con- siders that a " temper ate''^ and moderately fertile soil is the best for tea. This may consist of a half or two thirds of a foot of rich decayed vegetable matter or humus (which he also terms moer-aarde (peat-earth ?), with a substratum of a compact brown clay earth, which is sometimes termed mountain ground, not rich but by no means poor, and which is of an adhesive character without sticking, when rolled between the forefinger and the thumb. (§22.)
SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE. 67
Mountains, we have no data to reason upon beyond those specimens of soil already referred to, the cha- racter of which is a ferruginous clay mixed with sand. If the "fragmented stones" they contain, together with their ferruginous character, and the quantity of oxyde of iron, be considered as indica- tive of the rock of which they are formed, it may, perhaps, be allowable to conclude, that the moun- tains and hills of this particular district consist of granitic, porphyritic, and sandstone formation. These, indeed, with basalt, limestone, and schist constitute the character of the mountains of China, wherever they have come under the observation of Europeans, whether at Canton, along the sea coast, at Amoy, the island of Chusan, or in the interior.*
Thus there seems much analogy between the specimens here alluded to and that brought from Japan by Von Siebold ; also in the structure of the rocks and mountains of these two countries, and again between these and the rocks of San Paolo, described by M. Guillemin, so far as their being- all of igneous origin.
But though the constituents of any of these rocks be the same, it is well known their com-
* Dr. Abel observes : " Judging from the specimens collected in our route through the province of Kiang Nan, whence the green tea is procured, its rocks consist chiefly of sandstone, schistus, and granite." " The plantations were always at some elevation above the plains on a kind of gravelly soil, formed in some places by disintegrated sandstone, and in others by the debris of primitive rock." {Journey in China, p. 224.)
F 2
68 SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE.
ponent parts may differ widely in tlieir relative proportions ; and again, as the slope and undulation of liills receive more or less inclination, so may the earth differ in quality and compactness, and thus constitute soils of various degrees of fertility ; and hence it may be, that the specimens alluded to vary so much in their proportions of sand. It is obvious that the rich and soluble parts of the soil will be the first precipitated and carried forward to the level parts and plains. In the progress of disintegration the broken and detached masses of rock, deprived of their earthy support, are hurled headlong down the mountain to its base, where they collect in large masses, as may be seen every where along the sea- shore at Macao ; while the stones and coarse gravelly parts will be left behind, to wait later effects of disintegration and pre- cipitation by rain, wind, and other atmospheric influences.
Thus it is not surprising, when we are informed of the fact, that the tea tree should be found " to grow with more luxuriance at the base " of granitic hills, and " with more vigour during the heats of summer than on the summits," or that " the soil here should be found more compact and rich."
Mr. Gordon also observes of the Ankoy districts near Amoy, that the plantations he saw were generally at the bottom of hills, where there was a good deal of shelter on two sides, and the slopes comparatively easy. He reckoned the highest
SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE. 69
plantations to be about 700 feet above the plains, [and here, we may add, the plains are nearly level with the sea,] but in those that were less high the shrubs appeared more thriving, probably from having a somewhat better soil.*
Again ; if we examine the roots of the tea shrub, we shall find them to consist of innumerable small fibres with fleshy spongioles extending themselves in a circle not far removed from the stem, which indicates that the plant is not one like the vine, which sends forth its roots to a distance in search of food, or that it penetrates deeply into the earth ; but that it requires to meet with its aliment within narrow limits, and near the surface of the soil which it inhabits.!
If we further consider the important part which the leaves play in the vegetable economy, that they are in fact the lungs and stomach of the plant, and exercise the important functions of respiration and assimilation ; and then reflect on the severe coercion to which it will be seen that the shrub is subjected, during periods of from ten to fifteen consecutive days, of being stripped of its young succulent leaves so soon as they attain their proper size for
* Mr. Fortune states that the plantations he saw in Chekiaug, Chusan, and Fokien were situated on the lower sides of the hills, and never on low grounds. (^Wande things in China, p. 201.)
I I am indebted to Mr. Scott, Sir George Staunton's principal gardener, an intelligent and distinguished man in his art, for pointing out this peculiarity to me ; and for many other useful
and sensible suggestions.
F 3
70 SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE.
manipulation, and that this treatment is repeated at certain intervals three times between spring and autumn, we acknowledge it is difficult to com- prehend how this shrub can preserve its vigour, without all the aids favourable to vegetation which fertility of soil, heat, and moisture afford.
It is judiciously observed by Mr. Fortune that this frequent " gathering of the leaves is very detrimental to the shrubs, and, in fact, ultimately kills them. Hence a principal object with the grower is to keep his bushes in as robust health as possible, and this cannot be done in a poor soil." *
Moreover ; if it be true, as stated by Liebig, that trees, the leaves of which are renewed annually, require for their leaves six to ten times more alkalies than the fir tree or the pine, then the tea tree, by the unnatural treatment it receives as here alluded to, is placed, though an evergreen, in the condition of a deciduous tree. Consequently, it ought to require more alkalies than if left in its natural state, and be less likely to flourish in sandy and calcareous soils upon which the pine thrives. f
Thus there seems little reason to doubt the con- clusion drawn by Von Essenbeck after analysis of the Japanese soil, brought home by Yon Siebold, that tea soils deficient in lightness require the addition of coarse sand ; and failing in nutritive properties, that strong manure and alkaline matter
* Wanderings in Cliina, 201.
1- Agricultural Chemistry, 2d ed. 132.
SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE. 71
may be employed with advantage *, in which opinion I am disposed tb coincide even as regards black tea, though the Chinese universally affirm that manure, is not employed for that tea, and is in- jurious to its flavour. Further, as has been shown in this investigation, a knowledge of the surface soil only, as in cultivation generally, whether by analysis or otherwise, affords but very inadequate data, unless due attention be also paid to the nature of the substratum rock and subsoil as reo^ardino: drainage and nutritive properties.
If by '' shelter on two sides " t be meant open vallies, or hills converging together, with a southern exposure to the sun, we should deem such favourable to the cultivation of tea. But if " shady declivities of hills in moist vallies," J or contracted sheltered vallies, where ventilation is imperfect, and the sun has little influence, be found favourable, which I am disposed to doubt, may it not be because such situations are moist, not because they are shady or sheltered ? Whether protection from easterly winds may not be necessary immediately in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, as at Amoy, I cannot determine ; but all inquiry and in- formation on the subject tend to show that, inland, such shelter is unnecessary. The Chinese, however, do say, that an easterly gale is much to be dreaded,
* See note at the end of this chapter, p. 76.
f Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv. p. 103.
j Parliamentary Papers, "Tea Cultivation," Feb. 1839.
!■ 4
72 SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE.
but these gales occur but seldom, and only during the great heats of summer, from July to September, when the principal gatherings of the leaves are over.*
Yon Siebold (Nippon, part 6.) observes that the Japanese husbandmen consider that hilly sites, elevated from about 700 to 800 feet above the sea, and intersected by brooks and streams, are the most suitable to the cultivation of tea, as in the vicinity of Uresino ; and again, in the fertile valley of the River Jodo, in the district of Udsi, where the open flats, not the steep ridges of the hills, are selected for this purpose, and the plantations so arranged as to enjoy the morning sun.f
With respect to an eastern aspect being the best, the Chinese possibly may not mean due east, but any point between south and east, as south- east. All the Chinese and Japanese accounts agree that a full exposure to the sun is desirable, as other circumstances will prove in the progress of this examination. The morning sun is also sup- posed to have a beneficial influence on vegetation, while the dew is yet on the leaves, and especially on flowers, as exciting their odorous secretions ; and if
* Mild and seasonable rains are desirable, and also gentle breezes ; but easterly winds are to be dreaded. If a northerly- wind blows in the night, the growth of the leaves is thereby checked ; and should an easterly gale prevail, the quantity of leaves will be diminished. (Mr. Reeves' M.S. Papers,)
t The tea tree delights particularly in vallies, or in the declivities of hills, and upon the banks of rivers, where it enjoys a southern exposure to the sun. (Lettsom on the Tea Tree.)
SOIL THE MOST SUITABLE. 73
SO, may it not have tlier same on leaves ? At all events it is useful as regarding tea, in dissipating the mists from the atmosphere, as well as the moisture from the leaves, before the gatherers begin to as- semble on the hills. It will be seen in the process of manipulation of black tea, that it is desirable to evaporate as much moisture as possible from the leaves before they are roasted.
Thus we come to nearly the same conclusions as the Rev. Father Carpina, that the black tea tree in China delights in hilly sites, though of moderate elevation ; yet it is also successfully cultivated in plains, under favourable circumstances, such as along the banks of rivers, in a light stony soil, subject to occasional inundation ; in an open ex- posure to the sun, and the genial winds of a somewhat hot climate, tempered by intervals of rain, and exhalations during the night ; an aspect fronting the south-east, or one benefited by the morning sun ; a soil rich and somewhat compact, or retentive of moisture, though of easy filtration ; sufficiently porous to be permeable to the numerous and delicate fibres of the roots of the plant, as well as atmospheric influences ; and sufficiently tena- cious to supply a healthy moisture to the plant, without being liable to be dried up and baked during the alternations of sun and rain, which take place at no very remote intervals between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.
74 ANALYSIS OF EARTHS FROM CHINA.
NOTES.
I subjoin a communication on the subjects of the preceding chapter from Professor Faraday: —
Royjil Institution, May 11. 1827. Specimens of Earths from China.
No. 1. vSpecimen from the Lapa, a hill near Macao.
No. 2. Specimen from the north-east part of the province of Fokien.
No. 3. Ditto.
No. 4. taken out of a pot containing a tea plant from the Bohea country.
No. 5. Bohea country, 1st quality.
No. 6. ditto 2d quality.
No. 7. ditto 3d quality.
These earths were all of similar ferruginous tints, i. e, of light yellow or reddish brown, as the one formerly analysed, excejDt No. 2., which was of a grey or brownish grey tint. They were all of a clayey adhesive character, but easily crum- bling and falling down in water. None of them contained worn pebbles or w^orn sand, though some included fragmented stones, and all of them sharp sabulous silicious particles. None of them gave evidence of containing carbonate of lime except one, and in that only a single piece of the carbonate was observed, which was probably accidental. Their hygrometric state appeared to be about that of the former sort, viz. 102.
No. 1. contained no stony fragments or pebbles; the aggre- gated portions were, however, irregular and dissimilar, being of different colours, as if the soil had either been purposely mixed with other soil, or else cultivated and manured. It con-
ANALYSIS OF EARTHS FROM CHINA.
75
tainecl also a few loose fibres. It contained also a trace of sulphate of lime.*
No. 2. contained fragments of apparently a decomposing porphyritic rock ; it was in this that the fragment of carbonate of lime occurred. It included also several pieces of charcoal, and a few portions of old decayed vegetable fibres.
No. 3. Included some long woody fibres, and a few irregular fragments like those of No. 2.
No. 4. contained very few vegetable fibres, some angular fragments of decomposing granite and felspar, and particles of mica diffused through the soil.
No. 5. contained very few fibres ; no appearance of pebbles or of mica ; but, by washing, a few heavy, greenish black mineral particles were found, which had not before occurred.
No. 6. A few fibres ; no stones ; much mica in a finely divided state, but no green particles.
No. 7. A few long, loose, woody fibres ; a few small silicious stones ; particles of mica, and a recurrence of the same green particles as in No. 5.
The proportions of sand in these soils varied very much, as may be observed in the following table. The clay, &c. includes not only the argillaceous particles, but destructible matter and water.
|
Sand Clay, &c. {ferru- ginous) - Fragments |
Lapa. |
N.E. Fokien. |
Pot. |
Bohea. |
||
|
No. 1. |
No- 2. |
No. 3. |
No. 4. |
No. 5. |
No. 6. |
No. 7. |
|
46-1 53-9 |
17-70 56-53 25-77 |
10 90 |
51-54 48-46 |
1st qual. 33-08 66-92 |
2d qual. 44-61 55-39 |
3d qual. 36-15 63-85 |
|
100-0 |
100-00 |
100 |
100-00 |
100-00 |
100-00 |
100-00 |
* This soil had been manured with goats' dung, and was taken from the small plantation at the Lapa, described by Dr. Abel.
76 ANALYSIS OF EARTHS FROM JAPAN.
Chemical A?ial?/sis of the Earth of a Japanese Tea Plantation^ by Dr. Th. Fc. L. Nees Von Essenbeck and L. CI. Marquart.*
The earth given to us to analyse appeared a very uniform fine grained mixture of a yellowish grey colour, having altogether the appearance of a strong ferruginous clay, in which no mixture of sand was perceptible to the naked eye. After the removal of two small stones, one porphyry and the other grauwacke, the weight of the earth amounted to 462 grains. The specific gravity was decided at 2 325. 200 grains of air- dried earth absorbed 165 grains of water. Of this water, in the first five hours, under a temperature of from 15° to 18° Reaumur, 31 grains were lost ; after 24 hours, 100 grains ; after 48 hours, still 24 grains remained ; and not till after 72 hours had all the water disappeared.
Of these 200 grains, the parts soluble in cold water amounted to scarcely one-eighth of a grain, consisting of humus and lime, with traces of muriatic and sulphuric acid, clay and iron.
[Then follows a minute description of the analysis, giving the undermentioned result.]
On placing together the constituent parts of the earth, we find the following results. 100 grains of the earth contain Silicious earth - - - - - 53 grs.
Oxyde of iron - - - - - 9
Clay - - - - - - 22
Oxyde of manganese and magnesia - _ o^
Gypsum - - - - - - O^
Humus - - - - - - 1
Phosphoric acid, traces of.
Hygrometric water - - - - 14
[He adds in a note.] On another portion of the earth we succeeded in proving evident traces of kali. It does not appear, however, as a fresh soluble combination of salt in the earth, but is undoubtedly combined with clay and silex.
After we had by these means analysed the earth in its consti-
* See Von Siebold's Nippon, part vi. p. 17.
ANALYSIS OF EARTJIS FROM JAPAN. 77
tiient parts, it appeared that it should be considered as an intimate mixture of silicious earth and clay, with the oxyde of iron and manganese (eisenhaltiges Aluminiumsilicat). The small portion of magnesia is remarkable, and even this is closely combined in the soil with the silicate mentioned.
Thus the earth appeared like atmospherically dissolved slate. The phosphoric acid is well combined, and arises probably, as well as the gypsum, from the manure in the soil. According to Thaer's classification of soils, this earth belongs to the third class, as a strong sandy clay soil.
The analysed earth is moreover, from its deficiency in carbonic acid, humus, lime, and magnesia, not to be referred to the productive, and assuredly requires stronger manure, and addition of alkaline matter. Its water-retaining 23roj)erty is consider- able on account of its great portion of clay, but the soil is deficient in lightness from the absence of coarse sand.
78
CHAP. IV.
CULTURE ACCOUNTS GIVEN IN CHINESE WORKS — BY EUROPEAN
MISSIONARIES— PLANTATIONS SEEN BY MR. GORDON AT AMOY
CULTIVATION OF GREEN TEA DIFFERENT FROM BLACK
MODE PRACTISED IN JAPAN — IN JAVA.
The only mode of propagation of the tea plant mentioned in the Chinese works I have had an opportunity of consulting, is by seed. The Chinese, also, with whom I have conversed on this subject, seem generally to admit that it is the best method, though they affirm that this practice rarely obtains in the Bohea district in the present day. The plantations of Ho Nan, in the vicinity of Canton, to the south, are propagated with seed. The soil consists of coarse red sand and gravel, the situa- tion is low and flat, and the heat of the climate unfavourable. The shrubs are ragged and stunted in their appearance, and the leaves thin and small, producing tea altogether unsuitable for European consumption.
The following instructions for planting are found in the Kiun Fang Pu, under the article '^ Tea" : —
" Seeding. — The seed must be collected in Han Lu (October), dried in the sun, then mixed up with moistened sand, and packed in baskets.
" Planting. — Tea naturally dislikes water [to
CULTIVATION OF 'tHE TEA PLANT. 79
collect about the roots]. It requires a rich soil^ shady and sloping ground, to allow the water to drain off. In sowing the seed use paddy husk and parched earth. Put from six to ten seeds into each hole, placing them about an inch below the surface of the ground. When the plants begin to germinate, the weeds ought not to be raked up. If the season be dry, water them with water in which rice has been washed, and manure them often with manure in a liquid state, or with the dung of silkworms. Water lodging about the roots of the plants will inevitably destroy them. After three years the leaves are fit for gathering. The shrubs should be planted in sets, which are separated about two cubits (28 inches) from each other."
The above mode of culture appears to correspond more with that of the green than the black .tea, for the Chinese generally agree that the latter is not manured. The Hoa King, under the article "Tea," says — "That tea [black tea] is the most fragrant which is not manured."
Let us now subjoin the accounts received from the missionaries before quoted : — " Put four or five seeds into one place. When the leaves shoot out, and the plants have grown to the height of a cubit (14 inches), bind them together. Weed them at the four seasons of the year, turn up the ground about the roots, and add new mould. Arrange the binding, and take away the dead shoots. Tliere
80 MODES ADOl'TED FOR CULTIVATING
is no occasion to trim or to water them." Another gives the same account of the mode of sowing the seed, but makes no mention of binding the plants. He then proceeds as follows: — "When the aged plants become dry and exhausted, cut them down to the roots, and they will shoot again. The leaves may afterwards be gathered in the second or third year. In planting, it is unnecessary to take slips for that purpose, but simply to cut down the [wild] trees, and transplant the old roots. In the second or third spring the leaves shoot forth in sufficient abundance to admit of their being gathered. The shrubs require neither lopping, watering, nor turn- ing up the ground about the roots. They, how- ever, require weeding ; and the old roots must be watered for a few days at the time of transplanting, when they never require it more."
I shall now conclude with the Rev. Yicar-Gene- ral Carpina's account (the Spanish missionary so frequently alluded to in these pages), which may be considered the mode adopted in the part of the province where he resided, at Fogan, about 240 miles south-east of the Bohea country.
" With respect to the duration of the plants, in places which are suitable to them, and where animals cannot destroy them, they will last fifty years and more. When they are too old, if the soil is ricli^ they are cut down close to the roots, which is done at the winter solstice, and in the following spring they shoot out vigorously. But
THE TEA PLANT. 81
when the soil is sterile, the old roots are dug up to be planted elsewhere. They easily take root again. It is in this manner that the shrubs are preserved and reproduced, and never by branches that are slipped off. They may also be propagated by seed ; but Avith less success, and much slower. The cultivators of tea take no pains to prevent the growth of the shrubs, for the larger they are the more profitable ; but as, in the second or third year after they have been planted or cut down, the leaves are gathered once, and afterwards three times a year, their growth is thereby checked. Yet in plaiiis^ and on the mountains wliere the ground is good, they grow to the height of more than thirteen feet.
" With respect to the culture, it consists in this. Every year in February and August the ground is weeded, raking up even the grass. When the ground is hilly, and appears exhausted and sterile, after having weeded it in February, it is usual to go and dig soil from a neighbouring mountain, and bring it and place it around the roots of the shrubs. If this new soil be previously exposed to the sun, or even burnt, it improves it. Xo other manure or watering is required, for the plantations are neither so low, nor so flat, but they are easily irrigated. It is on this account that no tea shrubs are found on dry and arid places. We have seen the crops fail more than once, because no rain had fallen between the winter solstice and spring." The writer here means
G
82 MODES ADOPTED FOR CULTIVATING
in the eastern part of the province, and near the sea.
It is obvious from the preceding accounts that, under ordinary circumstances, very little attention is paid to the cultivation of tea in the province of Fokien. In fact the original cost paid to the cul- tivator for Congou or Souchong tea intended for foreign consumption, would not admit of expensive cultivation or costly manipulation. Thus all ac- counts agree, that the Chinese do not employ any of the ordinary means of selecting and propagating accidental and superior varieties by cuttings, layers, or grafts, though all these methods are understood and practised by them in their garden cultivation. It is not from ignorance, therefore, that none of these methods are adopted. The speediest and most successful practice, agreeably to the Eev. Father Carpina, adopted by the farmers and cul- tivators in his part>^ of the province, is by cutting down to the roots the wild shrubs growing on the hills and mountains, and transplanting them else- where. This doubtless must be a quicker and preferable mode to rearing from seed or any other method where the wild shrubs are suffi- ciently numerous, and where a quality suitable to general consumption is merely sought. Hence we may conclude that there are many parts of the pro- vince of Fokien, where the tea tree has in all ages been found growing spontaneously and abundantly among the hills, but in situations remote or under
THE TEA PLANT. 83
disadvantageous circumstances ; ^v^hence they have been transplanted to other soils and sites which ex- perience has shown to be more congenial or more convenient, and which are now in the vicinity of towns and hamlets in part, if not entirely, owing their rise and present support to the cultivation of that shrub.
In districts suitable to its growth it obviously must be the endeavour of everv farmer to have his little plantation of tea. Thus Von Siebold informs us, that at Japan the husbandman grows his tea for domestic use in hedges and detached parts of his farm, which are less favourable for tillage. He adds, it is principally from these plantations, which appear to the traveller like scattered hedges and bushes, that tea is rendered available to the lower classes.* The farms which Mr. Fortune saw in Fokien, " were all small, each consisting of from one to four or five acres."f
Mr. Gordon saw at Amoy a little nursery at- tached to each tea plantation, where plants were " growing to the height of four or five inches, as closely set as they could stand." It may also be remarked, that the Chinese adopt the same practice to bring forward their second crop of rice. Thus, in harvest time, the young seedlings being ready to transplant, reaping, threshing, irrigating, plough- ing, and transplanting, may be seen all going on at
* Nippon, part 6. t Wanderings in China, p. 201.
G 2
84 MODES ADOPTED TOR CULTIVATING
the same time, and at no great distance, in the same rice field.
In the " Inner Range " of the Bohea Mountains regular and well kept plantations prevail ; also on plains and parts of hills sufficiently level to be formed into beds ; but, for reasons already assigned, the Chinese cannot afford the expense of forming their hills into terraces for this purpose. Mr. Gordon states, that the ground was not terraced at Amoy, but formed into beds which were partly levelled. The plantations were perfectly well dressed as in garden cultivation, and each was sur- rounded with a low stone fence and a trench.
The cultivation of green tea differs essentially from that of the black, inasmuch as the finest de- scription, denominated Hyson, is cultivated on plains in a fertile soil, and manured. The price paid by foreigners for this quality of tea affords sufficient encouragement to the grower to induce him to ap- propriate a more fruitful soil to its cultivation. Why the cultivation of Souchong tea is not more extended, I have never been able satisfactorily to understand, except, as stated by the Chinese, that the soil favourable to its growth is confined to a locality of limited extent, whereas Hyson tea may be produced in any quantity. Higher prices have been paid by the East India Company for the finest description of Souchong or Paochong tea, than were ever given for green tea, and every pains taken to encourage its growth. In a free trade these
THE TEA PLANT. 85
high-flavoured teas are not likely to answer to the importer, whose object is necessarily gain. They will probably gradually disappear from the market ; but it was a matter of principle with the East India Company to sustain the character and quality of their teas, and to consult the discriminating taste of the rich, as well as to satisfy the demands of the poor, without a strict regard to profit ; so that they imported some teas, as they exported woollens and other British products, at a loss. Their aggregate profits enabled them to conduct their trade on generous principles.
The usual mode of culture of the finest descrip- tion of green tea, known to Europeans by the name of Hyson, originally consisted in taking the shrubs from particular hills favourable to their growth, and transplanting them into fields, gardens, and hedge-rows, a light garden loam being considered the best. Seed is also employed to keep up the plantation, and to renew decayed or exhausted shrubs, when in three years the leaves are fit for use. The shrubs are manured twice a year, in spring and autumn ; the ground weeded and turned up about the roots four times a year. In about seven years they are cut down, nearly close to the ground, to produce an exuberance of succulent shoots and leaves ; and in about thirty years they become useless, when they are rooted up. The in- ferior Hyson teas, denominated by the Chinese " hill tea," and the common Singlo or Twankay
G 3
86 CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT
shrubs receive no attention beyond that of weeding twice a year, when the grass and weeds thus raked up are placed about the roots where they are left to rot.*
I shall here add a few notes on this subject. It will be seen by Yon Siebold's account of the cultivation of tea at Japan, that the mode of culture adopted there accords more with that of green tea in China, than black. Indeed, so far as my information extends, the tea used in Japan, with the exception of the bud of the leaf, is a green tea of the class of Twankay. But we shall recur to this subject in treating of the manipulation of tea.
* Tien Hing states that the planters frequently purchase seedlings, which are transplanted and are fit for gathering in two years. The price is 100 cash, or about eight pence for a bundle containing a hundred ; half the amount is paid at the time of planting, and the remainder in three months for those that live. He adds they are planted in rows about two cubits (twenty-nine inches) apart, between which they grow vegetables : but this space seems hardly sufficient. The usual space appears to be about four feet. The plants are manured once in the eighth moon (September), a cavity being made about the roots, into which the manure in a liquid state is poured.
AT JAPAN AND JAVA. 87
NOTES.
Tea is easily obtained from seed, which should be used as soon as ripe, or in a short time after it has been collected ; for it soon loses its power of germination. The shrubs produce such an abundance of flowers and seeds, that many of the seeds fall and germinate under the old shrubs, which serve to renew the plantations. Rapport de M. Guillemin, D. M. ^-c. La Revue Agricole. Fevrier, 1840, pp. 268, 269.
Von Siebold states, that the best mode of propagation of the tea plant is by seed, at distances of four feet apart. At Japan the shrubs flower from November to February, and the sowing takes place in the following autumn, when the seed is ripe, and the plants spring up in May or June. After the first year the plants are topped, hoed, and manured. The manure is used both in a liquid and dry state. It consists of a mixture of mustard seed and dried sardels (a kind of herring), oilcakes of the Brassica Orientalis and other coleworts, together with human dung and urine. These manures are found by experience to be suitable to the heavy soils congenial to the tea plant, and to exercise a decided influence on the improvement of the shrub. — Nippon, part 6.
Mr. Jacobson of Java states, that, as a general rule, the cul- tivation of tea is conducted on the same principle as that of cofiee. He justly observes, however, that as leaves are the product of the harvest, and not fruit or flowers, whatever mode of cultivation is suitable to that is the one to be adopted. In plains it must be treated as rice, and irrigated, a greater slope being allowed for drainage ; and yet not so much as to wash away the earth and occasion a loss of soil.
The best mode of cultivation at Java, is from seed sown in the ground where the plants are intended to grow, and not from seedlings taken from nurseries ; because this latter mode
G 4
88 CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT
causes an unnecessary employment of labour. Seeds sown in their capsules are better than without ; but either mode will do. Each bush may produce about 250 capsules, containing on an average 476 seeds ; 103 may contain only one seed eacli ; 80 may contain two seeds; 55 may contain three seeds; and 12 4 seeds. Each bush is formed either of 5 seedlings ; 10 fresh or dried seeds ; or of 8 or 9 capsules containing 14 to 17 seeds.
The bushes are placed 4 feet square apart, and extend to about 3 feet diameter ; so that an opening of only 1 foot remains between each bush in the several rows. The cavities made for the reception of the seedlings are about 1^ foot in depth, and 1 foot diameter ; those for seed are 4 or 5 inches deep. Clay earth taken out of the bed of rivers, put 4 or 5 inches deep and covered one inch with soil, keeps white ants away : in such cases the spaef^ required will be 7 inches in diameter, and 4 inches deep. Seeds steeped in katjang oil are also a preserva- tive against white ants.
In cases where the bushes do not flourish, and where they decay, seed may be sown near the roots of such shrubs ; and when the seedlings become productive, the old bushes may be cut down or rooted up altogether.
The bushes should not be allowed to grov/ higher than 3 feet, for the convenience of gathering the leaves. If higher, men of ordinary stature and boys would not be able to gather them. When the seedlings have attained a foot in height and are strong, they must be stopped, or topped ; that is, the crown or head of the young seedling must be nipped off with the thumb-nail. This it may be necessary to repeat three or four times during the first year, according to the rapidity of the growth of the plant. In the first stopping or topping the plant must not be reduced lower than f of a foot ; in the second, not lower than 1^ foot ; and thus till 3 feet be attained. The term topping is also applied to the branches as well as the stem. Here the stopping of the lateral shoots should take place on the brown part of the wood, about half an inch or an inch beloAV the green part of the shoot. In this manner the young bushes are made to extend their lateral growth to three feet in diameter, with an exuberance of young delicate leaves.
AT JAPAN AND JAVA. 89
In cases where tlie brown part of the shoot cannot be pinched off, a knife or a pair of scissars may be used.
At Java the seed is sown in the month of November when the ground has become somewhat compact after rain. In plantations where the shrubs are regularly stopped, headed back, and cut round, — in short where the leaves are cultivated to the prejudice of the fruit, — little or no seed is produced. It therefore becomes necessary to set apart a portion of the plantation for this object. In such cases the bushes are placed five or six feet apart and left to their natural growth, and the leaves not gathered. After the third year, the plants should be manured, and the manuring repeated every second year.
Should the bushes thus appropriated to the cultivation of seed exhibit symptoms of exhaustion, which they sometimes do after the third year, then they must be cut down to about a foot and a half from the ground. In about five or six weeks the shrubs shoot out leaves which may be gathered for the harvest. On the other hand, an equal number of bushes cultivated for leaf, must now be left to their natural growth, and the leaves not gathered. In about twelve or fifteen months they will produce seed. In this way the seed garden may be changed when desirable.
Besides the topping or stopping of the young seedlings, the productive bushes require regular 'priming. By pruning is here meant cutting and heading back, and freeing the shrubs from dirt, dust and larvae of insects^ and dead leaves. It is only the work of two minutes for each bush.
The mode of doing it is, by taking as many branches as the left hand can compass, even a hundred, then with the knife to cut upwards, and reduce the bush to the height of the knee, or two feet from the ground. Branches which run along the ground, must be removed ; knotty distorted branches growing within the shrubs must be cut out to within one foot from the ground. Lateral branches should be cut within two feet from their point of junction with the parent stem ; and all short branches reduced until only one or two eyes or buds be left on each.
After some years the bushes form thick and strong branches low down, and the shrubs consequently decline. In such cases
90 CULTIVATION AT JAPAN AND JAVA.
the ground must be ploughed up between the bushes, and the prunings buried and used as manure. Should the plant not recover, then an extra pruning must take place, by cutting the bushes down to within a foot and a half of the ground. They will then look like single stems.
In China it is said that by regular yearly cleaning, thinning out, cutting round, and extra pruning, the shrubs maybe preserved for sixty years. (Abstracted from the Handboek v. d. Kult. en Fabrik. v. Thee.)
91
CHAP. V.
TIME OF GATHERING THREE GATHERINGS — DIFFERENCE OP
QUALITY OF THE GATHERINGS — ONLY YOUNG SUCCULENT LEAVES FIT FOR TEA MODE AT JAVA.
The Pun Csao Kiang Moo states, that for the proper time of gathering flowers, fruits, leaves, and the stalks of plants (for medicinal purposes), this general rule may be observed, that they be gathered in their perfect maturity.
We also say that the best time for gathering simples is when the plant is at its highest state of perfection ; and this we deem to be, as a general rule, just at or after its efflorescence.
Now the tea shrub begins to flower in the south generally about October, and seems to continue flowering through the winter, for I have seen some shrubs in flower so late as the beginning of March * ; and the first gathering of the leaves for Pekoe tea commences fifteen days after the vornal equinox.
The time of gathering the tea leaves, however,
* Cunningham states that the tea shrubs flower at Chusan from October to January, and that the seed is ripe in September or October. Tih^ Hing, a respectable green tea factor, states that they flower from September to November ; another green tea factor, so late as February. Koempfer observes that at Japan the shrubs flower from August until late in th^ winter. Von Siebold states from November to February.
92 TIME OF GAIHERING.
seems not to be governed by any rule of this nature. The gathering takes place during the season of spring, when the rains fall copiously, and the shrubs shoot forth their leaves vigorously and abundantly. This period of gathering lasts at intervals of ten or more days, from about fifteen days after the vernal equinox to about the same number of days after the summer solstice. There is also an au- tumnal gathering ; but such teas are weak and not esteemed of good quality. Most of the Chinese accounts agree, that the gathering of the leaves commences with the Pekoe tea, and lasts from the 5th to the 20th April. This tea consists of the convoluted leaf-bud. The first gathering of the expanded leaf commences between the 20th April and the beginning of May ; the second, about the 6th June; the third, after the 21st June, or, in other words, in the beginning of May, June, and July respectively ; and the autumnal gathering in August and September. The coarse leaves, which form the common Bohea, are collected in September and October.
The Chinese manuscript already quoted states, " In the mild and temperate season of spring the shrubs shoot forth their leaves, when such as are young and delicate must be chosen. Those that are partly unfolded, long like a needle and covered with down, must be gathered to be made into Pekoe.
" A few days after Ko Yu (20th April), the leaves
THREE GATHERINGS. 93
become large, and are called the first gathering {Teu Chun). These are thick and substantial, fragrant in smell, and sweet in flavour.
" When the leaves of the first gathering are exhausted, wait till they shoot out anew, about Chung (6th June), when they must be gathered and made. These are called the second gathering ( Ul Chun), the flavour of which has no fragrance, and the colour of the leaf is of a dingy black.
" The leaves shoot out again at the summer solstice (Hia Chy) ; these are called the third gathering {San Chun), and are of a light green colour and coarse in smell."
The Yii Ye Shan Chy* (the statistical work of the black tea country already alluded to) states that
" The first gathering is fragrant in smell and full flavoured.
" The second has no smell and is weak in flavour.
" The third has a little smell, but is also weak in flavour."
A Chinese manuscript gives the following ac- count of the qualities of the difi'erent gatherings of the Congou tea which forms the bulk of the black
* This work also observes, that the leaves gathered between Tsing JNIing and Ko Yu are called Teu Chun ; after Ly Hia, Ul Chun ; and after Hia Chy, San Chun. Teu Chun, Ul Chun, and San Chun, signify first, second, and third gatherings. Tsing Ming, Ly Hia, and Hia Chy are periods of the year, viz : the 5th of April, the 5th of May, and the 21st of June.
94 DIFFERENCE OF QUALITY OF
tea imported into England : — ^' The first gathering may be divided into superior, middling, and low ; the superior kind resembles the Souchong tea in flavour and colour. The second gathering also produces Pekoe and Souchong; the flavour has a fire smell, and the leaf is coarse and dull. The third gathering also produces Pekoe and Souchong, though not much ; neither is it good : the flavour is poor, and the infusion of a light green colour. The autumnal or fourth gathering, Aug. and Sept. (Csieu Loo) — The flavour is poor, and the infusion of a pale yellow colour ; the colour of the leaves is also plain and ordinary. In the eighth and ninth moons (Sept. and Oct.), the shrubs are cut, whole branches at a time ; the leaves are coarse and stiff, and the flavour exceedingly common and bad." This tea was formerly packed in baskets and sent to Canton to be made into Bohea. It is now packed in the country and sent down in chests.
Thus it appears, that in all the successive gather- ings it is the young and succulent leaves only that are chosen. If the leaves be permitted to attain their full growth, they become harsh, fibrous, and brittle, and cannot be made to assume the twisted form in their manipulation, but remain flat, coarse, or open and yellow, and are imfit for tea. The coarseness of the leaves of this description found in tea is chiefly owing to this circumstance. The large succulent leaves of a reddish purple colour are the best. The red or purple colour, however,
THE GATHERINGS. 95
of the manipulated leaves does not arise from their being so in the fresh or natural state, but is oc- casioned by a particular mode of manipulation previously to roasting.
Now it is obvious, that one great cause of dif- ference in the quality of tea depends upon the time of the year in which the leaves are gathered. Thus the Chinese universally agree that the young luxuriant leaves put forth and gathered in early spring are the best, while the other gatherings deteriorate in quality as they approach the autumn, which are the worst.
In fact, on the return of spring, after a long dry and cold winter, all vegetation acquires a high de- gree of energy and excitability, Avhich is exhibited in the power of producing a more vigorous foliage than at any subsequent period of the year. The sap is also in a more concentrated or inspissated state from its accumulation during winter, than subsequently, after its first and most vigorous flow in early spring.
Thus it is not surprising that the Chinese should find that the young succulent leaves of spring, which, at this season in particular, have all the important functions to perform which are neces- sary to the elaboration of flowers fruits and wood, as well as foliage, should furnish the heaviest and the highest-flavoured tea, besides possessing all those qualities on which excellence depends ; or that, in subsequent periods, when the sap is in
96 DIFFERENCE OF QUALITY OF
a more fluid and diluted state, the tea of this season should be found weak and flavourless, and the prepared leaves, like dead leaves, pale and yellow. Thus we find it stated by Mr. Jacobson of Java, that the leaves of the successive gatherings diminish in quantity and size as well as weight : " that the leaves of the third gathering are less abundant than those of the second ; but not in the same degree as those of the second are less than those of the first."*
Again, as the excellence of all vegetable produc- tions is so intimately connected with the state of the weather, it will naturally suggest itself, that the leaves of the tea shrub must also be greatly influenced by it ; and consequently we find, that the sun, so essentially requisite to the evolution of the odorous principle of fruits and flowers, is also deemed by the Chinese as indispensably ne- cessary to the production of that fragrance and quality which constitute the excellence of the finest black teas. The Chinese say that the Yen or Padre Souchong tea must be gathered not only in clear and bright weather, but that those teas only are of the first quality wliich are gathered during a conti- nuation of fine weather, and even after noon, during the greatest heat of the day. On the other hand, a Chinese manuscript states, that " those which are gathered in rainy weather are poor and tasteless,
* Ilandbock v. d. Kult. en Fabrik'. v. Tlicc, § 300.
t
THE GATHERINGS. 97
and unfit for Pao Cliong or Padre Souchong ; though they will, nevertheless, do for Siao Poey and Ta Poey, or fine Souchong." And it may here be observed, that the Chinese universally agree, that such teas as are made under any unfavourable circumstances of soil, quality of the leaves, or state of the weather, cannot, by any manipulation, be rendered of superior quality. The leaves, therefore, which are gathered in unfavourable weather are made with less care ; and such as are gathered after or durino; much rain under o;o some difiference in the mode of manipulation.
A further difference is also occasioned by the selection of particular shrubs, and of the best or most succulent leaves at the time of gathering. It is said to be a common practice among those merchants who are in the habit of frequenting the habitations of the Priests or Bonzes, to contract for the produce of certain known shrubs. These are labelled according to their supposed resemblance in flavour to particular flowers*; and at the season of Tsing Ming in the early part of the year, they repair to these plantations, where they prepare the tea
* I was informed by Puankhequa, an intelligent and highly respectable Hong merchant, that sometimes teas are marked scented (hoa-hicmg), not because they are really scented, but on account of their supposed resemblance to the odour of certain flowers. It is moreover stated in the Canton Chy (a statistical work on Canton) that some teas resemble the odour of the Yu-lan, Mo-ly, and Chu-lan flowers. Some teas are, however, artificially scented with these flowers, which will be found ex- plained under the article on " Scenting."
H
98 SUCCULENT LEAVES ONLY FIT FOR TEA.
themselves. In these cases each leaf is said to be plucked separately from the shrubs ; and the leaves of such shrubs as are known to resemble each other in flavour are mixed together and kept apart throughout the whole manipulation. They are also packed in small paper parcels, each weighing about eight or twelve ounces, sometimes bearing on them, in large flowing Chinese characters, the name of the flower they are supposed to resemble in odour ; and sometimes the name of the hill of their growth in small neatly written characters. These symbols can hardly have escaped the observa- tion of the dealer and consumer. This care, how- ever, is only bestowed on the finest description of Paochong tea, which is collected in very small quantities. It is evident, from the quantity of stalks found in even the finest teas which formed a part of the East India Company's Investment, or even in most Paochong teas, that no such mode had been adopted in their gathering. Nor is any particular attention paid to the state of the weather, so far as teas for the European markets are con- cerned. It is generally admitted by the Chinese that much Congou tea is hastily and rudely gathered, some even by whole branches at a time, in all weathers, and at any time of the day. It is obvious that tlic Chinese must use their leaves, however unfavourable the state of the weather may be ; and thus a further difl'erence of quality is created, depend- ent on season, as in all other vegetable productions.
NOTES TO CHAP. V. 99
NOTES.
With respect to the mode of gathering the leaves for tea, it is difficult to reconcile all the Chinese say on this subject with what comes under our immediate observation. The finest black teas are said to have their leaves plucked separately ; and yet we find, in proportion as the tea is of superior quality, so is it more mixed with tender and delicate stalks. In fact, the lux- uriance and delicacy of the shrubs, or the contrary, may be known and distinguished by the quality of the stalks found in the manipulated tea to which they belong. The same may be predicated by the infused leaf. In proportion as the tea is of fine quality, and, consequently, the product of delicate shrubs, the leaves, if masticated between the front teeth, aided by the tongue, will be found soft and pulpy ; or harsh and fibrous, if the product be of coarse shrubs. Thus in proportion as the young shoots are tender and delicate, so is the risk increased of tearing away part of the shoot in the act of plucking the leaf. This might seem to account for the stalks found in Pao- chong tea ; but the true reason I believe is, that the young tender shoots bearing two or more leaves are nipped off" with the forefinger and thumb, as described by Mr. Bruce at Assam, and Mr. Jacobson at Java. This latter gentleman is of opinion that the stalks of black tea should not be plucked ofi"; that they favour the process of withering, and do not impede the rolling, because they are succulent and pliant as the leaves. Mr. Jacob- son also states, that the motion of the two hands, for both are employed, is like the oscillation of a pendulum, and that a hundred motions are made in a minute. I have seen the Honan leaves gathered separately ; and all the leaves brought to me in the course of experiments, which will hereafter be detailed, were without their stalks.
I believe, however, the mode of gathering the leaves varies according to the succulency of the shrubs, and the practice of
H 2
100 NOTES TO CHAP. V.
different localities. In situations where the shrubs produce long succulent green shoots with many leaves, the leaves are pinched off in pairs with part of the shoot, and classed at the time of gathering ; or the whole shoot may be gathered at once, and the leaves plucked off, and classed afterwards by females when received at the roasting sheds. Many Chinese drawings and statements sanction this latter mode. The Hyson leaves are said to be so gathered, and the stalks and shoots are sepa- rated carefully, because the stalks would injure the tea in the progress of manipulation ; but with black teas, the stalks and shoots seem to be separated with less care, because attended with no apparent detriment to quality.
In localities where the sln-ubs are of less luxuriant growth, and, consequently, produce shorter and less succulent shoots, and fewer leaves, the leaves may be plucked off separately ; because it can be done with much less chance of tearing away any part of the shoot, or of injuring the bud left for the for- mation of new shoots, which will be found at the foot of the leaf-stalk, or petiole. The quantity of rough, ragged stalks, however, sifted from Twankay tea, which is a green tea, shows that the leaves of this tea can hardly be gathered separately ; and, moreover, from their hard, ligneous character, that the leaves of this tea are the product of inferior shrubs, and that even a knife may partly have been used in the gathering. In- deed, it is said that the leaves of many of these teas are col- lected whole branches at a time, and that the leaves are rudely stripped off with the hands. The same is also said of some Congou teas. But lam indisposed to give credence to these statements, except in the case of very inferior teas, such as small farmers and peasants use for their own consumption, or sell to others of the same class, or are used for adulteration. The teas which Mr. Fortune saw made in the provinces of Fokien and Chekiang appear to have been so gathered. " They striji the leaves off rapidly and promiscuously, and throw them into round baskets, &c." ( Wanderings in China, p. 203.)
Mr. Jacobson observes, that when young shoots appear very green and succulent, and deficient in brown wood, the gather- ing had better be deferred for a few days.
§ 290. When the leaves are fit for gathering, the third and
NOTES TO CIIAr. V. 101
fourth leaves, if plucked upwards, will break a little above the leaf-stalk or petiole, consequcntlj, above the bud ; thus the leaf-stalk, with its fragmeiital leaf, is left to foster the bud, and to act as a conduit of moisture during rain. "When the leaves are harsh and fibrous, and, consequently, too old to be gathered, then they generally break in the middle, leaving behind one half of the leaf. This is a test that may be relied upon ; and the gathering must be regulated accordingly.
§ 291. The planter will soon know by his eye when the time of gathering is arrived : still it is better to observe the above rule. The plant first shoots forth and develops two leaves ; it shoots again, and two more unfold ; and again in the same manner, till nine or more leaves are produced on one shoot. At this period, the lower part of the shoot becomes brown and woody ; later, three or four buds send forth branches on either side, and the whole together assumes a fan-like shape. Before this state of growth arrives, the leaves should be gathered. The plucking of the leaves from the shoots requires a certain skill : yet women and children may do it.
§ 296. The gathering is divided into three classes of leaves, and each class is gathered by different men. First, the top-leaf, consisting of the convoluted leaf-bud with its expanding or expanded leaf ; then the fine-leaf tea, consisting of the second and third leaves ; and, finally, the fourth and fifth leaves, which form the middle-leaf tea. The coarse-leaf tea is the refuse of these two classes after manipulation. It is the dut}^, also, of the gatherers of the middle-leaf tea, as they are the last ga- therers, to search for and gather any other delicate leaves which may have been overlooked by the previous gatherers. The mode of gathering is by turning the thumb downwards, and nipping off the young green succulent shoot with the nail and forefinger, first below the top-leaf, with its expanded or ex- panding leaf Then below the second and third, and the fourth and fifth leaves. If the sixth and seventh leaves are fit for tea, they may be gathered also.
§§ 300. and 301. When the last leaves on the shoot are ga- thered, they must not be nipped ofi', but plucked upwards, and in such a manner as not to injure the buds; otherwise such shoots or branches would be left without the power of repro-
H 3
102 NOTES TO CHAP. V.
duction. It is desirable that two, but not more buds, should be left on each shoot ; and the separation should be made about a quarter of an inch from the nearest eye or bud intended to be preserved for the reproduction of young shoots. The stalks of the leaves of black tea must not be detached from the leaves, because, in the process of withering, they improve the flavour of the tea, and do not impede the rolling of the leaves, because they are tender, pliant, and succulent.
§ 302. The green tea leaves are gathered without their stalks, because the withering of these leaves would be injurious. The stalks are, consequently, not nipped off, but the leaves plucked upwards.
§§ 305.— 308. The gatherers carry a small basket in front of them, fastened round the body ; thus they are enabled to gather the leaves with both hands, and to throw them quickly into the basket- They must not be kept long in the hand, nor in large parcels, lest they should heat and turn sour. Besides the small basket strapped to the body, there are four large baskets each carrying about three pounds of leaves, required for each section of a garden ; so that two may remain while two are sent off to the roasting- sheds : one is required for " fine-leaf," and one for " middle-leaf." The Pekoe and Gunpowder leaves are kept in " scoop-baskets,^^ their quantity being small. The baskets containing the leaves of black tea may be left open and exposed to the sun to hasten the withering ; but the leaves of green tea must not be exposed to the sun, nor should they be kept long in the garden ; nor must the black tea be allowed to wither rapidly, lest they also heat and turn sour.
§ 314. After the fourth gathering, the shrubs will once more exhibit an abundant display of foliage ; but these leaves must be left to restore the exhausted energy of the plant. (Abstracted from the Handbook v. d. Kultuur en Fabrikatie van thee d. J. J. L. L. Jacobson. Batavia, 1843.)
103
CHAP. YI.
MANIPULATION PREVIOUSLY TO ROASTING MODE DESCRIBED
BY A CHINESE EXPOSURE OR NON-EXPOSURE TO SUN
EXPEDIENTS ADOPTED IN RAINY WEATHER DESCRIPTION
OF THE SEVERAL PROCESSES — FRAGRANCE, NONE IN FRESH LEAVES DEVELOPED BY MANIPULATION — PERSONAL OBSER- VATION OF THE SEVERAL PROCESSES REDNESS OF THE LEAF.
Loo Lan describes the method of preparing the Yen or Pao Chong tea as follows. This account is principally useful as containing most of the terms of art employed by the Chinese in the manipulation of tea. "After the leaves are gathered spread them upon flat trays, and expose them to the air : this is called Leang Ching. Toss them with both hands, sift them, and carefully examine them with a light to see if they be spotted with red, which is necessary : this is called To Ching. Carefully put them into small bamboo trays, and cover them up quite close with a cloth, until they emit a fragrant smell: this is called Oc Ching. Hand them to a roaster (Chao Ching Fu), to roast them in a red hot Kuo (an iron vessel). Throw about five ounces (four tales) of leaves into the Kuo, then with a bamboo brush sweep them out. Let them be well rolled, and afterwards sent to the poey or drying- house to be completely dried. This tea is called Souchong and Paochong, and sells at from fifteen to
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104 MANIPULATION PREVIOUSLY TO ROASTING.
thirty shillings the pound (four and eight dollars the catty) in the country where it is made."
Another Chinese, in the manuscript previously quoted, thus describes the process of making the Yen and Puon Shan Souchong: " Spread the leaves about iive or six inches thick on bamboo trays (Po Ky) in a proper place for the air to blow on them. Hire a workman, or Ching Fu (to watch them). Thus the leaves continue from noon until six o'clock, when they begin to give out a fragrant smell. They are then poured into large bamboo trays (Po Lam), in which they are tossed with the hands about three or four hundred times : this is called To Ching. It is this operation which gives the red edges and spots to the leaves.
"They are now carried to the Kuo and roasted ; and afterwards poured on flat trays to be rolled.
'^The rolling is performed with both hands in a circular direction about three or four hundred times ; when the leaves are again carried to the Kuo ; and thus roasted and rolled three times. If the rolling be performed by a good workman, the leaves will be close and well twisted ; if by an inferior one, loose, open, straight, and ill-looking. They are then conveyed to the Poey Long, the fire fierce, and the leaves turned without intermission until they are nearly eight-tenths dried. They are afterwards spread on flat trays to dry until ^yq o'clock, when the old, the yellow leaves, and the stalks are picked out. At eight o'clock tliey are
MODE DESCRIBED BY A CHINESE. 105
' j)oeyed ' again over a slow fire. At noon tliey are turned once, and then left in this state to dry until three o'clock, when they are packed in chests. They are now fit for sale."
By the preceding accounts it appears, that no exposure of the leaves to the sun takes place pre- viously to their being roasted. This opinion is supported by many authorities, upon the ground that the slightest fermentation would injure them. Mr. Pigou, however, and many Chinese state, that the leaves may be placed in the sun if not too ardent ; or, if necessary, that is, if they require it. One person says, "into each tray put ^ve tales of leaves and place them in the sunshine." Another, in speaking of the finest teas, observes, — ''If the leaves require it, they must be placed in the sun to dry. For this purpose they are thinly spread in sieves, and whirled round. If then not sufiiciently dry and flaccid, they must be exposed to the sun again." (Chinese Manuscripts.)
The teas which I have seen made, and have made myself after the manner of Souchong, have inva- riably been exposed to the sun ; and some teas are made altogether in the sun, though this is not es- teemed a good method.*
* When I say that I have "seen made," I mean simply made to explam the process to me. I wish the reader particularly to understand that I have never seen tea made for sale, or which was fit for sale. The tea districts are distant eight hundred or more miles from Canton.
106
EXPOSURE TO SUN.
It is also certain that the Congou teas are ex- posed to the sun in the tea country, where large stands are erected in the open air for this purpose. Some are made horizontally, but more frequently obliquely, and usually contain about three rows of trays (Po Ky), each about two and a half feet dia- meter. Mr. Bruce states that the inclination given to these stands is such as to form an angle of 25°. They are raised two feet from the ground, and incline outwards, towards the sun, as here figured.
The apparent discrepancy, therefore, in these accounts, like many other contradictions which appear in the different relations concerning tea, will be found to arise in most cases from a differ- ence of manipulation dependent upon the state of
EXPOSURE TO SUN. 107
the leaves, or on the kind or quality of tea required to be made.
The Chinese seem to agree that the finest Sou- chongs, the Yen or Padre Souchongs, or Pao- chongs, when made under favourable circumstances, would be injured by any exposure of the leaves to the sun. But it must be remembered that these teas are made from the finest shrubs, the young leaves of which are described as being large, and of great succulency, as well as extreme delicacy. They are also gathered after a succession of bright weather; and the best kinds during the greatest heat of the day. That change, therefore, which is necessary to be produced previously to the process of Leang Ching, by exposing the leaves to the sun, during which they " wither and give *," and be- come soft and flaccid, may so far take place before and after the gathering as to render a simple ex- posure to the air sufficient. Indeed this exposure to the shade and air may be necessary to check or prevent fermentation, or some unfavourable change which they might otherwise undergo.
On the other hand, leaves which are gathered from shrubs of inferior delicacy, and are somewhat harsh and fibrous in their texture, may be greatly im- proved by exposure to the sun, especially if any chemical change be sought. At any rate that state of flaccidity which is desirable must be greatly ac-
* Pigou, Oriental Repertory, vol. ii. p. 288.
108 EXPEDIENTS ADOPTED IN
celerated by such means ; and whether adopted from motives of utility or economy, it may be sufficient for all purposes of the present inquiry to state the fact, as gathered from the testimony of the Chinese, that the finest teas are not exposed to the sun, but that many souchongs of excellent quality commonly are, and the congous invariably.
Leaves gathered after rains more particularly require exposure to the sun. I have seen the Ho Nan leaves collected under such circumstances so treated, and then kept twenty-four hours in a cool place, and afterwards exposed to the sun again Avith advantage. Indeed leaves which are gathered during rains, or in cloudy weather after much rain, must be dried before or over a fire pre- viously to their being roasted. " To carry such leaves thus turgid and full of juices to the Kuo," said an excellent workman, ^' would be boiling them instead of roasting them."
The houses and stoves erected for this last pur- pose appear similar to those employed in the pro- cess denominated poey, under which article a de- scription of these houses will be found.
The manner of drying the leaves in this process is differently described by different persons ; and I imagine there may be many modes of performing it. Some Chinese say that the stoves are built in the centre, and the leaves placed on stands erected on either side, as for the common Bohea ; others, that the stands are placed over the fire, and
RAINY WEATHER.
109
not apart from it, and some that stoves are not used at all, but that the fire is wheeled about under a kind of stand, or framework, fitted to the walls of the building. Perhaps all these methods are used, since this exposure to the fire is simply to produce an evaporation of the exuberant juices acquired during rain ; for in proportion as the leaves are full of juices, so is the pain and difficulty, and even expense, of manipulation increased.
The following plate exhibits a room fitted up for this purpose, having a framework to receive the sieves, with earthern chafing dishes or stoves, con- taining charcoal placed underneath, taken from a Chinese drawing : —
The manipulation now may be divided into — 1st, the process previously to roasting ; and 2ndly, the process of roasting. The process previously to
110 DESCRIPTION OF
roasting consists of Leang Ching, To Ching, and Oc Ching.
The process of Leang Ching is literally that of cooling the leaves, or keeping the leaves cool to prevent or check fermentation. For this purpose they are placed either in shady situations in the open air, exposed to the wind, or in open buildings which admit a draft through them. Easterly winds are said to be unfavourable to this process. Tall stands (Kia Czu), about six feet high, consisting of many stages, are employed to receive the different bamboo trays (Po Ky), in which the leaves are placed in quantities agreeably to their qualities, and the care intended to be bestowed on their manipu- lation. The finest description of Yen or Padre Souchong teas are thinly strewed over the trays ; but inferior kinds of Yen and Puon Shan teas are placed five or six inches thick. In this state they are kept, until they begin to emit a slight degree of fragrance, when they are sifted, to rid them of any sand or dirt which may adhere to them, pre- paratory to the operation of To Ching.
To Ching signifies the tossing about the leaves with the hands.* The manner in which I have
* In composition the Chinese frequently acid another word to the word To, which appears to be referable to some modifi- cation of this part of the process. Some use To Pa, the tossing and patting of the leaves ; others To Tuon, the tossing and collect- ing them into a heap or parcel ; others To Nao, the tossing and rubbing them: and again, To Lung, which means simply tossing, or
THE SEVERAL PROCESSES. Ill
seen this process performed was thus : a man collected together as many leaves as his hands and arms could compass; these he turned over and over, then raised them a considerable heio:ht, and shook them on his hands : he then collected them together again, tossed and turned them as before. In the manuscript already quoted, it is stated that this operation is continued about three or four hundred times ; and that it is this part of the process which produces the red edges and spots on the dried leaves.
Another man whom I saw make tea, after having completed the operation of To Ching, pressed the leaves of each parcel together with a slight degree of force into a heap or ball, which seems to agree with what some Chinese call Tuon Ching. In both cases they were kept until they emitted what the workmen deemed the necessary degree of fragrance, when they were roasted. With respect to the quantity tossed at one time, the Chinese differ con- siderably. Some say that the Siao Poey, Ta Poey, with other Souchong teas, and Congou teas, are made in large quantities. The leaves of six or seven small trays are mixed, they say, together, and placed
literally tossing and tumbling about the leaves. Now the tossing, patting, rubbing; collecting the leaves in a heap and covering them up as in the process of Oc Ching, are doubtless different methods used for the purpose of checking or hastening ferment- ation, as the leaves may require. The finest descriptions of Yen or Paochong tea are not handled at all, but are simply whirled round in sieves.
112
DESCRIPTION OF
in large trays (Po Lam), and two. three, four, or more men, are employed to toss them. Some say that six or seven pounds (five catties), and others eleven or thirteen pounds (eight or ten catties), are thus formed into one heap even for fine Souchong.
The finest kinds of Yen or Pao Chong teas are said to be placed in sieves in a long narrow close room. Open shelves, made of bamboo, pass along the walls, eighteen or twenty in height, upon which sieves, or small trays, are placed. The leaves of this tea being thinly strewed in the sieves, as al- ready described in the process of Leang Ching,
THE SEVERAL PROCESSES. 113
require no tossing, but are simply whirled round and shaken to and fro, as in the act of sifting and winnowing, which obviously would produce the same effect. Thus the workman begins at one end of the room, and proceeds in the manner already described, until each sieve has passed through his hands. He then returns to the first sieve, and continues the process until the leaves give out the requisite degree of fragrance.*
These teas, agreeably to the accounts of some Chinese, then undergo another process previously to their being roasted, denominated Oc Ching. This consists in collecting the leaves of each sieve into a heap, and covering them with a cloth. They are then watched with the utinost care, and, as this part of the process is continued during the
* Mr. Jacobson describes this process very accurately. It is employed at Java for all descriptions of black tea, as well as tossing the leaves with the hands. He states, the leaves are strewed about two inches thick on circular trays, measuring about 301 inches in diameter. An undulatory motion is given to the tray from right to left, by a slight action of the arms and hands. The leaves thus kept in constant motion, and whirled round, turn as it were on a common axis, and rise in a cone- like shape to the height of eight inches, occupying little more than one half of the tray. He also observes, that one man may work eighty trays containing 60 lbs. of leaves in this manner in one hour. The leaves are first whirled from thirty to forty times, then tossed from thirty-five to forty times, and so as long as necessary ; but the last motion must be the whirling. TJiey are then covered with a tray, and put aside for about an hour ; but this must depend on the state of the leaves. {Handhoek V. d. Kidtimr en Fabrikatie v,Thee, § 333.)
I
114 FRAGRANCE, NONE IN FRESH LEAVES.
night, the workmen are described as constantly proceeding round to the different sieves, with a lamp in the hand, gently and carefully lifting up so much of the cloth of each sieve as will permit them to discern whether the leaves have become spotted and tinged with red. So soon as they begin to assume this appearance they also increase in fragrance, and must be instantly roasted or the tea would be injured.*
It may here be observed that the leaves of tea have no kind of fragrance in their unmanipulated state, but have a rank vegetable flavour both in taste and smell. Nor is the frao;rance which is evolved previously to roasting in any degree cor- respondent with that, at least in my opinion, which constitutes the flavour of tea after complete desic- cation.
Thus the manipulation previously to roasting
* Lap Sing says, " It is only a common kind of tea that undergoes the process of Oc Ching, and which is consumed principally at Su-chao, in Kiang Nan." It is true, there is a particular kind of common tea called Hong Cha, or Red Tea, which I have seen, and which is said to be made by a longer continuance of the process of Oc Ching, which is the tea he al- ludes to. But many Chinese affirm that the Paochong tea is co- vered with a cloth, as already described, and others with a tray. Nor does Lap Sing's own account diiFer very materially ; for he admits that, after the process of To Ching, the leaves are col- lected together and suffered to remain in a heap, which he denominates Tuon Ching, during which the leaves become fragrant, and spotted with red. The difference seems only in degree.
DEVELOPED BY MANIPULATION. 115
seems to be for the purpose of evaporating as much of the fluids as possible without injury to the odorous principle, or aroma ; or rather, perhaps, to induce a slight degree of incipient fermentation, or analogous change, which partakes of the sac- charine fermentation of hay, during which the requisite degree of fragrance is evolved. But whatever that change may be to which the fra- grance of smell, and the red or brown appearance of the leaves, which constitute the peculiarity of black tea, may be due, it is on the management of this change that the quality of the Yen, or Padre Souchong teas, greatly dej^ends. To produce it slowly, to know when to retard it, when to accele- rate it, and in what degree, requires some expe- rience ; and the Chinese universally consider the management of the leaves of this fine tea previ- ously to roasting, as the most important and diffi- cult part of the whole manipulation.
We also find that the leaves of these teas, which are of great delicacy and succulency, and gathered during a succession of bright weather, are kept in small parcels ; and the highest degree of fragrance and incipient chemical change, of which they are susceptible without injury, is induced, besides being exposed to more than ' ordinary heat in the first process of roasting, denominated Ta Ching ; they consequently receive much care and attention throughout every stage of the manipulation.
I 2
116 PERSONAL OBSERVATION OF
On tlie other hand, teas which are made from in- ferior shrubs, whose leaves are of a harsher and more fibrous texture, and, consequently, less dis- posed to chemical change or to heat, require less care. Thus we find that Congou teas in particu- lar, which form the bulk of those imported into England, are gathered in all weathers, and exposed to the sun or fire, as circumstances permit, to hasten evaporation. They are also kept in large parcels throughout the whole process of manipu- lation, and less attention is paid to change of colour and fragrance of smell. They nevertheless must undergo the processes of To Ching and Leang Ching, during which they "wither and give," and partially become spotted and tinged with red ; for this state of withering is no less necessary to Con- gou than Souchong tea, and on the skilful manage- ment of this process the excellence of quality of all black tea depends.
Having now related what I have been enabled to collect from the Chinese upon the subject of the manipulation of the leaves previously to roasting, it may also be satisfactory to point out what has come under my own personal observation. I shall therefore now describe the mode in which I have seen this part of the process performed, on two occasions, by men from the Bohea and Ankoy countries. The leaves employed for this purpose were collected from Honan, in the southern suburbs of Canton, and Pack Yuen Shan, north of the city.
THE SEVERAL PKOCESSES. 117
Nor did I perceive any material difference in the mode of manipulation as performed by these men.
The newly gathered leaves were first spread about an inch thick on small sieves, and suffered to remain in the sun about twenty minutes. The leaves of each sieve were then taken in succession, and turned and tossed with the hands for a consi- derable time, as already described in the process of To Ching, when they were again spread out and exposed to the sun. When the leaves began to " wither and give," and become soft and flaccid, the leaves of two or three sieves were then mixed together, and the tossing of the leaves and exposure to the sun again repeated until they began to emit a slight degree of fragrance. They were then re- moved into the shade, formed into still larger par- cels, turned and tossed as before, and finally placed on stands in a room exposed to a free current of air, as in the process of Leang Ching. In a short time they gave out what the workmen deemed the requisite degree of fragrance, when each parcel was again tossed in the shade, and roasted in suc- cession.
No attention was paid to any change of colour in the leaves, nor did any appear red or brown previously to roasting, though some few had a reddish purple appearance afterwards. The tea, when completely dried, resembled a black leaf Congou ; but, while the Honan tea was agreeable, and drew a red infusion, the Pack Yuen Shan tea
I 3
118 REDNESS OF THE LEAVES.
was not drinkable, and the infusion was almost colourless. To what this difference is to be ascribed I am unable to explain, but I am disposed to think it arose from the high temperature employed in roasting the latter tea, it being too great for the then condition of the leaves. Subsequent experi- ments seem to sanction this opinion.
The reddish-purple appearance of the leaves, however, previously to roasting, is not absolutely necessary to the redness of the leaves afterwards. I once rolled a small parcel of leaves previously to roasting them, in the same manner as it is per- formed after roasting, and, upon holding them up to the light, many appeared translucent in parts, but not red. When completely roasted, they had a rich reddish-purple appearance, and were more fragrant in smell than other parcels of the same tea roasted in the common manner. Nor did this translucency appear to be occasioned by the leaves having been bruised in the act of rolling, for the same appearance was produced by placing a few leaves under a wine glass exposed to the sun ; and, by a still further exposure, the leaves became spotted with red, particularly round the edges.
This experiment gave rise to others, which will more fully develop the cause of the change of colour, and the peculiar effects which accompanied that change. Let it here suffice to say that this state of withering is indispensably necessary to black tea ; but whether it be necessary to wait
REDNESS OF THE LEAVES. 119
till the leaves begin to be spotted witb red for black leaf Congous may require further investiga- tion. Mr. Jacobson deems it necessary for all black tea. For Souchong I believe it is ; that is, as soon as some few of the leaves begin to show that disposition, it is time to prepare them for roasting. There is an art in the management of this process.
i 4
120
CHAP. VII.
ROASTING AND FINAL DRYING OF THE LEAVES — TWO PROCESSES
ROASTING VESSELS AND STOVES DESCRIBED — MODE OP
ROASTING MODE OF ROLLING PROCESS OF TA-CHING
FINAL DRYING STOVES AND INSTRUMENTS USED MODE
OF DRYING MARKETS ESTABLISHED PACKING OF THE TEA
AT THE VILLAGE OF SING-CSUN REMARKS ON THE PROCESSES
OF MANIPULATION VARIATIONS IN THE MODE OF MANIPULA- TION OBSERVATIONS ON THE MODES DESCRIBED BY MR.
FORTUNE — SOME TEAS WHOLLY MANIPULATED IN THE SUN EXPERIMENTS ON THIS ]!fODE, AND DEDUCTIONS THEREFROM.
The roasting and drying of the leaves may be divided into the two processes of Chao or Tsao and Poey. The former takes place in a shallow iron vessel called a Kuo ; and the latter in sieves over a charcoal fire — a description of which will be found under its proper article. The Kuo is a remarkably thin vessel of cast iron of a circular form, differing in no respect from those used in China for culinary purposes : except that it has no handles.
The size most employed is about 2 feet 4 inches in diameter, and 7^ inches deep ; but they vary in size according to the quantity of leaves intended
STOVES AND VESSELS USED. 121
to be roasted at one time. The stoves commonly in use are said to consist of oblong pieces of brick- work, resembling the Hyson stoves to be seen in the Hong merchants' roasting houses at Honan, in the district of Canton. The Kuo is fitted in hori- zontally with its rim even with the upper surface of the stove. The best constructed stoves have a small ledge at the back part, for the purpose of holding a lamp, as the roasting is generally continued until a late hour, and frequently through the night. The fire-places are at the back of the stove : so con- structed as to leave an opening underneath for wood or charcoal. As much tea is made by the poor, and small farmers, it occasionally happens that both the stove and the Kuo are identical with those used for culinary purposes ; and the vessel, which in the morning is employed to boil rice for their breakfast, is in the evening used to roast tea. Generally, however, separate vessels are used exclu- sively for tea ; for great care must be taken to keep the Kuo clean and free from every thing which might communicate an objectionable flavour. And as a yellowish viscid juice exudes from the tea in the process of roasting and rolling, forming when dry a whitish deposit which adheres to the sides of the Kuo, it becomes necessary during the several stages of the manipulation to wash the vessel and other instruments used, and also the hands. I did not observe any such deposit during the experiments which I witnessed ; but I have no
122 FIRST ROASTING.
doubt of its existence when the leaves are thick and succulent.
In the first roasting of all black tea, the fire is prepared with dry Avood, and kept exceedingly brisk. The vessel is heated to a high temperature, much above the boiling point ; but any heat may suffice which produces the crackling of the leaves described by Kosmpfer.
I shall now explain the mode in which I have seen the Honan tea leaves roasted after the manner of Souchong and Congou, by men from the Bohea and Ankoy districts, to exemplify this process to me.
The roaster stands on the side of the stove oppo- site the fireplace, and taking about half a pound of leaves between his hands, he throws them into the Kuo. He then places his hands upon the leaves, and with a slight degree of pressure, draws them from the opposite side of the vessel across the bottom to the side nearest himself. He then turns them over and throws them back again, repeating this action until the leaves are sufficiently roasted.
When the heat becomes excessive, and difficult to bear, the roaster then raises the leaves some height above the Kuo, and shaking them on his hands, he lets them gradually fall, which serves to dissipate the steam, and to cool them. There is one circumstance which it is necessary here to notice, as requiring the attention of the roaster. Care must be taken to observe that none of the
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leaves lodge or remain about the middle part of the bottom of the Kuo, for this being the part most heated, they soon begin to burn, and if not attended to, might communicate a smoky or burnt flavour to the tea; though in this early stage of the process there is not much danger of producing that evih This defect is easily perceived and obviated ; for the smoke which arises from the burnt leaves can readily be distinguished from the steam produced by evaporation ; then by increasing the pressure of the leaves against the heated part of the vessel as they are drawn across, the roaster is enabled to sweep away or remove such leaves as
124 FIRST ROASTING.
may have lodged in the bottom ; and if he quicken the motion at the same time, the smoke and burnt smell will speedily disappear.
With respect to the degree of roasting which is requisite, it may suffice to say, that the roasting must be continued until the leaves give out a fragrant smell, and become quite soft and flaccid, when they are in a fit state to be rolled.
And here it may be important to observe, philo- sophically as well as practically, that though the leaves are fragrant when brought to the roasting vessel, yet that fragrance is dispersed so soon as the fluids are rapidly set