Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1886 — Tea Cultivation in Japan. [ARTICLE]

Tea Cultivation in Japan.

The tea-plant, like many other plants, can not be transplanted or multiplied by slips or by grafting, but must be raised from the" seeds. It requires a temperate climate, too great heat or cold being injurious to it. The best time for sowing is from December to the end of January. The seeds are placed in circles, slightly covered with earth, over which a layer of rice-husks is spread in order to protect them against the hoar-frost. The first shoots appear in the following May or June, the roots developing in proportion to the plant. If the seeds are sown too late, the roots have not time to expand before the rising of the stem, which injures permanently the subsequent growth of the shrub. No manure is required during the first twelvemonth after the appearance of the plant. During the second year animal manure diluted in an equal amount of water is applied. From the third year the stem is surrounded three times yearly with pure animal manure or oil-cake, i. e., the residue of the oil-press. At the end of the third year the shrub is topped, in order to increase the power of forming lateral buds. The first leaves are gathered in the fourth year. The harvest commences in the beginning of the summer, when only the youngest leaves are picked. Thirty days after the first gathering the second takes place. Some teagrowers have lately made a third pickr ing, in consequence of the rise in the price of tea, but this proceeding ought to be energetically discountenanced, as it has proved most injurious to the plant.

The leaves, immediately after having been gathered, are taken to the factory. Thte ea-plant abounds in stipules, andis thus unlike other plants of the order of the Ternstroemiacese, which are usually ex-stipulate. Here the stipules are separated by means of a bamboo sieve, and all impurities are removed. This done, the leaves are exposed to the action of steam, by placing them on a bamboo hurdle over water heated to 200 degrees F. in a covered pan. Those intended for tea-in-leaf are steamed for fifteen seconds, those intended for powdered tea for half a minute. After this they are uncovered, turned .and aired by means of fans. The leaves, when perfectly dry, are removed from the second lioiro into sieves of copper-wire, into which the petioles, which may have remained attached, are separated by gentle rubbing between the palms of the handfij After having been winnowed, the leaves are assorted into three qualities and sifted through bamboo sieves, of which there are six different degrees of fineness. Common tea is sifted but once, the better qualities from six to seven times, and the powdered tea even as often as ten times, which expenditure in time and labor renders this kind of tea extremely deal 1 . The tea-leaves, after having been prepared for use in the manner above described, are in June exposed to the action of a gentle fire for several hours; then spread out in ft flat pan and

fanned until they have cooled. Then they are put into glazed earthenware jars, Which are methodically moved and shaken until they settle firmly, fresh leaves being added by degrees until they are quite full. These jars are closed by stoppers, likewise of earthenware, which are wrapped in several layers of paper in order to make them air tight. The jars are removed to the upper floor of the factory, and stored in a room which must be well aired, cool, and perfectly dry. In August the tea is again fired and treated in the same manner as. in the preceding month, and this process is repeated in the following months of November, February, and March, the tea being fired altogether twelve times during the twelvemonth after the harvest. Tea, for the inland transport, is packed in boxes macje of the wood of the Kiri, the Pawlownia imperialis. For export air-tight tin boxes are used, which have a casing of the wood of Sugi. the Cryptomeria japonica. Smaller quantities are kept in well-stopped glass jars, made air-tight with pitch.— English Illustrated Magazine.