employment to many of the Chinese peasantry. It is propagated from seed. Holes are drilled in the ground at equal distances and in regular rows, and into each of these holes the planter throws from six to twelve seeds, not above a fifth part of them being expected to grow. While growing, the plants are carefully watered, weeded, and manured, though, when once out of the ground, they would continue to vegetate without care. The leaf of the tea plant is not fit for gathering until the third year. At that period the shrub is in its prime. When seven years old, the leaves become few and coarse, and the shrub is then generally cut down to the stem, which in the succeeding summer produces an exuberant crop of fresh foliage. The process of gathering the leaves is one of great nicety and importance. The leaf is plucked separately from the stalk, and in doing this the gatherer is careful that his hands are clean; and in collecting some of the fine sorts he hardly ventures to breathe on the plant. But, with all this care, the labourer is frequently able to collect from four to ten, or even fifteen, pounds in the day. There are four of these gatherings during the season; namely, in February or March, in April or May, in June, and in August. The fineness and dearness of tea are determined by the tenderness and smallness of the leaf when gathered. From the first gathering, which consists of the young and tender leaves, the green tea called "gunpowder," and the black tea called "pekoe," (which is a corruption of the Canton name pak-ho, "white-down,") are manufactured. The second crop of leaves, which are 66 more fleshy and matured, constitute " souchong" and "hyson;" the third, "imperial” and congou;" and the fourth, that coarse species of black tea called "bohea." This last crop is united with an inferior tea grown in a district called Woping, near Canton, together with such as remained unsold in the market of the last season. The division of land in China being very minute, there are few if any large tea-farmers. The plantations are small, and the business of them chiefly carried on by the owner and his family. After the produce of each picking, the cultivators give the tea a rough preparation, and then carry it to the contractors or tea-collectors, whose business it is to dry the leaves ready for the merchant. The process of drying differs according to the quality of the tea. Some of the leaves are only exposed under a shed to the sun's rays, and frequently turned. The green teas, however, are generally dried in houses erected for that purpose. These houses contain from five to twenty small furnaces, on the top of which is a flatbottomed pan made of iron. These pans are heated to a particular temperature, and then a few pounds of fresh-gathered leaves are poured into them. As they touch the pan they crackle, and it is the business of the operator to stir them rapidly about with his hand until they become too hot for the sense of touch. They are then taken off with a fan-like shovel, and poured on some mats before the rollers, who, taking them up in small quantities, roll them in the palms of their hands in one direction, while assistants with fans are employed to fan the leaves, in order that they may cool the quicker, and retain their curl effectually. This operation of drying and rolling is repeated till all the moisture of the leaves is evaporated, the pans being on each successive occasion less and less heated, lest the flavour should be injured. When the operation is completed, the leaves are separated into their several classes, and stored away either for domestic use or sale. When sold to the Canton tea merchants, they complete the manufacture by mixing and garbling the different qualities, in which work-women and children are chiefly employed. After this the tea receives a last drying; and being divided according to quality, is finally packed and sealed up in chests for the use of those who love the exhilarating beverage. In China itself all ranks and degrees of people freely partake of it, and its general use in our own country is well known. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, COWPER. Thus we have reason to be thankful to Divine Providence for the blessings obtained from the far distant country of China, and which are brought home by "busy commerce." God graciously causes the plant to grow for our use, and gives the Chinese husbandmen skill to cultivate it, and prepare the leaf for our tables. Another prominent feature in the agriculture of the Chinese, is the growth of the cucumber. This vegetable, differing from ours in its wholesome properties, as it does universally in the east, is in great demand in China. It is grown in the south, where the climate is hot, without any artificial warmth, and in the open field. Around this field there is frequently nothing more than a terrace of earth thrown up for a fence, whence the contents are exposed to the depredations of thieves. To protect them, therefore, the owner erects a lodge with just sufficient room for a watchman to stand in, and in a position where he may overlook the whole field. This lodge, when the crop is growing luxuriously around it, forms no conspicuous object in the scene; but when the vegetables have been removed, it affords a melancholy representation of solitude and desertion. With such a melancholy abandonment Zion was threatened, because its inhabitants heeded not the voice of warning :— "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city." ISA. i. 8. It is impossible to give an idea of the average produce of crops in China. Some of the land is exceedingly fertile, while some is equally sterile. Thus much, however, is certain, that the land is carefully cultivated, and produces great crops. The Chinese keep their fields in better order than their houses, and they plant them with as much care as Europeans do their gardens. But this would not be the case if the lands were not cultivated in small allotments, for the Chinese have neither the skill, energies, nor means of an English farmer. On this subject Barrow remarks:-" If I might venture to offer an opinion with respect to the merits of the Chinese as agriculturists, I should not hesitate to say, that let as much ground be given to one of their peasants as he and his family can work with the spade, and he will turn that piece of ground to more advantage, and produce from it more sustenance for the use of man, than any European would be able to do; but let fifty or one hundred acres of the best land in China be given to a farmer at a mean rent, so far from making out of it the value of three rents, on which our farmers usually calculate, he would scarcely be able to support his family, after paying the expense of labour that would be required to work the farm." As the political father of the nation, the emperor is the sole proprietor of the lands, and the cultivators are his tenants. Large tracts, both of China and Turkestan, are allotted to the soldiery, as was the case among the ancient Egyptians, till the law of territorial property was modified by that consummate statesman the Hebrew Joseph.* The husbandmen of China forfeit their lands if they do not keep them in proper cultivation, or if they refuse to pay the taxes, or invalidate their title by fraudulent practices. At the death of a parent they are divided amongst his sons, the eldest receiving the larger share. Great landholders let land out in small parcels, and pay the taxes themselves, as is frequently the case in England. Every one in China may cultivate waste land, upon application to government; and the people are encouraged to do this by an exemption from taxes until it is * See the History of the Egyptians, page 33, published by the Religious Tract Society. |