THE EDUC UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATION, MANUFACTURE, AND USE OF TEA. PLATE II. Gathering the Leaves of the Tea-Plant. THE tree, or rather shrub, from the leaves of which that refreshing and now indispensable beverage called TEA is made, is a native of China and Japan, in which countries alone it is cultivated for use. It is an evergreen, somewhat resembling the myrtle in appearance, and grows to a height varying between three and six feet. It is capable of enduring great variations of climate, being cultivated alike in the neighbourhood of Canton, where the heat is at times almost insupportable to the natives; and around the walls of Pekin, where the winter is, not unfrequently, as severe as in the north of Europe. The best sorts, VOL II. however, are the production of a more temperate cli- The first European writer who mentions tea is valuable teas are manufactured; viz., the green tea Giovanni Botero, an eminent Italian author, who pub-called Gunpowder, and the black tea called Pekoe. lished a treatise, about the year 1590, on the causes of the magnificence and greatness of cities. He does not mention tea by name, but he describes it in such a manner, that it is impossible to mistake it. "The Chinese," he says, "have a herb, out of which they press a delicate juice, which serves them for drink, instead of wine: it also preserves their health, and frees them from all those evils which the immo-factured the green teas called in our shops Hyson and derate use of wine produces among us." The tea-plant is propagated from the seed, and the manner of sowing it is represented in Plate I. The produce of this first gathering is also denominated in China, Imperial tea, probably because where the shrub is not cultivated with a view to supplying the demands of the Canton market, it is reserved, either in obedience to the law, or on account of its superior value, for the consumption of the emperor and his court. From the second and third crops, are manu Imperial, and the black teas denominated Souchong and Congou. The light and inferior leaves separated from the Hyson by winnowing, form a tea called Hysonskin, much in demand by the Americans, who are also the largest general purchasers of green teas. On the other hand, some of the choicest and tenderest leaves of the second gathering, are frequently mixed with those of the first. From the fourth crop is manufactured the coarsest species of black tea called Bohea; and this crop is mixed with an inferior tea, grown in a district called Woping, near Canton; together with such tea as remained unsold in the market of the last season. Holes are drilled in the ground at equal distances, and in regular rows; into each hole the planter throws as many as six, or even a dozen seeds, not above a fifth part of the seed planted being expected to grow. While coming to maturity, they are carefully watered; and though, when once out of the ground, they would continue to vegetate without further care, the more industrious cultivators annually manure the ground, and clear the crop from weeds. Amongst other stories relative to the tea-tree, it has been said that some of the finest specimens grow Owing to the minute division of land in China, on the precipitous declivities of rocky mountains, there can be few, if any, large tea-growers; the planwhere it is too difficult or too dangerous for human tations are small, and the business of them carried beings to gather them; and that the Chinese, in order on by the owner and his own family, who carry the to procure them, pelt a race of monkeys, which in- produce of each picking immediately to market, where habit these inapproachable recesses, with stones, pro-it is disposed of to a class of persons whose business voking them to return the compliment with a shower it is to collect and dry the leaves, ready for the of tea-branches. This story, however, refutes itself: Canton tea-merchants. the tea-plant, whose leaves are worth gathering for home use or for commerce, is a cultivated, not a wild plant; and where man could not approach to gather, he certainly could neither sow, water, nor manure. The leaves of the tea-plant are not fit for gathering until the third year, at which period they are in their prime, and most plentiful. When about seven years old, the shrub has generally grown to about the height of a man, and its leaves become few and coarse it is then generally cut down to the stem, which, in the succeeding summer, produces an exuberant crop of fresh shoots and leaves; this operation, however, is sometimes deferred till the plant is ten years old. The process of gathering the tea, as represented in Plate II. is one of great nicety and importance. Each leaf is plucked separately from the stalk; the hands of the gatherer are kept carefully clean, and, in collecting some of the fine sorts, he hardly ventures to breathe on the plant. At a place called Udsi, in the island of Japan, is a mountain, the climate of which is supposed to be particularly congenial to the growth of tea, and the whole crop which grows upon it is reserved for the sole use and disposal of the emperor. A wide and deep ditch round the base of the mountain prevents all access, except to the appointed guardians of its treasures. The shrubs are carefully cleansed of dust, and protected from any inclemency of the weather. The labourers who collect the leaves, are obliged, for some weeks previous, to abstain from all gross food, lest their breath or perspiration might injure the flavour; they wear fine gloves while at work, and during that period bathe two or three times a day. Notwithstanding the tediousness of such an operation, a labourer can frequently collect from four to ten, or even fifteen pounds a day. Three or four of these gatherings take place during the season; viz., | towards the end of February or beginning of March; in April or May; towards the middle of June; and in August. From the first gathering, which consists of the very young and tender leaves only, the most Some The process of drying, which should commence as soon as possible after the leaves have been gathered, differs according to the quality of the tea. are only exposed under a shed to the sun's rays, and frequently turned. The process represented in the next cut, and which we shall now explain, is supposed to apply only to the green teas. : A drying-house, as represented in Plate III., will contain from five to ten or twenty small furnaces, on the top of each of which is a flat-bottomed and shallow iron pan; there is also a long, low table, covered with mats, on which the leaves are spread and rolled, after they have gone through the first stage of the process, which we may call baking. When the pans are heated to the proper temperature, a few pounds of fresh-gathered leaves are placed upon them the fresh and juicy leaves crack as they touch the pan, and it is the business of the operator to stir and shift them about as rapidly as possible, with his bare hands, until they become too hot to be touched without pain. At this moment, he takes off the leaves with a kind of shovel, like a fan, and pours them on the mats before the rollers, who, taking them up by small quantities at a time, roll them in the palms of their hands, in one direction only; while assistants with fans are employed to fan the leaves, in order that they may be the quicker cooled, and retain their curl the longer. To secure the complete evaporation of all moisture from the leaves, as well as the stability of their curl, the operation of drying and rolling is repeated two or three times, or even oftener, if necessary,—the pans being, on each successive occasion, less and less heated, and the whole process performed with increasing slowness and caution. The leaves are then separated into their several classes, and stored away for domestic use or for sale. It was, at one time, supposed that the green teas were dried on copper pans, and that they owed their fine green colour to that circumstance, which was also said to render a free use of them noxious to the human frame; but this idea is now held to be without any foundation, the most accurate experiments having failed in detecting the slightest particle of cop- | from the low grounds by the peasants, and on our per in the infusion. After the tea has been thus gathered by the cultivator, and cured and assorted by those who, for want of a better name, we may call Tea-collectors, it is finally sold to the "Tea-merchants" of Canton, who complete the manufacture by mixing and garbling the different qualities, in which women and children are chiefly employed: the tea then receives a last drying, is divided according to quality, packed in chests, and made up into parcels of from one hundred to six hundred chests each, which are stamped with the name of the district, grower, and manufacturer, and called, from a Chinese word, meaning seal or stamp, CHOPS. The use of tea as a beverage in China is of an antiquity beyond record, and is as universal as it is ancient; from the emperor to the lowest peasant or labourer, all alike drink tea, varying only in quality. That consumed by the common people must, however, be not only of an inferior class, but very weak; as the native attendants on Lord Macartney's embassy were continually begging the refuse leaves, which had been already used by the English, because, after pouring fresh water over them, they obtained a better beverage than what they had usually an opportunity of enjoying. On the other hand, some tea presented by the emperor KienLong to Lord Macartney was found to want somewhat of the astringency which the British tea-drinker is accustomed to look for and to value in the infusion. Thrice at least in the day every Chinese drinks tea, but all who enjoy the means have recourse to the refreshing beverage much more frequently; it is the constant offering to a guest, and forms a portion of every sacrifice to their idols. It is made in China as with us, by pouring boiling water on the dried leaves; but the Chinese use neither milk nor sugar. Mr. Ellis, in an account of one of Lord Amherst's visits of ceremony to Kwang, a mandarin of high rank, says, "The tea served round was that only used on occasions of ceremony, called Yu-tien: it was a small-leafed highly-flavoured green tea. In Lord Amherst's and Kwang's cups there was a thin perforated silver plate, to keep the leaves down, and let the infusion pass through. The cups used by the Mandarins of rank, in form, resemble coffee-cups, and are placed in a wooden or metal saucer, shaped like the Chinese boats." From Mr. Ellis's Journal we also transcribe the following passage, descriptive of a plantation, and of the Chinese method of irrigation. "Our walk led us through a valley, where we saw, for the first time, the tea-plant. It is a beautiful shrub, resembling a myrtle, with a yellow flower extremely fragrant. The plantations were not here of any extent, and were either surrounded by small fields of other cultivation, or placed in detached spots; we also saw the ginger in small patches, covered with a frame-work to protect it from the birds. Irrigation is conducted by a chain-pump, worked by the hand, capable, I think, of being employed in England with advantage. An axle, with cogs, is fixed at each end of the trough, over which the flat boards pass; at the end of the uppermost axle cross-bars are attached, serving as a wheel; to these again handles are fixed, which the man works, using each hand alternately. The labour is light, and the quantity of water raised considerable. The view from the top of the mountain repaid the labour of ascent. The scene was in the true mountain style, rock above rock in endless and sublime variety. This wildness was beautifully contrasted by the cultivation of the valleys, speckled with white cottages and farm-houses. We had been observed descent were received by a crowd, who followed us with shouts, that might, had it not been for their subsequent civility in offering us tea, have been mistaken for insolence; as it was, they certainly were merely the rude expressions of astonishment.” In Japan, where tea is also a beverage common to most classes of persons, they reduce it to a fine powder, which they place before the company, in a box forming part of the tea-equipage. The cups being filled with warm water, the powdered tea is taken from the box, on the point of a knife, and thrown into the cups, which are then handed to the company. It remains only to give a short account of the introduction of tea into England, and of the progress of a trade, which to use the words of Mr. M'Culloch, is, considering its late rise, and present magnitude, the most extraordinary phenomenon in the history of commerce. The Dutch are said to have brought tea to Europe early in the seventeenth century, but there is no trace of its being known in this country until after 1650; in 1660 it is coupled with coffee, chocolate, and sherbet, in an act imposing a duty of eight-pence a gallon on all quantities of these liquors sold in coffee-houses. That it was, however, in no very extensive demand, even among people of fashion, and as a foreign luxury, may be conjectured from a memorandum of Pepys, who says in his Diary, "25th September, 1661, I sent for a cup of tea, a China drink, of which I had never drunk before." Three years after, two pounds two ounces of it were considered a present which it was not unworthy the king (Charles the Second) to receive from the East India Company, and in 1667 that company, for the first time, gave an order to their agents to send some on their account, to England, limiting the order, however, to one hundred pounds of the best that could be got. The price of some brought from Holland about this time by the Earls of Arlington and Ossory, distinguished noblemen of the court of Charles the Second, is said to have been 60s. a pound. The tea trade of England did not make much progress during the early part of the eighteenth century, for the importation between the years 1700 and 1710, amounted to less than 800,000 pounds. It was still a scarce luxury, confined to the wealthy: it was made in small pots of the most costly china, holding not more than half a pint, and drunk out of cups whose capacity scarcely exceeded that of a large table-spoon. It is probably to this period, or somewhat later, that we may refer the anecdote, if true, of the country lady, who receiving as a present, a small quantity of tea, in total ignorance of its real use, looked upon it as some outlandish vegetable, boiled it until she thought it was tender, and then, throwing away the water, endeavoured to eat the leaves. Those of our readers who may wish for more information respecting the progress of this important trade than our limits enable us to give, will find it in M'CULLOCH's Dictionary of Commerce, to which valuable work we are indebted for some of the materials of this paper. We have only room to add, that, in the century between 1710 and 1810, the eas imported into this country, amounted to upwards of 750 millions of pounds, of which more than than 630 millions were sold for home consumption; between 1810 and 1828, the total importation exceeded 427 millions of pounds, being on an average between twenty-three and twenty-four millions a year; and in 1831, the quantity imported, was 26,043,223 pounds. POPULAR LITERATURE. Final Process of Mixing the Tea. EXTRACT FROM A LECTURE DELIVERED TO THE CHICHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, BY THE DEAN OF CHICHESTER, THE PRESIDENT. THг. Lecturer, after detailing the process by which literature has gradually become cheap and accessible to all orders of society, proceeds to say: "It is not, at present, a question, whether this state of things was to have been desired, or to have been deprecated. It is perfectly in vain for any man, however elevated or powerful, to offer the feeble resistance of his single strength to the course and impulse of events. But, for myself, I confess that (with certain restrictions and cautions, to which I shall presently allude) I cannot consider this state of things as at all to be regretted. "As a general question, ignorance must ever be considered as an evil, knowledge as a good; and, in proportion as the former is circumscribed, and the latter diffused, so much is gained to the great cause of human improvement and happiness. Still less can the extension of knowledge be lamented, in respect to the cause of religion and morality. So long as truth is elicited, illustrated, and confirmed, we, who believe the religion that we profess, and the morality whose principles we acknowledge, both to stand on the basis of truth, cannot but rejoice. It must, also, be a matter of gratification, that the faculties with which God has endowed mankind should be cultivated and improved in the greatest number of persons. The imagination, the memory, the reason, are the gift of our common Creator; nor can any one of these faculties be neglected or disused, without derogating from the perfect man, exactly as he is deteriorated, if any of his bodily powers-his eye or his ear-were obstructed in the exercise of its proper functions. "It surely must also happen that intellectual cultivation will, in many instances, call men off from gross and vulgar gratifications; will soften their ferocity, and curb their violent passions. Neither does it necessarily follow, that mental improvement will render them unfit or indisposed for performing those laborious offices, which indigence imposes on the great mass of mankind. Men pique themselves, not on what they possess in common with others, but on what exempts them from the ordinary herd. Were 1 reading and writing universal, were the minds of all cultivated and improved, men would no more be vain of such accomplishments, than they now are vain of being able to walk or to see. "It still remains a fact, that may be confirmed by reference to authentic documents, that the greatest number of crimes is committed by the ignorant; and it is also a truth, proved by experience, that the cultivation of the working classes has produced numerous cases of individuals, whose talents have been called forth, whose minds have been expanded, and who have been rendered happier and better by education, without their having been in the slightest degree unfitted for the duties of their humble station. "I might cite the names of Struthers, of Millhouse, of Jones, of Colling. But I should be unpardonable in travelling so far from home, when our own city can, at this moment, afford the living instance of an individual*, who has successfully cultivated the poetical talents which Providence has given him; who has endured the trial of praise from the illustrious and the talented, without contracting a single habit unsuitable to his station in life; and who has made his cultivated intellect serve only as a means of maintaining a family, of affording to himself a solace and recreation from toil, and of delighting his mind with the bright and fair creations of the imagination." THE SEVERE FROST OF 1684. Jan. 24.-" THE Frost continuing more and more severe, the Thames, before London, was still planted with booths in formal streets, all sorts of trades and shops, furnished and full of commodities, even to a printing-press, where the people and ladies took a fancy to have their names printed, and the day and the year set down, when printed on the Thames: this humour took so universally, that it was estimated the printer gained five pounds a-day, for printing a line only, at sixpence a name, besides what he got by ballads, &c. Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from other stairs to and fro, as in the streets; sleds, sliding with skaites, a bull-baiting, horse and coach-races, puppet-plays and interludes, cooks, tippling, and other lewd places; so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water; whilst it was a severe judgment on the land, the trees not only splitting as if lightning-struck, but men and cattle perishing in divers places, and the very seas so locked up with ice, that no vessels could stir out or come in. The fowls, fish, and birds, and all our exotic plants and greens, universally perishing. Many parks of deer were destroyed; and all sorts of fuel so dear, that there were great contributions to keep the poor alive. Nor was this severe weather much less intense in most parts of Europe, even as far as Spain in the most southern tracts. London, by reason of the excessive coldness of the air hindering the ascent of the smoke, was so filled with the fuliginous steam of the sea-coal, that hardly could any one see across the streets, and this, filling the lungs with its gross particles, exceedingly obstructed the breast, so as one could scarcely breathe. There was no water to be had from the pipes and engines; nor could the brewers and divers other tradesmen work, and every moment was full of disastrous incidents." It appears, by the following extract from an old MS. account-book of a parish in the city, of sums expended, that, in consequence of the distress occa * Charles Crocker, a shoemaker, author of the Vale of Obscurity, and other very pleasing Poems, Drunkenness is the parent of idleness; Poverty is the offspring o! idleness. The drunkard's work is little, but his expenses are great.-DR. JOHNSON. WE proved, very lately, the healthiness of Great Britain, by the best of tests-the length of life which Englishmen enjoy over the inhabitants of other countries, provided they take no desperate courses to shorten their existence. We have now to contrast this pleasing statement, by pointing out one of the great and besetting sins of the land- -one which, from its prevalence, brings with it, more than any other, the greatest mass of sorrow, wretchedness, and crime. We speak of drunkenness, and of drunkenness of the most dangerous kind, and which is brought on by the abuse not simply of intoxicating, but of poisonous liquors *. Those who are most fatally and obstinate ly attached to this vice, must, in some interval of reflection (for such moments will occur), admit that the use of ardent spirits has both corrupted their minds, and weakened their bodies-thus destroying both vigour and virtue at the same moment. The unhappy subject is rendered both too idle, and too feeble for work. So that while drinking makes man poor by the present expense, it disables him from retrieving the ill consequences by subsequent industry. Dr. Willan, in his Reports on the Diseases in London, states his conviction, that " considerably more tharr one-eighth of all the deaths which take place in the metropolis, in persons above twenty years old, happen prematurely, through excess in drinking spirits."Some," he adds, "after repeated fits of derangement, expire in a sudden and violent phrensy. Some are hurried out of the world by apoplexies; others perish by the slower process of jaundice, dropsy, internal ulcers, and mortification in the limbs.' pre Our present object is to show the RESULTS, the fatal results of drunkenness, as they affect, at the sent moment, the good order and well-being of society. Our facts and statements are derived from a valuable body of Evidence annexed to a Report of the House of Commons, on the Observance of the Lord's Day;" for it happens, that amongst the many bad consequences of drinking, none is more striking than the desecration of the Sabbath, both by the drunkard himself, and all who administer to his miserable passion. DOCTOR JOHN RICHARD FARRE. I consider that the use of spirits has greatly increased the diseases of the lower classes, and at the same time tended to demoralize their minds. -In all Are you acquainted generally with the habits, and wishes, and inclinations, and the general dispositions of the classes; and during the earlier period of my life, as the lower orders of the people, from your practice?physician of a public medical institution, I had the charge of the poor in one of the most populous districts of London. I have now been engaged in Great Britain in the study and practice of medicine forty years, and during that period, I have had an opportunity of seeing the destructive effects of spirits on all classes, on a large scale; and I have no hesitation in saying it is the great enemy of the British constitution. In the year 1830, the home consumption duty on spirits was paid, in England alone, on upwards of twelve millions and a half of gallons, of which quantity, upwards of seven millions and a half were British. It is known that by different processes, the quantity of raw spirits is increased very largely the before-mentioned quantity, there fore, great as it is, is very far indeed below the amount consumed. |