TAWING. The art of preparing See LLATHER.
TEA. The dried leaves of the tea-plant, which is a native of Japan, China, and Tonquin. The history of commerce does not perhaps present a parallel to the circumstances which have attended the introduction of tea into this country. The leaves were first imported into Europe by the Dutch East India Company, in the early part of the seventeenth century ; but it was not until the year 1666 that a small quantity was brought over from Holland ; and yet, from a period earlier than the memory of but few of the present generation can reach, tea has been regarded as one of the principal necessaries of life among all classes of the community. To provide a sufficient supply of this aliment, many thousands if tons of the finest mercantile navy in the world are employed in trading with a people by whom all dealings with foreigners are merely tolerated ; and from this recently-acquired taste, an immense and easily-collected revenue is obtained by the state.
The tea-plant is an evergreen, somewhat resembling the myrtle in appearance bears a fragrant yellow flower, 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 walla of Pekin, where the winter is, not unfrequently, as severe as in the north of Europe. The best sorts, however, are the production of a more temperate climate; the finest teas are said to be grown in the province of Nanking, occupying nearly the middle station between the two extremes mentioned above; and the greatest portion of what is brought to the Canton market, and sold to the European merchants, is the produce of the hilly, but populous and industrious, province of Fokien, situated on the sea-coast, to the north-east of Canton. It appears to thrive best in valleys, or on the sloping banks of hills, exposed to the southern sun, and especially on the banks of rivers or rivulets.
The tea-plant is propagated from seed, and the 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.
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 is one of great nicety and importance. Each leaf is plucked separately from the stalk ; the hands of the gatherer are kept carefully clean, in collecting some of the fine sorts, he hardly ventures to breathe on the plant. Notwithstanding the tediousness of such an o ' a labourer can frequently collect from four to ten, or even fifteen a day. Three or four of these gatherings take place during the viz. towards the end of February, or the beginning of March ; in A ' or May ; towards the middle of June ; and in August. From the first ering, which consists of the very young and tender leaves only, the most uable teas are manufac tured; viz: the green tea called gunpowder, and the black tea called Pekoe. The produce of this first gathering is also denominated in China, Imperial tea, i 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 flavour, for the consumption of the emperor and his court. From the second and third crops are manufactured the green teas, called in our shops Hyson and Imperial; and the black teas denominated Souchong and Congou. The light and inferior leaves separated from the Hyson by winnowing, form a tea called Hyson-skin, 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 manu factured the coarsest species of black tea called Bobea; 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.