der
the generic name of "black," and sometimes finds its way to us under
the guise of "English breakfast tea." From Foo-chow-foo, on the coast,
half-way between Shanghae and Hong Kong, is shipped another description
known as red-leaf Congou, the bulk of which goes to England also,
although we are gradually absorbing an increasing quantity. Kiu Kiang,
on the Yang Tsze, some one hundred and forty miles below Hankow, shares
with the latter port in the trade of the Hupeh country, and is, or was
until recently, the point of shipment for the fine green teas grown and
manufactured in the Moyune district, a very large proportion of which
is shipped to this country. First in importance as a point of shipment
is Foo-chow-foo, whence are exported, in addition to the red-leafed
Congous, or Boheas, the bulk of the Oolongs. Still further down the
coast is Amoy, from which point inferior descriptions of both kinds are
shipped, together with some scented teas; but the bulk of the latter,
known as Scented Capers, Orange Pekoe, etc., are exported from Canton
and Macao. These, together with a peculiar description of green, are
manufactured at these ports from leaf grown in the neighborhood.
Although no tea is grown near Shanghae, much of the Congou grown in the
Hupeh province is sent there for sale, and thence shipped to England.
The green teas from both the Moyune and Ping-Suey countries are also
shipped from Shanghae.
[Illustration: HOEING AND WATERING THE PLANTS.]
Breakfast over, we jumped ashore again, and, desiring to conduct our
sight-seeing systematically, started for the fields. First we walked to
the foot of a hill a little distance off, where some men in short
cotton trousers and jackets were laying out a new plantation. The
ground was accurately marked off, and in one place the little plants,
only an inch or two in height, were just showing above the ground. In
another, the seeds--little round balls they looked like--were being
planted in the rows. Passing another field, where some men were at work
with their hoes in true Chinese style, stopping every few moments to
smoke their pipes, we came at last to where the plants had attained
some size and the actual picking was going on. The plants themselves
were from two to six feet high, according to age, and from repeated
cuttings down had grown into dense masses of small twigs. Many of them
were covered with little white flowers, somewhat similar to the
jasmine, and seeds inclo
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