Tea; Its Effects, Medicinal and Moral

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: vegetation of the province of Fokien is by no means luxuriant, for the soil is poor; still the industry of its inhabitants has led them to the successful cultivation of some of the more highly prized fruits. The natural growth of the province is not particularly striking, and even the tea-plant district is...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: vegetation of the province of Fokien is by no means luxuriant, for the soil is poor; still the industry of its inhabitants has led them to the successful cultivation of some of the more highly prized fruits. The natural growth of the province is not particularly striking, and even the tea-plant district is confined to a very limited range; the farmer generally asserting that the good black tea grows only within a circumference of about thirty miles, and that all which is found beyond it is of an inferior character. They prefer -the produce of the sides of the hills; and, although it is the custom of the country to plant both hill and vale, the preference is given to that which is brought from elevations. Keang-nan, which has been of late divided into two provinces, is represented as one of the most favoured spots on the face of the earth. It is asserted that the natives of this part of China are remarkable for excelling all their countrymen, not only in agriculture, in manufacture, but likewise in literature and accomplishments, and that there is an evident superiority in every thing that springs from it. This important province consists of an immense plain, interspersed by a few hilly ridges: one of the noblest rivers of the old world, Yang-tse, flows through it. It is here that one of the most delicate and highly prized of the green teas, the Song-lo, is cultivated and prepared. Che-keang is likewise a province of much agricultural industry, and a nursery for the tea-plant Keang-se and Keang-soo .are both remarked for their salubrity, for their valuable productions; and amongst the chief em chapter{{Section 4ployments of the people is the rearing and drying the leaves of the shrub. It would appear that, notwithstanding all the labour and skill that may be employed, there ar...