wed to grow unmolested for two or three years, till they are
strong and healthy; and even then, great care is exercised not to
exhaust the plants by plucking them too bare. But, with every care,
they ultimately become stunted and unhealthy, and are never profitable
when they are old; hence, in the best-managed tea-districts, the
natives yearly remove old plantations, and supply their places with
fresh ones. About ten or twelve years is the average duration allowed
to the plants. The tea-farms are in general small, and their produce
is brought to market in the following manner: A tea-merchant from
Tsong-gan or Tsin-tsun, goes himself, or sends his agents, to all the
small towns, villages, and temples in the district, to purchase teas
from the priests and small farmers. When the teas so purchased are
taken to his house, they are mixed together, of course keeping the
different qualities as much apart as possible. By this means, a chop
(or parcel) of 600 chests is made; and all the tea of this chop is of
the same description or class. The large merchant in whose hands it is
now, has to refine it, and pack it for the foreign market. When the
chests are packed, the name of the chop is written upon each, or ought
to be; but it is not unusual to leave them unmarked till they reach
the port of exportation, when the name most in repute is, if possible,
put upon them. When the chop is purchased in the tea-district, a
number of coolies are engaged to carry the chests on their shoulders,
either to their ultimate destination, or to the nearest river. The
time occupied in the entire transport by land and river, from the
Bohea country to Canton, is about six weeks or two months. The
expenses of transit, of course, vary with localities, and other
circumstances; but, in general, those expenses are so very moderate,
that the middlemen realise large profits, while the small farmers and
manipulators are subjected to a grinding process, which keeps them in
comparative poverty.

Of late years, some attempts have been made to cultivate the tea-shrub
in America and Australia; but the result will not equal the
expectation entertained by the projectors of the scheme. The tea-plant
will grow wherever the climate and soil are suitable; but labour is so
much cheaper in China than in either of those countries, that
successful competition is impossible. The Chinese labourers do not
receive more than twopence or threepence a day. The difference,
there