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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

P >> P. L. Simmonds >> The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom




Amongst herbaceous plants we have gentiana, aquilegia, anemone,
rumex, primula, lilium, loutodon, ranunculus, &c. equally
distributed in the Himalayas and in China, and even in aquatics the
same resemblance may be traced, as in nelumbium, caladium &c. And
further than this, we do not find plants belong to the same genera
only, but in many instances the identical species are found in both
countries. The indigofera, common in the Himalayas, abounds also on
the tea hills of China, and so does _Berberis nepaulencis_,
_Lonicera diversifolia_, _Myrica sapida_, and many others.

Were it necessary, I might now show that there is a most striking
resemblance between the geology of the two countries as well as in
their vegetable productions. In both the black and green tea
countries which I have alluded to, clay-slate is most abundant. But
enough has been advanced to prove how well many parts of the
Himalayas are adapted for the cultivation of tea; besides, the
flourishing condition of many of the plantations is, after all, the
best proof, and puts the matter beyond all doubt.

_4th. Concluding Suggestions_.--Having shown that tea can be grown
in the Himalayas, and that it would produce a valuable and
remunerative crop, the next great object appears to be the
production of superior tea, by means of fine varieties and improved
cultivation. It is well known that a variety of the tea plant
existed in the southern parts of China from which inferior teas only
were made. That, being more easily procured than the fine northern
varieties, from which the great mass of the best teas are made, was
the variety originally sent to India. From it all those in the
Government plantations have sprung.

It was to remedy this, and to obtain the best varieties from those
districts which furnish the trees of commerce, that induced the
Honourable Court of Directors to send me to China in 1848. Another
object was to obtain some good manufacturers and implements from the
same districts. As the result of this mission, nearly twenty
thousand plants from the best black and green tea countries of
Central China, have been introduced to the Himalayas. Six first-rate
manufacturers, two lead men, and a large supply of implements from
the celebrated Hwuy-chow districts were also brought round and
safely located on the Government plantations in the hills.

A great step has thus been gained towards the objects in view. Much,
however, remains still to be done. The new China plants ought to be
carefully propagated and distributed over all the plantations; some
of them ought also to be given to the zemindars, and more of these
fine varieties might be yearly imported from China.

The Chinese manufacturers, who were obtained some years since from
Calcutta or Assam, are, in my opinion, far from being first-rate
workmen; indeed, I doubt much if any of them learned their trade in
China. They ought to be gradually got rid of and their places
supplied by better men, for it is a great pity to teach the natives
an inferior method of manipulation. The men brought round by me are
first-rate green tea makers, they can also make black tea, but they
have not been in the habit of making so much black as green. They
have none of the Canton illiberality or prejudices about them, and
are most willing to teach their art to the natives. I have no doubt
some of the latter will soon be made excellent tea manufacturers.
And the instruction of the natives is, no doubt, one of the chief
objects which ought to be kept in view, for the importation of
Chinese manipulators at high wages can only he regarded as a
temporary measure; ultimately the Himalayan tea must be made by the
natives themselves; each native farmer must learn how to make tea
as well as how to grow it; he will then make it upon his own
premises, as the Chinese do, and the expenses of carriage will be
much less than if the green leaves had to be taken to the market.

But as the zemindars will be able to grow tea long before they are
able to make it, it would be prudent, in the first instance, to
offer them a certain sum for green leaves brought to the government
manufactory.

I have pointed out the land most suitable for the cultivation of
tea, and shown that such land exists in the Himalayas to an almost
unlimited extent. But if the object the government have in view be
the establishment of a company to develop the resources of these
hills, as in Assam, I would strongly urge the propriety of
concentrating, as much as possible, the various plantations. Sites
ought to be chosen which are not too far apart, easy of access, and,
if possible, near rivers; for, no doubt, a considerable portion of
the produce would have to be conveyed to the plains or to a
sea-port.

In my tour amongst the hills, I have seen no place so well adapted
for a central situation as Almorah, or Hawulbaugh. Here the
government has already a large establishment, and tea lands are
abundant in all directions. The climate is healthy, and better
suited to a European constitution than most other parts of India.
Here plants from nearly all the temperate parts of the world are
growing as if they were at home. As examples, I may mention myrtles,
pomegranates, and tuberoses from the south of Europe; dahlias,
potatoes, aloes, and yuccas from America; Melianthus major and bulbs
from the Cape; the cypress and deodar of the Himalayas, and the
lagerstroemias, loquats, roses and tea of China.

In these days, when tea has become almost a necessary of life to
England and her wide-spreading colonies, its production upon a large
and cheap scale is an object of no ordinary importance. But to the
natives of India themselves, the production of this article would be
of the greatest value. The poor _paharie_, or hill farmer, at
present has scarcely the common necessaries of life, and certainly
none of its luxuries. The common sorts of grain which his lands
produce will scarcely pay the carriage to the nearest market town,
far less yield a profit of such a kind as will enable him to
purchase some few of the necessary and simple luxuries of life. A
common blanket has to serve him for his covering by day and for his
bed at night, while his dwelling-house is a mere mud-hut, capable of
affording but little shelter from the inclemency of the weather.
Were part of these lands producing tea, he would then have a healthy
beverage to drink, besides a commodity which would be of great value
in the market. Being of small bulk compared with its value, the
expense of carriage would be trifling, and he would return home with
the means in his pocket of making himself and his family more
comfortable and more happy.

Were such results doubtful, we have only to look across the
frontiers of India into China. Here we find tea one of the
necessaries of life, in the strictest sense of the word. A Chinese
never drinks cold water, which he abhors, and considers unhealthy.
Tea is his favorite beverage from morning until night; not what we
call tea, mixed with milk and sugar, but the essence of the herb
itself, drawn out in pure water. One acquainted with the habits of
this people can scarcely conceive the idea of the Chinese empire
existing were it deprived of the tea plant; and I am sure that the
extensive use of this beverage adds much to the health and comfort
of the great body of the people.

The people of India are not unlike the Chinese in many of their
habits. The poor of both countries eat sparingly of animal food, and
rice, with other grains and vegetables, form the staple articles on
which they live; this being the case, it is not at all unlikely the
Indian will soon acquire a habit which is so universal in the sister
country. But in order to enable him to drink tea, it must be
produced at a cheap rate; he cannot afford to pay at the rate of
four or six shillings a pound. It must be furnished to him at four
_pence_ or six _pence_ instead; and this can be done easily, but
only on his own hills. If this is accomplished, and I see no reason
why it should not be, a boon will have been conferred upon the
people of India, of no common kind, and one which an enlightened and
liberal government may well be proud of conferring on its subjects."

I shall now add a description of the Chinese method of making black
tea in Upper Assam, by Mr. C.A. Bruce, superintendent of tea
culture:--

"In the first place, the youngest and most tender leaves are
gathered; but when there are many hands and a great quantity of
loaves to be collected, the people employed nip off with the
forefinger and thumb the fine end of the branch, with about four
leaves on, and sometimes even more if they look tender. These are
all brought to the place where they are to be converted into tea:
they are then put into a large, circular, open worked bamboo basket,
having a rim all round, two fingers broad. The leaves are thinly
scattered in these baskets, and then placed in a framework of
bamboo, in all appearance like the sides of an Indian hut, without
grass, resting on posts, 2 feet from the ground, with an angle of
about 25 deg. The baskets with leaves are put in this frame to dry
in the sun, and are pushed up and brought down by a long bamboo with
a circular piece of wood at the end. The leaves are permitted to dry
about two hours, being occasionally turned; but the time required
for this process depends on the heat of the sun. When they begin to
have a slightly withered appearance, they are taken down and brought
into the house, when they are placed on a frame to cool for half an
hour; they are then put into smaller baskets of the same kind as the
former, and placed on a stand. People are now employed to soften the
leaves still more, by gently clapping them between their hands, with
their fingers and thumbs extended, and tossing them up and letting
them fall, for about five or ten minutes. They are then again put on
the frame during half an hour, and brought down and clapped with the
hands as before. This is done three successive times, until the
leaves become to the touch like soft leather; the beating and
putting away being said to give the tea the black color and bitter
flavor. After this the tea is put into hot cast-iron pans, which are
fixed in a circular mud fireplace, so that the flame cannot ascend
round the pan to incommode the operator. This pan is well heated by
a straw or bamboo fire to a certain degree. About two pounds of the
leaves are then put into each hot pan, and spread in such a manner
that all the leaves may get the same degree of heat. They are every
now and then briskly turned with the naked hand, to prevent a leaf
from being burnt. When the leaves become inconveniently hot to the
hand, they are quickly taken out and delivered to another man with a
close-worked bamboo basket, ready to receive them. A few leaves that
may have been left behind are smartly brushed out with a bamboo
broom: all this time a brisk fire is kept up under the pan. After
the pan has been used in this manner three or four times, a bucket
of cold water is thrown in, and a soft brick-bat and bamboo broom
used, to give it a good scouring out; the water is thrown out of the
pan by the brush on one side, the pan itself being never taken off.
The leaves, all hot in the bamboo basket, are laid on a table that
has a narrow rim on its back, to prevent these baskets from slipping
off when pushed against it. The two pounds of hot leaves are now
divided into two or three parcels, and distributed to as many men,
who stand up to the table with the leaves right before them, and
each placing his legs close together, the leaves are next collected
into a ball, which he gently grasps in his left hand, with the thumb
extended, the fingers close together, and the hand resting on the
little finger. The right hand must be extended in the same manner as
the left, but with the palm turned downwards resting on the top of
the ball of tea leaves. Both hands are now employed to roll and
propel the ball along; the left hand pushing it on, and allowing it
to revolve as it moves; the right hand also pushes it forward,
resting on it with some force, and keeping it down to express the
juice which the leaves contain. The art lies here in giving the ball
a circular motion, and permitting it to turn under and in the hand
two or three whole revolutions, before the arms are extended to
their full length, and drawing the ball of leaves quickly back
without leaving a leaf behind, being rolled for about five minutes
in this way. The ball of tea leaves is from time to time delicately
and gently opened with the fingers lifted as high as the face, and
then allowed to fall again. This is done two or three times to
separate the leaves; and afterwards the basket with the leaves is
lifted up as often, and receives a circular shake to bring these
towards the centre. The leaves are now taken back to the hot pans
and spread out in them as before, being again turned with the naked
hand, and when hot taken out and rolled; after which, they are put
into a drying basket and spread on a sieve, which is in the centre
of the basket, and the whole placed over a charcoal fire. The fire
is very nicely regulated; there must not be the least smoke, and the
charcoal should be well picked.

When the fire is lighted it is fanned until it gets a fine red
glare, and the smoke is all gone off; being every now and then
stirred, and the coals brought into the centre, so as to leave the
outer edge low. When the leaves are put into the drying basket, they
are gently separated by lifting them up with the fingers of both
hands extended far apart, and allowing them to fall down again; they
are placed three or four inches deep on the sieve, leaving a passage
in the centre for the hot air to pass. Before it is put over the
fire, the drying basket receives a smart slap with both hands in the
act of lifting it up, which is done to shake down any leaves that
might otherwise drop through the sieve, or to prevent them from
falling into the fire and occasioning a smoke, which would affect
and spoil the tea. This slap on the basket is invariably applied
throughout the stages of tea manufacture. There is always a large
basket underneath to receive the small leaves that fall, which are
afterwards collected, dried, and added to the other tea; in no case
are the baskets or sieves allowed to touch or remain on the ground,
but always laid on a receiver, with three legs. After the leaves
have bean half-dried in the drying-basket, and while they are still
soft, they are taken off the fire and put into large open-worked
baskets, and then put on the shelf, in order that the tea may
improve in color.

Next day the leaves are all sorted into large, middling, and small;
sometimes there are four sorts. All these, the Chinese informed me,
become so many different kinds of teas; the smallest leaves they
call Pha-ho, the second Pow-chong, the third Souchong, and the
fourth, or the largest leaves, Zoy-chong. After this assortment they
are again put on the sieve in the drying-basket (taking care not to
mix the sorts), and on the fire, as on the preceding day; but now
very little more than will cover the bottom of the sieve is put in
at one time; the same care of the fire is taken as before, and the
same precaution of tapping the drying basket every now and then. The
tea is taken off the fire with the nicest care, for fear of any
particles of the tea falling into it. Whenever the drying-basket is
taken off, it is put on the receiver, the sieve in the drying-basket
taken out, the tea turned over, the sieve replaced, the tap given,
and the basket placed again over the fire. As the tea becomes crisp,
it is taken out and thrown into a large receiving-basket, until all
the quantity on hand has become alike dried and crisp, from which
basket it is again removed into the drying-basket, but now in much
larger quantities. It is then piled up eight and ten inches high on
the sieve in the drying-basket; in the centre a small passage is
left for the hot air to ascend; the fire that was before bright and
clear has now ashes thrown on it to deaden its effect, and the
shakings that have been collected are put on the top of all; the tap
is given, and the basket, with the greatest care, is put over the
fire. Another basket is placed over the whole, to throw back any
heat that may ascend. Now and then it is taken off, and put on the
receiver; the hands, with the fingers wide apart, are run down the
sides of the basket to the sieve, and the tea gently turned over,
the passage in the centre again made, &c., and the basket again
placed on the fire. It is from time to time examined, and when the
leaves have become so crisp that they break by the slightest
pressure of the fingers, it is taken off, when the tea is ready. All
the different kinds of leaves underwent the same operation. The tea
is now, little by little, put into boxes, and first pressed down
with the hands and then with the feet (clean stockings having been
previously put on).

There is a small room inside of the tea-house, seven cubits square,
and five high, having bamboos laid across on the top to support a
network of bamboo, and the sides of the room smeared with mud to
exclude the air. When there is wet weather, and the leaves cannot be
dried in the sun, they are laid out on the top of this room, on the
network, on an iron pan, the same as is used to heat the leaves;
some fire is put into it, either of grass or bamboo, so that the
flame may ascend high; the pan is put on a square wooden frame, that
has wooden rollers on its legs, and pushed round and round this
little room by one man, while another feeds the fire, the leaves on
the top being occasionally turned; when they are a little withered,
the fire is taken away, and the leaves brought down and manufactured
into tea, in the same manner as if it had been dried in the sun. But
this is not a good plan, and never had recourse to if it can
possibly be avoided."

In 1810, a number of tea plants were introduced into Brazil, with a
colony of Chinese to superintend their culture. The plantation was
formed near Rio Janeiro and occupied several acres. It did not,
however, answer the expectations formed of it, the shrubs became
stunted, cankered and moss grown, and the Chinese finally abandoned
them. The culture was again tried in 1817. The plantations lie between
the equator and 10 deg. south latitude, nearly parallel with Java, and
of course are exposed to the same intemperate climate, and suffer in a
similar manner. In addition to these physical disabilities, the
enterprise has had to contend with the natural indolence of the
natives, the universal repugnance to labor, the crushing effect of
committing so important a work to the superintendence of slaves and
overseers, the amazing fertility of the soil, the extent of
unappropriated land, the ease with which subsistence can be obtained
and the low degree of personal enterprise. These are frowning
features, and would rather seem to indicate a failure, before the
attempt at cultivation was made. But, nevertheless, the plant does
nourish to some extent, even in Brazil, under all the disparaging
circumstances which surround it. From the Brazilian Consul General, I
learn that although the plant for some years after its introduction
received but little attention and was almost abandoned, yet within the
last few years the cultivation has revived and is now prosecuted with
energy and with a corresponding success. Some of the large and wealthy
land proprietors of Brazil have directed their attention to tea
culture, and one gentleman has given up his coffee plantation and
directed his attention exclusively to the cultivation of the tea
plant. The market of Rio Janeiro is said to be largely and almost
entirely supplied with tea of domestic growth, and the public mind is
awakened to the prominent fact, that no plant cultivated in Brazil is
more profitable and none is deserving more decided attention.

_Experimental cultivation of the tea plant in Brazil_.--I now proceed
to notice the report of M. Guillemin, presented in 1839 to the French
Minister of agriculture and commerce, on the culture and preparation
of the tea plant in Brazil--in a climate of the southern hemisphere
just equivalent to that of Cuba in the northern. The report enters
very minutely into the incidents of temperature and cultivation, and
cannot fail to strike the attention when disclosing the important
fact, that the tea plant grows luxuriantly with the coffee and other
valuable plants of the equatorial regions, and even on low-lying
lands, on a level with the sea, and exposed to the full rays of a
burning sun.

"As the tea shrub," says M. Guillemin, "is grown in several
plantations about two days' journey distant from Rio, in different
directions, I hired a lodging at St. Theresa, sufficiently
contiguous to all the establishments I meant to visit, and further
recommended by having a small garden attached to the house, where I
could deposit the growing plants of tea, and sow seeds. During the
month of November, except when hindered by slight indispositions
incidental to the Brazilian climate, I pursued my researches, and
principally in the charming valleys of the Tijuka and Gavia
mountains. There, together with coffee, their principal product, the
most valuable plants of the equatorial region are cultivated.

In the middle of November I had an opportunity of observing the
method pursued when culling the tea, which is performed by black
slaves, chiefly women and children. They carefully selected the
tenderest and pale-green leaves, nipping off with their nails the
young leaf bud, just below where the first or second leaf was
unfolded. One whole field had already undergone this operation;
nothing but tea shrubs stripped of their foliage remained. The
inspector assured me that the plant received no injury from this
process, and that the harvest of leaves was to become permanent by
carefully regulating it, so that the foliage should have grown again
on the first stripped shrubs at the period when the leaves of the
last plant were pulled off. About 12,000 tea shrubs are grown in
this garden: they are regularly planted in quincunxes, and stand
about one metre distant from each other; the greater number are
stunted and shabby looking, probably owing to the aspect of the
ground, which _lies low, on the level of the sea, and exposed to the
full rays of a burning sun_; perhaps the quality of the soil may
have something to do with it, though this is apparently similar to
what prevails in the province of Rio Janeiro. This soil, which is
highly argillaceous, and strongly tinged with tritoxyde of iron, is
formed by the decomposition of gneiss or granite rocks. The flat
situation of this tea ground is unfavorable to the improvement of
the soil, for the heavy rains which wash away the superfluous sand
from slanting situations, of course only consolidate more strongly
the remaining component parts, where the land lies perfectly level,
and thus the tea plants suffer from this state of soil.

The kindness of M. de Brandao, director of the Botanic Garden,
induced him to invite me, shortly after I had seen the above
described tea ground, that I might inspect all the operations for
the preparation of tea. I found that the picking of the leaves had
been commenced very early in the morning, and two kilogrammes were
pulled that were still wet with dew. These were deposited in a
well-polished iron vase, the shape being that of a very broad flat
pan, and set on a brick furnace, where a brisk wooden fire kept the
temperature nearly up to that of boiling water. A negro, after
carefully washing his hands, kept continually stirring the leaves in
all directions, till their external dampness was quite evaporated,
and the leaves acquired the softness of linen rag, and a small pinch
of them, when rolled in the hollow of the hand, became a little ball
that would not unroll. In this state the mass of tea was divided
into two portions, and a negro took each and set them on a hurdle,
formed of strips of bamboo, laid at right angles, where they shook
and kneaded the leaves in all directions for a quarter of an hour,
an operation which requires habit to be properly performed, and on
which much of the beauty of the product depends. It is impossible to
describe this process; the motion of the hands is rapid and very
irregular, and the degree of pressure requisite varies according to
circumstances; generally speaking, the young negro women are
considered more clever at this part of the work than older persons.
As this process of rolling and twisting the leaves goes on, their
green juice is drained off through the hurdle, and it is essential
that the tea be perfectly divested of the moisture, which is acrid,
and even corrosive, the bruising and kneading being especially
designed to break the parenchyma of the leaf, and permit the escape
of the sap.

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A Stephen King fan has published an 80-page version of the book which novelist Jack Torrance obsessively writes during King's The Shining, where his descent into madness is revealed when his wife discovers that his work consists of just one phrase, endlessly repeated.

Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson in terrifying form in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, is a frustrated writer who goes with his wife and son to spend the winter in the isolated Overlook Hotel in an attempt to get the novel he has always wanted to write started. But the hotel's grisly past and unquiet ghosts have their way with him, and his wife Wendy eventually finds that the manuscript he has been working on actually only contains the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", typed over and over again.

Now New York artist Phil Buehler, who describes himself as "a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King", has self-published a book credited to Torrance, repeating the phrase throughout but formatting each page differently, using the words to create different shapes from zigzags to spirals.

"The idea has probably been marinating for years, because I loved the movie and the Stephen King book," said Buehler. "I'd just finished my own obsessive art project [and] it was an idea I had over the Christmas holidays."

He said he decided to stick to type and formatting that could have been created on a typewriter, with the first ten pages duplicating shots of Torrance's work from the film. "I thought 'if he continues to get crazier, what would those pages look like?'" he said. "I hit writer's block about 60 pages in, and I had to get to 80 - that went on for about a week." His fiancée, who had neither read the book nor seen the film, became a little concerned about his actions. "I finally showed her the movie, and she realised I wasn't really losing it," said Buehler.

He's included a spoof review from the blog OverThinkingIt.com on the book's back jacket, which compares it to "the best of Beckett" in its "lack of forward momentum", and considers the struggles of the author, "heroically pitting himself against the Sisyphusean sentence". "It's that metatextual struggle of Man vs. Typewriter that gives this book its spellbinding power," the review says. "Some will dismiss it as simplistic; that's like dismissing a Pollack canvas as mere splatters of paint."

So far, Buehler says that around 1,000 people have viewed the book, for sale on Blurb.com for $8.95 in paperback, or $22.95 in hardback, and he's sold "a few" copies, with sales now starting to pick up steam. "A few people have asked me to sign it - they're looking it as a piece of art rather than a funny thing to give to a Kubrick fan," he said. "If you're not a Kubrick or King fan, you might not even get it."

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