WHERE TEA GROWS AND IS CULTIVATED
A TEA PLANTATION IN THE BEAUTIFUL HILL COUNTRY OF CEYLON
The most productive tea gardens are at an elevation of about one thousand feet, the land at this altitude being generally of an undulating character, well watered, and the climate sufficiently humid to encourage leaf-production.
The plants are ready for plucking when three years old, at which time they send out numerous leaf-shoots, known as “flush.” The plucking season begins in September and lasts until June of the following year, during which period each bush is plucked about sixteen times.
For producing superior fruit in winter the Smooth Cayenne and Black Jamaica are two of the best and most reliable, and the Queen is the most highly esteemed for summer fruiting. The Spanish is the variety commonly grown in Florida. A spirituous liquor (Pine-Apple Rum) is made from the pine-apple in some warm countries.
Raspberry (Rubus Idæus), the most valued of all the species of Rubus. The wild raspberry has scarlet fruit and is found in thickets and woods throughout the whole of Europe and northern Asia. It was early introduced into the United States, but those now grown originated in native American varieties. The black raspberry, is largely grown in New York and Ohio as a commercial industry. The red variety is widely grown in the United States, but production is small compared to that of the black raspberry. Among the more promising varieties of the blacks are Gregg, Ohio and Kansas. Cuthbert is one of the best of the red varieties. The raspberry has long been in cultivation for its fruit. The root is creeping, perennial; the stems only biennial, bearing fruit in the second year, woody, but with very large pith. The raspberry is the leading bush fruit of the United States and second only to the strawberry among small fruits. New York, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, ranking in the order named, grow over one-half of the total crop, which exceeds seventy-five million quarts. The berries are consumed raw or in a preserved state, or are manufactured into raspberry juice, wine and cordial.
Tea (Camellia theifera) is a plant of which there are two well-known varieties: (1) Assam tea; and (2) China tea. The Assam variety, known as “indigenous” tea, is a tree of vigorous growth attaining a height of thirty to forty feet with a leaf from eight to ten inches in length. The China variety is a comparatively stunted shrub, growing to a height of twelve to fifteen feet, with a rounder leaf about three and one-half inches in length, and calyx covered with soft, short hairs. These two varieties have resulted in a hybrid which combines the hardy character of the China with the other features of the indigenous, now largely cultivated on the hills of India and Ceylon, and known as “hybrid-Assam.” The hybrids vary much in productiveness.