Stereograph

Name/Title

Stereograph

Entry/Object ID

2023.055.3.0314

Description

A black and white stereograph. Image is of a woman standing on a mountside field with a basket strapped to her back, she is smiling at the camera. Above the image "T561 (Star)" is printed, below the image "14739T A Country Girl among the Fmous Tea Fields of Shizuoka, Japan." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed: 14739 AMONG THE FAMoUS TEA FIELDS OF SHIZUOKA, JAPAN In Japan where the population is large in proportion to the size of the country, it becomes necessary to utiize everyavaliable foot of grund to the best possible advantage. The tillable area is often artificially increased by carrying soil from the lowlands and depositing it on slopes such as these, thus adding to the number and productivity of the innumerable little terraced tea gardens such as we see before us. While barren slopes are thus made fruifufl, the flooded lowlands are used no less completely as is also evident as we look over this valley of rice fields. In both instances the intensive cultivation extends to the individual plants, a fact possible only for a people that has for centuries been practiced in such labor. In the production of tea hand labor is necessary not only in the cultivation of the plants but throughout the whole process of picking, curing and sorting. Modern machinery has been introduced to facilitate some of the processes, such as drying and rolling the leaves for instance, but for quality production the greater part of the work must be done by trained pickers and sorters. The tea plant is an evergreen tree, reaching a height of about thrity feet in tropical sections. Where it is cultivated for commercial purposes as here for instance, leaf production is incread by pruning and not permitted to grow beyond about five feet in height. This also keeps the leaves within easy reach of the pickers. The plant is usually propagated from seed. it begins to give a small yield about three years after planting and increases in a production until a full crop is obtained after a period of from five to ten years. It then continues profitable production for about fifty years or more. Copyright by The Keystone View Company

Collection

Photograph Collection