In Java the best teas are grown at an elevation ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea-level, the finest being produced on the mountain slopes, in the residencies of Preanger, Bagelen and Banjœmas. Nothing could be more attractive than the plantations situated on these ranges, each containing from 70,000 to 100,000 plants in perennial bloom and giving employment to from twenty-five to thirty families of native laborers. The methods of cultivation and preparation are much the same as in Japan, though latterly the India system is being largely adopted, both Black and Green teas being prepared at will from the leaf of the same plants. The seeds are first sown in nurseries, from which the young plants, when old enough, are set out in line, at a uniform distance of four feet from each other. The trees are never allowed to exceed two and a half feet in height, and are much more prolific than either the China or India species, the leaves being picked from them all the year round. They are known to commerce under the appellations of “Preangers,” “Krawangs,” “Cheribons,” “Bagelens” and “Banjœmas” teas, and usually converted into Pekoe, Souchong, Pekoe-Souchong, Congous, Oolongs and Imperials, Broken-leaf and Siftings after the India and Ceylon manner. The leaves for the different “makes” are sorted during picking and graded according to size, the smallest and tenderest being converted into Pekoe, the medium size into Souchongs, and the largest and oldest into Congous, Oolongs, Imperials and Broken-leaf teas. =Java Pekoe=—Is a small, jet-black leaf, lightly tipped with yellowish ends. The liquor is extremely dark, almost black in color, heavy and thick in body, bitter and astringent in flavor, and entirely unsuited to the average taste. =Java Souchongs=—Are composed of the older and coarser leaves of the tea-plant. They are bold in style, black in color, dark in draw, thick in body, and exceedingly strong in flavor, too much so to use alone. =Pekoe-Souchongs=—Comprise the older and coarser leaves of the respective pickings, considered too large for conversion into Pekoe and too small for Souchong, possessing the same characteristics in draw and drink of both the latter varieties. =Java Congous=—Are large, rough, loosely made teas, dark in liquor, heavy in body, and strong to rankness in flavor, on the whole a most undesirable sort for any purpose, becoming rancid and sour when kept too long. =Java Oolongs=—Are Java tea pure and simple, made in imitation of China Oolongs, but possessing nothing of the properties or characteristics of the latter, only the name. =Java Green Teas=—Include Imperial Hysons and Young Hysons, but are only so in name, as they still possess all the peculiarities of Java tea in draw and drinking qualities.