To manufacture your leaf into good Tea is certainly one of the first conditions for success. It will avail little to have a good productive garden if you make inferior Tea. The difference of price between well and ill-manufactured Tea is great, say 4 as. or 6d. a lb., and this alone will, during a season, represent a large profit or none.

Fortunately for Tea enterprise, the more manufacture is studied the more does it appear that to make good Tea is a very simple process. The many operations or processes formerly considered necessary are now much reduced on all gardens. As there was then, that is formerly, so there is now, no one routine recognized by all, or even by the majority; still simplicity in manufacture is more and more making its way everywhere; and as the real fact is that to make the best Tea, but very few, and very simple, processes are necessary, it is only a question of time ere the fact shall be universally recognised and followed out.

For instance, panning the “roll”[36] was formerly universally practised. Some panned once, some twice, some even three times! But, to-day, pans are not used in most gardens at all!! Other processes, or rather in most cases the repetition of them, have been also either discarded or abridged. But a short statement of manufacture in old days, and the simplest mode of manufacture, will best illustrate my meaning:—

So much for simplicity, and I affirm that no more than the five operations detailed are necessary. I shall try to show this further on.

In studying Tea manufacture I first tried, in order to get reliable data to go on, to ascertain the effect of each and every operation, and not only that, but the effect on the made Tea of each operation exaggerated and diminished. It would be tedious, and of no use, to set out in detail all the experiments I conducted, the results only I will try to give.

I began at the beginning. Why wither at all? I made Tea (following out in each case all the other processes detailed in the old plan) of 1st, totally unwithered leaves; 2nd, of leaves but little withered; 3rd, of leaves medium-withered; and 4th, of leaves over-withered.

I arrived at the following results:—Unwithered or under-withered leaves break in the rolling and give out large quantities of a light green coloured juice during the same process. The Tea is much broken and of a reddish grey colour. The liquor is very pale in colour, cloudy, weak, soft, and tasteless.

Over-withered leaf on the other hand takes a good twist in the rolling, gives out but little juice, which is of a thick kind, and of reddish yellow colour. The tea is well twisted, “chubby” in appearance, and blacker than ordinary. The liquor of an ordinary depth of colour, clear, with a mawkish taste.

The medium-withered leaves make good Tea, but I found the withering should be rather in excess of what is generally done to ensure strength. I will show later to what extent I think leaf should be withered.

The next point was rolling. I knew some planters rolled the leaf hard, others lightly. That is, some rolled with force till much juice was expressed, others with a light hand, allowing little or no juice to be pressed out. Which was the better?

After many experiments I arrived at the following:—Hard rolling gives darker coloured and stronger liquor than light rolling. Hard rolling destroys Pekoe tips,[37] inasmuch as the juice expressed stains them black.

Light rolled Tea has therefore many more Pekoe tips than hard rolled.

Hard rolled Tea is somewhat blacker than light rolled.

In all, therefore, but the point of Pekoe tips hard rolling is better.

The next question was, what is the advantage of repeated rolling? I rolled twice, panning once between, vide old plan, and found the Tea as well made and as strong as that rolled three or four times. I then decided to roll no more than twice. The second time was, I then thought, necessary, as I found the leaf of the roll opened in the pan, and a second rolling was requisite to twist it again.

But what did panning do? I heard pans had been discontinued in some gardens. In what way was panning an advantage? I made Tea, fermenting it between the two rollings, but not panning it, and it was equally good. I tried again and again, but never could detect that panning caused any difference to either the Tea, the liquor, or the out-turn.[38] In short, though I never found panning did any harm, I equally found it never did any good. Its use is, in fact, simply barren of all results.

I therefore dispensed with it. Having done so, why roll the second time at all? I experimented, and found the second rolling as barren of results as the panning.

I had now got rid of operations 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the old plan. The next was No. 9—“sunning.” I made Tea with and without it, and found as follows:—

Sunning between the fermenting and firing processes has no effect whatever on the liquor or the out-turn, but it makes the Tea rather blacker, and as it drives off much of the moisture in the roll, the firing process after it is shorter and does not consume so much charcoal. What little effect therefore it has is good (for if not continued too long, it does not make the Tea too black) and it is economical. I therefore decided on retaining it.[39]

Next came the operations 10, 11, and 12, viz., “first firing, cooling and crisping, and second firing.” Where these are done (and they are done in some gardens now) the usual thing is to half-fire the roll the same afternoon and evening it is made, then allow it to “cool and crisp” all night, and finish the firing next day. I tried this plan, and also the plan I have now adopted, of doing the whole firing at one time the same evening. I tried the experiment again and again, and always found the Tea, the liquor, and the out-turn were the same in both cases. In short, that the three operations did no more and no less than the one. As the three entail extra labour and extra expense in charcoal I abandoned them.

I thus reduced the twelve operations detailed to five, and naturally by so doing much decreased the cost of manufacturing Tea. I in no way lay claim to having devised this simplicity myself. Part had been done by others before I even turned my attention to it, and I have done no more than help with many to make the manufacture of Tea a simple process.

I was now convinced that (though I had still much to learn regarding the said five processes) success was comprised therein, and that to multiply them could not avail.

The next consideration is—What are the qualities desired in Tea to enable it to command a good price at the public auctions either in Calcutta or London? The brokers in these cases judge of the Tea first, value it, and give their report and valuation to intending purchasers and sellers. From what appearances and qualities do they judge?

They judge from three things, first, the Tea; secondly, the liquor; thirdly, the out-turn.

The Tea.—The colour should be black, but not a dead black, rather a greyish black with a gloss on it. No red leaf should be mixed with it, it should be all one colour. The Tea should be regular: that is, each leaf should be about the same length, and should have a uniform close twist, in all but “broken Teas.” (These latter are called “broken” because the leaf is more or less open and broken.) The Tea should also be regular of its kind, that is, if Pekoe all Pekoe, if Congou all Congou; for any stray leaves in a Tea of another kind, if even of a better kind or class, will reduce its value. In the higher class of Teas, viz., Pekoes and broken Pekoes, the more Pekoe tips that are present the higher, in consequence, will its price be.

The Liquor.—In taste this should be strong, rasping, and pungent, with, in the case of Pekoes, a “Pekoe flavour.” There are other words used in the trade to particularise certain tastes, but the words themselves would teach nothing. Tea tasting cannot be learnt from books. If the liquor is well flavoured, as a rule, the darker it is in the cup the better. But to judge of Teas by the colour of the liquor alone is impossible, for some high-class Teas have naturally a very pale liquor.

The Out-turn.—A good out-turn is generally indicative of a good Tea. It should be all, or nearly all, one colour. No black (burnt) leaves should appear in it. A greenish tinge in some of the leaves is not objectionable, and is generally indicative of pungent liquor, but the prevailing colour should be that of a bright new penny.

Every planter should be more or less of a Tea-taster, and should taste his Teas daily. After a time (particularly if he gets other Teas to taste against his own) he will learn to recognise, at all events, a good as against a bad Tea, a strong as against a weak Tea, &c. No Tea should be put away with the rest until it has been tasted. It may be burnt or have other defects, not apparent till infused, and one day’s bad Tea will bring down considerably the value of a whole bin of good Tea.

The fancy, amongst brokers and dealers, for “Pekoe tips,” in all Pekoe Teas, constitutes the one great difficulty in Tea manufacture. If the leaves which give “Pekoe tips” (see page 106) are separated from the other leaves, and manufactured separately and differently, that is rolled very little and very lightly, not allowed to ferment at all, but sunned at once after rolling, and, if there is sun enough, finished in the sun, otherwise by a very light and gradual heat—best placed above the drawers in the Dhole-house; if this is done, I say, these will come out perfect “Pekoe tips” of a white colour, which is the best.

If not separated from the other leaf, but manufactured with it, the sap from the other leaves, expressed in the rolling, stains these said leaves, which are covered with a fine white silk down, and makes them black like all the rest of the Tea; the whole of which is then valued lower because there are no “Pekoe tips.”

Now, in the latter case the “Pekoe tips” are there all the same, only they don’t show. The Tea is really just as good, in fact a shade better, with black than with white or orange tips,[40] but it does not sell so well, and as we cannot argue the brokers or dealers into a rational view of the case, we must humour their fancy (they are virtually our masters) and give them the Pekoe tips—if we can.

How are we to do it? The plan of picking these small leaves separately, in order to manufacture them separately, does not answer; it is too expensive; it diminishes the yield of a garden, and labour for it fails. All this is shown at pages 107 and 130. Is there any other way?

It may be done during some periods of the season when there is not leaf enough on the garden to employ all the leaf-pickers, by setting a number of them to separate the said two leaves from the others after the whole leaf is brought to the factory. This is expensive, but it pays when there is labour to do it, for then the Teas can be made very showy and rich with white Pekoe tips.

An ingenious planter, a Mr. McMeekin, in Cachar, invented a rolling table with the object of separating the said leaves. It is constructed of battens, and while rolling the leaf on it, many of the small leaves fall through. The said table is now well known in Cachar, and is in use in several gardens. I have tried it and find that it in a great measure answers its object, but the objection to it is that the leaf must be rolled lightly, and lightly-rolled leaf, as observed, does not make strong Tea.

The Pekoe tips may be, in a great measure, preserved by rolling all the leaf lightly on a common table. But then again the Tea is weak, and the plan will not give so many Pekoe tips as McMeekin’s table.

In short, in the present state of our knowledge, except by the hand process (a tedious and expensive one for separating the leaf), strong Teas and Pekoe tips are incompatible.

The difficulty is just where it was, and will so remain until dealers give up asking for Pekoe tips (not a likely thing), or till a machine is invented to separate quickly and cheaply the two said small leaves from the others after they have been all picked together. That such a machine is possible I am certain, and the inventor would confer a boon on the Tea interest far beyond the inventor of any other machine, for all the other processes can be done by hand without much expense, this cannot.

I may here notice such machines and contrivances as exist for cheapening the manufacture of Tea, or rather such as I know of.

Rolling-machines have for their object the doing away with hand labour entirely for rolling the leaf. Kinmond’s rolling-machine is first on the list, for it is the best yet invented.[41]

Kinmond’s consists of two circular wooden discs, the upper one moving on the lower, which is stationary, with an eccentric motion. The adjacent faces of the said discs are made rough by steps in the wood, cut in lines diverging from the centre to the circumference, and over these rough faces is nailed coarse canvas.

The leaf is placed between the discs and rolled by the motion described. The lower disc is arranged by means of weights running over pulleys, so that it shall press against the upper with any force desired.

The motive power, as designed by the inventor, is either manual, animal, or steam.

Mr. Kinmond showed me this machine, just after he had invented it, at the Assam Company’s Plantations in Assam, and I have since seen it working by manual and steam power. With the former it is quite useless, for by no arrangement can sufficient or regular force enough be applied. With the latter it does very well, and on a large garden which will render the outlay for the machine and engine justifiable (the former is, for such a simple machine, very expensive), it may probably eventually prove an economy.

Not having seen it under animal power, I can give no positive opinion as to how it would answer, but I see no reason why it should not do well. I believe wind or water power might, on suitable sites, be easily applied to it, and they would certainly be the cheapest of any.

Another rolling-machine was invented by a Mr. Gibbon, and a good deal used in Cachar. I have never seen it.

Kinmond’s is, I believe, the best rolling-machine yet invented (though it is fair to state I know no other except by report), but I do not believe in any Tea rolling-machine superseding entirely the necessity of hand-rolling.[42] A rolling-machine may be, and is, very useful to roll the leaves partly, that is, to break the cells, and bring the leaf into that soft mashy state that very little hand labour will finish it. No rolling-machine yet invented can, I think, do more than this, and it is, I think, doubtful if any will ever be invented that will do more. Machines do not give the nice final twist which is obtained by the hand. I was told lately that most of the gardens in Cachar that had machines had dropped them and gone back to hand-rolling. I cannot help thinking this is a mistake. They should use both, the hand-rolling for the final part alone. Very few rolling-men would then suffice, with the aid of the machine, to manufacture a large quantity of leaf.

I only know of one other Tea rolling-machine, which is Nelson’s. It does not profess to do more than prepare the green leaf for rolling, which, as stated above, is, I think, all that any machine will ever do. I have never seen it working, but it appears simple, being nothing more than a mangle. The leaf is placed in bags, and then compressed under rollers attached to a box, weighted with stones. The prospectus states, it will prepare 80 lbs. green leaf in fifteen minutes, and that one man can then finish as much of such prepared leaf in three minutes as would occupy him twelve minutes if the same had not been prepared. I see nothing unlikely in this. The machine, though inferior to Kinmond’s in its arrangement, ought to be cheap enough to bring it within the reach of all.[43]

I have already spoken of one of McMeekin’s inventions. His chest-of-drawers for firing Tea is, I think, superior to his batten table. It is now so well known, and in such general use, that I shall describe it very shortly. It is nothing more than a low chest-of-drawers, or trays fitted in a frame one above the other, the bottom of each tray being fine iron wire, so that the heat of the charcoal, in the masonry receptacle over which it is placed, ascends through all the drawers and thus dries or fires a large quantity of “roll” at the same time. By the old plan, a single wicker sieve was inserted inside a bamboo frame called a “dhole,” which was placed over a charcoal fire made in a hole in the ground. On the sieve the roll was placed, and all the heat, after passing through this one sieve, was wasted. Mr. McMeekin’s idea was to economise this heat by passing it through several drawers.

Most planters use these drawers, and there is no doubt in the space saved, and the economy of heat: it is a great step in advance over the old barbarous method, where not only was the heat wasted after passing through one sieve, but a great deal was lost through the basket work of the “dhole” itself.

Still I do not advocate four, still less five drawers one above the other. I think the steam ascending from the lower drawers must, more or less, injure the roll in the upper ones. I confine myself to two, and even then in the top tray leave a small circular space vacant by which the steam from the lower drawer can escape. I utilize the heat that escapes, partially, by placing “dhallas” in tiers above, with roll in them. These are supported by iron rods let into the wall, and are useful not only for partly drying the roll, but also for withering leaf when there is no sun.

Some planters have proposed to do away with charcoal altogether under McMeekin’s drawers, supplying its place by hot air. The first point in considering this invention is the question whether the fumes of charcoal, as some assert, are necessary to make good Tea. If they are not necessary (that is, if they produce no chemical effect on the Tea, and therefore heat from wood devoid of smoke would do as well) there can be no doubt such heat would be cheaper, and more under command, by this or some other plan. Are then the fumes of charcoal necessary?

I do not know that anyone can answer the query. I certainly cannot, for I have never made Tea with any other agent than charcoal, and I have never met with more than one planter who had. He said the Tea was not good. Still it would, I think, require very careful and prolonged experiments to establish the fact either way. Speaking theoretically, as it appears, the only effect of charcoal is to drive all the moisture out of the roll and thus make it Tea, I cannot but believe other heat would do as well. It is, however, a question that only experience can solve.[44]

I have now (four years since the above was written, and at the time I am preparing the second edition of this essay) been for some time employed on experiments with a view to settle the above question. Whether I shall be able to devise a simple apparatus to effect the manufacture of Tea without charcoal is doubtful, but I can, I think, now safely affirm that the fumes of charcoal are not necessary to make Tea. On this point I am myself quite satisfied. The advantages of making Tea with any fuel (wood, coal, or anything else) would be numerous:—

1.—Economy.

2.—Absence of charcoal fumes.

3.—Less chance of fire in Tea Houses.

4.—Probably reduced temperature in Factories.

5.—Great saving of labour.

6.—Saving of fuel—for it takes much wood to make a given weight of charcoal.

In addition to all the above, the wholesale destruction of forests that now takes place in all Tea Districts, in order to supply the charcoal for Tea, would be much lessened.[45]

I have seen a machine advertised for packing Tea, that is to say, for so pressing it down that a large quantity shall go into a chest. I have never seen the machine, and so cannot say how it works, but I do not think such a machine at all necessary. By the mode of packing, described at page 150, as much Tea as a chest will hold with safety can be put into it. If more were forced in, the chest would probably come to pieces in transit.

I see a sifting machine is now being advertised—“Jackson’s sifting machine.” I have seen drawings of it, but not the machine itself. In the one respect, that it is much larger than anything used hitherto, it is more likely to succeed.

There is a machine for sifting and fanning Tea at one and the same time. I know not who invented it. It is a simple winnowing machine with sieves placed in front of the fan. By means of a rod and crank attached to the axle of the revolving fan the sieves are made to shake from side to side when the fanners are turned. The Tea is put into the upper sieve, a coarse one, and passing successively through finer ones, is thus sorted into different Teas. The open leaf at the same time is blown out by the fan.

I purchased one, but I do not find it does the work well. Sifting Tea is a nice process, and I did not find it sorted the Teas with any nicety. I have taken out the sieves, and use it now only for fanning, which it does very well, though no better than an apparatus which could be constructed at one-third the cost.

I do not believe in any present or future machine for sifting Tea, inasmuch as it is an operation which, to be well done, has to be continually varied. More will be said on this head further on.

I have now detailed shortly all the Tea machines or contrivances I know, or have heard of, and I think there is plenty of room yet for inventors.[46] The machine, as before observed, most to be desired is one to separate the small Pekoe leaves from the others, ere the rolling of the leaf is commenced. If such a machine existed, it would much increase the value of all Indian Teas, and if the Agricultural and Horticultural Society are inclined to offer a prize for any machine, it should be this.

At the point where the separation should take place, the stalk is much tenderer than elsewhere, and this led me to think a blow or concussion on the mass of green leaf might effect the object. I attached a bow by the centre to an immovable board, placed at right angles to the plane of a table (like the back of a dressing table), and then, causing leaf to drop from above, subjected it to sharp strokes from the string of the bow. It effected the object partially, for many Pekoe ends were detached, but it bruised and cut the other leaf too much also. I believe a revolving barrel, with blunt but thin narrow iron plates inside, which would strike the leaf placed within, as the barrel was turned, would perhaps answer. I give the above idea for what it is worth, for any inventive genius to improve on.

As it is impossible, as far as I can see, to construct any machine which should cut the stalk only in the right place, ergo, I believe some arrangement which would take advantage of the fact, that the stalk is tenderer there than elsewhere, is the only one that could answer.

Now to return to the manufacture of Tea. I will consider each of the five operations detailed, which I believe are all that are necessary to make good Tea, separately.

Withering.—There are several tests to show when leaf is withered. Fresh leaf squeezed in the hand, held near the ear, crackles, but no sound should be heard from withered leaf. Again, fresh leaf, pressed together in the palm of the hand, when released, springs back to nearly its original bulk, but withered leaf, in like circumstances, retains the shape into which it has been pressed. The stalk of withered leaf will bend double without breaking, but fresh leaf stalks, if bent very little, break. Practice, though, soon gives a test superior to all these, viz., the feel of the leaf. Properly withered leaves are like old rags to lay hold of, and no further test, after a time, than the feel of the leaf is necessary.

The agents for withering leaf are sun, light, heat, and air. Of these the most powerful is sun, for it combines all the others with it. Light is a powerful agent, for if some leaf be placed in a partially dark room, and some in a well-lighted verandah, the latter will wither in half the time the former will take. If light and moderate ventilation be present, heat is a rapid accessory to rapid withering.

There is often great difficulty in withering leaf in the rain. It can be withered in Tea pans, but “the out-turn” is then more or less injured, for after infusion the out-turn comes out green instead of the proper “new penny” colour. Withering in dholes is also objectionable for the same reason, though if the heat is moderate the green effect is less. It is further a long and tedious operation.

Space and light are the great wants for withering leaf in wet weather. Bamboo mechans, tier above tier, should be constructed in every available space. Large frames, covered with wire mesh, may also be made (by means of weights running over pulleys) to run up to the roof of any Tea building. The leaf withers well in such frames, for heat ascends, and much heat is given out by dholes.

It signifies not though where leaf is spread as long as there is space and light. Houses made of iron and glass would be far the best for withering leaf, for, if well ventilated, all the necessary agents for withering, detailed in the last page, would be present. I do not doubt the day will come when these will be used, for properly withered leaf is a necessity for good Tea.[47]

In dry weather, when leaf comes in from the garden, spread it thinly anywhere and turn it once early in the night. It will generally be withered and ready to roll next morning. If not quite ready, then put it outside in the sun. Half an hour’s sunning will probably finish it.

In wet weather, if there is any sun when it comes in, or any time that day, take advantage of the sun to wither the leaf partly, so much that, with the after withering all night under cover, it will be ready next morning. If not ready next morning, put it out in the sun, if there is any, till it is ready.

In very wet and cloudy weather, when there is no sun and continual rain, so that the leaf cannot be put outside (for remember that outside, when there is no sun, the light alone will wither it), artificial withering of some kind must be resorted to. I have mentioned the only means I know of for doing this.

As properly withered leaf is an important point in making good Tea, it is well worth while to keep one or two men, according to the quantity of leaf, for that work alone. They soon learn the best way to do it, and if made answerable the leaf is properly ready for the rollers, the object is generally attained. In this and every thing else in Tea manufacture, give different men different departments, and make them answerable. Much trouble to the manager, who should supervise all, and much loss to the proprietor from bad Tea, will then be avoided.

Rolling.—This is a simple operation enough when the men have got the knack of it. Some planters advocate a circular motion of the hands when rolling, under the impression it gives the leaf a better twist. Some like rolling it forward, but bringing it back without letting it turn during the backward motion. I believe in neither way, for it appears to me to be rolled no better, or no worse, by these plans than by the ordinary and quicker mode of simply rolling it any way. The forward and backward motion is the simplest and quickest, and the way all rollers adopt, who are given a certain quantity of leaf (say 30 lbs. a fair amount) to roll for their day’s work. In this ordinary rolling the ball in the hand, ’tis true, does not turn much in the backward motion, for ’tis more or less pulled back, but whether it turns or not does not, I believe, signify the least.

Rolling in hot pans was formerly extensively practised. It is not much done now. I have tried the plan, but found no advantage in it.

Rolling on coarse mats, placed on the floor, might be seen also. When I visited the Assam Company’s gardens near Nazerah, in Assam, I saw it done there. It is a great mistake. The coarse bamboo mat breaks the leaf sadly, and much of the sap or juice from the leaf, which adds much to the strength of the Tea, runs through the coarse mat, and is lost.

One and the principal reason why Indian Tea is stronger than Chinese is that in India the sap or juice is generally retained, while in China it is, strange to say, purposely wasted!

A strong immovable smooth table, with the planks of which it is formed well joined together, so that no apertures exist for the juice of the leaf to run through, is the best thing to roll on. If covered with a fine seetul pattie mat, nailed down over the edges of the table, a still greater security is given against the loss of any sap, and I believe the slightly rough surface of the mat enables the leaf to roll better. An edging of wood one inch above the surface of the table should be screwed on to the edges over the mat, if there is one, to prevent leaf falling off.

The leaf is rolled by a line of men on each side of such a table (4½ feet is a good width for it) passing up from man to man, from the bottom of the table to the top. The passage of each handful of roll from man to man is regulated by the man at the end, who, when the roll in his hand is ready (that is, rolled enough), forms it into a tight compressed ball (a truncated shape is the most convenient) and puts it away on an adjacent stand. When he does this, the roll each man has passes up one step.

The roll is ready to make up into a ball, when it is in a soft mashy state, and when in the act of rolling it gives out juice freely. None of this juice must be lost, it must be mopped up into the roll, again and again in its passage up the table, and finally into the ball, when made up.

There will be some coarse leaves in the roll which cannot be twisted. These, if left, would give much red leaf in the Tea. They should be picked out by, say, the third or fourth man from the head of the table, for it is only when the leaf has been partly rolled that they show. The man who picks out the coarse leaf should not roll at all. He should spread the roll, and pick out as much as he can, between the time of receiving and passing it on. In no case allow roll to accumulate by him, for if so kept it hardens and dries, and gives extra work to the last rollers to bring it into the mashy state again. Besides which I rather think, any such lengthened stoppage in the rolling helps to destroy Pekoe ends, and is certainly injurious to the perfect after-fermentation, inasmuch as it (the fermentation) partly takes place then.

This finishes the rolling process. Each man as stated can do 30 lbs., but there is further work for him to be now described.

Fermenting.—The balls accumulated are allowed to stand until fermented. I look on this being done to the right extent and no more, as perhaps the most important point in the whole manufacture.

Some planters collect the roll after rolling in a basket, and there let it ferment, instead of making it up into balls for that purpose as described. I much prefer the ball system for the following reasons:—When a quantity is put into a basket together and allowed to ferment a certain time, what was put in first is naturally more fermented than what was put in last, the former probably over, the latter under-done. The balls, on the contrary, can be each taken in succession in the order they were laid on the table, and thus each receive the same amount of fermentation. I think further the twist in the leaf is better preserved by the ball plan, and also that a large quantity in a basket is apt to ferment too much in the centre.

It is impossible to describe, so that practical use shall be made of it, when the balls are sufficiently fermented. The outside of the ball is no good criterion. It varies much in colour, affected by the extent the leaf was withered.[48] You must judge by the inside.

Perhaps as good a rule as any is that half the twisted leaves inside shall be a rusty red, half of them green. Practice alone, however, will enable you to pronounce when the balls are properly fermented. There is no time to be fixed for it. The process is quicker in warm than cool weather.

The fermentation should be stopped in each ball just at the right time. Great exactitude in this is all-important, and therefore, as I say, the balls should be taken in rotation as they were laid down.

The fermentation is stopped by breaking up the ball. The roll is spread out very thin, and at the same time any remaining coarse leaves are picked out.

This concludes the fermenting process.

Sunning.—The roll is then without any delay put out in the sun, spread very thin on dhallas or mats. When it has become blackish in colour it is collected and re-spread, so that the whole of it shall be affected by the sun. With bright sunshine, an hour or even less suns it sufficiently. It is then at once placed in the dholes, which must be all ready to receive it.

If the weather is wet, it must, directly the balls are broken up, and the coarse leaf is picked out, be sent to the dholes. This is the only plan in wet weather, but the best Tea is made in fine weather.

Firing or Dholing.—In the case of wet weather, unless you have very many dholes, fresh roll will come in long before the first is finished. The only plan in this case is to half do it. Half-fired the roll does not injure with any delay, but even half an hour’s delay, between breaking up the balls and commencing to drive off the moisture, is hurtful.

In any but wet weather necessitating it the roll can be fired at one time, that is, not removed from the drawer until it has become Tea.

The roll in each drawer must be shaken up and re-spread two or three times, in the process of firing. The drawer must be taken off the fire to do this, or some of the roll would fall through into the fire, and the smoke thus engendered would be hurtful. If the lowest drawer is made to slide in and out a framework covered with zinc should be made to run into a groove below it, and this zinc protector should be always run in before the lower drawer is moved. This is part of Mr. McMeekin’s invention, and is very necessary to prevent roll from the lowest drawer falling into the fire when it (the lower drawer) is moved.

The roll remains in the drawers, subject to the heat of the charcoal below, until it is quite dry and crisp. Any piece then taken between the fingers should break with the slightest attempt to bend it.

The manufacture is now completed. The roll has become Tea.

All the above operations should be carefully conducted, but I believe the secret of good Tea consists simply in, first, stopping the fermentation at the right moment; and, secondly, in commencing to drive off the moisture immediately after.

I do not say that the manufacture here detailed may not be improved upon later, but I do say that in the results of economy, strong liquor, and well twisted leaf, its results are very satisfactory, and not surpassed by any other mode at present in vogue. I do not pretend that it will give Teas rich in Pekoe tips. To attain this, light rolling as shown must be resorted to, but just as far as Pekoe tips are procured so far must strength be sacrificed. Until the small Pekoe leaves can be detached and manufactured separately, this must always be the case.

From the Tea made as described by sifting and sorting, all the ordinary black Teas of commerce, as detailed at page 137, can be produced, excepting “Flowery Pekoe.”

To make Flowery Pekoe the closed bud and the one open leaf of the shoot are alone taken, and these are manufactured alone. It does not, as a rule, pay to make this Tea at all, though it fetches a long price. It does not pay for the following reasons:—

1. After the head of the flush is taken the pickers that follow do not readily recognise the remainder of the shoot, and consequently omit to pick many of them. A heavy loss in the yield is thus entailed.

2. The after Teas, made without these small leaves, are very inferior, as they are much weaker, and totally devoid of Pekoe tips.

3. The labour, and ergo the expense of picking the flush, is double.

The manufacture of Flowery Pekoe is simple enough. When the two leaves from each shoot of which it is made are collected they are exposed to the sun, spread out very thin, until they have well shrivelled. They are then placed over small and slow charcoal fires, and so roasted very slowly. If the above is well done, the Pekoe tips (and there is little else) come out a whitish orange colour. The whiter they are the better. If the leaf is rolled very lightly by the hand before sunning, the liquor will be darker and stronger, but the colour of the tips will not be so good.

Flowery Pekoe is quite a fancy Tea, and for the reasons given above it can never pay to make it.

Green Tea.

The pans for this should be 2ft. 9in. diameter and 11in. in depth. They should be thick pans, which will not, therefore, cool quickly. Many are required for this manufacture, four or five for every maund of Tea to be made daily. They should be set up in a sloping position, and the arrangement of the fireplaces such that the wood to burn under them can be put in through apertures leading into the verandah. One chimney will do for every two pans, and it should be built high so as to give a good draught, for hot fires are necessary.

Flat-bladed sticks are used to stir both the leaf and the Tea in the pans, for the hand cannot bear the heat.

The men when working the Tea in the pans should have high stools to sit on, for it is a nine hours’ job.

The bags in which “the roll” is placed at night should be made of No. 3 canvas, 2 feet long and 1 foot broad.

I will now detail the manufacture.

To make Green Tea the leaf must be brought in twice in the day. What comes in at one o’clock is partly made the same day. The evening leaf is left till the following morning, laying it thick (say 6 inches), so that it will not wither. But if the one o’clock or the evening leaf comes in wet, they must both be dried, the former before being put into the pans, the latter before being laid out for the night.

The manufacture thus begins twice daily, viz., morning and one o’clock, but “the roll” of both these is treated together up to the time “the roll” is ready to place in the bags.

The leaf having no moisture in it is placed first in hot pans, at a temperature of say 160°, and stirred with sticks for about seven minutes, until it becomes moist and sticky. It is then too hot to hold in the hand.

It is then rolled for two or three minutes on a table until it gets a little twisted.

Then lay it out on dhallas in the sun (say 2 inches thick) for about three hours, and roll it thrice during that time, always in the sun. It is ready to roll each time when “the roll” has become blackish on the surface. It is not rolled more than three minutes each time, and then spread out as before. If you put on a proper number of men to do this they do each dhalla in succession, and when they have done the last, “the roll” in the first dhalla will be blackish on the surface again, and ready to roll again.

When three rollings are done, the roll should have a good twist on it.

It is then placed in the pans, at the same heat as before, and worked with sticks as before for two or three minutes, until it becomes too hot to hold.

It is then stuffed, as tight as it can be stuffed, into the bags described above, putting as much into each bag as you can possibly get it to hold. The mouth is then tied up and the bag beaten with a flat heavy stick to consolidate the mass inside, and so it is left for the night.

Next morning it is taken out of the bags, and worked with the flat sticks as before in the pans for nine hours without intermission. The temperature 160° at first down to 120° at the last.

During and owing to this last process the green colour is produced.[49] It is worked quicker and quicker as the hours pass.

The following are the kinds of Tea into which it is best sorted:—

The sorting of Green Tea is a nicer operation, and takes twice as long as sorting Black Tea.

If there are pans enough, and the work is well arranged, there should be no night-work with Green Tea, for all should be over by 5 P.M.; whereas with Black Tea night-work is generally a necessity.

The price obtained for Green Tea is more dependent on its appearance than in the case of Black.

It is not easy to make Black and Green Tea in the same factory.

Green Tea, if well made, pays much better than Black Tea; and, as before observed, I think all gardens with Chinese plants should adopt the manufacture.[50] When once the building is fitted for it, and the routine established, the Green Tea manufacture is always preferred by those who have tried both.

The Hybrid plant makes the best Black, the Chinese the best Green Tea.