The attritionizer imparts to the dried unoxidized leaf a gray color due to the friction of the par ticles of tea on each other in a current of warm air, which otherwise can be secured only by adul teration with foreign and generally deleterious coloring matters.
The final mechanical process is the differentia tion of the several sizes of the dry tea particles by means of sieves, and to them are given the names of the leaves of the tea shoot, as if separately plucked and prepared,—which is practically no where done. If not previously chopped or cut, the smaller the dry leaf particles the better is the brew.
Enem ies.
Thus far the only enemies developed by the American tea experimentation have been the red spider, during exceptionally dry weather and on weak plants, and the mealy-bug on bushes in the dim light under the covering of the shelter-tea frames. Pruning and burning are the most effective reme dies for these pasts. Cattle, goats and the general farm-thief do not molest tea gardens ; and the dep redations of the army-worm must be regarded as an advantage, as the worm spares the tea while destroying the grass.
Quantity versus quality in the product.
The production of large yields is generally at the expense of quality, as frequent flushes appear to interfere with the formation of those chemical combinations which impart value to the leaf. Nevertheless, the problem of quantity or quality steadily presents itself to the average tea-planter of the Orient, and the profit of production vacillates between the two. Of late there would seem to have been more money in poorer and cheaper teas. The price of tea has fallen to about half the price it held one generation ago. If the quality had been maintained, which under the circumstances was impossible, the only sufferers might have been the producers ; but as matters now stand, the poorer classes in losing their health from the consumption of inferior teas are most to be pitied. First came the terrible struggle of the Indian and Ceylon planters with China for the supremacy of the world's tea markets ; and once accustomed to a steady decline in price, the dealers, both wholesale and retail, have never ceased to demand yet greater cheapness of the commodity, even though incom patible with the real enjoyment or healthfulness of the beverage. Good tea is imported into this coun
try and commands its proper price, but it plays a subordinate part to the great bulk of cheap, often harmfully astringent or worthless stuff made from inferior leaf.
At the very commencement of the Pinehurst ex perimentation, the impossibility as well as the undesirability of attempting to compete with the cheaper oriental teas was acknowledged because of the great difference in the price of common, un skilled labor. It was foretold that success could he attained only by the production of high-class teas, the product of intelligent labor and suitable machinery. It was felt that the distinctly charac teristic cup qualities of American teas, while operating against their introduction, must prove their main reliance because they precluded the substitution of foreign articles for them when once their use had become habitual. For this reason and because the Pinehurst teas possess purity, strength and, withal, freedom from astringency, they have found favor in large sections of the country. The large variety of foreign tea plants, carefully elected from the best sources and intelligently cultivated, has enabled Pinehurst to place on the market a number of different teas, thus appealing to the tastes of all and solving the question as to the disposition of the output.
Literature.
Samuel Boildon, The Tea Industry in India ; A. J. Wallis and C. E. Tayler, Tea Machinery and Facto ries; Claud Bald, Indian Tea: Its Culture and Manu facture (1903); S. Ball, Cultivation and Manufac ture of Tea (1848); John Ferguson, Ceylon in 1893; Robert Fortune, Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China (1847) ; John H. Blake, Tea Hints for Retailers (1903); Lieutenant Colonel Eward Money, The Cultivation and Manu facture of Tea (1883); David Crole, Tea,—A text book of tea-planting and manufacture (1897); W. Kelway Barnber, Chemistry and Agriculture of Tea, including growth and manufacture (1893); The Tea Cyclopedia, compiled by the Editor of the " Indian Tea Gazette" (1881); The Tea-Planter's Vade Mecum, compiled by the Editor of the "Indian Tea Gazette"; Dr. Charles U. Shepard, Bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture ; George F. Mitchell, Home-grown Tea, Farmers' Bulletin No. 301.