The value of the leaves depends on their succulence, which is coincident with their youth. The youngest leaf makes the best tea, and the order of merit is :—a gives Flowery Pekoe ; b, Orange Pekoe ; c, Pekoe ; d,FirstSouchong; e, Second Souchong ; f, Congou ; a b c mixed, Pekoe ; abcde mixed, Pekoe Souchong ; if there were a leaf picked below f it would make Bohea. The best cultivators do not take any leaf below e. The succulent stalk down to the line marked 2 also forms good tea. It would be a great advantage to the product if each leaf could be separately picked and manufactured, so as to modify the treatment according to requirement, but the labour entailed is enormously costly, and the universal practice is to pick and manufacture all indiscriminately, trusting to the final sifting and sorting process (p. 2002) to separate the various kinds with more or less precision.
Money recommends the following plan in picking. If the garden has been pruned as it ought to be, take only a for 2 flushes ; for 2 more, nip the stalk above 1, taking the upper part of c, as shown ; from the 5th flush, take off the shoot at the line above 2, and by a separate motion of the fingers take off at e at the line. By this plan, when the rains begin, the trees will show a large picking surface, for plenty of buds will have been preserved for new growth. After August, pick lower if desired, as the trees cannot be hurt : for instance, nip the stalk and upper part of e together, and separately the upper part of f. The principle of picking is to leave intact the bud at the axis of the leaf down to which picking is carried. Some planters pick all through the season at the line above 1, and take d and perhaps e separately. This plan will make strong teas, but the yield will be small ; the plants will also form so much foliage that they will not flush well, and will grow so high that the boy pickers will not reach the top. The principle advocated by Money is to prune severely, so that the plant shall throw out many new shoots ; to be sparing with these until the violence done to the tree is in a measure repaired ; till September, to pick so hard that the wants of the plant in foliage are never quite attained ; and after September, to take all that can be got.
MANUFACTURE.—Tbe aim of the manufacturer should be to produce those qualities which are sought after by the buyer. Brokers judge of tea by the tea itself, the infusion or "liquor," and the spent leaves or " out-turn." The tea should be of uniform greyish-black with a gloss on
it ; it should be regular in length and twist, and all of one kind. The liquor should have a strong, rasping, pungent flavour ; there are many special sub-flavours which cannot be described. The out-turn should be uniformly of the colour of' a bright new penny, with greenish rather than black leaves interspersed. Every parcel of tea should be infused and tasted as made, and binned with great case according to its quality. The one difficulty in tea-making is to get Pekoe tips in all Pekoe teas. If the leaves giving tips are separately manufactured,—rolled very little and lightly, not fermented at all, sunned after rolling, and finished in the sun or above the drawers in the clhok-bouse,—they will give perfect white tips ; but if mixed with the other lea`ves, they absorb juice from them in the rolling, and become all black alike. In some instances, it will pay to separate tho a and b leaves by band ; machines invented with that object will be described in due order.
The several processes to which tea is subjected are withering, rolling, fermenting, sunning, and firing or dholing.
Withering.—Withering is effected by a emnbination of light, heat, and air, best attained by spreading in the sun, when the weather is favourable. Failing this, withering in pans and dholes may be resorted to, but always renders the out-turn more or less green. It is better spread on bamboo mechans placed in every available sheltered and ventilated space, and on wire-mesh frames suspended so as to draw up under the roofs of the buildings. Ventilated houses of iron and glass have also been built for this purpose. But artificial withering is always inferior to the action of the sun, In dry weather, the leaf as brought in should be spread thinly anywhere that is con venient, and turned once in the night ; if not ready for rolling next morning, hour in the sun will generally complete the withering. In unsettled weather, every hour of chance sunshine should be availed of. The tests for properly withered leaf are that it gives no crackling sound on being crushed in the hand, retains the shape to which it is compressed, feels like old rags, and the stalks bend without breaking. Men put in charge of the withering operations should be kept to that alone, and the same rule should be adopted with the other processes.