No rolling-machine, probably, will supersede entirely the necessity of band-rolling,: a machine is very useful to roll lhe leaves partly, to break the cells, and bring the leaf into a soft, mashy state, so that very little hand-labour will finish it; but machines do not give the nice flnal twist which ie obtained by the hand. By employing both, very few rolling-men euffice t,o manufacture a large quantity of leaf.
Neleon's rolling-machine does not profess to do rnore than prepare the green leaf for rolling. The leaf is placed in bags, and compreeeed under rollers attached t,o a box weighted with stones. Thc inventor states that it will prepare 80 lb. of green leaf in 15 minutes, and that one man can then finish as much prepared leaf in 3 minutes as would otherwise occupy him 12 minutea. The machine is inferior to Kinmond's in arrangement, and ought to be very cheap, as it ie simply a mangle.
Fermenting.—The balls accumulated by the rolling-men are allowed to stand until fermented, which is, perhaps, the most important point in the whole manufacture. Sorne planters collect the roll in a basket, and let it ferment there instead of in balla. But when a quantity ie put into a basket and allowed to ferment a certain time, the first part is more fermented than the last ; while balls can be taken in the order in which they were laid on the table, and thus each will receive) the same amount of fermentation. Further, the twist ie better preserved hy the balls, and a large quantity in a basket is apt to ferment too much in the centre. It is impoeaible to describe with useful accuracy when tbe balls are sufficiently fermented. The outside ie no criterion, as it varies much, according to the def.,,ree of withering. The more the leaf is withered, the thicker in oon sistency aud the smaller in quantity is the juice that exudes, as also the yellower in colour ; further, tho darker is the outside of the balls. Bright ruety-red ie the colour of moderately withered leaf ; very dark greenish-red when much withered. A good rule is that half the twieted leaves inside shall be rusty-red, half green; but practioe alone can guide. The process is quicker in warm than cool weather, but requiree no fixed time. It should be stopped in each ball just at the right moment by breaking up the ball, and spreading it out very thin; at the same time any remaining coaree leavea are picked out.
Sunning.—The fermented roll is immediately spread very thin on &gals or mats in the sun. When become blackish in colour, it is collected aud re-spread, so that the whole shall be equally affected. In bright sunshine, an hour or less suffices ; it is then placed at once in the dholes, pre viously got ready to receive it. In wet weather, directly the balle are broken up, and the coarse h af is picked out, the tea is sent to the dholes; but the best tea is made in fine weather.
Firing or Dhofina.—The least delay between breaking up the balls and beginning to drive off the moisture ie injurious. In wet weather, unless there are many dholes, time will not permit each roll to be finished. Tho only plan then is to half-fire them, to avoid injury by delay ; but in any other case, the roll should not be removed from the drawer until it has become tea. The roll in each drawer is shaken up and rcepread 2 or 3 titnee during the firing. The rolle remain in the drawers under the influence of the heat of the burning charcoal till it is quite dry and criep, and thoroughly brittle.
By the old plan of firing, a single wicker eieve was inserted in a bamboo frame called a (Mole, placed over a charcoal fire in a hole in the ground. Several inventors have improved upon this crude and wasteful method. McMeekin's chest of firing-drawers, now generally need, consists of a system of dmwere or trays fitted in a frame one above another, the bottom of each tray being made of 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 " fires" or dries a large quantity of " roll " at the same time. The economy of fuel is great, but Money thinke that with 4 or 5 super imposed drawers, the steam ascending from the lower ones must more or less injure the roll above; he confinee himself to two, and in the top tray leaves a small circular apace by which the steam from the lower drawer can escape. The escaping heat is partially utilized by placing dhallas in time above, with roll in them, supported by iron rods let into the wall ; they are useful for partly drying roll, and for withering leaf when there is no sun.