208 TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



of only a few chests, or it may embrace two liundred or more, 

 but whether it be large or small, the bulk is always subjected to 

 a last heating, and is quickly packed and soldered down in that 

 condition ready for exportation. 



It will be noted from this brief account of green tea prepara- 

 tion — 



1. That the plants intended to produce the leaves to be made 

 into green tea should be grown in soil containing little or no 

 iron. 



2. That plants removed from a green tea district to a ferrugin- 

 ous soil lose their value for producing the green tea of commerce. 



3. That areas formerly devoted to the production of ordinary 

 green tea now yield choice black qualities. 



4. That green tea manufacture involves a comparatively short 

 exposure to the sun's rays, but a considerable amount of manipu- 

 lation. 



5. That it should not be allowed to undergo any fermentation. 



6. That although green tea is coloured for the purposes of 

 sophistication and pleasing the European eye, the materials used 

 are not deleterious. 



7. And that it is invariably packed in a hot condition. 



Something about Black Tea. 



With the exception of flowery pekoe and caper, all black teas 

 are subjected to much the same kind of manipulation as green ; 

 and without exception they all pass under a longer or shorter 

 period of fermentation, which, indeed, forms the chief distinguish- 

 ing feature between the two sorts. Flowery pekoe, consisting as 

 it does of the youngest and most fragrant buds, is only collected 

 by skilled pluckers, whose baskets, in order to prevent mistakes, 

 are usually of a different shape. Being covered with delicate, 

 silvery hairs, such leaves are never rolled in handfuls, but are 

 carefully though loosely twisted and curled leaf by leaf. Caper, 

 the other exception, in addition to the usual rolling and curling, 

 consisting as it frequently does of broken leaf and dust, is treated 

 with gum and plumbago, and is worked into its characteristic 

 spherical form by the aid of little flat boards attached to the 

 workmen's hands, and sometimes by being put into bags or skins 

 and manipulated with their feet. 



The ordinary black teas of commerce are produced thus : — A 

 morning's pluckings are spread out loosely on bamboo trays to 

 wither in the sun for a period of twelve hours, under the protection 

 of sheds with movable roofs. Should the weather be favourable, 

 this preliminary exposure is considered sufficiently effective to 

 justify the removal of the leaves to considerable distances, and, 

 as sun-dried tea becomes an article of commerce among the 



