484 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Janttary I, 1884. 



a large and a small one, and the contents of the 

 latter should be ft-cqucntly emptied into the former, 

 the leaf being ■well stin-ed up -nith the hand, to 

 prevent adl esion and heating. Heated green leaf 

 gives red leal in the tea. 



Witheriny 'SVithur leaf -well, undernnthered leaf makes 



the worst ]iossible tea. It is well to arrange the tea 

 bouse iu such a manner, as to have withering space in 

 various tenii i-ratures, so that in wet weather the withering 

 may be hastened and in very hot weather retarded. It 

 is useless tt- endeavour to describe well-mthered leaf. It 

 must be seen. 



Rolling .—TXoH hard. You can't hurt well-withered leaf 

 by hard roiling, and the .strength of tlie hquor and twist 

 of the leaf are., I believe, improved by it. I have noticed 

 several rolling tables in this district which are too high. 

 The height most suitable to ordinary sized coolies is 2 

 feet 6 inc'.ies from -the ground to the top of the table. 

 A cooly cannot exert his strength to break the leaf cells 

 and force the juice out of the leaf, if the table is too 

 high. The coolies should be very careful to pick out all 

 hard leaf which will not take twist. If this is neglected 

 there will be much open and red leaf in the made tea. 

 I always ball the roll, as 1 think there is Uttle doubt the 

 leaf kee]>s tivist better. Very many good tea makers do 

 not hov ever think it necessary. A cooly rolls 401b. leaf, 

 which he should finish in a good withering day by 2 

 o'clock. A man can, therefore, roll more, but to give him 

 a longer task would probably necessitate night work, which 

 is to be avoided as much as possible. 



Feniifnting. — Maskeliya tea has a very pleasant sweet 

 flavor with moderate strength, and a bright outturn. I 

 find that these characteristics are best preserved by fer- 

 mentiug rather lightly than otherwise. The first ship- 

 ment 1 sent from here, did not fetch such good prices as 

 the succeeding breaks, and I attribute this in a great 

 measure to my having been too anxious to secure a full coloured 

 outturn, and having consequently fermented a little more than 

 was suitable to the tea. Fermentation here with the tea-house 

 temperature at from 80 ° to 90 ° takes generally from 

 1^ to 3 hours, though I have known it come on in half-an- 

 hour. I seldom allow over 3^ hours, but would rather 

 fire it somewhat green than wait longer. Like withering, 

 it is not easy to describe what constitutes good ferment- 

 ation. Books are very misleading on this point, it being so 

 diflicult to give in words a proper idea of a shade of colour. 



Soi-tiiiff. — I never pick out red leaf except in very bad 

 weather. If the pluckers and rollers have done their duty 

 properly, there should be no more red leaf in the tea 

 than the sorters can pick out. Small pieces of red leaf go 

 out with the tannings. For this, as for all tea-house works 

 •ixcept perhaps fanning, I prefer men to women. There 

 5s no rule for the employment of any particular sieves, 

 the class and make of the tea nmst determine this. For fine 

 teas, some planters use 14, 10 and 8 or 7 ; some use 12, 10 

 and 7 ; and some 12, 8 and 6, &c. Mr. Armstrong has 

 gone into this matter so fully that I need not detain you. 

 The main points are : — 



1. Kot to make too many qualities. 



2. Not to let the fine qualities broken pekoe and pekoe 

 slip into the lower grades. 



3. Not to pass the tea too often through the sieves 

 and thus destroy the bloom. 



4. Not to make much dust. 



Sorting should be done as soon after making the tea as 

 possible. If the tea has been kept some time, that which 

 has to be broken through a sieve, should be gently warmed 

 to make it brittle and thus avoid much rubbing on the sieve. 

 The percentage of each grade should be carefully watched. 

 Something is going wrong when the tea ceases to turn 

 out its usual percentage of each grade. My outturn last 

 season was as follows: — Broken pekoe 25 per cent; pekoe 

 40 percent; pekoe souchong 19; tannings and dust 14; 

 broken mixed 2. 



Firinr/. — I do not use gratings in my chulas. I think 

 they make the draught uneven, and consequently one side 

 of the fire burns much quicker than tne other, and burn- 

 ing of the tea is apt to ensue. I allow firing coolies 40 

 miiuitcs to each tray, they oft^n do it in less time, but 

 sehlom take longer. The ([Uicker tea is fired the better, 

 therefore the trays should not be covered more than J inch 

 deep with roll. 



Packing.— 1 KcommeDd packing, like sorting, tffbe done 



as soon as possible : iu fact, pack everyday if possible. 

 Thi<( of course precludes biUking, but bulking is not 

 advisable unless tea is made in very large quantities, 

 for this reason, that to make up a sufficiently large break, 

 you would have to keep the tea open longer than is at 

 all good for it. I do not think tea should be strongly 

 fired before packing. It only, requires to be thoroughly 

 warmed so that there may be no moisture remaining. 



The cost of all works connected ^vith tea cultivation 

 and manufacture has be*^n so fully and repeatedly gone 

 into, in es.^aj'S, and iu articles and correspondence in the 

 public papers, that I can find nothing to say which has 

 not been said. Mi'. Armstrong gives four estimates for tea, 

 f . 0. b. I shall recommend the Maskehya planter to 

 accept that which gives 400 lb . per acre at 40 cents as the 

 safest. Account sale charges, including freight, should 

 not exceed 10°/o on the gross return, and an average 

 gross price of Is 3d per lb. is at present a more than safe 

 estimate. My average for last year was Is 5d, and I 

 learn from Mincing Lane correspondents that Ceylon tea 

 is iu " growing favor." I am sure you will agree with 

 me that these figures show a very reasonable margin of 

 profit ; and I think we may look for improvement in the 

 future, unless the price of tea falls very materially. For 

 it seems to all that tea in Ceylon improves with age, 

 both in quantity and quality, at all events up to a 

 certain point. Mr. Armstrong's account of Eockwood yield 

 shows a steady increase, and as to quality 1 feel sure I 

 may venture to assert that our two oldest estates, Kook- 

 wood and Loolcondera, are now turning out finer teas than 

 at any preWous time. 



I also hold a theory, that in some places, it not 

 everywhere, the soil and climate of Ceylon are so 

 favom-able to the growth of tea, that the hard leaf of com- 

 paratively low class hybrids, becomes softer and resembles 

 that of high class bushes. The following instance is to the 

 point. Some mouths ago, I was walking past some tea 

 bushes which had been allowed to grow up for seedbeaiing. 

 My attention wasdrami to a tree which appeared to have so 

 small a leaf that I wondered how it came to escape being 

 cut down as not good enough for seed. To my surprize, 

 hcjwcver, I discovered that on a sucker, it displayed leaves 

 almost large enough for an indigenous plant. I plucked a 

 sample of each class of leaf and took them home. That 

 morning a Visiting Agent and a tea planter came to my 

 bungalow. The one gentleman said the smaller leaf was 

 not tea at all (so poor looking it was) and the other 

 admitted it was tea, but said he would buy no seed off such 

 a plant, but would wiUiugly purchase seed off the other 

 variety ! Yet both leaves were from the same tree, which 

 I beUeved was develrping a larger leaf vmder tlie influence 

 of rich soil and 6uit:'.ble climate I have some plauts from 

 an estate which is uot remarkable for the high class jat 

 of its bushes, which plants ai-e certainly better than their 

 parents. So that " taking one consideration with another." 

 1 cannot say I think much importance need be attached 

 to the outcry lately raised against planting from good 

 Ceylon seed. 



Before finally quitting the subject of tea manufacture, I 

 would point out the fallacy of an apparently very common 

 opinion that there are many secrets in the art. Some 

 practical experience is necessary in this as in almost 

 everytliing, and the advice of an experienced man is at 

 first advisable in order that the tyro may learn when 

 such operation is properly completed lest his leaf 

 should be imder or over withered, under or over 

 fermented, &c., &c. These necessary matters being 

 learnt, there remains only one great secret, and 

 that is care. Each of the several operations must be per- 

 fect or the best tea wiU not be made. Thus, though the 

 leaf were carefully plucked, and well withered and rolled, 

 all might be spoilt if the fermentation were bad. The 

 art of making good tea may be compared, to a chain— the 

 value of which depends upon the perfection of each 

 separate link. And now, gentlemen, while offering you 

 my best -wishes for the approaching ne-w year, let me 

 add my congratulations on the improved prospects which 

 apparently He before you. AVe cannot perhaps expect that 

 the profits of tea cultivation, will equal those of the best 

 davs of coifee, for I believe there are but few .igricul- 

 tuial products so remunerative a.% that tr/ts, and iu some 

 in.stances still »>. But the KlOO or Rl 20 per acre of profit 

 which tea offers is surely uot to bo despised, and the 



