202 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1884. 



Thesaurus at hand, or we might have gone to deeper 

 depths, or rather greater heights still. 



With regard to Fermentation the Dnrjeeling cor- 

 respondent of the huliyo Gazelle rightly saya that 

 there can be no hard and fast rule laid down as to how 

 long t' a takes to ferment properly. When the weather 

 is dry and hot, it will ferment much more quickly than 

 iu wet weather. Again the state of withering has a 

 grejit dealt,) say to the length of time it will take. 

 We contend that the eye is the best test to go by, 

 acid the color, if caught at the right moment will 

 come out exactly the same color iu the infusion that 

 it did when it was put on the fires or into the drying 

 machine." To the test of the eye we would add that 

 of the nose, and with a little practice of these two 

 senses combined the obtaining of a good and equal 

 fermentation is rendered a certainty. " A Niigiri Tea 

 Planter," in the pamphlet issued by us, says: — 



Many planters colour their tea loose and in heaps. I 

 never do so at first, but only when I see that the cones are 

 not colouring evenly throughout, and then the business 

 must be conducted with great care. This operation is a 

 most important one, and only lengthened experience will 

 enable the planter to do it readily to the exact pitch re- 

 quired. Time is no test at all. I have coloured tea on these 

 Hills in li hour: whereas on another occasion I have 

 known it stand in the cones for eight hours and scarcely 

 take any colour at all. The temperature of the bouse and 

 the quality of the leaf are the main points to go by. I 

 find that at an average elevation of 5,500 feet in an iron- 

 roofed factory the thermometer will range from 70° to 

 80 ° : and the time taken to colour the leaf under a single 

 fold of blanket will vary from 2h to lh hours. 

 On Abbotsferd, at 5,800 feet, the roll is fermented in 

 baskets, and in wet weather we have some times had it 

 stand as long as eight hours ; but the usual time up there 

 is, according to the dryness and warmth of the tempera- 

 ture, from two to four hours. Mr. H. Cottam, in 'Tea 

 cultivation in Assam,' another pamphlet issued by the 

 ( - ylon Observer press, remarks : — 



Tea leaf is sometimes rolled after fermentation, but this 

 plan is not generally approved of, and is going out of 

 fashion, being not considered safe, and liable to unroll the 

 leaf, as well as being a waste of labour. 



Cases have been known of planters not having proper 

 firing conveniences and being unable to fire the leaf quick 

 enough, consequently their tea has " gone sour" through 

 standing nearly half a clay in an over fermented state. 



In hot weather tea will turn sour iu two hours or so. 

 The mode of judging the time allowed for fermentation 

 is by watching the colour of the leaf, which should turn 

 from brown to a salmou or copper colour. 



If left too long, the outside becomes a greenish black and 

 makes a black tea after firing. 



At one factory of the Assam Company, I saw the leaf 

 placed in bottomless boxes, and pressed tightly clown ; the 

 boxes were afterwards removed, leaving the pressed tea leaf 

 the shape of a brick. 



In another factory, baskets are used and tea leaf jumped 

 upon until the basket can hold no more, then turned upside 

 clown and left t} ferment. 



The larger the quantity put together for fermentation, 

 the "better ; for one reason, coolies are apt to play with the 

 small balls rend keep on twisting and turning them and wast- 

 ing much time. 



We do not altogether agree with the observation 

 upon rolling after fermentation. We know that with 

 "s it has been found that a much finer tea 

 has been turned out by the following process. The 

 roll, when half finished is taken out, all the small 

 leaf sifted and put to ferment separately : the re- 

 maining larger leaf is left to ferment slightly, then 

 put back iuto the roller, and finally fermented fully. 

 By this means very tine tip is obtained, the red leaf 

 is almost nil, and every souchong leaf is as well 

 twisted as the pekoe. This practically is the process 

 recommended by Mr. Owen, who gives fermentation 

 yet another appellation, — oxidation. He snys, " Re- 

 garding so-called fermentation — for I believe this to 



be a misnomor and that oxidation would be a more 

 correct term — it is a good plan to mix the roll several 

 times during the process, as this makes the color 

 much more even. In fact, iu a hot climate, I would 

 employ boys in turning the roll over constantly, and 

 I have seen some of the best manufactured teas in 

 Assam and the Terai made this way. It is not a 

 bad plan, after machine rolling, to sift the roll through 

 a No. 4 sieve and ferment tne small and big leaf 

 separately ; this will enable you to color your coarse 

 souchong leaf without overdoing the pekoe and broken. 

 When roll is constantly turned however (and it is 

 quite practicable when color is obtained in an hour 

 or so) this sifting is unnecessary, an even color being 

 obtained without it." In this decided expression of 

 opinion, as to constantly turning the leaf being better 

 than sifting it, wo think Mr. Owen is wrong, for 

 one of the strictest axioms of tea manufacture laid 

 down is that the less the leaf (at all stages) is handled 

 the better. Mr. Armstrong's remarks on this subject 

 are so very valuable that we have no compunction in 

 taking them over in full. They are as follows : — 

 " After your leaf is sufficiently rolled, break up tho 

 roll well, so as to have no lumps in it, and place 

 it lightly in saucer-shaped baskets of bamboo, or 

 oane, 18 inches wide by (J inches deep ; these again 

 to be placed inside a sack to ferment. Each basket 

 holds about 121b. of roll —no actual time can belaid 

 clown for fermentation, as it all depends upon the day 

 or time of year. In cold weather, at 5,600 feet, I 

 has'e waited for 6i hours for it to ferment, although 

 my house has been kept at 90". Again, at low 

 elevations, I have seen roll properly fermented in 20 

 minutes from rolling. As far as time is concerned, 

 at high elevations in ordinary weather, I find it takes 

 from 14 to 3 hours. Machine-rolled ferments quicker 

 than hand, an advantage in favour of machine. Koll 

 is properly fermented when it shows at a first glance 

 a bright new copper color. We must not in making 

 this test, examine the roll too carefully as, if we do, 

 we will find almost as many green as copper-colored 

 leaves ; the first glance on taking up a handful must 

 decide us. As a rule, we should ferment up to our 

 pekoe souchong and let the rest take care of itself ; 

 if in doubt, under ferment rather than over ferment ; 

 over fermentation may cause the tea to be altogether 

 sour, aud in any case gives a dark-colored, flat liquor, 

 with dark, dead-looking infusion. For the first two 

 or three rounds after pruning, our leaf will not 

 give us a very bright infusion, and there is no use 

 waiting on the fermentation to try aud get it ; all 

 comes right as the wood matures. Having arrived 

 at a proper state of fermentation we should hand- 

 roll lightly again, even if machinery is used. Coolies 

 employed in the factory, firing, withering &c. &c. 

 are sufficient to do this. It is necessary, as it in- 

 clines the roll, opened more or less by fermentation, 

 to take its twist again as it is being fired, and it 

 also ensures the whole being thoroughly well separated, 

 before being placed in the firing trays." 

 We would draw special attention to the • two im- 

 portant facts mentioned above : that machine-rolled 

 ferments quicker than hand-rolled tea, and that the 

 state of fermentation is to be judged of not by a 

 close examination of the roll, but by a quick super- 

 ficial glance. 



Returning to the letter in the Indigo Gazelle, wc 

 find the following sensible remarks made : — " For ono 

 fill of an ordinary Jackson's roller, we fiud that a 

 space of, say 20 feet aud three feet, will not be found 

 inconvenient, and will enable the fermenting leaf to 

 be put out about the proper thickness. The leaf 

 should, after it is turned out of the rolling machiue 

 and put upon the table to ferment, be covered over. 

 It is also moBt important, at the end of each day's 

 work, to have the fermenting tables scalded with 



