TEA-GROWING 



coolies go into the plantations. They carry on their backs a 

 basket supported by a band across the forehead. These 

 women nip off the first two leaves and a bud with their 

 finger and thumb and throw them into the basket over their 

 shoulders. When the basket is full they take it back to the 

 factory, where their gatherings are weighed. The actual 

 manufacture is, in India and Ceylon, all performed by 

 machinery. The tea is first emptied on to trays in a shallow 

 layer : a pound of tea when so spread out covers more than 

 a square yard. These trays are then placed in a room which 

 is heated to a high temperature, for " withering.*" After six 

 hours it is passed through a machine which " rolls "" or gives 

 a twist to the leaves. It is then "fermented" on cement 

 floors, where the tea is covered by strips of moist muslin. It 

 is again rolled and afterwards dried or " fired." The sifting 

 out of the different sorts or blends, and also the packing of 

 the tea in chests, are done by machinery. 



That is the Indian system of manufacture, in which there 

 is scarcely any hand-labour. 



In China the rolling, and indeed every stage of the process, 

 appears to be done by hand. It is obvious that in the hand- 

 ling, pattings, and rollings of the tea by Chinese coolies, 

 " celestial moisture " may be imparted to it. In spite of 

 this, however, the export of Chinese tea is steadily diminish- 

 ing. In the old days, the Liverpool " tea clippers," fast and 

 beautiful sailing-ships, raced each other home from China in 

 order to get the first tea upon the market. 



Tea is sometimes dangerous, and especially when it is 

 allowed to stew on the fire for hours at a time. Besides 

 theine, which is the stimulating, active part of it, and which 

 is a bracing tonic to the nerves, tannin is also found therein. 

 When meat is taken with a large amount of tannin, the 



