I2O CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



by hot air. The first point in considering this invention is 

 the question whether the fumes of charcoal, as some assert, 

 are necessary to make good Tea. If they are not necessary 

 (that is, if they produce no chemical effect on the Tea, and 

 therefore heat from wood devoid of smoke would do as well) 

 there can be no doubt such heat would be cheaper, and 

 more under command, by this or some other plan. Are 

 then the fumes of charcoal necessary ? 



I do not know that anyone can answer the query. I 

 certainly cannot, for I have never made Tea with any other 

 agent than charcoal, and I have never met with more than 

 one planter who had. He said the Tea was not good. Still 

 it would, I think, require very careful and prolonged experi- 

 ments to establish the fact either way. Speaking theoreti- 

 cally, as it appears, the only effect of charcoal is to drive all 

 the moisture out of the roll and thus make it Tea, I cannot 

 but believe other heat would do as well. It is, however, a 

 question that only experience can solve.* 



I have now (four years since the above was written, and 

 at the time I am preparing the second edition of this essay) 

 been for some time employed on experiments with a view 

 to settle the above question. Whether I shall be able to 

 devise a simple apparatus to effect the manufacture of Tea 

 without charcoal is doubtful, but I can, I think, now safely 

 affirm that the fumes of charcoal are not necessary to make 

 Tea. On this point I am myself quite satisfied. The 

 advantages of making Tea with any fuel (wood, coal, or 

 anything else) would be numerous : 



i. Economy. 



2. Absence of charcoal fumes. 



3. Less chance of fire in Tea Houses. 



4. Probably reduced temperature in Factories. 



* Note to 3rd edition. It is a question no longer. Many besides myself 

 have now proved that charcoal fumes are in no way necessary. 



