MANUFACTURE. 123 



Now to return to the manufacture of Tea. I will consider 

 each of the five operations detailed, which I believe are all 

 that are necessary to make good Tea, separately. 



Withering. There are several tests to show when leaf is 

 withered. Fresh leaf squeezed in the hand, held near the 

 ear, crackles, but no sound should be heard from withered 

 leaf. Again, fresh leaf, pressed together in the palm of the 

 hand, when released, springs back to nearly its original 

 bulk, but withered leaf, in like circumstances, retains the 

 shape into which it has been pressed. The stalk of withered 

 leaf will bend double without breaking, but fresh leafstalks, 

 if bent very little, break. Practice, though, soon gives a 

 test superior to all these, viz., the feel of the leaf. Properly 

 withered leaves are like old rags to lay hold of, and no further 

 test, after a time, than the feel of the leaf is necessary. 



The agents for withering leaf are sun, light, heat, and 

 air. Of these the most powerful is sun, for it combines 

 all the others with it. Light is a powerful agent, for if some 

 leaf be placed in a partially dark room, and some in a well- 

 lighted verandah, the latter will wither in half the time the 

 former will take. If light and moderate ventilation be 

 present, heat is a rapid accessory to rapid withering. 



There is often great difficulty in withering leaf in the 

 rain. It can be withered in Tea pans, but " the out-turn " 

 is then more or less injured, for after infusion the out-turn 

 comes out green instead of the proper " new penny " colour. 

 Withering in dholes is also objectionable for the same 

 reason, though if the heat is moderate the green effect is 

 less. It is further a long and tedious operation. 



Space and light are the great wants for withering leaf in 

 wet weather. Bamboo mechans, tier above tier, should be 

 constructed in every available space. Large frames, covered 

 with wire mesh, may also be made (by means of weights 

 running over pulleys) to run up to the roof of any Tea 



