MANUFACTURE. 127 



into the mashy state again. Besides which I rather think, 

 any such lengthened stoppage in the rolling helps to destroy 

 Pekoe ends, and is certainly injurious to the perfect after- 

 fermentation, inasmuch as it (the fermentation) partly takes 

 place then. 



This finishes the rolling process. Each man as stated 

 can do 30 Ibs., but there is further work for him to be now 

 described. 



Fermenting. The balls accumulated are allowed to stand 

 until fermented. I look on this being done to the right 

 extent and no more, as perhaps the most important point 

 in the whole manufacture. 



Some planters collect the roll after rolling in a basket, 

 and there let it ferment, instead of making it up into balls 

 for that purpose as described. I much prefer the ball system 

 for the following reasons : When a quantity is put into a 

 basket together and allowed to ferment a certain time, what 

 was put in first is naturally more fermented than what was 

 put in last, the former probably over, the latter under-done. 

 The balls, on the contrary, can be each taken in succession 

 in the order they were laid on the table, and thus each receive 

 the same amount of fermentation. I think further the twist 

 in the leaf is better preserved by the ball plan, and also that 

 a large quantity in a basket is apt to ferment too much in the 

 centre. 



It is impossible to describe, so that practical use shall 

 be made of it, when the balls are sufficiently fermented. The 

 outside of the ball is no good criterion. It varies much in 

 colour, affected by the extent the leaf was withered.* You 

 must judge by the inside. 



* The more the leaf is withered the thicker in consistency and the smaller 

 in quantity the juice that exudes, as also the yellower in colour. Further, the 

 more the leaf is withered the darker the outside of the balls. Bright rusty red 

 is the colour produced with moderately withered leaf; very dark greenish red 

 with much withered leaf. 



