134 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



SIFTING AND SORTING. 



SIFTING is a very important item in the manufacture of 

 Tea. Careful and judicious sifting, as contrasted with the 

 reverse, may make a difference of two or three annas a Ib. 

 in the sale of Teas. 



I was shown some Tea quite lately which, as regards 

 " liquor," was valued by the brokers at Re. 1-3 per Ib., but 

 the "Tea" at only 14 annas ! This was entirely owing to 

 faulty sifting and sorting. 



I don't believe in any machine for Tea sifting, simply 

 because it is not a regular process.* For example, you 

 cannot say that, to make Pekoe, you must first use one 

 sieve, then another, and so on. The sizes of sieves to be 

 used, and the order in which they are to be used, will van- 

 continually, as both are decided by varying causes, viz., 

 the comparative fineness or coarseness of the Tea made 

 daily, the greater or less presence of red leaf in it, and 

 (because Tea varies much during the season, and gets 

 coarse towards the end) by the time of the year. These 

 points all necessitate changes in the sizes, and the order of 

 the sieves. 



'Tis true sieves might be changed in a machine as 

 required, but the only machine that could even pretend to 

 save labour would be one in which all the sieves were 

 arranged one below the other, and thus the Tea would fall 

 through each alternately, the motion being common to all. 

 But this won't do for Tea sifting. Judgment must be used 



* We have yet to see what Jackson's machine can do. 



