CAMELLIA 



PESTS AND I'.Ui,, THEA 



Manufacture 



stunt tin- .src.md, third and fourth flushes of the season chiefly, but has 

 the compensating consideration that the tea made from shoots so stunted 

 Is df higher quality than when they grow freely. No method 

 iliiiu with this post has yet been devised. [Of. Pests and Blights, 

 <r> \)2 ; Mann, Factors Deter. Quality Tea., Ind. Tea. Aasoc, 1907, 

 16.] 



Caterpillars. The number of caterpillar posts of the tea plant is 

 'icat, those of the I'si/i-liiiftr and Linni<-oli<lir being perhaps 

 the iiid-t numerous and most injurious. Little more than systematic 



lini,' has been attempted against these. Scale insects are of little Soieinecto. 

 no importance in the plains, but become serious at higher elevations. 

 w brown coffee-bug (l^-caniiun In-ntisphcrifiiin) has done serious 

 lage in the Nilgiris, while in the north of India the most common 

 eies are Chioims/tis f/i<-<r, Kriocltiton t/iew, and C'<trt<-i-i 

 <-<n-,'ll<i. [Cf. Mann and Antram, Red Slug, in Ind. Tea Assoc., 1906, 

 To. 5.] 



Rust. Among blights of vegetable origin perhaps the most Vegetable. 

 erious and widely distributed is the so-called " Red Rust," caused by 

 alga (Cephaleuros rirrtirriin, Kunz.), which attacks tea of deficient 

 rigour almost everywhere and kills nearly all the shoots on which it occurs. 

 ?/. Mann and Hutchinson, Red Rust a Serious Blight of the Tea Plant, 



. Tea. Assoc., Cak., 1904, No. 4.] Its treatment consists largely in Treatment, 

 creasing the vitality of the bushes by manuring, better drainage, and 

 iproved methods of pruning and plucking, but in serious cases BORDEAUX Bordeaux 



ETURE, applied to the bushes immediately after pruning, is also advised. 

 ?/. Pests and Blights, etc., 396-408 ; Mann and Hutchinson, Red Rust of 

 "ea, in Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind. (Botany), 1907, i., No. 6.] 



Fungous Blights. Thread Blight, caused by a fungus (Stilbutn minimi, 

 tassee) on the leaves and twigs of the bushes, has done considerable 

 lage to individual plants, but can be got rid of by treatment with 

 sulphide of lime (made by boiling lime and sulphur together in water). 

 Grey Blight (Pestatozzia </ti/tini, Desmaz.) is the most serious leaf- 

 slight of the tea plant, and is very generally distributed. Blister Blight 

 ms'nliii in I-C.I-K itx, Massee), another fungus which attacks the leaves 

 md green shoots, is fortunately restricted to a small area at present in 

 'Jpper Assam (Mann, Ind. Tea Assoc., 1906, No. 3). Tea Canker (Nectri 

 sp.) destroys both young and old tea stems, more especially in damp situa- 

 'ions. Lastly, Root Rot (llosellinia r<tiHciin'rilit) causes the death of 

 irge numbers of bushes, more particularly round the dead stumps of 

 jrtain trees. 



Having dealt with CULTIVATION as fully as the available space will 

 low, it is now necessary to consider the methods presently adopted for 

 le manufacture of the leaf into the commercial article Tea. 



f MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



The methods pursued have undergone a complete change in practice, Manu- 

 if not in principle, by the introduction of machinery. Previous to 1860, 

 and almost entirely previous to 1870, hand labour was exclusively em- 

 ployed to prepare the leaf for market ; now (except for an occasional 

 garden at the commencement of the season) the whole work is done by 

 machinery, much of which is largely automatic. The machines used for 

 the several processes in Black Tea preparation have been produced by thre^ 

 or four inventors, and the names of Kinmond, Jackson and Davidson 



229 



