62 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



Several varieties of the tea plant are known ; the China 

 variety is but little cultivated except in China, and the usual 

 ones cultivated on estates are the " Assam Indigenous," and the 

 " Hybrid," a cross between this and the China. Both of these 

 have larger leaves than the China variety, and yield more crop. 

 The tea plant, a small tree when left to itself, is cultivated on 

 estates in large fields, in which the plants are placed about four 

 feet apart, and severely pruned at intervals of eighteen months 

 to four years according to the elevation (low or high) of the 

 estate above the sea, down to a height of 1J feet. They thus 

 form squat bushes about three feet high, and with flat spreading 

 tops, so that it is easy for the coolies to get at the young shoots 

 that are constantly appearing on the tops of the bushes. These 

 shoots, taken together, are termed the "flush," and the object 

 of cultivation and pruning is to ensure large, frequent and 

 regular flushing. In the colder climates of China and Assam 

 flushing ceases in winter, but in Ceylon or Java it goes on all 

 the year round. 



Tea manufacture consists essentially in the plucking of the 

 young shoots of the flush and their subsequent treatment by 

 "withering," "rolling," "fermenting," and "drying" or "firing," 

 to form tea. In Ceylon the flush is plucked every eight to 

 twelve days by women and children working in gangs under 

 kanganies. They soon become remarkably quick and expert at 

 the work. Plucking is designated as " fine " when the bud at 

 the tip of the young shoot and the two young leaves just below 

 it are taken, "medium" when the bud and three, "coarse" 

 when the bud and four leaves are taken. The coarser the 

 plucking the poorer the average quality of the tea produced, 

 though the greater the quantity. Fine plucking produces the 

 various teas known as pekoes, while the older leaves give 

 souchongs and congous. Pekoes consisting only of the buds or 

 tips are known as " flowery," those containing also the first 

 young leaf as " orange " pekoes. 



The coolies bring in their day's plucking to the factory, 

 usually a large well-equipped building, containing the most 

 modern machinery, and worked by water or steam power. The 

 "leaf" is examined and weighed, and the amount plucked by 



