PICKING. IO3 



early, the planter nips it off, the extension on that part of 

 the tree is thrown back many weeks. It may be taken off 

 at i, 2, or 3 (the back lines drawn show the proper way to 

 pick leaf) ; the least damage will be done if it is taken off at 

 I, the most at 3. 



The said shoot K a is the first effort of Nature to repair 

 the violence done to the tree by pruning. It is the germ of 

 many other branches and shoots, and it ought never to be 

 taken. I have, I hope, made so much plain. 



There is, however, another consideration. Any shoot, left 

 to fully develop and harden, does not throw out new shoots 

 from the existing buds I, 2, 3, 4, so quickly as one checked 

 in its upward growth by nipping off its head. For instance, 

 supposing the shoot under consideration not to be the first of 

 the season, but on the contrary to be a shoot when the 

 plant has developed sufficiently to make picking safe, if 

 taken off at 2, then the new growth from 2, 3, 4 will be 

 much quicker than it would be had the whole shoot been left 

 intact. 



Our object then with first shoots should be to secure this 

 advantage without destroying any buds, and this we can do 

 by taking off simply the closed leaf at the top a. This 

 must be done so as not to injure the bud at the base of the 

 second leaf b (I have not numbered it, for there is no room in 

 the diagram to do so), and we shall thus leave all the buds on 

 the shoot intact. 



Again here the interests of the plant, and profit to the 

 planter, go hand in hand. The closed bud a in this case will 

 be found very valuable. I go to show this. 



The value of Tea is increased when it shows ' Pekoe tips.' 



Only the leaves a b make these. They are covered with a fine 



silky whitish down, and, if manufactured in a particular way, 



make literally white or very pale yellow Tea, 1 which, mixed 



1 I mean manufactured Tea. The infusion is called liquor. 



