MANUFACTURE. 119 



I have seen a machine advertised for packing Tea, that is 

 to say, for so pressing it down that a large quantity shall go 

 into a chest. I have never seen the machine and so cannot 

 say how it works, but I do not think such a machine at all 

 necessary. By the mode of packing, described at page 147, 

 as much Tea as a chest will hold with safety can be put into 

 it. If more were forced in, the chest would probably come to 

 pieces in transit. 



I see a sifting machine is now being advertised ' Jack- 

 son's sifting machine.' I have seen drawings of it, but 

 not the machine itself. In the one respect, that it is much 

 larger than any thing used hitherto, it is more likely to 

 succeed. 



There is a machine for sifting and fanning Tea at one and 

 the same time. I know not who invented it It is a simple 

 winnowing machine with sieves placed in front of the fan. 

 By means of a rod and crank attached to the axle of the 

 revolving fan the sieves are made to shake from side to side 

 when the fanners are turned. The Tea is put into the upper 

 sieve, a coarse one, and passing successively through finer 

 ones, is thus sorted into different Teas. The open leaf at the 

 same time is blown out by the fan. 



I purchased one, but I do not find it does the work well. 

 Sifting Tea is a nice process, and I did not find it sorted the 

 Teas with any nicety. I have taken out the sieves, and use it 

 now only for fanning, which it does very well, though no better 

 than an apparatus which could be constructed at one-third 

 the cost. 



I do not believe in any present or future machine for sift- 

 ing Tea, inasmuch as it is an operation which, to be well done, 

 has tQ be continually varied. More will be said on this head 

 further on. 



I have now detailed shortly all the Tea machines or 

 contrivances I know, or have heard of, and I think there is 



