124 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



surface of the mat enables the leaf to roll better. An edging 

 of wood one inch above the surface of the table should be 

 screwed on to the edges over the mat, if there is one, to prevent 

 leaf falling off. 



The leaf is rolled by a line of men on each side of such 

 a table (4^ feet is a good width for it) passing up from 

 man to man, from the bottom of the table to the top. 

 The passage of each handful of roll from man to man is 

 regulated by the man at the end, who, when the roll in his 

 hand is ready (that is, rolled enough), forms it into a tight 

 compressed ball (a truncated shape is the most convenient) 

 and puts it away on an adjacent stand. When he does this, 

 the roll each man has passes up one step. 



The roll is ready to make up into a ball, when it is in a 

 soft mashy state, and when in the act of rolling it gives out 

 juice freely. None of this juice must be lost, it must be 

 mopped up into the roll, again and again in its passage up 

 the table, and finally into the ball, when made up. 



There will be some coarse leaves in the roll which cannot 

 be twisted. These, if left, would give much red leaf in the 

 Tea. They should be picked out by, say, the third or 

 fourth man from the head of the table, for it is only when 

 the leaf has been partly rolled that they show. The man 

 who picks out the coarse leaf should not roll at all. He 

 should spread the roll, and pick out as much as he can, 

 between the time of receiving and passing it on. In no case 

 allow roll to accumulate by him, for if so kept it hardens 

 and dries, and gives extra work to the last rollers to bring it 

 into the mashy state again. Besides which I rather think, 

 any such lengthened stoppage in the rolling helps to destroy 

 Pekoe ends, and is certainly injurious to the perfect after- 

 fermentation, inasmuch as it (the fermentation) partly takes 

 place then. 



This finishes the rolling process. Each man as stated can 



