MANUFACTURE. 125 



do 30 Ibs., but there is further work for him to be now 

 described. 



Fermenting. The balls accumulated are allowed to stand 

 until fermented. I look on this being done to the right 

 extent and no more, as perhaps the most important point in 

 the whole manufacture. 



Some planters collect the roll after rolling in a basket, and 

 there let it ferment, instead of making it up into balls for that 

 purpose as described. I much prefer the ball system for the 

 following reasons : When a quantity is put into a basket 

 together and allowed to ferment a certain time, what was put 

 in first is naturally more fermented than what was put in last, 

 the former probably over, the latter under-done. The balls, 

 on the contrary, can be each taken in succession in the order 

 they were laid on the table, and thus each receive the same 

 amount of fermentation. I think further the twist in the 

 leaf is better preserved by the ball plan, and also that a 

 large quantity in a basket is apt to ferment too much in the 

 centre. 



It is impossible to describe, so that practical use shall be 

 made of it, when the balls are sufficiently fermented. The 

 outside of the ball is no good criterion. It varies much in 

 colour, affected by the extent the leaf was withered. 1 You 

 must judge by the inside. 



Perhaps as good a rule as any is that half the twisted 

 leaves inside shall be a rusty red, half of them green. Practice 

 alone, however, will enable you to pronounce when the balls 

 are properly fermented. There is no time to be fixed for it. 

 The process is quicker in warm than cool weather. 



The fermentation should be stopped in each ball just at the 



1 The more the leaf is withered the thicker in consistency and the smaller 

 in quantity the juice that exudes, as also the yellower in colour. Further, the 

 more the leaf is withered the darker the outside of the balls. Bright rusty red is 

 the colour produced with moderately withered leaf ; very dark greenish red with 

 much withered leaf. 



