132 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



SIFTING AND SORTING. 



SIFTING is a very important item in the manufacture of Tea. 

 Careful and judicious sifting, as contrasted with the reverse, 

 may make a difference of two or three annas a Ib. in the sale 

 of Teas. 



I was shown some Tea quite lately, which, as regards 

 ' liquor/ was valued by the brokers at Re. 1-3 per Ib., but the 

 ' Tea' at only 14 annas ! This was entirely owing to faulty 

 sifting and sorting. 



I don't believe in any machine for Tea sifting, simply 

 because it is not a regular process. 1 For example, you cannot 

 say that, to make Pekoe, you must first use one sieve, then 

 another, and so on. The sizes of sieves to be used, and the 

 order in which they are to be used, will vary continually, as 

 both are decided by varying causes, viz., the comparative 

 fineness or coarseness of the Tea made daily, the greater or 

 less presence of red leaf in it, and (because Tea varies much 

 during the season, and gets coarse towards the end) by the 

 time of the year. These points all necessitate changes in the 

 sizes, and the order of the sieves. 



'Tis true sieves might be changed in a machine as 

 required, but the only machine that could even pretend to 

 save labour, would be one in which all the sieves were 

 arranged one below the other, and thus the Tea would fall 

 through each alternately, the motion being common to all. 

 But this won't do for Tea sifting. Judgment must be used 

 to decide the length of time each sieve is to be shaken ; further, 



1 We have yet to see what Jackson's machine can do. 



