146 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



will be depreciated in value. 1 It is well there should be about 

 the same weight of Tea in all the boxes that contain any one 

 kind, but this is not essential, which equality in tares is. 



Your boxes all ready and lined with lead, choose a fine 

 day for packing. Do this whether you finally dry the Tea in 

 the sun or over the dholes ; for even in the latter case it is 

 well to avoid a damp day. 



But before you pack you must bulk. That is, you must 

 mix all the Tea, of any one kind, so intimately together that 

 samples taken out of any number of chests shall agree exactly. 

 This can be done by turning out all the Tea on a large cloth 

 placed on the floor, and turning it over and over. No two 

 days' Teas are exactly alike, and you have perhaps a month's 

 Teas to pack. It is therefore necessary to mix them 

 well. 



Though I know many planters think the fumes of charcoal 

 necessary and beneficial for the last drying, I do not. I have 

 tried both sun and charcoal, and no difference was per- 

 ceptible. The former costs nothing, is more commodious, 

 and I always apply it when possible. The sun cannot burn 

 the Teas, the charcoal, if the heat is too great, may. 



Whether you use sun or charcoal put the Tea hot into the 

 boxes. The only object of the final drying is to drive off the 

 moisture, which the Tea will certainly, in a more or less degree, 

 have imbibed since its manufacture. Even the large zinc- 

 lined bins which should be fitted up in all Tea stores, and in 

 which the Tea is placed after manufacture, will not entirely 

 prevent damp, so in all cases a final drying is necessary. 



Keep it in the sun, or over the charcoal, until it is hot 

 throughout, hot enough to ensure all the moisture having 

 been driven off. Then put into the box enough to about one- 



1 Note to 3rd Edition. This matter of equal tares is very important. If 

 they differ more than half-a-pound all the Tea is turned out and re-weighed in 

 London, which is a great loss in many ways. 



