i6o PLANT PRODUCTS 



which usually consists of a long boiler-shaped vessel, heated 

 by flues, with trays which are transferred from one end 

 to the other to allow drying to take place in a steady manner. 

 Once the tea has been thoroughly dried it is necessary that 

 it should on no account come into contact with moist air. 

 It is sieved into different grades as quickly as possible, and 

 packed into lead-Hned boxes. Many qualities of tea are 

 very sensitive to damp atmosphere, so that some qualities 

 which are known in the immediate vicinities of the tea- 

 producing districts are quite unknown overseas, as, in spite 

 of all efforts to obtain an air-tight tea chest, these teas 

 deteriorate on the sea passage. Anything approaching to 

 free admission of sea air is immediately fatal to most teas. 

 No matter what varieties of tea are taken on board a ship in 

 loosely closed vessels, within a day or two of leaving port 

 they all seem to have sunk to the same low level of flavour. 

 The greatest possible care is taken at the tea-packing stations 

 to discover even pinpricks in the lead casings. Many of 

 the very finest qualities of tea manufacture in China and 

 Japan are still made by the old hand-rolling process, but 

 modern Indian methods are becoming very common. 

 Steaming is often an important part of the hand process, 

 and probably prevents bacterial decomposition. The leaves 

 produced in small cottage holdings are often put upon 

 plates of copper and held over the fire. In some dry districts 

 the leaves are dried by tossing them in the sun. 



Cocoa contains theobromine, an alkaloid similar to that 

 in tea, associated with a large percentage of fat. 



Coffee. — Coffee is most generally raised from seed sown 

 in nurseries, but for economy is sometimes sown directly 

 on the ground. A few seeds are usually sown together, 

 the weaker ones being removed. The land should be well 

 drained, and is usually situated at moderate elevations of 

 two thousand to five thousand feet above the sea-level, 

 where the rainfall is between fifty and one hundred inches, 

 and the temperature 55° to 85*^ Fahr. Shade is a most 

 important point in considering coffee plantations. At 

 least temporary shade must be provided for the seedlings. 



