64 CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION. 



smoke or vapor from the charcoal. They are then 

 covered up, placed aside until they become perfectly dry 

 and their black color firmly established, improving in 

 appearance as they cool. When there is no longer any 

 danger of their becoming green, the final processes of 

 sifting, sorting and grading is performed at the conveni- 

 ence of the workmen. 



With four Kuos and six Sai-hoos only from 400 to 

 500 pounds of prepared tea can be cured in a single day, 

 it requiring 400 pounds of raw leaves to produce 100 

 pounds of cured tea. The leaves of the earlier pickings 

 being smaller, more tender and juicy, the yield is cor- 

 respondingly less, the leaves containing the most sap 

 curling quickest, tightest and retaining it longer. 



It may here be observed in regard to the preparation 

 of Green and Black teas that the leaves intended for con- 

 version into the latter variety are allowed to lie exposed 

 to the action of the sun and air for a considerably longer 

 time than those of the former, that they are raked and 

 tossed about until they become more soft and pliant, and 

 that they are allowed to ferment longer before firing. 

 And, again, that after firing and curling they are exposed 

 to the oxydizing influence of the atmosphere in a moist 

 state for hours previous to being fired a second time and 

 finally dried in baskets over a slow fire. While the 

 leaves intended for Green teas are immediately fired and 

 curled after being picked, and dried as quickly as pos- 

 sible after the rolling process has been completed. The 

 differences in the methods of preparation are therefore 

 most marked, and satisfactorily accounts for the differ- 

 ence in their color, flavor and aroma, as well as for the 

 effects nervousness and wakefulness produced in some 

 constitutions by Green teas, due to the greater amount 

 of sap contained in the leaves. 



