AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 121 



sack, which was twisted tight into a ball. This was thrown upon 

 a mat, over which stretched a horizontal pole. A workman, hold- 

 ing fast to the pole with his hands, stepped on the mat in his 

 bare feet, and turned the ball continually with his heels and toes 

 and the soles of his feet. To preserve the spherical shape of the 

 sack, with its diminishing volume, the man sprang aside every 

 now and then, and twisted it tighter. In this way there came 

 to be at last a much smaller but hard ball, and one no longer 

 changing. This sack, with its contents, was thrown to one side, 

 and left lying there several hours. When it was opened, and 

 the leaves were taken out, they were found mostly rolled together 

 in pellets. Quick drying in heated pans and sieves did the rest." 

 (See representation on title-page of Fortune's "A Residence," 

 etc.) 



Twankay is the ordinary green tea that comes to Europe; Hyson 

 the better sort. The word is said to be derived from Hi-chun, 

 blossoming spring. 



The production of black tea, or Hung-cha {i.e. red tea), as the 

 Chinese call it, differs from the methods employed for green tea 

 chiefly in the fact that the fresh-gathered leaves go through a kind 

 of fermentation, to develop aroma and colour, before reaching the 

 hot drying-pans. The character and quality of black tea depends 

 in great measure upon this process of fermentation. Hence it is 

 a matter of the greatest importance that it should be properly 

 conducted. The fresh leaves are generally left over-night, or for 

 several hours, on bamboo frames. They are then tossed up and 

 gently beaten, till they are soft and pliable. These withered 

 leaves are then piled up in a heap for several hours, where they 

 become warm, moist, and dark. In this they may be compared 

 with plants that are to be dried for a herbarium, which the botanist 

 puts for some length of time in damp paper, and which become 

 black, instead of green, as by the usual process. They remain 

 wet in the air for some time — often two or three days, according 

 to Fortune — and are then subjected to a strong heat in the pans. 

 Thus their peculiar aroma and black — really brown — colour are 

 developed, and also the reddish brown coloration of the infusion 

 of the dry tea with boiling water. As to the remaining processes 

 in the roasting-pan and elsewhere, there is no difference between 

 the method for black tea and that for green already described. 



Pekoe, Souchong, Congo, are the most noteworthy black teas of 

 China, in the order of quality. To these must be added Caper and 

 Oolong. I suppose the saying is in general correct, that, beginning 

 with the tip of the young shoots. Pekoe is made from the end-buds 

 and the first (youngest) leaf, Souchong from the two following, and 

 Congo from the fourth, fifth, and sixth, that is, from the older 

 leaves. Caper, as has already been remarked, is a fine black tea, 

 of which the leaves are rolled into tight pellets by a particular 

 method of handling, similar to that of green pearl-tea. Oolong is 



