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The World's Commercial Products 



follows. The workman first smears the surface of the paper lining of the firing tray with rice 

 paste, which, when dry, affords a hard polished surface. A small quantity of the steamed 

 leaf is then poured into the tray, which the workman turns over repeatedly until the edges of 

 the leaves begin to curl as a result of the heat and mechanical friction. The workman then 



works the leaf into balls, 

 which he breaks and again 

 works up, extracting, mean- 

 while, the stalks, dried leaf, 

 and other impurities. As 

 the firing progresses, the 

 fresh green colour of the 

 leaves gradually changes to 

 an olive brown, and the 

 fragrant odour of the tea 

 becomes perceptible. The 

 mass gradually shrinks in 

 size as the moisture evapo- 

 rates, and when finally pro- 

 nounced to be dry — the 

 whole operation of firing 

 lasts about three hours — 

 it is seen that each leaf is 

 separately twisted and rolled. 

 The tea is then spread out 

 on paper-lined trays similar 

 to those used for firing, 

 and left until the leaves 

 become quite brittle. If 

 destined for home consump- 

 tion the leaves are sifted 

 with bamboo hand sieves 

 of three or, four degrees of 

 fineness, and any impurities 

 remaining are removed by 

 hand ; if for export, the 

 sifting is not carried out, 

 but the tea is immediately 

 packed in cases made of 

 thick cartridge paper and 

 despatched to the wholesale 

 merchant. 

 , The methods of cultiva- 

 tion and processes of manu- 

 facture adopted in the case 

 of Gyokuro and Hikacha teas — the finest qualities— are said to differ in several respects- 

 from those described above for the bulk of the tea raised in Japan ; but the actual details- 

 are not perfectly known. 



TEA IN CEYLON 



The story of the rise of the tea industry in Ceylon is one of the most interesting in the 

 history of planting. Up to the middle of the last century, coffee had been the most 



WEIGHING THE DAY'S PLUCKING 



