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The World's Commercial Products 



" flush." From this time onwards the picking or plucking is carried out at regular inter- 

 vals, and, to induce the formation of abundant flushes, the bushes are pruned from time to 

 time, a process which also keeps the growth of the plant within bounds to allow of the pluck- 

 ing being conveniently performed. In the colder climates of China and Japan, the flushing 

 ceases in the winter ; but in Ceylon it goes on all the year round. 



In Ceylon the flush is ready for picking every ten or twelve days. The process consists in 

 plucking the young shoots, to include the third or fourth leaf from the bud, and upon the 

 size of the leaf depends the quality of the tea manufacture. Thus, plucking is designated 

 as " fine " when the bud at the top of the shoot and the two young leaves just below it are 

 taken, " medium " when the bud and three, " coarse " when the bud and four leaves are 

 taken. From the " fine " plucking the tea known as " pekoes " are made, " flowery pekoe " 

 being derived from the youngest leaf, " orange pekoe " from the next youngest, and " pekoe " 

 from the third leaf ; " souchongs " and " congous " are prepared from the larger leaves. 

 Pekoe-souchong, as the name indicates, is intermediate in quality between pekoe and souchong. 



The flush is gathered by the women into baskets and when the latter are full they are 

 taken to the factory to be weighed. The leaf is carried to the upper floor of the factory, 

 where it is thinly spread out on light open-work shelves of canvas, or on wire-meshed trays 

 placed one above the other, in order that the drying or "withering" of the leaf may take 

 place. In good weather the correct degree of flaccidity is reached in seventeen or eighteen 

 hours; but if the weather is damp, artificial heat is employed. The withered leaf is 

 then collected from the trays and thrown down through shoots into the rolling machines, 



A SIROCCO FIRING MACHINE 



