PICKING. 105 



that direction. It is, in other words, the goose which will 

 lay all the future eggs. If, eager to begin Tea making 

 early, the planter nips it off, the extension on that part of 

 the tree is thrown back many weeks. It may be taken off 

 at i, 2, or 3 (the back lines drawn show the proper way to. 

 pick leaf) ; the least damage will be done if it is taken off at 

 i, the most at 3. 



The said shoot K a is the first effort of Nature to repair 

 the violence done to the tree by pruning. It is the germ of 

 many other branches and shoots, and it ought never to be 

 taken. I have, I hope, made so much plain. 



There is, however, another consideration. Any shoot, 

 left to fully develop and harden, does not throw out new 

 shoots from the existing buds i, 2, 3, 4 so quickly as one 

 checked in its upward growth by nipping off its head. For 

 instance, supposing the shoot under consideration not to be 

 the first of the season, but on the contrary to be a shoot 

 when the plant has developed sufficiently to make picking 

 safe, if taken off at 2, then the new growth from 2, 3, 4 will 

 be much quicker than it would be had the whole shoot been 

 left intact. 



Our object then with first shoots should be to secure 

 this advantage without destroying any buds, and this we 

 can do by taking off simply the closed leaf at the top a. 

 This must be done so as not to injure the bud at the base 

 of the second leaf b (I 'have not numbered it, for there is no 

 room in the diagram to do so), and we shall thus leave all 

 the buds on the shoot intact. 



Again here the interests of the plant, and profit to the 

 planter, go hand in hand. The closed bud a in this case 

 will be found very valuable. I go to show this. 



The value of Tea is increased when it shows " Pekoe 

 tips." Only the leaves a b make these. They are covered 

 with a fine silky whitish down, and, if manufactured in a 



