SIFTING. 135 



to decide the length of time each sieve is to be shaken ; 

 further, with how much motion it shall be shaken, &c., &c. 

 But this is simply impossible with any machine, though all 

 necessary to sift Tea well. 



The cost of Tea sifting by hand (see page 161) is not 

 eight annas per maund, including picking out red leaf, which 

 must be hand-work. Good and bad sifting will affect the 

 value three annas per Ib. or Rs. 15 per maund ! 



With all parts of Tea manufacture it is well to employ 

 the same men continually in each department, but above 

 all, perhaps, should this be done in Tea sifting. A good 

 sifter is a valuable man. He knows each kind of Tea by 

 name ; he knows what sieves to use, and the order in which 

 to use them for each Tea ; what the effect a larger or 

 smaller mesh will have on each kind, &c., &c. In fact, he 

 knows much more of the practical part of sifting than his 

 master can, though the latter is, probably, a better judge 

 how far the Teas are perfect when made. 



Tea sieves are of two kinds, both round. One made of 

 brass wire, with wooden sides, 3^ inches high, the other 

 cane, with bamboo sides, ij inches high only. The latter 

 are called " Chinese sieves," and though the brass ones are 

 used in many places, there is no possible comparison 

 between them, for the labour required in the use of the brass 

 ones is much greater, and the results, as regards well sorted 

 Tea, much better with the Chinese. 



Both kinds are numbered according to the number of 

 orifices in one linear inch. Thus a No. 6 sieve has six 

 orifices to the inch in both ; but in the brass kind, a 

 No. 6 has six orifices including the wire ; in the Chinese 

 kind, the cane between each aperture is not included in the 

 measure. Thus the orifice in a No. 6 Chinese sieve is 

 exactly i-6th of an inch square, but somewhat less in a 

 brass sieve. 



