266 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



of the finest dust. Sixteen maunds in nine hours is what I find to be 

 about its capabilities, and four boys do all the work connected with it. 

 It has effected a great saving in the Tea house this year, and has quite 

 done away with hand-sieving, except equalizing the broken Pekoe and 

 broken Tea a very trivial operation. ' " 



Packing. This is the final process. Unless Teas are 

 packed directly they are made, they require to be heated 

 once more to drive off any moisture imbibed. This can be 

 done in a way in most of the dryers described, perhaps in 

 Kinmond's best of all.* 



This concludes my remarks on Tea machinery; but I 

 shall not have a more appropriate place than this to mention 

 the ornamental tin boxes devised by Messrs. Harvey Bros, 

 and Tyler, as a new mode of packing Teas. The following 

 is an article of mine on the subject to the Tea Gazette, 

 written in 1880 : 



I saw lately tin Tea boxes made to hold 20 Ibs., which are manu- 

 factured by Messrs. Harvey Brothers and Tyler, 21, Mincing Lane. I 

 was much pleased with them, for I foresaw that by their use great 

 good to the Indian Tea industry would accrue. I went to Mincing 

 Lane, and had a long talk with the firm, and came away convinced 

 that the fact of the said boxes should be known far and wide in India. 



The boxes measure 15! by 10 i5-i6ths by 10 5-i6ths. They are 

 handsomely illustrated with Indian Tea plantation subjects. f Each 

 piece runs into a groove in the adjoining one, so that one minute will 

 put a box together, and a touch of solder here and there completes it ; 

 they are then perfectly air-tight. The boxes are very sightly. Price 

 is now as. 5<f. per box. Boxes sent to Calcutta up to this have been 

 charged 2S. yd. The price is dependent on the fluctuating price of tin, 

 which is somewhat lower now. Of course they are sent out in pieces. 

 Cases holding pieces for 100 boxes weigh 4 cwt. The firm tell me that 

 Messrs. Schcene, Kilburn and Co., and Messrs. Begg, Dunlop and Co., 



* Heating before packing has to be done on a large scale. None of the 

 Dryers notified are large enough. A special machine should be devised. 



f Top is "The Tea Garden;" front, " Weighing Leaf;" back, " Packing;" 

 ends, " Elephant with Howdah," or, if desired, the plantation mark. 



