114 TEA. 



The third day it is passed through sieve baskets of different dimensions, then 

 exposed to the winnowing machine, which separates the different kinds of green 

 teas. The winnowing machine is divided into a series of divisions, which receive 

 the different kinds according to their size and weight. 1st. Coarsest Souchoo. 

 This tea, owing to its coarseness, is not marketable. 2nd. Chounchoo. This 

 is a large, round-grained tea. 3rd. Machoo. This is also a round-grained tea, 

 hut finer than the former. 4th. Hyson. 5th. Gunpowder Hyson. 6th. Chumat. 

 This kind of tea consists of broken particles of other kinds of tea. 



On being separated, the different kinds are placed in baskets and picked 

 by the hand, all the old or badly curled and also light-coloured leaves being 

 removed, and others of different varieties, which by chance may have become 

 mixed. To make the bad or light-colored leaves marketable, they undergo an 

 artificial process of coloring, but this I have prohibited in compliance with 

 the orders of the Court of Directors, and therefore do not consider this tea at 

 present fit for the market *. On the different teas being properly picked, they 

 are again placed in the heated inclined pans, and undergo separately the pro- 

 cess of being moved violently up and down and along the bottom of the pan 

 for three hours in the manner already described. The color is now fully 

 developed. If the tea feels damp, it is is kept longer than three hours in the 

 pan. The tea is now ready to be packed. 



Packing. As soon as the tea is prepared, boxes lined with sheet lead ought 

 to be ready to receive it. On being packed it is to be firmly pressed down, "and 

 the lead is then, to be soldered. Before the sheet lead box is placed in" the 

 wooden one it is covered with paper, which is pasted on to prevent any air 

 acting on the tea through any holes which might exist in the lead. The box is 

 then nailed, removed to the godown, papered, stamped, and numbered. It is 

 then ready for sale. 



From what I have just stated, it will be perceived that box makers and sheet 

 lead makers are essential to form a complete tea establishment. With reference 

 to the box making it is unnecessary for me to make any remark, further than 

 that care is to be taken in selecting wood for making boxes, as it ought to be 

 free of all smell. All coniferous (pine) woods are therefore unfit for the pur- 

 pose. In the hills the best woods are toon and walnut, and at Deyrah the saul 

 (Shorea Robusta). 



Manufacture of sheet lead. Sheet lead making is a much more complicated 

 process, and therefore requires more consideration. To make sheet lead, the 

 manufacturer mixes If to 3 seers of block tin with a pucka maund of lead, 

 and melts them together in a cast metal pan. On being melted, the flat stone 

 slabs, under which it is his intention to run the lead, are first covered with ten 

 or twelve sheets of smooth paper (the hill paper being well adapted to the pur- 

 pose), which arc pasted to the sides, and chalked over. He then places the 

 under stone in a skeleton frame of wood, to keep it firm, and above it the other 

 stone. On the upper stone the manufacturer sits, and gently raises it with his 

 left hand, assisted by throwing the weight of his body backwards. "With his 

 right hand he fills an iron ladle with the molten matter, throws it under the 

 raised slab, which he immediately compresses and brings forward (it having been 

 placed back, and thus overlapping the under slab by about half an inch) with 

 his own weight. On doing so, the superabundant lead issues in front and at 

 both sides ; what remains attached to the slabs is removed by the iron ladle. 

 The upper slab is now lifted, and the sheet of lead examined. If it is devoid 

 of holes it is retained ; if, on the other hand, there are several, which is gene- 

 rally the case with the first two or three sheets run, or until the slabs get warm, 

 it is again thrown back to the melting pan. After having run off a series of 

 sheets the slabs are to be examined, and, if the paper is in the least burnt, the 

 first sheet is to be removed, and the one underneath taking its place, and thus 

 securing an uniform smooth surface, is then to be chalked. According to the 

 size of the stone slabs used, so is the size of the sheet lead. Those now in use 

 are 16 inches square by 2 inches in thickness, and are a composition, being 

 principally formed of lime. 



In China thii process, according to the statement of tea manufacturers, ia carried on to 

 a great extent. 



