LtFK OS A CEYLON TKA I'LANTATION 33 



rca<ly for |»lu< kin^ whon \\\c plant is fthout lljrco y<'ar8 

 old ; onwards from this time frcsli ilushcH are very fre- 

 quently being formed as a result of regular plucking, 

 and the plucking area is increased by pruning. In 

 Ceylon, where it is always summer-time, the tea- 

 bushes flush all the year round ; and a new flush on 

 any bush will reach plucking size in from eight to twelve 

 days after the previous crop has been gathered. In 

 the colder climates of China and Japan, the bushes 

 stop flushing with the coming of winter. 



The pluckers whom we are watching are gathering 

 in a harvest from which best-quality Ceylon teas are 

 to be made. That is to say, they are plucking " fine '* 

 — bud and two leaves. Kach one has a big basket 

 on her back, hanging from a cord round her neck. 

 With their sharp, well-trained eyes the women single 

 out from a wealth of foliage the tender young shoots 

 on the bushes before which they stand, and with a deft 

 movement of the fingers and a quick turn of the wrist 

 they break off the top of these shoots at the right place, 

 and toss back the little plucked bits into their baskets. 



Three times a day the pluckers " weigh in " — baskets 

 are emptied, leaves weighed, and the weight of leaves 

 Contributed by each individual credited to her account 

 in a notebook kept b}' the jissistant-in-charge. 



When an estate is situated in lowlands, and par- 

 ticularly when a tract that is being plucked over ig 

 near to the estate's factory, the women troop down to 

 the factory to " weigh in." Here, among the high 

 hills, the contents of baskets arc collected in sacks, 

 which are carried down by men to the nearest station 

 in connection with an aerial mono-railway-line. The 

 sacks are sus{)ended on this line, and pushed off, 



6 



