606 TRAysAcrroys of the Amebic Ay JysTiTUTE. 



circle round it jurft at its junction with the surface of the soil. A 

 plant attacked by this insect shows signs of sickness by drooping and 

 by its leaves turning yellow, when an application of lime and water, 

 or whitewash, round the stem at its base, may occasionally recover 

 it by killing the insect and thus removing the cause of the plants 

 decay ; but if not taken early in hand the certain death of the plant 

 must ensue. 



Plucking the Lkaf. 



The plucking season commences about the end of April and con- 

 tinues till the end of October, during which time a series of flushes 

 occur at intervals of twelve or fifteen days, according to the weather, 

 and thus twelve crops of leaf may be gathered in one season. The 

 plant should not be plucked before the third year, and then only 

 very lightly, as over-plucking will render it weak and sickly. The 

 yield from an acre planted at five feet apart should be 280 pounds of 

 green leaf, or seventy pounds of manufactured tea in the third year ; 

 double that in the fourth, and quadruple that in tiie fifth year ; though 

 care and high cultiv^ation will give even a much larger return, as both 

 in Assam and Cachar, seven niaunds, or 560 pounds of manufactured 

 tea have been obtained from one acre. 



The most advantageous method of plucking is to divide the leaf- 

 plucl'^'s into three gangs, in number according to the flush to be 

 gathered, each gang to be supervised by an intelligent overseer. The 

 "Pekoe" gang should be composed wholly of women and children, as 

 their hands being more delicate are better adapted for nipping off the 

 convoluted bud, and its two expanded leaves from which "Pekoe" is 

 made. This gang should be followed by the "Souchong" pluckers, 

 who gather the next two leaves, and they again succeeded by the 

 coarse tea or " Cougon" gatherers. The object of this division of labor 

 is to keep the leaves separate for the manufacture of each class of tea, 

 when brought to the factory for manipulation. Another advantage 

 gained by this careful classification of tiie raw leaf is that it prevents 

 the coai*ser and harder leaves from breaking the leaves of the finer 

 teas dui-ing the process of rolling ; and furthermore, obviates the 

 necessity of so much sifting as would be required if all the teas were 

 manufactured together. One caution should be impressed on the last 

 two gangs of gatlierers, namely, that, in removing the leaves, they 

 do not nip off the ^tem as well, but pluck upward, leaving about a 

 quarter of an inch from the eye or bud for the reproduction of fi-esh 



