F.— ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 125 



one of the factory staff, and should be taken to a stage of approximately 

 58 per cent., 42 per cent, of moisture being removed. In certain con- 

 ditions of weather it is necessary to wither the leaf artificially by hot 

 air. Modern atmospheric conditioning plant working automatically opens 

 up great possibilities for the future. One thinks of the perfect control 

 given by the ' humidifier ' in the modern cotton mill. 



2. Rolling and Breaking. — The leaf is collected and fed to a roller 

 consisting of a large box-like arrangement with a brass table. About 

 350 lb. are taken on to a roller and rolled for three to five periods of 

 about half an hour each. The object is to put a twist on the withered 

 leaf and to break it up gently. The small leaf passing through the mesh 

 is collected and taken away to a cool room to ferment. This is called 

 ' fine bulk.' The bigger bulk, which is carried off the end of the roll 

 breaker, returns to the roller, where the process is repeated. This is 

 called ' coarse bulk ' and goes also to the fermenting room. Over- 

 rolling would reduce the leaf to a mush and break the fine tips. 



3. Fermenting. — In the fermenting room the leaf is evenly spread on 

 a tray and exposed to air. The object is to improve the liquor and 

 flavour of the tea under chemical action. It takes about three hours, 

 and at a certain stage the leaf gives out a smell which informs the tea- 

 maker that it is ready to be fired. If it were left for twenty-four hours, it 

 would be ruined and the smell would be offensive. 



4. Firing. — The tea is now passed over revolving trays, dropping 

 from one to the other. As it goes over the trays, hot air is passed con- 

 tinually through it. The object of firing is to make the tea black and crisp, 

 and the process corresponds to the roasting of coffee. It is now quite 

 black. Green tea comes from the same plant ; but if green tea is required, 

 the leaf is heated by steam to a degree at which fermentation cannot occur 

 and stays green in colour. 



5. Sifting and Packing. — On the next day the teas thus made are taken 

 to another room on the ground floor, where they are sifted and cut and 

 sorted into a series of evenly graded clean teas, the final products being 

 classified thus : broken orange pekoe (B.O.P.), broken pekoe, pekoe, 

 pekoe su, B.O.P. fannings, B.P. fannings, dust, fluff (this comes from the 

 hairs on the tip of the leaf and, though formerly used as a dye, is now 

 used only as manure). ' Orange ' pekoe is so named because of the 

 bright golden pieces of tea, which are the buds of the bush. The Oxford 

 English Dictionary says, under ' pekoe ' : ' Chinese, from pek white + ho 

 down. A superior kind of black tea, so called from the leaves being 

 picked young with the down still on them.' 



5. The Tea Plantation. 



We step now outside the factory to inspect the factory from without 

 and the estate itself. 



The factory, with its roof and walls of corrugated iron, painted brick- 

 red or left plain, has a basement of brick and mud and cement floors, 

 and it is built on steel framework panelled with wood. It is not so gaunt 

 as a grain elevator in Canada, and its background is always pleasing. It 



