Edible Products. 



[April, 1909. 



tight, Red leaf ? Certainly, a good 

 deal more than would be permissible on 

 a very indifferently managed concern 

 with you, but balance the percentage of 

 red leaf against the cost of baskets here, 

 and the difference would very probably 

 come out very much in favour of the 

 sack. 



Species. 



The species of tea grown here are for 

 the most part Assam Indigenous, with, 

 here and there, a patch of Manipuri. 

 The latter, however, though otherwise 

 well suited to the country, has the 

 peculiarity that it refuses to seed freely 

 when isolated, consequently the un- 

 hybridised variety is difficult to extend. 

 The Assam variety, on the other hand, 

 seeds with profusion, and it is this kind, 

 therefore, which fills the bulk of the 

 plantations in Natal. The growth of the 

 leaf is somewhat smaller than that seen 

 in the Dooars, with which district the 

 writer is most familiar, but considering 

 the size of the bushes, the yield is very 

 good. 



Unfortunately, sufficient inquiry wa s 

 not made as to the method of pruning, 

 and an examination of some of the 

 bushes on the way back to town, would 

 indicate considerable laxness, in this 

 respect, according to Indian ideas. The 

 general form of the bushes seems to 

 show very low cutting back in the young 

 plant, since four to six stems coming 

 direct from the ground appeared to be 

 the rule, the whole having a straggling 

 loose aspect, very different to the 

 compact and vigorous growth usually 

 associated with a healthy and well 

 pruned plant in full bearing. It is the 

 more surprising, therefore, to learn that 

 with the small amount of cultivation, 

 and the general appearance of the 

 bushes, the yield averages ou a fair year 

 as much as seven maunds per acre, 

 which is a sound testimonial to the suit- 

 ability of the country, and the enter- 

 prise and foresight of the pioneers. 



Manufacture. 

 There are two factories on the Kearsney 

 Estate, both of which strike one as 

 huge for the size of the garden. One of 

 these has only been newly erected in 

 brick. The dimensions are roughly 

 260 feet by 60 feet s and including the 

 basement, which is used for storage and 

 packing, there are no less than five floors. 

 It is in this factory that the packing 

 is done for the whole estate, the tea 

 being put up for the most part in small 

 chests and packets for immediate retail 

 sale over the counter. In both factories 

 the machinery is almost exclusively 

 Jackson's, the Paragon being used for 

 first firing at a temperature of 300, final 



firing when time allows being carried 

 out on Venetians. Although the final 

 result in the cup shows the breaking of 

 the cells and fermentation as good as 

 could be desired, yet the actual rolling 

 is by no means so tight as that usually 

 seen in Indian practice. The result 

 expresses itself in a rather high percen- 

 tage of dust and fannings which are not 

 by any means completely removed from 

 the finished product. As, however, 

 practically the whole of the output is 

 consumed in the Colony, and as the 

 trade does not call for very "clean" 

 teas, it is not improbable that this factor, 

 by thickening the liquor, gives it an 

 added value on the local market. The 

 sorted teas, before packing, are stored 

 in huge bins of corrugated iron. 



It is, however, in the withering lofts 

 that the greatest divergence from the 

 writer's previous experience occurs. In 

 place of being built cross ways to the 

 factory, the racks are made to run up 

 and down in the old-fashioned way. 

 Further, they are placed so far apart, 

 that the space is as great or even greater 

 than the rack. The trays are of Hessian 

 cloth, placed flat, each being mounted 

 at one end on a roller, so that to unload 

 it is only necessary to wind them up as 

 it were. The reason given for this 

 practice is that as labour is so scarce, 

 and the leaf is so difficult to remove from 

 a flat wire netting, this system is a very 

 great labour-saving invention. 



One unfortunate result, at any rate, 

 of this form of rack and arrangement 

 exhibited itself, since although three 

 Blackman fans were running full blast, 

 and a small hurricane was tearing down 

 between the racks, yet on the trays, 

 leaves set delicately on edge remained 

 undisturbed. For this reason the leaf 

 has to be spread very thinly, even in the 

 drier climate enjoyed, and even then, 

 the manager has very little real control 

 over the time of wither. 



No one seemed to have heard of our 

 practice of setting the racks across the 

 factory with deeply sloping trays, and 

 draught doors at the ends of every third 

 or fourth rack, while they are absolute 

 stangers to the system of hot air ducts 

 from the drying room, leading into a 

 system- of screen and traps whereby 

 three or more floors can be worked alter- 

 nately with the same set of fans though 

 this system was installed by the writer 

 under the direction of the present 

 superintendent of one of the largest 

 companies in the Dooars as far back as 

 early in 1897, 



The labour is almost entirely Indian, 

 but of a very mixed class, coming from 

 Calcutta, the Eastern Coast line and 



