Edible Products. 



the sorting of the tea it is. as mentioned in my previous articles, very inadvis- 

 able to cut or break the leaf overmuch, and a choppy appearance should always 

 be avoided. Personally speaking 1 always make use of my own breaker for 

 equalizing the tea, but, whatever cutters or breakers are used, it is as well to 

 regulate the size of the mesh, or breaking apparatus, according to the character 

 of the leaf of the original bulk. A slight boldness of leaf in a Pekoe is no drawback, 

 rather the contrary, as compared with the resultant choppiness that is inevitable 

 when a large and lightly-rolled bulk is reduced down to a small sized pekoe. 



PEKOE SOUCHONG. 



Tli is grade is not manufactured in any large quantity, and, as it invariably 

 sells at a low price, its outturn should always be curtailed. With hard rolling, 

 and by suitable breaking, pekoe souchong, even under course plucking, may 

 always be eliminated. This is already done on many estates, and a noticeable 

 feature is that, as a rule, combined pekoe grade sells at the same rate as the pekoes 

 of those neighbouring properties that may still be making a considerable proportion 

 of pekoe souchong. I have, however, in Darjeeling seen a tea where a division 

 of the two grades was certainly necessary. The leaf was plucked off China tea, 

 and the pekoe souchong grade contained a very large number of the hardened- 

 up older leaves, brought in by the pluckers. The appearance of the pekoe 

 souchong in question was quite satisfactory, but the liquor Avas, in vahie, pence 

 below that of the pekoe sample ; the actual sale prices of the two grades being 

 about M. and 9id. respectively. In Ceylon, however, these conditions rarely occur, 

 the bolder tea in the bulk being merely unrolled leaf, while the greater portion 

 of it is intrinsically of quite as good a character as that of the pekoe. Under these 

 circumstances equallizing it down, and blending it with the pekoe, has no detri- 

 mental effect on the latter, while a gain of from kZ. to Id. per lb. may result 

 on some 10 to 15 per cent, of the crop, which is equivalent to from 30 to 90 of a cent 

 per lb. on the whole estate output. 



FANNINGS AND DUST. 



Owing to the demand that has arisen for suitable tannings and dust 

 for exportation to China, Avhere they are manufactured into brick teas, some 

 care in the preparation of these grades will be well repaid. It is of importance 

 to see that the fannings are thoroughly freed from dust, and the dust itself 

 cleaned of all tea fluff, in order to meet the requirements of the trade. 



CONCLUSION. 



Having thus dealt with each of the visual grades, and some of the various 

 points of importance to be noted in their manufacture, I cannot perhaps do 

 better than conclude by once more drawing attention to the rule that all teas 

 should be so graded as to attract the maximum amount of competition. Full 

 competition may only be secured by teas suitable to al}j or nearly all, the 

 markets supplied from Colombo. To meet this demand they must, as far as possible, 

 be of a clean and distinctly-graded type, and, except in the broken pekoe class, 

 of an even, whole-leaf character. 



The question of quality I have not discussed. Such has little to do 

 with grading, but those teas that combine flavour, strength, and pungency 

 with really good appearance, naturally benefit considerably from the extra 

 care and attention in sorting which they receive. I trust in future papers to 

 deal with the subject of improvement of quality by means of artificial manur- 

 ing and cultivation. Such has been a much-sought-for possibility, and I am 



