94 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug.  t,  1S96. 
vellous  little  railway,  botanic  garden,  public  parls, 
Municipal  affair.^,  volunteeiing,  local  banking,  and 
tlie  like,  fully  appreciated  by  few,  and  which  never 
have  been  adequately  acknowledged.  Tiiroagh  hi.s 
enterprise  Darjeeling  has  been  for  30  years  con- 
spicuous as  the  only  tea  district  as  such  as  far  as 
I am  aware,  possessing  a European  bank. 
To  return  10  the  held  operations,  a few 
remarks  are  called  for  concerning  the  pruning, 
which  has  to  be  attended  to  as  early  as  tlie 
young  plants  betray  a tendency  to  run  up  too 
much  and  assume  the  habit  of  a tree  rather  than 
retain  the  form  ot  a bush,  in  the  ease  of  vigorois 
seedlings  at  as  early  an  age  as  two  years,  and  even 
younger  where  individual  specimens  show  e.vceptional 
growth ; that  is,  if  the  planter  believe.!,  as  I do, 
in  training  the  bushes  when  young,  but  opinion 
used  to  vary  on  this  point  as  on  much  else  connected 
with  the  industry.  After  the  plants  have  attained 
throe  years  of  age  they  are  all  pruned  according 
to  their  form  and  eon  lition  annually.  Tho  ohject 
of  the  opeiMtion  is  to  get  rid  of  the  knotted  un.- 
productive  wood,  tiiin  out  slightly  to  admit  air  and 
light,  leaving  the  young  vigorou.s  loaf-prodnciug 
branches  and  shoots,  to  train  tlio  bushes  to 
width— to  give  Hushing  surface,  the  leaf  being 
gathered  mainly  from  tho  top— and  to  keep  them 
at  a height  convenient  for  the  coolies  to  plnck 
the  loaf  from.  Great  caution  is  necessary  in 
regard  to  heavy  cutting  in  Darjeeling.  The  prun- 
ino'  is  a work  requiring  a great  deal  of  labour  an- 
lurally,  and  as  many  untrained  coolies  have  to  be 
employed,  it  demands  close  and  constant  super- 
vision. The  pruning  season,  as  a rule,  lists  fron 
the  end  November  till  tho  boginniug  of  March,  bnt 
the  more  that  is  clone  from  Christmas  till  early  in 
February,  the  better. 
Need  I say,  that  tea  is  not  made  from  the  oh!, 
matured,  or  even  hardening  loaf,  but  only  from  the 
undeveloped  bud  and  the  young  and  most  succulent 
ler.ves  at  the  point  of  llie  growing  shoots.  In  eariy 
times  three,  .sometimes  four,  if  not  occasion  illy' 
even  more  leaves  were  gathcrcvl,  but  more  recently 
quality  has  become  more  and  .more  the  aim  annu- 
ally ; and  now  it  is  the  common  practice  to  take  only 
two  leaves  and  the  bud,  but  in  some  instances 
plucking  is  so  select  as  only  to  embrace  one  leaf. 
The  bud  yields  the  fliiest  tea  of  all,  i.e.,  tho  “ golden 
tip”  or  ‘‘silver  tip,”  the  top  leaf  forming  the  next 
quality  “ orange  pekoe,”  or  wlien  large  “ pekoe,” 
a' 1(1  the  second  or  lower  leaf  generally  yielding 
pekoe,  but  “ pekoe-souchong  ” when  the  leaf  is  large. 
Commouly  the  first  shoots  of  the  in  w growth  of 
the  season  bearing,  four,  live,  or  six  leave.s  go  to 
make  up  what  is  termed  the  “ first  flush.”  The  two 
top  leaves  of  this,  or  iu  some  instances  only  one 
leaf  with  the  bud  are  plucked — that  is  cut  off  with 
tho  incipient  tender  stalk  between  the  finger  and 
thumb — for  tea;  the  remaining  leaves  and  stalk 
being  too  far  dovolopod  for  quality  and  necessary 
for  The  health  of  the  bush,  and  the  giving  out 
of  8iib.sequent  “ Hushes  ” are  left.  After  the  Hrst 
Hush  loss  fresh  growth  requires  to  bo  left,  and  after 
three'  or  four  months  of  discriminate,  sparing  crop- 
ping, the  bushes  having  become  sufficiently  made  up 
aiuf  fortified  for  the  season,  all  the  fresh  growth 
that  will  make  tea  of  prime  quality  may  be  gathered 
without  risk  of  injury  to  the  plants.  The  pluckers 
have  to  go  round  the  g.irdens  at  intervals  of  from 
live  to  eight  days,  e.xtendod  from  nine  to  eleven  d iys 
towards  tlie  elo.se  of  tho  season,  according  to  cdova- 
tiou.  ft  is  the  plnckers'  duty  to  avoid  gathering 
too  coarse  leaves  or  unripe  siioots,  to  mis.s  no  goo  l, 
Huitahle  leaf,  aiul  nrovent  tno  heating  i-i  the  baskets 
of  all  that  has  been  gathered.  In  plucking,  much 
discrimination  as  well  as  dexterity  is  necessary,  and 
thoiiMi  perfection  may  not  always  bo  attainable 
with'’many  hundreds,  inclnling  often  a prop >rfcion  of 
untrained  plnckers,  employed,  tho  operations  over 
the  scattered  fields  on  those  steep  rugged  liiH 
sides  requires  all  the  more  nnreniitted  attention 
and  arduous  supervision  to  obtain  tho  most  sp.ti.if.io- 
tory  results  practicable.  It  is  well  wlion  the  loaf 
ran  be  delivered  at  Uio  factory  twice  during  the 
ciay  but  tliis  is  not  always  advantageous  wlicn  the 
range  of  elevation  is  great.  On  plain  garden.s  thi.s 
is  comparatively  easy,  light  trim.vays  being  occa- 
sionally in  use  for  the  jnirpose.  The  cropping  sc.ison 
generally  l ists  from  the  end  of  March  till  the  middle 
of  November.  The  crop  v ii  ieties  from  eight  to  fifteen 
cwt.  of  green  !o.\f  par  acre  annuilly,  which  yield) 
barely  one-fourth  its  weight,  say  from  ‘203  lb.  to 
rarely  so  much  iu  the  present  day  as  40)  lb.  of  pre- 
pared tea  per  acre. 
The  first  operation  at  tho  factory  is  the  weighing  of 
tho  leaf.  Ifere  it  is  necessary  finally  to  examine  the 
quality  and  condition  of  the  leaf  brought  in  fro’u 
the  field.  Tile  plnckers  are  oooasiontUy  paid  extra 
for  whit  is  gathered  in  excess  of  tho  allotted  task, 
and  if  a siirewa  in  jpectioa  of  the  mntents  of  tho 
baskets  were  not  maTe,  in  al.litim  to  leaves 
of  inferior  quality,  a stone  or  other  foreign 
substa  ICO  might  oecaiionally  bo  concealed  among 
tlie  leaf  to  increase  its  weight.  Tho  leaf  should  ho 
delivered  green  and  fre.3h,  b it  it  is  often  wet,  in 
last  tlii.;  may  bo  siid  to  b its  norm  il  conditionin 
tho  rains. 
Tiience  tile  leaf  is  convcyel  to  Urn  withering  roini! 
or  shed.s  which  are  fitted  up  with  tiers  of  broad 
shelves  of  wire  mesh,  Hessian  cloth,  or  bamboo  nol- 
t'ug,  at  heights  and  distance  convenmnt  for  lianilin,' 
the  leaf.  The  loaf  slio.iM  bo  .sp  o id  out  Lhinlv, 
aid  tho  mo’re  e.xt-enled  the  surf  ice  provided  the 
better,  up  to  s.iy  oiglit  suporScial  feet  por  11).  of 
loaf.  It  is  most  desirable  to  have  a free  current  of 
air  to  pass  over  and  thro  igh  the  spread  l oaf,  and 
to  cause  the  air  'propollers  kuow.i  as  *•  Black- 
man’’ fans,  or  others  of  similar  doicriptiou, 
are  extensively  used.  Natural  air  is  most 
desirable,  but  wh-'»n  the  leif  is  wet,  the  weather 
misty,  and  tho  atmo.sph)re  satiiritol  willi  mois- 
ture, as  is  often  the  case,  air  slightly  heated, 
and  as  far  as  praoticablc  dried  artificially,  his  to  be 
applied  instead,  and  u is  under  such  conditio.is  that 
tile  fins  do  much  to  facilitate  and  quicken,  and  pre- 
vent loss  and  injury  to  quality  from  unduly  protracted 
operations,  ('.specially  in  the  case  of  high-ciais  hybrid 
loaf.  The  function  of  the  fans  should  he  to  distribute 
the  dry  hot  an-  .and  give  ventilation  over  a wi  !e  ai'ci. 
Tile  withering  process  i.s  a very  important  0110,  it 
should  not  be  done  too  quickly,  and  the  great  aim 
with  it  is  to  obtain  fragrance,  to  avoid  heating  or 
discolouration  of  the  leaf.  By  it  the  leaf  should  be 
brought  into  a fiaccid  state.  This  prevents  its  breaking 
no  in  rolling.  Withered  leaf  to  the  feel  resemblesthat  of 
a fine  kid  glove.  The  process  generally  lasts  from  .oight 
to  ten  hours  in  all.  Wet  leaf  should  be  the  more 
slowly  withered,  but  ought  not  to  occupy  more  than 
fourteen  hours  unless  tho  weather  be  very  unfavor- 
able, and  artificial  heat  ho  not  restored  to.  The 
leaf  leaves  the  withering  stage  of  in  inufacturo  limp 
and  rtaocid,  still  green,  but  of  slightly  duller  hue, 
and  ought  to  be  fragrant. 
The  next  process  is  rolling,  which  is  performed 
by  inacliinery.  There  are  several  rolling  machines 
by  different  patontees,  ea”!!  having  their  own 
advocates.  The  best  known  and  most  generally 
uied  are  the  Jack.sou  machinas,  especially  the 
“ llapil,”  which  performs  the  work  ot  ah mt  70 
nun  and  does  it  to  great  perfection.  Bj'  an 
iugenions  arrangement  of  cranks,  Ac.,  an  eccen- 
tric motion  with  claitic  pr.is-iiire  (rosembling  tliat 
of  the  old  hand  rolling)  is  produced  b 'tween  a table 
a’ld  a box  above  which  usually  contains  as  much  as 
300  1b.  of  wiluore  l le:if  at  a ti;no.  This  upper  pla'e 
or  rolling  box  i-;  generally  of  metal  liiiel  Witli  wood, 
but  also  of  granite  or  marble  for  greater  cooloe.si. 
Tile  low '!•  rolling  surface  or  table  is  usually  of  w.i  id, 
but  is  sometimes graniteor  marble  faced.  This  m ichine 
is  beautiful  tliougli  simple  in  movement,  an  l as  a 
roller  as  near  perfection  ai  can  well  be  conceived. 
The  leaf  is  usually  rolled  from  ‘2)  to  3")  miiiute.s 
.according  to  (juality  of  loaf  and  tho  view;  of  tho 
ininagor,  tlien  sifted  on  wire  mcili  siovo.s  to 
separate  tho  line  from  tho  coarser  which 
at  tlio  same  time  aor.itos  it  and  liroaks 
up  tlio  halls.  T'.ie  fhie  mi  co.arier  K- if  are  after 
this  rolled  agiiii  separately  for  fro. 11  lo’to  1;5,  an  1 
from  ‘2.5  to  35  miniitos  according  to  ij  1 ilitv,  and  iin  ler 
such  prossuro  as  desirable  for  oacli.  Machines  arc  al.jo 
