Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-23
i'm CRYL.ON'S SPICY ISLE
V-THE GREAT TEA TRADE
By Frederic j. Haskin

the top of the shoots, and for this
skilled labor a good picker receives 20
cents in Ceylon coinage, the equivalent
of s 1-3 cents in American money rms
is considered high pay in india, ana
many coolie women emigrate TO Ceylon
to find prosperity In the coffee days
infant mortality was high in Ceylon,
but nowadays, because children have
value as tea pickers under parental
direction, the parents are careful TO
rear them and add to the family earn
ings at the rate of or cents day
for each urchin. Stockings are taken
to the tea fields by their mothers, and
when they get large enough to en-
danger their lives by crawling about
where they might tumble into mountain
chasms the mothers make hammocks
for them out of their "cumblies' ana
swing them to the branches of trees
Nurses cannot be employed by tea
pickers.
Because of the chance for high wages,
and the opportunity to save money and
return home to become land owners,
Tamil coolies from southern india go
over to Ceylon In great numbers to
earn few cents a day moro than the
wages of a woman. At home the Tamil
gets 1 or cents day, and there Is an
occasional famine during which he may
starve. In Ceylon he may earn a dime
day There is no famine and there Is
pie ty of fruit. He lives cheaply, sends
money home to help feed poor rela-
tions, contributes to the support of
few of the hundreds of insatiate gods
of his country, and saves money with
which to buy real estate, although he
rarely carries out his plan to return to
India.
In the meantime his clothing con-
slsts of loin cloth, and If he sleeps
upon the bare ground 1t Is what his
forefathers have enjoyed, and IL Is all
that his posterlty will desire. He never
strikes. Master" pays him more than
he has ever had If he shirks his work
he is docked. Labor prices In the ORR
ent form key to the problem of why
tea cannot be profitably raised In
South Carolina to compete with Ort-
entail products. The British in Ceylon
are we'll content to allow the brown
brother to retain his standard of living
and his ideas as to what a working
man should earn.
The two tenderest leaves. where the
planter is picking especially fine tea,
and four leaves where the standard OF
excellence is less rigid, are plucked
from each bough. The baskets are
dumped on mats at the factory" and
sorted to eliminate coarse leaves acci-
dentally plucked. whitening, ferment-
ing and firing are the next processes to
which the leaves are subjected
in the factory. When 1t is withered TO
spread thinly upon layers of Jute fiber
in the factory. When 1t is wtihered to
the right degree of softness and fac
cidlty a chute takes 1t to the lower
floor where 1t is rolled by machinery
to eliminate the tannin and moisture.
A mass of soft Jumps comes from the
roller and a roll breaker" breaks
these and sifts the small leaves
txFsrA 90 C1a
Spread out in wood frames and covered
by wet cloths, the tea leaves are al
lowed to ferment till they become cop
per tinted. and the brighter the copper
tint the more choice the product. Fer
mentation, which is a most necessary
factor in making the tea, is induced
by the breaking of the sap cells in the
leaves during the rolling process. To
make green tea the fermentation is
checked so that no change in color
takes place, and black tea is made by
| allowing it to continue for time.
The modern process of firing tea is to
spread 1t thinly in wire trays which are
inserted into a machine called a de-
siccatbr, where current of hot air is
turned upon the leaves. The leaves
emerge from plantation made tea"
Weighing tbout 25 per cent as much as
1t did when 1t was picked. It next
goes INTO DlIlS Will wire IltSn lluS,
where II cools. The next process con-
sists of sitting in a machine, which
sorts the leaves into various grades
known as broken orange pekoe, orange
pekoe, pekoe, oe-souchong and dust.
After being factory bulked," that Is
to say handled in scoop shovels to Sc
cure uniformity in grade in each pound
of tea, the product is packed In chests
lined with lead. The chests are placed
upon revolving platforms so that they
revolye 2500 times a minute while the
tea is poured in. This serves to shake
II down, and the full capacity of each
chest is utilized. Sinhalese girls are
employed as packers and laborers, each
wearing in addition to the skirt of her
ancestors a white "Brownrigg' Jacket
introduced In Ceylon In response to the
efforts of Lady Brownrigg to induce
native women to wear something above
their waists.
Between games of golf and cricket
hunting expeditions In the elk and
elephant country, and race meetings,
the Ceylon planters are now berating
the American congress- for having put
an import duty upon the product or
their picturesque plantations.
Tomorrow-The Road to Mandaiay-L
The Noble Shwe Dagon.
IL. 1-ha $,I1paes NJ tba Codbaad he