This is a work that requires a lot of labour and close and careful superintendence.
Imagine what it means to plant out 100 acres of ground, the plants set only three or four feet apart! The right plucking of the leaf calls for equally careful looking after.

The women are paid by the amount or weight they pluck, so they are very liable to pluck carelessly and so damage the succeeding flush, or they may gather a lot of old leaf unsuited for manufacturing purposes.

In short, every detail of work, even cultivation, demands close supervision and the whole attention of the planter.
When the new-plucked leaf is brought home it is spread out to wither in suitably-built sheds.

(Here begins the tea-maker's responsibility.) Then it must be rolled, by hand or by machinery; fermented, and fired or dried over charcoal ovens; separated in its different classes, the younger the leaf bud the more valuable the tea.

It is then packed in boxes for market, and sampled by the planter.