Defoliation, or collection by hand, is carried on whenever the leaf may be fully developed and ripe, beginning at first with the lower leaves, and continuing eventually to the ends of the branches. It takes place at 3 different times during the season: the 1st in May, the 2nd late in July or early August, and the 3rd in September. At the last collection, the extremities of the branches are broken down, and the leaves are allowed to dry before removal from the plant, as described under collections of the 2nd year. In the application of this method, the regular pruning is effected during the fall or winter, when the plant is dormant, and under such conditions the operation becomes a regenerative one, giving in this particular an advantage over the other method, in which the pruning is effected in the summer when the plant is in full vegetative activity, and so has a strongly deteriorating influence. In both methods of pruning, care should be observed to leave a long slanting section, upon which water will be less likely to settle and promote decay. The leaves collected by either method are dried in the open field where they have grown, and when dried, are carried to a threshing-floor to be beaten, or at once to the threshing-floor and dried there. In the former, the operation is rather more rapid, but there is greater danger of injury by rain, the effect of which is very deleterious, especially if it fall upon the leaves when they are partially dried. The damage resulting from this cause is less if the leaves are not lying upon the ground, and are so arranged that the air may circulate freely about and under them. In the pruning method, the leaves are dried upon the branches and in the heaps where they are first deposited. Sometimes they are turned, but generally it is considered better not to disturb them until completely dried, and ready for transportation to the threshing-floor. In this way, they are protected to a greater extent from the action of direct sunlight, which is said to be injurious to the quality of the product. When the leaves are collected by hand, they are dried upon the threshing-floor, where they are spread in thin layers, and stirred 3-4 times a day. They are then beaten with a flail to separate the leaves from the branches and stems. If this be done during the middle of the day, when the leaves are most thoroughly dry and consequently brittle, they are reduced to small particles, producing what is called "sumach for grinding." But if it be done in the morning, or on damp days, when the air is charged with moisture and the leaves are tough, they are separated from the stems more nearly entire and less broken, and the product obtained is called "sumach for baling." The stems remaining after the separation of sumach for baling still retain small particles of leaves attached to them, and they are therefore again beaten when perfectly dry for the production of a low-grade sumach, called by the Italians _gammuzza_.