In the process of “firing” the leaves are spread out in a series of wire-gauze trays, placed in layers in a hot-air machine, known as a “Sirocco,” from the fact that the current of vapor arising from it is suggestive of the hot winds of the desert, and in which the temperature averages some 300 degrees. These screens are operated either in a lateral or rotary direction also by steam, the tea being thoroughly fired in from twenty to twenty-five minutes, and separated into the different grades at the same time. But on some plantations the tea is afterwards bulked in large tin-lined cases until a considerable quantity is accumulated, when it is again lightly fired, the operations of sorting and grading being again performed by machinery previous to being packed in the teak-wood chests, in which it is finally shipped. The curing and firing of tea by hot air and machinery in India is fast superseding the primitive arrangements and charcoal processes so long in use in China. Yet though much more rapid and effective in its work, and certain not to taint the leaves in any manner, it is still an open question whether the older and slower methods of curing in pans over charcoal fires is not after all the better one. That the teas are not properly cured or thoroughly fired by this over-hasty method is evidenced by the fact that India teas in general are noted for their great excess of tannin and peculiar raw, “grassy,” uncooked or herby flavor. But labor and fuel-saving machinery are effecting such economy in the cultivation and preparation of tea in India as to yearly reduce the cost of its production. So many improvements for drying, rolling, firing and sorting are annually being recorded that it is difficult even to estimate at what figure it may be produced there in the future. India teas comprise Assams, Cachars, Darjeelings, Deradoons, Kumaons, Dooars, Chittagongs, Juligoories, Rangworths and Neilgherries, district terms, ranking in the order named, and are converted into Pekoes, Souchongs, Pekoe-Souchongs, Congous, Broken-leaf and Fannings. In make, style, color, flavor, and general appearance, India teas resemble most the Congou sorts of China, but many of them being produced from a combination of the China and India plants are hybrid in character, differing essentially from either originals. Most of them possess a sharp, acrid taste, not to be found in any other variety, and a peculiar flavor rarely liked by consumers, unless when tempered with the softer and more mellow China growths, and to neutralize which peculiarity it is at all times necessary to use only the best India grades. In make they are in general longer and narrower in leaf, darker in color, more shapely, better curled or twisted, and finer in texture than the corresponding Chinese varieties.