_Sorting or Sifting_ is the next process--that is to say, dividing the Tea (by passing it through sieves) into different kinds, as Pekoe, Broken Pekoe, Pekoe Souchong, and Broken Tea. All do not divide it thus, for some make other kinds also. In the body of this Essay (page 122) I say, “I do not believe in any present or future machine for sifting Tea.” I did not then; that was in the early days of Tea; but I was wrong. A sifting machine, on the large scale on which Tea is now made, is essential for every garden. _Jackson’s Sifter._--I have seen this, and heard it well spoken of, but I have no experience of it. _Greig’s Sifter._--This I have not seen, but from the drawing I have I should doubt if it would sift enough per day for a large garden. _Pridham’s Sifter._--This is quite a new thing. I know nothing of it. The fact is, the manager at Phoolbarry and I have been so thoroughly satisfied with the Sifter we use there (Ansell’s) I could conceive nothing better, and I have not therefore looked into the matter of Sifters. In January, 1881, I sent an article to the _Tea Gazette_ describing _Ansell’s Sifter_, and as I thought then I think now. I believe it is by far the best Tea Sifter yet invented. Many are the testimonials, too, in its favour. The price, £80, is too high; but the manufacturers (Ransomes, Head and Jeffries, of Ipswich) advise me they propose reducing it to £70. Even that, I think, is too much; but there can be no question the use of it effects a great saving in a factory. This is my article:-- ANSELL’S SIFTING, SORTING, AND FANNING MACHINE. _January 27, 1881._ In the days gone by, Tea cultivation was, to those commencing a Tea career, _the_ thing to study. Those days are passed. None are embarking in new gardens, and but few are extending existing cultivation. Prices have fallen so wofully that all that Tea planters think of to-day is how to make what they have _pay_. _I_ believe in Tea still. I think the present low range of prices cannot last, and I think so simply because I know Tea will not be cultivated year after year at a loss. But the present crisis is very serious: it means, in five words, “the survival of the fittest,” and even the fittest will not succeed, unless every advantage is taken of all existing Tea knowledge.