_Withering._--There are several tests to show when leaf is withered. Fresh leaf squeezed in the hand, held near the ear, crackles, but no sound should be heard from withered leaf. Again, fresh leaf, pressed together in the palm of the hand, when released, springs back to nearly its original bulk, but withered leaf, in like circumstances, retains the shape into which it has been pressed. The stalk of withered leaf will bend double without breaking, but fresh leaf stalks, if bent very little, break. Practice, though, soon gives a test superior to all these, viz., the feel of the leaf. Properly withered leaves are like old rags to lay hold of, and no further test, after a time, than the feel of the leaf is necessary. The agents for withering leaf are sun, light, heat, and air. Of these the most powerful is sun, for it combines all the others with it. Light is a powerful agent, for if some leaf be placed in a partially dark room, and some in a well-lighted verandah, the latter will wither in half the time the former will take. If light and moderate ventilation be present, heat is a rapid accessory to rapid withering. There is often great difficulty in withering leaf in the rain. It _can_ be withered in Tea pans, but “the out-turn” is then more or less injured, for after infusion the out-turn comes out green instead of the proper “new penny” colour. Withering in dholes is also objectionable for the same reason, though if the heat is moderate the green effect is less. It is further a long and tedious operation. Space and light are the great wants for withering leaf in wet weather. Bamboo mechans, tier above tier, should be constructed in every available space. Large frames, covered with wire mesh, may also be made (by means of weights running over pulleys) to run up to the roof of any Tea building. The leaf withers well in such frames, for heat ascends, and much heat is given out by dholes. It signifies not though where leaf is spread as long as there is space and light. Houses made of iron and glass would be far the best for withering leaf, for, if well ventilated, all the necessary agents for withering, detailed in the last page, would be present. I do not doubt the day will come when these will be used, for properly withered leaf is a necessity for good Tea.[47] In dry weather, when leaf comes in from the garden, spread it thinly anywhere and turn it once early in the night. It will generally be withered and ready to roll next morning. If not quite ready, then put it outside in the sun. Half an hour’s sunning will probably finish it. In wet weather, if there is any sun when it comes in, or any time that day, take advantage of the sun to wither the leaf _partly_, so much that, with the after withering all night under cover, it will be ready next morning. If not ready next morning, put it out in the sun, if there is any, till it is ready.