the field longer than two hours before bringing their pick to the tea-house to be taken care of. Just within the open window of one of the large lower rooms, Dr. Shepard stands with scales ready to weigh the leaves as they are brought. DRYERS FOR FIRING TEA After the leaves are weighed they are carefully carried in large tin tubs to the lofts, where they are spread over the clean, polished floor to be wilted. The leaves must be spread thinly and with as little handling as possible. Each pound of green leaf requires ten square feet of surface. As it requires four and one fifth pounds of green leaf to make one pound of manufactured tea, and the loft area is about 2,000 feet, it is evident that the capacity of the tea-house is about fifty pounds daily. The object of withering the leaf is that it may be reduced to the pliant state which it must assume before it can be properly rolled in the machines. The first of the series of chemical changes is inaugurated during withering. Evaporation reduces the leaf by about one fourth of its weight and causes a concentration of the sap. There is incipient oxidation of some of the constituents of the sap. Skilled experience and ripe judgment are required to determine the exact point to which the withering shall go. Should it proceed too far, the cells will not burst in rolling; some of the constituents of the sap will no longer remain in solution; and the color during oxidation will be uneven, owing to the insufficiency of sap to spread over the whole surface of the rolled leaf. If the fresh leaf is bruised, the air gains access to the sap during withering and decomposition will set in. Exposure to the direct rays of the sun will also cause premature oxidation, which will spoil the leaf. To ascertain whether the leaf is sufficiently withered and ready to be rolled, a handful is tightly squeezed. If the leaf be properly withered it should affect the touch with a feeling very similar to that which a kid glove would have if crumpled in the hand, and when the tension of the hand is relaxed the leaves should be found adhering in a ball-like mass; whereas if underwithered they will separate at once and will crack if rolled. When leaf is over-withered it becomes crisp and breaks into minute pieces on being rolled. As soon as the leaves are withered to the right degree, which under favorable conditions occurs in about six hours, they are put into the tea-roller. This machine is run by steam and works with a peculiar oscillatory motion. It is of glistening copper, burnished inside and out until it shines like gold. During the rolling, which lasts about thirty minutes, the sap escapes and is spread all over the surface of the rolled leaf in a way favorable to the action of oxygen in the next stage,-oxidation. Some of this exuded sap is acted on by the hot air contained within the box of the rolling-machine, and in consequence, a portion of the organic acids (chiefly the tannic) undergo partial oxidation. Some of the tannin unites with oxygen to form phlobaphene and also glucose and gallic acid, assuming a dark, insoluble form during the process; while part also combines with some of the albuminoid matter, an insoluble, leather-like substance resulting. These last two reactions are only incipient during rolling, and are more fully developed in the succeeding process of oxidation. The leaf changes color at this stage, owing probably to the destruction of the blue component (phyllocyanin) of the coloring cells. Great care is exercised that it be not overheated. When the leaf is released from the roll to check the fermentation at its first stage, which is done by firing. Otherwise fermentation of a butyric nature would begin, to the serious injury of the quality of the tea. The astringency of the tea is reduced by the continued affinity of the tannin for the albuminoid matter, which also produces toughness in the leaf. A small quantity of the tannin is changed into gallic acid and glucose. It has been thought that a great advantage would result to tea consumers if more of the tannin would undergo this change, since gallic acid is not nearly so injurious when taken with albuminoid food as tannin. And at this aroma and flavor of the leaf so markedly developed at this stage are due to the formation of several volatile oils. The quality of tea desired determines the length of the fermentation process. A thin pungent liquor requires less oxidation than that of the heavy strong order. After fermentation the leaf is subjected to a hot blast by being put, rather rapidly, through a drying or firing machine. This action arrests the oxidation at just the right stage. The tea is dried at the same time and turns black. At this point great attention and skill are required, that the volatile constituents may not be carried away and lost by too high a temperature or too great a draught. As soon as it is cool the tea is sorted, weighed, and packed in air-tight boxes. As has been stated, the manufacture of green tea requires but two processes, rolling and firing. But it is a much more delicate, difficult, and expensive operation. At Pinehurst the leaf for green tea is divided into two lots for manipulation. An iron pot, having a thickness of four inches at the bottom, is heated to the requisite temperature and the fuel is withdrawn. The first portion of leaf is thrown into the firing-pot and constantly stirred by an attendant. It spits and sputters and evolves much steam, but very quickly becomes flaccid. In a few minutes it is uncomfortable to handle. thrown upon a table to be immediately rolled by hand while the second portion is being fired, when that on the table is again returned to the pot. This alternation of roasting and rolling goes on six eight times. The leaf goes through the stages of frothiness and gumminess, and becomes two-thirds dry. Drying is then continued at a constantly diminishing temperature with frequent stirring until the leaf is done. Dr. Shepard has pro It is then or duced, in this way, green tea that gives a pea-green liquor and reacts at once on the nervous system. Greater skill, it is seen, is required for the preparation of green than for black tea. If fired at a suitably low temperature to preserve its fragrance, it is apt to undergo a change in a couple of months, whereby the liquor changes from green to yellow. Pinehurst black tea has been compared favorably with Ceylon tea, and resembles in appearance the Formosa Oolong. Its flavor is so distinct as to be termed by experts the "South Carolina," and it is greatly liked by those who have used it. As the production of tea becomes more general in the South, science will devise means of improving the product through better knowledge of the components of tea and a conservation of its best constituents. Tea-factories far excelling in extent those of the great Oriental estates will doubtless spring up with improved machinery for manufacture, the result of American scientific research and ingenuity. But the convenient and pleasant tea-house at Pinehurst will ever bear a peculiar interest as the pioneer tea factory in the United States. AN AMERICAN view of the PHILIPPINE QUESTION — II* M EANWHILE rumor was persistent to the effect that the rebels contemplated an attack and only delayed it in the hope that we would offer some provocation. General Otis and other military officials strongly suspected that these wild rumors emanated from sources with which Aguinaldo was closely connected, if not directly from his own sanctum. It did not benefit Aguinaldo, it is true, to circulate reports which later proved false, but it did perhaps afford him some satisfaction to know that the rumors created grave apprehension which did not abate even when the attack did not occur. When questioned by a party of several American ladies and officers who were fortunate enough to gain admittance to his "august presence," he of course strenuously denied being the author of rumors which represented him in a hostile attitude toward our country. It was utterly absurd; so ridiculous, in fact, that he marvelled that anyone, much less General Otis, should have paid the slightest attention to such a rumor. It was slander to say that he intended to attack the American troops. He and his associates respected America and felt chagrined that our officials should have believed him capable of committing a wrong. It was true (and he smiled when he said it) that he was fully aware of the fact that certain false rumors had reached General Otis, but so ridiculous were they that he had given them no consideration. Aguinaldo's shrewdness impressed his visitors. When he believed he had convinced his guests of his loyalty to the United States he proceeded to unfold a clever explanation of the probable origin of the rumors. He commenced by recounting alleged outrages and cruelties practised upon Filipinos by the Spanish priests of Manila, who, he claimed, were Spanish sympathizers and sworn enemies of the natives, and who wanted Spanish rule reinstated. *Continued from SELF CULTURE MAGAZINE for January. Tooo. Vol. X, No. 5, p. 437. It was their purpose to create strife between the Americans and Filipinos, in the hope, however faint, that such strife might eventually result in a return of Spanish sovereignty. It was of course impossible to determine whence the rumors came, but Aguinaldo's explanation was considered a pretty good fabrication, intended to deceive his visitors, whom he received with mock courtesy. What he said about the priests was partially true, for they believed that the property of the church, convents, cathedrals, and other sacred edifices, would be confiscated, if not destroyed; and that they themselves would be tortured, if not murdered, once the insurgents gained control of Manila. It was natural that they should seek to avoid such a fate, but they perhaps trusted to Providence and General Otis to save them from it, rather than to any such machinations as those of which Aguinaldo accused them. General Otis had informed the archbishop that he and his subordinates would be permitted to pursue their vocations undisturbed so to clever diplomacy; but his duplicity was so plain that the rumors which presaged an attack were accepted as truthful reports of plans which he had in view. General Otis realized that a grave responsibility rested on his shoulders, and CHURCH OF LA LOMA, NEAR CALOOCAN long as they confined themselves the duties of the church. Aguinaldo's "explanation" was therefore transparent and merely served to accentuate belief in his treachery. Aguinaldo exhibited poor diplomacy in admitting his knowledge of the fact that wild rumors were current among our forces. If he desired to win the respect and confidence of the American authorities, as he intimated, why did he not immediately apprise General Otis of the falsity of those reports, and thus dissipate the apprehension that he knew was prevalent, and which, if it continued, he must have known would eventually bring about disastrous results. Aguinaldo may have congratulated himself on his adroitness, and considered his "explanation" a stroke of that his was a difficult position as mediator between his government and a race of semi-civilized people. It was doubly difficult in that he could not negotiate with Aguinaldo without seeming to recognize the Filipinos as a people with a national status. If international rules and precedents could have been disregarded, matters might have been amicably settled. General Otis is an indefatigable student, and he studied the people and their advantages and disadvantages; he studied the situation, dissected it, and arrived at his conclusion much in the same way as a mathematician solves a knotty problem. He acquainted the government at Washington with his views and recommended what, in his opinion, was the best mode of procedure. He was convinced that some immediate step was necessary to counteract the influence of Aguinaldo's misrepresentations and that the hostile mistrust of the natives must be dissipated. He realized that so long as the natives were kept in complete ignorance of the real intentions of the United States anent the Philippines Aguinaldo's power would increase, and that the rebel leader's false teachings would find more converts among the Filipinos. He therefore recommended that our government declare its intentions, so that the natives would know whether it was true, as Aguinaldo had intimated to them, that they were "jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire." It was on the 4th of January that General Otis issued his proclamation, which was a transmission of President McKinley's declaration of our intentions. It was published in three languages,English, Spanish, Tagalog,- and was distributed throughout Manila and posted in every nook and cranny of the city. It did not inspire enthusiasm among the natives; indeed its reception was of an indifferent sort. Crowds of Filipinos gathered wherever copies of it were posted, but curiosity rather than self-interest prompted them. In many instances sullenness and disgust marked its readers, who frequently turned away in anger after perusing a paragraph or two. "It promises us nothing," remarked one. prominent Filipino, a rich merchant in Manila. "We are still in the dark and know not whither to turn for enlightenment. How can we be expected to submit peaceably when we know not what the price of submission will be,- whether it will be costly or cheap?" Aguinaldo was served with a copy of the proclamation while ensconced in his erstwhile capital, Malolos; but it must have kindled a smouldering fire within the insurgent leader's breast, for he immediately launched forth in a manifesto which was replete with denunciatory terms of General Otis and the American government. Sulphurous and wrathful words flowed from his tongue like molten lava from a volcano in eruption; indeed, if sarcasm is permissible, it is strange that the paper upon which the manifesto was written did not burn up. While its heat did not scorch nor even singe General Otis or any other American official, it did inflame and incite the natives. It was accepted as a foregone conclusion that the crucial moment was at last at hand. General Otis's proclamation shattered the hopes upon which Aguinaldo was building his republic and threatened its complete destruction. In it Aguinaldo read his doom as a ruler, as a demigod among his people, and, like a |