REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XLIII 



cooperation with tho present experiment stations and those that may 

 l)e established in Porto Rico and Hawaii. Opportunities will be 

 atJorded in this work and that undertaken in cooperation with the 

 other Divisions of the Department engaged upon plant industrial 

 investigations for the training of scientitie aids along broad horticul- 

 tural lines. For the constantl}" increasing work of the Department 

 and that of the experiment stations men with broad training will be 

 needed, and it is hoped that the Department can aid in making more 

 such men available. 



TEA PRODrCTIOX IX THE UNITED STATES. 



Tn mv last Report attention was called to the efforts being made by 

 the Department in the production of tea. For several j^ears Dr. 

 Charles U. Shepard, a public-spiri-fed citizen of Summerville, S. C, has 

 been experimenting with a view of obtaining information as to the 

 practicability of producing American tea, and his efforts promised so 

 much of value that it seemed proper for the Department to render 

 assistance in certain directions. To this end arrangements were made 

 with Dr. Shepard whereby certain machinery, etc., were to be fur- 

 nished in order to settle some questions pertaining to the commercial 

 production of tea. Throughout the work the question of labor has 

 been an important one; but through Dr. Shepard's efforts there has 

 been adopted a method for utilizing the labor of colored children. 

 What Dr. Shepard has accomplished in this matter in his region could 

 undoubtedly be brought about in other sections of the South, where 

 much idle labor is awaiting proper utilization. Dr. Shepard has estab- 

 lished schools on his place, and in these the children are received and 

 educated, and at the same time are taught to pluck tea and perform 

 other work in connection with the production of the crop. For such 

 work fair wages are paid, and in this wa}" interest is maintained. 



The experiments so far conducted have shown that tea may be pro- 

 duced in the United States in two ways: (1) By families in their gar- 

 dens, as was demonstrated 3^ ears ago to be entirely feasible; and, (2) on 

 a commercial scale, after the manner followed by the British East 

 Indian tea establishments and the beet-sugar industry. 



The work at Summerville was started with a view of ascertaining 

 whether under favorable conditions tea plantations could be made to 

 yield as much as the average oriental production, and whether the 

 crop could be marketed at a fair protit. The results obtained have 

 been affirmative, the crop of 1900, although not so large as expected 

 earl}'^ in the season, exceeding that of any previous year by at least 12 

 per cent, and the entire product being sold before it was all gathered 

 to a prominent Northern distributing house at a price that gave a fair 

 profit. 



