STAPLES OF AND FOR AMERICA. 58 



From the Southern Cultivator. 

 TEA CULTURE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



THERE is a gentleman in Georgia who has had several 

 year's experience in India in the culture of tea plants, 

 and the manufacture of tea ; and it seems to be our duty 

 to bring the matter fairly before our readers. For rea- 

 sons, not of a personal or private character, we have for 

 some time abstained from making public the information 

 in our possession on this subject. As early as July, 

 1850, the Hon. Abbot Lawrence sent a communication 

 from Mr. Francis Bonynge (the gentleman in Georgia to 

 whom we allude), addressed to the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior, on the production of tea in this country, which came 

 to the Agricultural Desk in the Patent Office, occupied 

 by the writer. We have deemed the letter of Mr. Law- 

 rence, and the communication of Mr. Bonynge, of suffi- 

 cient interest to insert in the Agricultural Report for 

 1850 ; and we have read a paper of some thirty -five 

 manuscript pages, written by Mr. B., to be used before 

 the British Parliament, and seen him several times during 

 his stay in Washington. 



If success in the growing and curing of tea leaves de- 

 pended on the very precarious life of an insect, like that 

 of the silkworm, we should be extremely cautious how we 

 encouraged even an experiment in the business. But 

 the simple matter of picking the green leaves, is the great 

 labor in tea-making, as picking is the serious work in 

 cotton culture. From twenty to thirty pounds of green 

 leaves are a day's work for a feeble Asiatic to gather ; and 

 we have good reason to believe that a hundred hands in 

 China do not, on an average, pick so much cotton in a 



