TEA 



TECOMA 



1775 



experiments. Nevertheless, the resultant patches and 

 larger gardens unquestionably produced Tea of fine 

 flavor, although very generally devoid of that strength 

 of liquor which latterly, and especially since the intro- 

 duction of the Indo-Ceylon Teas, appears to constitute 

 a most desirable quality for many consumers. It may 

 be presumed, however, that this failure in pungency 

 was largely due to defective curing and particularly 

 to inadequate rolling of the leaf, in consequence of 

 which the cup qualities of the Tea were 

 not fully developed. 



So far as is known, it remained for the 

 National Department of Agriculture to be- 

 gin, twenty years ago, the first serious at- 

 tempt to produce American commercial Tea. 

 Unhappily, the retirement from office of 

 Commissioner Win. G. Le Due, to whose 

 great interest in this subject the inception 

 of the experiment was due ; the serious 

 prostration by illness of Mr. John Jackson, 

 who had cultivated Tea in India, and under 

 whose management the seed was obtained 

 and the gardens established; the great dis- 

 tance of the station from its source of con- 

 trol ( Washington), as also the unfavorable 

 opinion of a subsequent commissioner as 

 to the ultimate success of the undertak- 

 ing, combined to cause the total abandon- 

 ment by the Government of the tea-gar- 

 dens which it had established on the same 

 "Newington" plantation that embraced the 

 adjoining site of the later formed Piuehurst 

 estate. 



The Pinehurst investigation owed its ori- 

 gin to the belief that the previous attempts 

 to demonstrate the feasibility of American 

 Tea culture had been arrested before reach- 

 ing definite conclusions. More careful cul- 

 tivation and manipulation, the result of pro- 2473. 

 tracted observation, with the consequent 

 production of a higher class of Teas, might reverse the 

 generally entertained opinion that the cultivation of 

 Tea, as an industry, in this country must always prove 

 a failure. It was hoped that success in this field of 

 agricultural enterprise would furnish employment for 

 thousands who are now idle and give a value to vast 

 acres at present worthless. 



The local experiments, begun about ten years ago, 

 were wisely on a small scale; but they have been gradu- 

 ally increased until they now embrace about sixty 

 acres planted in Tea, a commodious factory equipped 

 with the requisite mechanical appliances, facilities for 

 tbe application of irrigation to some of the tea-gardens, 

 and a well-trained corps of youthful tea pickers. When 

 the gardens shall have arrived at full bearing, the an- 

 nual crop should exceed 12,000 pounds of dry, high 

 grade Tea, and this quantity should suffice for the ob- 

 ject in view; viz., to determine whether commercial tea 

 may be profitably grown under the local conditions of 

 soil, climate and labor. It was obviously desirable to 

 conduct experiments with as many varieties of seed 

 and on as different sorts of soil and location as pos- 

 sible. To this end, partly by the kind assistance of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture and partly by pur- 

 chase from domestic and foreign producers, a consider- 

 able variety of seed, representing many of the choicest 

 sorts of Tea, was obtained. Gardens were established 

 on flat and on rolling land, in drained swamps and 

 ponds, and on sandy, clayey, loamy and rich bottom 

 soil. 



It was from the outset expected that many of those 

 attempts would prove either partially or wholly unsuc- 

 cessful, but with very few exceptions the gardens are 

 fully answering the expectations. The annual crop has 

 gradually, but steadily, grown from less than one hun- 

 dred pounds to 5,000 pounds of dry Tea. Several years 

 of experimentation have developed a system of pruning 

 in keeping with the local climate. The hopefully crucial 

 trial occurred on February 14, 1899, when the thermom- 

 eter fell to zero, Fahrenheit — the lowest recorded tem- 

 perature in 150 years of observation, but with compara- 

 tively few exceptions the tea-gardens escaped serious 

 injury, although followed by a diminished yield for two 



112 



years in some instances. A Rose (Assam Hybrid) tea 

 garden at Pinehurst is shown in Fig. 247X 



Charles IT. Shepard. 

 TEA, OSWEGO. Monarda didytna. 



TEA, PARAGUAY. Ilex Pannjuariensis. 



TEASEL. The species of Dipsacus. See p. 491 and 

 Fig. 719. 



Assam-Hybrid Tea garden at Pinehurst, South Carolina. 



TfXOM A ( abridged from the Mexican name Tecomaxo- 

 chitl. ). Including Cdmpsis, Campsidium, Cour&lea, 

 Pandbrea, Stenoldbium and Tecomdria. Bignoniacew. 

 Trumpet Vine. Ornamental evergreen or deciduous, 

 climbing or upright shrubs, or sometimes trees, with 

 opposite, odd-pinnate or digitate leaves and showy 

 white, yellow, scarlet or violet flowers in panicles or 

 racemes, followed by mostly elongated cylindrical pods. 

 Most of the species are suited only for greenhouse cul- 

 tivation in the North, or for outdoor cultivation only in 

 subtropical or tropical regions. The hardiest species is 

 T. radicatis, which may be grown as farnorth as Massa- 

 chusetts, at least in sheltered positions. The closely 

 allied T. grandiflora is somewhat more tender. The 

 latter, as well as T. radicans, var. speciosa, can be 

 grown as bushy specimens and will bloom freely on the 

 young shoots, even if cut back almost to the ground by 

 frost. Such plants can be easily protected during the 

 winter by laying them down and covering them with 

 earth. 



The following are well suited for cultivation in the 

 southern states and California or in the North in the 

 cool greenhouse and will stand a little frost: T. aus- 

 trails, Oapensis, jasminoides, mollis, BivasoUana, 

 Smiihti and stans. T. Amboinensis, filicifolia and 

 leucoxylon can be grown only in tropical regions or in 

 the warm greenhouse. The Tecomas, with the excep- 

 tion of the first 5 species described below, are very or- 

 namental climbing plants. T. radicans is particularly 

 adapted for covering walls and rocks, as it climbs with 

 rootlets and clings firmly to its support. The Tecomas 

 require rich, rather moist soil and sunny position. 

 Propagated by seeds, by greenwood cuttings uuder 

 glass, or by hardwood and also by root-cuttings and 

 layers. See, also, Bignonia for culture. 



The genus contains more than 100 species, chiefly na- 

 tives of tropical and subtropical America, also found in 

 Polynesia, S. Asia and Africa. Climbing or upright 

 shrubs, sometimes trees: lvs. odd-pinnate or digitate, 

 opposite, estipulate: fls. in racemes or panicles; calyx 

 campanulate, 5-toothed or irregularly 2-5-lobed; corolla 

 funnelform, with 5- or rarely 4-lobed limb; stamens 4, 

 2 longer and 2 shorter; style slender: ovary 2-loculed f 



