TEA-CULTURE, A PROBABLE AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 259 



reason why it should be so. True, the profits of tea-cul- 

 ture are as yet not clearly established, the management of 

 the plant and the proper application of the various pro- 

 cesses must be for many years, as in India and Ceylon, 

 of a purely experimental character, and even when seem- 

 ingly fair tests have been made failures will still occur, and 

 although these efforts may be traced to causes, which 

 persistent effort would eventually overcome, yet when 

 there is a large outlay and loss, accompanied with some 

 doubts of ultimate success, the efforts in most cases will 

 be abandoned. 



It has been suggested that the United States Govern- 

 ment could, at a comparative small cost to it, materially 

 assist in determining and demonstrating the feasibility of 

 tea-culture in this country, finally solving the question of 

 profit. These questions could all be answered satisfac- 

 torily and definitely in a very few years if our Govern- 

 ment were to secure say twenty acres of land in a 

 suitable locality and plant a portion of it yearly with tea 

 plants, until ten or more acres were planted. Then, 

 when the plants had become sufficiently matured, provide 

 a small laboratory fitted with the necessary modern 

 apparatus, placing it in the charge of a competent man- 

 ager who could make such experiments in the prepara- 

 tion of the leaf as may be suggested by those interested 

 in the enterprise. 



In a special report of the Department of Agriculture 

 issued in 1877, we find the following extracts from letters 

 submitted by cultivators of the tea-plant in the United 

 States : 



Mr. Thomas M. Cox, Greenville, S. C, says : 



I obtained, in 1857, from the Patent Office, a box of tea-plants. I 

 gave the most of them away, and retained a few myself. They have 

 grown well without any protection, in the open air, and have attained 



