260 TEA-CULTURE, A PROBABLE AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 



a height of from 8 to 10 feet. They have frequently matured the 

 seed, and there are a number of the seed on the ground at this 

 time. They are an evergreen in this climate, and are now in 

 flower, with the seed of last year's growth fully matured upon the 

 bush. I have never succeeded in making tea from the leaves, not 

 knowing the process of manipulating it. 



Mr. J. J. Lucas, Society Hill, S. C, states : 



The tea-plant has been grown successfully in this State, Georgia 

 and Louisiana ; General Gillespie's particularly thriving well. On 

 the Middletown place, Ashley river, near Charleston, tea-plants 

 are now growing for ornamental use only, and are 10 feet high. 

 A gentleman in Georgia obtained 441 pounds of tea from one acre 

 of land, which, at 50 cents a pound, would bring $220.50 ; while 

 our average yield of cotton is only about $15 per acre." 



Dr. Turner Wilson, Windsor, N. C., writes : 



I have been raising tea since 1858, but without much cultivation. 

 My yard and garden are sandy soil, and the plants or bushes, with- 

 out any cultivation, are of slow growth. I plant the seed about the 

 ist of April, but they come up under the bushes very thick from the 

 fallen seed. Sometimes I throw a little dirt on the seed which I do 

 not pick up. I have several hundred plants under the bushes, 

 from 4 to 12 inches high, and about fifty in my front yard. I send 

 you a package of Green tea-leaves, blossoms, and a few seed in 

 capsules. I have no person that understands curing the leaves, 

 but will send a package of the dried leaves, as I term them. I 

 frequently drink a sample infusion of the leaves dried in the shade, 

 and though not so good as the Chinese preparation, yet I know 

 that I am drinking the pure tea, without any coloring matter. 



James H. Rion, Esq., Winsboro, S. C., says : 



I have no experience in the making of tea, but can certify to the 

 adaptability of the soil and climate of my section to the growth of 

 the plant itself. In the fall of 1859, I received from the Patent 

 Office, Washington, a very tiny tea-plant, which I placed in my 

 flower-garden as a curiosity. It has grown well, has always been 

 free from any disease, has had full out-door exposure, and attained 

 its present height (5 feet 8 inches) in the year 1865. It is continu- 

 ally producing healthy seedlings. This shows that the plant finds 



