636 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Pinehnrst plants had been set ont at greater distance than is the 

 practice in the East, with the object of substituting cultivators and 

 plows drawn by mules for hand labor and the spade. After making 

 due allowance for this difference and for average vacancies (where 

 plants have died), and thus estimating the production by the same 

 number of plants, we find the average yield of the Pinehurst gardens 

 for the past season to have reached about 37^ pounds of (cured) tea per 

 acre. Of the earlier " flushes " (as the successive crops of young and ten- 

 der leaf are called), purposely very little was picked; of the midsum- 

 mer ones we were careful to confine the picking to the smallest leaf, 

 and in the autumn at least one abundant flush was permitted to remain 

 on the bushes. In other words, the standard production as laid down 

 by Col. Money might readily have been attained. Indeed, in view of 

 subsequent events, it would have been better to have picked the late 

 (October) flush, as probably thereby we might have prevented the 

 florescence of the plants, with all of its attendant drain on their re- 

 sources, and the subsequent entailed cost. of picking off the incipient 

 seed in order to prevent the yet further exhaustion of the bushes by 

 its full development through the next season. But we will assume 

 that the Indian grower exercises as much care with his own gardens, 

 and we will rest our case on the actual figures submitted. 



The results at Pinehurst are all the more gratifying as they were 

 obtained on plants exhibiting great difference in form and luxuriance 

 of growth and in flushing. The seed from which they sprang had 

 been brought from India long before the inauguration of the recent suc- 

 cessful attempt to raise the grades of those teas by a judicious selection 

 of seed and most careful cultivation. From the gardens now being es- 

 tablished at Pinehurst, and in consequence of the great care bestowed 

 on their composition, it is hoped to obtain much finer teas in the future. 



The results obtained at Pinehurst during the past summer are cer- 

 tainly gratifying, and yet the partial success already achieved carries 

 with it great anxiety as to the future. The summer of 1802 was spe- 

 cially favorable for the growth of tea, and the bushes made great strides 

 under the influence of abundant rain in the picking season. The rain- 

 fall was as follows for that period, viz: May, 3.03 inches; June, 10.32 

 inches; July, 10.33 inches; August, 4.73 inches; September, to 28th, 

 11.77 inches; for picking season, 40 inches. The meteorological statis- 

 tics for this region do not extend the hope of the frequent repetition 

 of such weather. Then, again, who can tell how soon some detrimental 

 or even fatal blight may attack our gardens? This does not appear 

 probable ; butthe red spider or some other wretched enemy may suddenly 

 swoop down and create great destruction. For the present, the plan 

 is to develop the utmost luxuriance of growth on the part of the better 

 plants and to extirpate all feeble bushes. 



PROFIT OR LOSS. 



It is as yet too early in our experimentation to exhibit calculations 

 as to the cost of production. Our gardens are small (altogether not 



