134 [Assembly 



SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION OF TEA IN THE U. STATES. 



Golden Grove, Tea Plantation, ) 

 Greenville, S. C, Dec, 1849. \ 

 Henry Meigs, Esq. 



Rec. Sec. Am. Institute : 

 Dear Sir — In compliance wltb your request, I intimated my inten- 

 tion of communicating some particulars relative to the present state of 

 tea cultivation. My tea plants, planted out last December, after 

 passing through the ordinary trial of tra;)sportation, change of climate, 

 soil, cold and heat, drought, inundation and cultivation, became 

 naturalized. The plant now testifies for itsel/, by its vigorous growth 

 in branch and stem, bud, blossom and foliage, to the entire satisfaction 

 of the cultivator, and by the tardy and somewhat reluctant acknowl- 

 edgments, by multitudes who have seen the plant, of the complete 

 success of the experiment. The gradual development of the plant 

 was curious and interesting. When I arrived at the tea garden from 

 New York on the first of April last, there was not a single leaf to be 

 seen, and the wise and knowing ones of Greenville considered the 

 plantation as doomed to an ignominious end. But they were not 

 aware that I learned, upon enquiry, before a single plant was set out 

 a year ago, that the frost here never penetrates the ground more than 

 three inches during its greatest severity, and guided by that fact I had 

 taken the precaution to place the roots of all the plants below the 

 freezing point. I was sorry to see that the plants during my absence 

 in New York, had been most provokingly neglected, and no protec- 

 tion whatever provided in case of severe frost, as I had particularly 

 directed. But my confidence was not shaken, because I well knew 

 that if the root survived, the branches and foliage would in due time 

 appear. I was not mistaken. On the seventh of April the first 

 sprout appeared above the ground, and the leaf buds began to break. 

 I hailed them as the olive leaf in the beak of the dove, indicating the 

 subsiding waters of trouble and the renovating of tea vegetation. 

 The roots had suffered by heat in transportation and packing, and un- 

 doubtedly were checked in their growth by weakness and cold. The 

 growth of the plant was consequently slow, necessarily so. under the 

 influence of a chilling, cold, and backward spring, but the sprouts and 



