1774 



TEA 



TEA 



artificial irrigation of tea fields, whereby it is clesitriii'l 

 to better approximate to the orieiital supply of walrr 

 during the cropping season, although, of course, it will 

 Ije needless to attempt to imitate the tropical deluges 

 which not only run otf from, hut with the soil. 



The selection of the most suittihle location for the 

 estahlishmeiit of a tea estate, liecomes, then, of tlie 

 greatest im])ortance. The choice of fertile. Hat lands, 

 underlaid hy a porous suhsnil, su^n-ptiMe of irrigatinn 

 by gravitv, as a safe-guard against droughts, will oij\-i- 

 ate the necessity of aiipiying artificial i-nri(dinnuit, of 

 underdrainage, and of elevating by applied power tlie 

 water needed for irrigation. By a careful observance of 

 these details and the selection of the right S(n-t of seed, 

 the American tea-garden may be nuule to yield as much 

 or more than the parent liuslies from which it sprung. 

 And as the successful conniiercial tea estate mtist be on 

 a large scale, like similar undertakings in sugar, whether 

 lieet or cane, it will l>e necessary to consider the means 

 of transjiortation and accessildlity to niaj-kels. abundant 

 supply <>i labor and hiailtlifulness <d' situation. 



The part played by purely nnimnd labor in the culti- 

 vation and numufacture of black Tea upon tlie best 

 equipped British tea estates in hnlia. is l>eing steadily 

 encroached upon by mi-idianical a]i]itiaucev until now it 

 has been almost relegated to irs last functions of plant- 

 pruning and leaf-phudving. where it is ])robably secure. 

 It is true that the cultivati<.>n of the soil on the above- 

 nnujtioned gardens largely depends on niantial lalior 

 with the hoe, spade and fork. This is the natural se- 

 fpience of the heavy rains which otherwise denude them 

 of a uniformly well-pulverized surface soil. By avoid- 

 irjit hillshles and by planting sufficiently far apart it is 

 possible to use plows and cultivators, and thus reduce 

 the cost of cultivaticui. As yet no tnechanical contri- 

 vance has been found for dispensing with human labor 

 in the pruning of the tea liushes and the gathering of 

 the leaf. But a ten cent dttty on foreign Tea should in 

 many sections of the southern states somewhat com- 

 pensate for the difference in the '-ost of these opera- 

 tion^ here and in the Orient. The testimony before the 

 U. 8. Labor Comnjission has shown that where the 

 negro po|->nlat!on is congested, their wages, beyond a 

 scanty supply of food and clothing, are strictly nominal. 



2472. Tea plant ( ■ ';,). 



I )ii well-arranged tea estates producing Idack Tea the 

 hunutn hami hanlly touches the pluck,;,l leaf from the 

 moment wdicn it is caught up bv a trolley lin.- for trans- 

 portation to tlie factory, until the dry Ti^a is subjecte,! 

 to the final elimination of whatever foreign nuitter 

 (slems, chips, et.'.l may have got mixed with it. Until 



very recently the manufacture of green Tea has recpdred 

 a large amount of handwork for the roasting and ri/ll- 

 ing of the leaf. But most recently it has been demon- 

 strated at Pinehurst that green tea of a high (juality 

 nuiy be nuule .s<dely by machinery, by means of the 

 "Rotary Witherer," invented by the writer, in conjunc- 

 tion with the previously employed rolling and drying 

 nuu-.hines. And thus, by the substitution of mechani- 

 cal operations, not only should the production of Tea on 

 a scale commensurate with the cost of such an estahlish. 

 )nent, be made cheaper, but the product should be more 

 uniform and free from the possible contamination of 

 fre(|uently unclean hands (and feet!). 



It was to be expected that the different climatic con- 

 ditions should exert their effect on the foreign tea 

 plants and somewhat alter the taste of their product. 

 This experience has been the rule with Tea, and it has 

 cost a consideralde, oftentimes disheartening, effort to 

 successfully launch upon the market the output ot each 

 new locality. The very limited production at Pineliurst 

 has probably prevented any obstacle to the sale of its 

 crops; the novelty of its product may have largely 

 assisted in readily disposing of it. But were the produc- 

 tion of American Tea to suddenly rise into the millions 

 of pounds, it would most certainly have to fight against 

 the prejudice of taste and the established trade in Asi- 

 atic Teas. The natural remedy lies in the greatest pos- 

 sible adaptation to already formed habits of taste and 

 a lowering of price. Time, study, perseverance and 

 money are necessarily demanded, but success seems 

 to be reasonably assured. 



It should not surprise any one familiar with the Teas 

 consumed in the United States and Great Britain that 

 the sorts most highly valued in the Orient, the product 

 of one thousand or more years of discrimination and so 

 highly prized as often to be conmiercialiy unattainable, 

 rarely commend themselves to the tea-drinkers in the 

 former countries. 



For nearly ten years the experimentation at Pinehurst 

 was mainly carried on without outside assistance. The 

 National Department of Agriculture, however, con- 

 tributed very welcome assistance by the gift of tea- 

 seeil, publication ot reports and other important ways; 

 anil for the past two seasons has rendered most eft'ec- 

 tual pecuniary aid, under the direction of the Secretary 

 of Agriculture, the Hon. James Wilson, who has en'- 

 listed the interest and support of Congress in the work. 

 The proprietor of Pinehurst appreciates most deeply 

 this assistance, both in money and sympathy, which he 

 recognizes as being indispensable for the ultimate in- 

 auguration of the hoped-for industry. Under the 

 instructions of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture he will diligently continue the experiments 

 which seem most calctilated to produce at low cost the 

 luedimn grades ot both black and green Teas, not losing 

 sight, however, of the possible growth and manufac- 

 ture of the finer varieties. 



The first tea plant in this country was set out hv the 

 French botanist, Jlichaux, about 1800, at Midd'leten 

 Barony, on the Ashley river, distant some 1.5 miles 

 from Charleston and 111 from Pineliurst plantation. As 

 seen a few vears since, it had growut into a small tree 

 about I.'') fe.-t high. The repoi-ts of the U. S. Patent 

 Office and the Department of Agriculture record tlic 

 results of niany subsequent attempts to introduce and 

 cultivate the tea plant in the southern states. In 184K. 

 .Mr. .Junius Smith, of Itreenville, S. C, being coiivinci d 

 from the letters of his daughter, then in British India, 

 of the feasibility of raising Tea in this region, began his 

 well-known experiments in this direction. In spite of 

 many trying difficulties, they were diligently prosecuted 

 to the time of his death, v.diich oc<uirred a few years 

 later. It required only slight encouragement from the 

 Government, by the distribution of plants and seeds, to 

 call into active partici]iatiou the ardor of many experi- 

 menters living in a climate jiarticularly favorable for 

 the outdoor culti\iiticni of the Ctiinellia ,/apoiiiea, Azti- 

 h'li Indira, and many other subtropical plants. The 

 Scotch botanist, Jlr. Kobert Fortune, was employed iiV 

 the Gov(u-ninent to gather Cliiiiese tea seed, which was 

 distributed in bS.-,,S and l,s.-i9 throuirhout the southern 

 states. Thr- otitbreak of the Civil War. shortly therc- 

 after, seriously interfered with the prosectition of these 



