THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. i, 1894. 
EXPERIMENTAL TEA CULTIVATION 
IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Froin a report recently furnished to the Agricul- 
tural Department at Washington, and communicati I 
to the Foreign Office, it seema that Tea-growing 
in South Carolina has been successfully carried on 
of late, the seat of the operations being situated at 
Sumroerville, some 20 miles from Charleston. It is 
stated that many attempts have been made to grow 
Tea in Amerca, in little patches, and in some 
instances in large gardens, but that the results 
from these attempts, though producing Tea of tine 
flavour, have been generally d- void of that strength 
of infusion which appears to constitute a desir- 
able qua'ity for many Tea-drinkers. It may be 
uresumed, however, that the failure to produce this 
auality was largely due to defective curing, and 
especially to inadequate rolling of the leaf, in 
consequence of which, its qualitcs were not fully 
developed. So far as is generally known, it re- 
mained for the Naiional Department of Agricul- 
ture to begin about ten years ago the hist 
serious attempt to produ e Aineiicau commercial 
Tea on a scale sufficiently large to arrive at a 
decisive result. Many circumstances, however, 
followed to cause the total abandonment by the 
Government of the gardens wi ich it had e t ib- 
lished at great expense on a plantation at a p ace 
called Newington. . 
Tbe present experiment owes its undertaking to 
the belief that the previous trials to produce Tea 
in the United States were arrestid before reaching 
definite conclusions, that more careful cultivation 
and preparation might be the r. suit of a length- 
ened local observation, and that the subsequent 
production of a higher class of Teas might reverse 
the generally-entertained opinion that, as an in- 
dustry the cultivation of Te i in Ameri. a must 
always prove a failure; and that, if successful, this 
new field for agricultural enterprise would furnish 
a wide and comparatively easy out-door employment 
for many who are unequal to those rougher opera- 
tions whose accomplishment under a summer sun 
can be borne but by few. 
For the purpose ot g ving Tea cu tivation a 
thorough trial in South Carolina, it seems that no 
trouble has been spared. The Department of State 
is ued orders to its consuls at the Tta ports to obtain 
samples of seeds, and the foreign representatives of 
the United States government did all that was 
possible to secure the best quality of seed. 
During the summer of 1893 some of the plants in 
the Pinehurst Tea p antation were sufficiently ad- 
vanced to warrant picking the leaf. The greai 
maiority of the plants had been raised from seed 
in 1889 and planted out that autumn, but a limited 
number were a few months older. They are des- 
cribed as belonging to the Assam hybrid variety, 
namelv a cross between the Assam and Chinese 
sorts and came from stock that had been thoroughly 
acclimatised by probably thirty years' growth in 
America The plants had been systematically 
"topped'" with garden shears, and afterwards care- 
fully pruned with a knife. During the winter of 
1«9199 and throughout, the plants had been 
carefully cultivated, and generously manured. 
Thev covered smull areas on various soils, namely, 
under drained pond and high swamp the slope of a 
clav hill, and a flat sandy Pineland So free had 
Wn the artificial enrichment ot all these plants 
that no material difference in the quality or quantity 
of yield was observed. It was designed to test by 
tholp experiments whether commercial Tea could be 
raised at all. The report on the quality of this Tea 
»ovV "A sample was sent to a travelling agent to 
= lar^e Tea firm in Detroit for his judgment, 
advising him as to wl.ere the Tea was produced. 
TTp took the Tea to his store, and without giving them 
a^v previous information, it was tested by two of 
fhl leadine members of the firm, each making a 
separate tlst. They pronounced it very excellent 
ffiish breakfast tea, and when the information 
was given them as to the place of production, they 
were very much surprised, and wished to know i 
any considerable amount could b6 purchased." 
From tbe gardens now being established at Pine- 
hurst, and in consequence of the great care bestowed 
on their composition, it is hoped to obtain much 
finer Teas in tbe future. — Guwcmerj Chronicle. 
THE LIFE OF SI iAL HEMP PLANT.- 3 . 
There a e numerous species of Agava (popularly 
called Aloes) belonging to the natural order Ama- 
ryUCflete. They are almost all mouocarpio p_»renniula. 
That is, they grow on for a number of sears 
producing leaves only; finally they flower, and this 
they do but once in their life, and that period is 
apparently determined by the nature of their 
e viroiune .t. Usually Agaves under cultivation in 
this country live to a gieat age. On this account 
they are sometimes < sl ed century plants, lu their 
native country they live for seven to 10 }ears. When 
once the monocarpic epecies have flowered and 
produced seeds or bulbils (pole plants) they die. 
1'he following notes refer to the Sacqui \AjfOmt 
rigiJa var. tlouyata) and to the Yaxci or liauainah 
Pita i Agave rijida var. msulama) : — 
(a.) Mr. Stoddart says, " the plant (the Sacqui of 
Yucatan) lasts for at least 25 years in a cutting 
sta e, dit, ending on the soil and treatment." To 
renew a plantation after the original plants hav<- 
become exhausted, 'it is usual to plane at proper 
distances, by the sides of the o d plants or between 
them, young shoots which three years afterwards 
laud upon the failure of the old ones) will he lit 
tor cutting." A new field will thus " be kept up 
without any loss of lime or suspension of work." 
(Sisal Ueuip, its adaptation to Jamaica, p. 4.) 
(£>.) Mr. Stoddart describes the poling as follows: 
"This I appe s when the plant has arrived at 
cutting age ami the plants are not cut." " When 
the pole begins to come out aud gains a length of 
about three or four feet, it is customary to cut it 
off close without injuring he leaves. These leaves 
*} 1 then mature aud be fit to be taken off before 
th plant dies." (Lo. p. 7 ) 
(c) Poling appears to be acce erated (1) b) the 
leaves not being cut when tbey have arrived at 
maturity, (2) by the plants being exhausted by 
numerous suckers allowed to remain around their 
basi', (3) by careless cutting of the leaves. Stoddart, 
on this latter point, says: "If tbe stump (or base/ 
of the leaf be left ot any length on tbe trunk it 
seriously injuries tbe pla t, spoils its vigo .r, and 
makes its existence a short one." ( .c. p. 7.) 
(d.) Mr. Pierce says: "A h nip plantation in 
Yucatan lasts for some 15 years .... on good land 
the crop commences in fo ir ye -rs or earlier, whilst 
on rocky ground from six years or more." (F. O. 
Keport, 189-', p. 2.) 
• (e.) Mr, Dodge, discussiug the Pita or Yaxci 
plant of Florida and Bahamas, remarks that in one 
instance, on very pojr soil, he noticed that "a long 
ro ■■ of plants sec out 10 years ago to form a boun- 
dary line had hardly made any growth." Report 
of C. U. Dodgo on " Fiore Investigation in the 
United States. ' Washington, 1893, p. 21 ) 
Mr. 0. T. McCarty ot Ankona, Florida, says : 
' With us Agave si^aluni sends up its pole at seven 
years on our be^t lands So far as the plant 
is concerned the ' poor land ' theory has no founda- 
tion in this loca ity. Our strongest and finest plants 
are on our best land." (Dodge, 1 c. p. 15 J 
(/.) Mr. Merrick Shaw, Polk County, Florida, 
describes a Sisal Hemp plant under his observation 
as follows : " The original piant growing on the 
soil, of which a sample was sent, poled at seven 
year3 old Twenty layers of leaves had been cut 
fro ii this plant, and trie lowest of those remainiug 
measured 5 feet 9 inches in length by 5 inches in 
width at the br.adest part. A^out 1UU suckers h d 
be-n removed from (the base of) this plant and 
planted e sewheie." (i.od^e, I.e. p. 17 ) 
(g.) Mr. Djdge figu> es and describes a plant with 
leaves baiely a foot long, which had thrown np a 
