788 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 1, 190L 
beautifui large white loses liangin^^ round the 
walls and over the arches and gale-way. I have a 
photograph of this gigantic rose, which you shall 
also see at some future time. But to return to 
tea, there was a good golden fiush ready for 
plucking. 
Our i.hickers were little boys and girls from 
Dr. S's mixed school on Fiiieliurst am!, when 
called upon to pluck tea leaf, the young lady 
covevaess promptly attended with red silk um- 
brella to supervise the fielll work ; the writer had 
occasion to call them to order sometimes a-id 
to pluck huer. The result was, the plucking was 
a success, and the leaf brought in wiihered 
the same evening. Every availal)le room and the 
staircase was used for withering. I told Dr. S. 
to have it well withered ; next day we got some 
sturdy negroes to hand roll and ferment, and 
we fired it with an American eva;iorator. 
bur temperature was 180° and, after sifting 
the roll, I reduced the temperature to save the 
golden tips ; and Dr. S. lent me 16 silk hand- 
kerchiefs to save them from burning and dis- 
appearing. This was a great point fained, and 
our first chest of tea was a fine sample. The 
No. 1 Flowery Pekoe and Orange Pekoe were 
sent to Washington. Dr. Sbepherd's sister being 
a Senator's wife and interested in the Pinehnrst 
Tea enterprise, helped to bring the tea into notice 
and Mr Fieed's reports at Philadelphia made it a 
name in the American markets. 
I am glad to mention it was very favourably 
reported upon in both New York and in London. 
Dr. Shephard was very pleased with my work 
and we remained in the tea bouse until I o'clock 
in the morning to finish our work. It was a 
pleasure tome co work for a man like Dr.^hephard, 
a perfect gentleman in all respects and a very 
clever man, not only on botanical subjects and 
tropical agriculture, 'but upon mining subjects and 
the analysis ot soils and minerals. 
When writing up my instructions for cultivation 
and manufacture 1 found it necessary to gain some 
information regarding climate, temperature, and 
' u/verage rainfall. 
Accordingly I took a letter of introduction to the 
Government officials and made extracts from their 
Government statistics for twenty years in South 
Carolina. The result of my extracts proved that 
the rainfall average for twenty years was only 
sixty-two inches, little more than half the quantity 
of rain required to make the tea enterprise a 
success commercially in South Carolina, and in 
this respect Dr. Shephard quite agreed v/ith me 
that tea would not pay well on a large scale, 
whereas irrigation could be applied to a small area; 
tiien again, there are the c .Id months with cold 
winds checking the growth. 
Several other people were growing tea on their 
farms in Carolina; some of them placed themselves 
in correspondence with me. 
It was very encouraging to Dr. Shephard to 
obtain tea seed from ab jiarts of the world 
througli the Washington Government and niake 
his selec io;is from the best Assam-Hybrid jats. 
We spent a considerable number of houis in 
selecting seed bearers and tied pieces of silk 
ribbon round the stem.-, of those to be leserved, 
so that the pluckers should pass them over. Some 
of tlie leaves on three-year-old bushes were as 
large as a man's hand and very strongly em llo^sed. 
l""ave Dr. Shephard the aildic^ses of botli 
Colouibo and Calcut.ta firms who supplied reliable 
tea-seed and bold him it would he well packed. 
Some of the shipments from China and Japan 
arrived in bad order. Di. Shephard had a nursery 
of tliriving tea plants rarsed from imported seed, 
but I told him to select only Hy brid-As^am to 
get uniform fields of tea and large ciojis of leaf of 
good q utility. 
The Government tea plantation was a low China 
jat, though the bu«hes were large and required a 
trocjd pruning. I believe I pruned a few of those 
bushes in .June, .1891. 
The people of tl :e United States are fond of 
green teas and buy nearly the whole of tlie 
Jap^inese crop of 50,i)0lJ/MI lb. (fifty mill lions). 
They like young Hy,>on mixed with black, 
The best black teas aie called English Break- 
fad and, w;ien working with Mr iVlctJombie 
Murray (late of (Jeylon) in PliiladelpluH,, I did 
a packer, trade with customers at German Town, 
about 1.5 miles from Philadelphia city. When 
the very hot weather ."et in, my " English JJieak- 
tast"' customers went to the sea side, my tea 
business suddenly collapsed, and I had to write 
up about ■' Elephants " in tlje Philadelphia Press 
10 keep frou! stai viiig ; tlien Dr. Shephard sent for 
me, and all was well that ended well. 
Greao interests are often involved iii trifles and 
this was a remarkable instance. When tasting 
some teas for Mr Reed in 13th Street, Phila- 
delphia, my eye rested on a small picture on 
the wall. I said to Mr Reed, " that looks like a 
plantation." " Yes," he said. " That is Pinehurst 
Tt^a plantation at Summerville, South ('arolina, 
the property of Dr. Shephard." '' What !'' I said, 
" tea growing in the Southern .States: you don't 
say.'' "Yes," said Mr R^ed, " lhal's so and I 
\ ;ilue his teas." " What would it cosd Co go down 
.South ?" said I, "it inceresrs nie." Mr Reef said 
he would write to Dr. Shephard and arrynge 
for my visit-, which he did, to our mutual satis- 
faction and benefit. I atn glad cultivation has 
been extended and one dollar per pound paid 
for Pinehurst Tea. — Yours faithfully, 
HENRY COTTAM. 
Eucalyptus Resinifera. — Some two years 
ago, in the course of some most interesting and 
luminous letters from Rome, the Rev. H Ewbank 
toM us that the Ita ian authorities recommended 
this species as the hardiest and most reliable of the 
species. Mr Ewbank obtainel seed, distributed 
some and grew others. Five young seedlings were 
planted out last year near R.yde, Isle of Wight, 
and all five have so far got through the winter 
safely without any protection, whilst E ficifolia, 
on which great hopes had been based, has been 
severely injured by host. — Gardeners' Chronicle, 
April 6. 
Imitation Cinnamon. — The British Food 
Journal calls attention to the ''manufacture" 
of imitation cinnamon. The adulteiant used for 
cinnamon is guava, or jungle barV,whirh costs about 
sixpence per pound in Colombo. This bark is 
carefully peeled, prepared and dried like cinna- 
mon, and closely resembles it in appearance. 
The sweet odour, and the still sweeter taste, 
peculiar to cinnamon, are obtained by immer- 
sion for a few hours in large tubs of 
waste from the distillation of cinnamon oil, 
and afterwards, when dry, by touching 
the end of each bundle of the false guava 
pipes with a cloth saturated with cheap cinna- 
mon oil, 
