8^2 
TEt TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 2; 1902. 
above here— and— when he is tired of losing 
money over the " benefactor " businesss— 
he could start an oil factory to work off 
surplus seed.— Yours faithfully, T. M. 
TEA CULTIVATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Haro'fl Weddle of London, Eng., visited a num- 
ber of South Texas points last week on a tour of 
iuspecLion to determine the adaptability of the soil 
for tea growing;. He is largely enf'aged in tea 
culture in Geylon and India, fhroiigh the ex- 
periments made in South Carolina he recently be- 
came interested in America as a possible tea- 
growing country. Speakinc of the experiments in 
South Carolina, he said : 
" An invitation was recently extended me to 
visit Pinehurst tea estate at Summerville, S C, by 
Dr Cbas. Shepard, the proprietor, who is experi- 
menting with the possibility of tea culture with 
the aid of the United States Government Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. Summerville is situated 22 
miles from Charleston, S C, a most delightful 
spot surrounded with lofty pine trees. The soil 
is admirably adapted for tea growing, being rich 
and loamy. Dr Shepard has found that tea can 
be grown in America, but admits that better 
results could be obtained further south, where 
more even temperature predominates, less disposed 
to sudden changes, and where the thermometer 
does not reach below 25 degrees Fahrenheit. 
Pinehurst is divided into several sections of tea 
growing, owing to experiments in the seei! obtained 
from India, Ceylon, China and Japan, both liybi id 
and indigenous. The best results so far obtained 
are from Darjeeling seed, a hill region of India. 
But excellent results have been obtained from 
seed which the United States government procured 
from a celebrated tea estate in China, known as 
Dragon's food, where the tea is never exported, 
being entirely consumed by wealthy Chinese. The 
tea bushes are grown to a height of about four feet 
and are vigorously pruned and al! the soil is sub- 
drained. Dr Shepard is an entfiusiast and benefac- 
tor to bis countrymen in undertaking so thorough 
a research in tsa cultivation. Hia motives are 
purely for the advancement of scientific discovery, 
without pecuniary gain to himself. And the 
United Statesdepartment of Agriculture, Realising 
this, o'!ers every possible aid to facilitate him in 
furthering the industry. 
" Tlie main dilficulty now that is to be over- 
come, to bring the cost of prodnelion on a basis of 
competition to meet foreign grown tea, is labour, 
as the heathen and Hindoos receive wages about 
equal to 8 cents per diem. However, Dr Shepard 
has partly overcome this obstacle by the employ- 
n.entof several negro chihiren, who live with their 
parents on the tea estate. The children are 
educated and fed, which in turn is another step 
towards the solution of the negro problem. The 
children are taught to pluck the leaf and in many 
ways are well a,(lapted in the tea fields. 
" No expense has been spared at Pinehurst in 
adopting n)odern machinery for driving and 
preparing the leaf after it is jiicked. Having 
imiiorteil from (England the very best tea ma- 
(diineiy in ude in liidia and Ceylon, Dr She[)i!rd 
lias recently coin)ilet('d a machine of his own 
invention, whereby green tea crm be made without 
the hanilling as in vogiie in (Ihina, Its simp'icity 
appears at once lo I ho^c understaMdiiig the manu- 
facture of tea. There is absolutely no sense in 
ai li(i';ially wloring tea green, as it omes from 
China and Japan. The flavor can be obtaine 
naturally with the aid of Dr Shepard's machine. 
" The cultivation of lea is undoubtedly feasible 
in America and, if carried ou*^ on a large scale and 
the expense of labor saved, there is no reason 
to doubt that in coarse of time it wonid become 
a great and paying industry. One of the im- 
portant facts is tiiat the tea plant lives longer 
than a human beine and can be gathered fiom 
when over 100 years old. We begin to gatlier^ 
the leaf at five years (dd, but Dr Shejiard told' 
me that he had so cultivated and grown it that he 
gathered tlie leaf, and it was good, after one 
year." 
CEYLON GRREN TEA-GOOD PROSPECT 
BEFORE ALL KINDS :-No. 1. 
April 16th, 1902. 
Dear >SiR, — I want to put before you some 
facts which go to show that Ceylon Green 
Teas, as made in estate factories last year and 
now, are appreciated on their own merits 
in Canad.i and even in the States. I rather 
think, for one thing, that Mr. Liptou's re- 
presentative could toll you that they are 
pushing and selling successfully the present 
make of green tea in the States. As you 
doubtless know, the tea business of the .States 
is in the hands chiefly of four or five lai^ge 
and very wealthy imjiorting firms who have 
their agencies in China and Japan, and a 
good deal of money sunk in these: hence the 
difficulty in getting in either our black or 
green teas. 
Then during the past month advices have 
been received from Japan, both independ- 
ent statements, one private, the other 
taken from an official report, thus, — " Japan 
teas are also exported to Canada, but there, 
I hear, they are being rapidly supplanted by 
Ceylon produce." " The position or the Jap.iu 
tea trade in (^anada is unsatisfactory in the 
extreme. The trade in the finer grades of 
Japan tea has been to a great extent sup- 
planted in Canada by the Ceylon product, 
.and the only demand that exists for Japan 
leaf is for the commoner descriptions which 
can be sold at low prices and which are 
largely used for mixing purposes," " In 
Canada, however, the Japan tea trade is 
certainly suffering from the competition of 
Ceylon teas, and it is probable that, except 
in the lower grades of Japans, used chiefly 
for mixing purposes, the Ceylon product 
will eventually supplant the Japan growtVis." 
Export from Yokohama to Canada 1899 
7,193,776 lb.; 1901 5,623,366 lb. 
In the States they do pay higher prices, 
and here no doubt iMr. Gait's tea will meet 
with a ready sale, and if the difference in 
price paid for these teas and the present 
Ceylon green is considerable, no doubt thev 
will find manj"- imitators ; but tiieir success 
yet remains to be seen. Jly own opinion is 
that there is an opening tor both varieties, 
and 7,'ou may have overlooked the statement 
made by Mr. Bois .at the C/h.nniber of Com- 
merce meeting on the 25th March quoting 
fi<im a letter ho had receiver! from Japan 
"the taste in the U.S. is gradually under- 
going a change, and the demand for a pure 
luicolonrcd tea is on the increase. Therefore o 
