The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-01-03
THE LAST TO SUFFER.
The Tea Plant in America.

A pamphlet treating of the culture of
the tea plant in America has been pre-
pared at the agricultural department,
under the supervision of Gen. lie Duc,
the commissioner 1t will soon be pub
lished as a supplementary report of the
department. Quoting from treasury
statistics, which show that the value of
the annual importatioEs Of tea into this
country from China amounts to about
$40, 600, 900 in coin, the commissioner eX-
presses the belief that the payment of this
large sum to foreign countries can be
avoided. He thinks that the United
States can at least compete with those
countries for it's local consumption, even
if it cannot rival them IN supplying
foreign markets. The pamphlet gives a
detailed history of the cultivation OF the
tea plant in the east, and then continues
" The ATTITUDES in which tea Is suCCtss-
fully cultivated in China, Assam and
Japan corresponds with those of the
states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri aud n
portion of the Pacific coast, and the
conditions of temperature ef the soil are
also about the same. Successful expert
ments in tea cultare, already made in
several of the states mentioned, amply
Justify the opinion that II can be made
an industry IN this country OF immediate
advantage and profit"
A little calculation viii show the
profits which may be derived from an
acre OF land containing 1000 tea plants
three years old. The third year the
yield should be lS7 pounds, the fourth
year 3l2 pounds, the fifth year 800
pounds and the sixth year 7jO pounds
per acre. When the leaves are abundant
one person can gather 10 pounds per day,
but the average result OF & days work
may not extend ten To twelve pounds.
The leave are gathered at three different
periods, ranging from March to Septem-
ber, and on an acre yielding 500 pounds
the first picking would be about l20
pounds, and could be gathered by four
D r4Ons in two days. The same number
could pick the two crops in three days."
Many extracts from letters written by
farmers in the localities named above are
given with the report and the commits
sioner thinks they justify the opinion
that the practicabiity of the cultivation
of the tea plant successfully in this country
is no longer a matter of doubt. On the
su bject OF preparing the tea leaves for use,
the epOrt says:
" As a business, and in competition
with the cheap labor OF the Chinese, II
would be an experiment in this country,
especially as regards the cOarser article.
As the finer teas rarely leave China, and
the finest never, there would be no COM
petition in these grades if the manipula-
ton OF the leaves Is carefully and success
fully attended 10, while the possibility
that modern methods and appliances
might be substituted for the tedious
hand work Of the Chinese, seems 10
promise sufficiently well to make the eX-
pertinent a wise one
The conclusions reached are that
whether or not the cultivation and cur
ing Of tea can ever become an industry
among u, it i plain that there are thou
sands of families in our land who may
proftably cultivate tea gardens, and enjoy
the fruit OF them as they do that Of the
orchard or the berry patch, at the same
time that they have the agreeable Eensa-
ton of drinking a beverage never before
known in this country, prepared from a
grade Of tea worth in China and Japan
rom FIVE 10 fourteen dollars PEI pound.
Fhe culture Of the tea plant Is not n new
idea in the United states, nor does the
commissioner claim it TO be an original
one with him. Dr. Juuius Smith made
ysry careful and extended experiments
sith it at Grecnville s. c., about thirty
years ago, and reported his success in the
s,atent Office reports from lS4S to 1888.
The same experiment il now being re-
reated in California by n colony OF
b j4ganese.