The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-07-13
THE PACIFIC
Commercial OOert1ser,
SATURDAY, JULY Is.
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
From Our Special Correspondent

lFEOm Our SpeclaI ColrespOnueHII
WASHINGTON, D. c., June 18th, 1878.
TEA-CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.
Our people have not yet practically learned that
Sc it is very expensive to be economical as the
"haggling'' and fretting over appropriations for the
Agricultural Bureau illustrates. For years every
dollar given to that branch of the Department of the
Interior had to be labored for By its friends, and a
perfect storm arose when money was required for
the printing of Agricultural Reports. The people,
however, do not sleep SO soundly and are never SO
utterly blinded as demagogues hope. The advance
felt to have arisen from the labors oil. this Bureau is
so tangible that it will doubtless ere long be pro-
NOTED to a Department and have q representative in
the Cabinet. 1t is fully realized that upon nothing
does our moral health and national wealth so much
depend as the full development of our agricultural
resources.
The culture Of tea in America has for a generation
been occasionally discussed, and by experiments
made this spring at the agricultural buildings from
leaves grown here its feasibility has been proven be-
yond the possibility of a doubt. General LIE Due,
the present Commissioner Of Agriculture, invited
several ~tea-importers of Baltimore and New York to
give their opinion as experts upon the products of
his young seedlings. The plants were only six
months old, and the Chinese do not use leaves from
plants under three years. 1t has been represented
to the whole tea-drinking world that the various teas
were grown from entirely different species of plants,
yet these experiments prove the coloring and flavor
arises entirely from the process of curing the leaves.
Also, the process of curing has been much expatiated
upon as expensive and tedious. 1t is clearly proven
that the g child like and bland'' child of the Orient,
John Chinaman, has actually g outheroded Herod,''
Inasmuch as he has thrown dirt in the eyes of this
" smart Yankee Nation for a century. The tea
from these tender plants was presented in less than
an hour from the time they were gathered, to the
visitors, to decide its excellence as 'cups that cheer
but not inebriate." So that in q few year. the
United States will be independent in that particular,
for there are twelve States corresponding in latitude
with China, Assam, and Japan. This will be of in
calculable advantage to the South, especially South
Carolina, as the peculiarities of its climate cor
precisely with the most approved tea
growing regions. Mr.. William Saunders, Superin-
tendent Of agricultural grounds and buildings, and
one Of the most eminent authorities in his profession,
says that the ~tea-plant will thrive in hedges in the
ATTITUDES selected for its culture. The gathering is
rather tedious, but that difficulty will doubtless be
surmounted by the inventive genius of Jonathan, as
not an ~exigency of labOr-saving has yet arisen that
~ "S AN' PAOWPtJ ACI VII d pdlcuI 100 SuIl-
cient for the demand.
Not only have the researches of the Agricultural
Bureau shown the people a means of saving and
immense sums annually, but of protecting
the consumer against the effect of the drugs used as
coloring matter, the deleterious effects of which
have been a matter of concern for years to the
medical fraternity. Altogether "the little game''
which Bret Harte's wonderfully significant poem
treats of is a fit type of the big game which the
John has played upon the civilized
world; and he was wiser than he knew when he kept
5or generations the Celestial gates closed.