The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-02-23
Shall We Raise Tea?

ii properly appleu 10 practical opera |
ton, will result in the creation of a new
industry, keep at home at least $780,
100000 now annually sent out of the
country, and possibly create revolu-
ton in commerce analogous to the
mighty changes wrought in the civil
lied world by the growth of cotton in
the United States The report shows
that the principal tea districts of China,
which supply the greater portion of
east exported to Europe and America,
lie between the twenty-ifth and the
thirty-tifth degrees of north latitude, the
latitude of the United States from the
southern extremity of Florida to line
drawn west from a point nearly midway
between Cape Hatteras and Lookout.
This part of our country comprises by
far the greater portion of the famous
" cotton zone,n and the climate, the
soil, even the Typographical features of
| the country, bear very strong resem-
blance to the corresponding section of
China. In point of fact, China is the
antipodal counterpart of the United
States, the chief difference being that
her great river flows east and ours
south, while her territory extends sew
eral degrees further south than the
| American. The climate presents the
same extreme variation of temperature,
the geological characteristics strongly
similar, and the general topography of
both countries remarkably alike. 1t
would be logical, hence, to assume that
the productions of the one country are
similar to those of the other; that the
products of the basin of the YanktSe-
Kiang are like those of the Mississippi,
and upon an examination the inference
is found to be correct. Supposed for
ages to be peculiar to China, and now
susceptible of cultivation elsewhere, the
report shows that as the climate and the
soil of our Southern States are like those
of the Celestial Kingdom, so does the
tea plant of the one hemisphere flour
ish equally well in the other.
After giving an elaborate description
of the Chinese tea plant, full and
peculiarly interesting account of its cul
tivation, and especially its manipula-
ton for the markets, and carefully-pre-
pared statistics of the cost and profit of
its growth, the report embodies num-
Der of letters from parties in the Caro-
linas and Georgia who have success
fully cultivated it for years. DR..
Turner Wilson, of North Carolina, says
that he has been raising the tea plant,
but without much cultivation, since
1 1858, and drinks tea made from the
leaves. James II. Rior, ESQ.,, of Wins
boro, S. c., writes that the plant is en-
tirely at home where it is growing. Mr..
Arthur 2. Ford, of Charleston, S. c.,
| 6. l. A
years ago | obtained from friend some
seeds of the tea plant and planted them
in my garden, twenty-one miles from
Charleston, inland. The plants came
up readily, were duly transplanted,
and are now fine shrubs, three feet
high, and seven in number. The foil
age is luXuriant, and the plants bear
the coolest weather here without any
i'll effects; the mercury on more than
one occasion marking sixteen degrees
above zero and the plants being incased
in ice at other times Also
The Rev. w. A. Meriwether, of Co
lumbia, S. c., says of his tea plants
that they are 81 not affected by the
severest cold to which our climate is
subject. 1t was not in the least affected
| " tLS lhlVloC SOlel VI DCCCllDCls lCGO.
When my thermometer registered one
degree above zero, the coolest weather
| have ever known in this latitude, |
have obtained tea of the best quality
from the cured leaves" Hon. James
Edward Calhoun, of South Carolina,
after writing that he had cultivated the
tea plant for eighteen years, but because
of the war and its consequences had
contented himself merely with securing
a supply of tea for his household, SAYS:
1.-The capsules of the tea nuts afford
the most pleasant of bitters. They
were saved and given to the matron,
an item in her naatertG medicG for my
people long before heard that physi-
clan in Georgia had carefully tested
tea hulf and found it to possess all the
properties of the cinchoni. This is the
perfect climate for the tea plant
The experience of Mrs. K. j. Screven,
of Liberty County, Ga. is at once
extensive and conclusive. After quot
ing from Fortunes valuable work on
China, showing that at Hong Kong in
summer the maximum heat is ninety
four degrees Fahrenheit, and the mini
mum eighty degrees, while in winter the
| thermometer sometimes SINKS as low
as freezing point, and at Shanghai the
extremes of heat and cold are much
greater, she says "Here in Liberty
County, Ga,) the thermometer some
times indicates a temperature of 100
degrees for several days successfully in
summer, and in winter frequently falls
to twelve or twenty degrees below the
freezing point" Her description of
preparing is decisive on the question
whether the United States can raise tea
as well as China;
81 have only prepared black tea,
the process being very easy and SIM
pie. The leaves are gathered the day
before they are to be dried, and spread
thinly over tables to wilt The small
leaves are cured by themselves, as they
make the most superior quality of tea.
The day after being plucked they are
taken in the hands and rubbed until
they become soft and faccid. They are
then placed in heaps, and allowed to
remain so for about one hour. They
are then put into Dutch oven, which
is heated by a few Goals under it.
While in the oven they are constantly
| Al