The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-11-21
res Culture ii tie south.


Among the new avenues to wealth
crowdine on the opening steps Of
Southern progress IS especially 90 b
hoted tea culture. Almost moth
ing has yet been doue, but ths is0
small experiment made are valuable.
Mr.. G. Menelas, whose experimen
tation with jute i known z All the
South. as well as bic remarkable en-.
terprise and public spirit, has already
on his Mississippi plantation, some
beautifully fourishing teaplants, and
there Is undoubtedly nothing needed
TO cause the culture of tea 70
spring to immediate success In Miss
issippi except, five may 50 phrase Z,
the knowledge Of manipulating the
product. Il would be practicable for
any wealthy farmer, one willing to ex-
pend a few thousand dollars for the
benefit of bis neighbors, 10 import 3
man from China or India say on .
five years sonsraet-to instruct the
neiOhborhood; and We venture that q
Dot made up for the purpose by a
number of planters would return in
terest in few years. A little time
and patience are requisite. Look,
for instance, at what has been accom-
BY the initiative of the British Gov
eminent in India. The natives did
not take TO it; but nevertheless Brit
ish private capital did, as soon as the
Government showed the way. With
in ten years there we're over fifty gar
dens in private hands in Assam, and
the culture has been introduced i.to
Da1eeling. The success was so great
that it led to misrepresentation and
such an unhealthy dollhouse forcing
as resulted in disaster; but after re
turning to normal state the enter
prise Aourished beyond calculations
The Indian tea rates higher in the
London market than Chinese article,
and the exports from India have risen
from almost nothing thirty years ago
to 1913. Ill pounds in 1880, 1t iss
mistake to SUPPOSE that tea is trop
zeal plant. A specimen of the greer
tea plant lived some twenty years ir
the open air near London, being fin
ally Killed in the severe winter o
1878, when the thermometer fell t
II degrees Fahrenheit. In China i
isagrown say from 90 degrees to Il
degrees. but mostly from "a degrees
to IS degrees. 1t ought TO be prac
ticable anywhere in Mississippi where
there is q deep rich coil and hrstrat'
drainage-the latter is important
It ought to be seecessful in Soutf
Carolina and Southern California
The Government has, we believe, 1
tea farm in South Carolina, but the
present Commissioner of Agriculture
does not seem inclined to do much, if
indeed, he is doing anything TOWARD
development. There is, or at leas
was, tea farm of some forty acres il
Georgia, where some samples were
made, but we do not know whether i
is still in operation. As we impor
about $50, 000,0 worth of tea pc
annum, chiefly from China and Japan
|. there is home market for every
pound Southern gentlemen may
please to raise; and if the South ash
it Congress will no doubt restore tht
duty to assist in promoting the cul
ture. Southern Agriculture gets lit
tie enough encouragement from the
! Government; but the tide is turning
and our demands will not be ignored
hereafter. Mr.. C. Menela-, in a re-
! cent private letter to the editor Of
the Picayune, says: That we shall
produce tea in this country, and we
shall became Independent Of oriental
Asia and save our country from pay
ing it an annual tribute of S25, 600,
900 to $50, 900, 900, / have not the
slightest doubt" This prophetic OPP
timist has studied the subject practi-
cally az we'll as theoretically and is in
his enthusiasm for all that concerns
the future-well being of ths South, as
truly Grecian in spiritual force as in
name and blood, and we hope that
his latter days, like those of the Spar
tan King Aenelaus. wiil:be passed in
peace and prosperity.-New Orleans
Pieyaune.