Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-30
AMERICAN TEA CULTURE.
ITS POSSIBILITIES IN THE
SOUTH.

The possibilities Of tea culture in this
country has attracted widespread atten-
tion during the past few years in the
Southern States, and numerous expert
ments have been made, with results both
favorable and adverse to the successful
cultivation Of the plant.
The subject has been given considerable
attention by the MORNING NEWS, and
while there have been some failures re-
ported, the experience in most cases of
those who have engaged in tea growing
shows cOnclusively that the industry can
be made as profitable here as in India,
China or Japan, and that equally as fine
plants can be raised, and as good an
article of tea can be made as the best i'm
ported from the East.
In an interview yesterday with Mr.. G.
Menelas, a cotton exporter of this city,
and the owner of large plantation about
sixty miles below jackson, Mississippi,
where he has experimental successfully /
for number of years in tea cultivation,
! he expressed himself fully satisfied that
the industry will in time assume great
Importance in this country, and that i'm
/ ported teas will be a thing almost I'M
| known. Mr.. Menelas has about 100 plants
| of producing age upon his plantation, with
| which he expects TO attain a practical
| knowledge of tea manufacture, and an eX-
! perience in the culture Of the plant which
| will enable him to successfully manage a
! large farm. He expects about 70
| pounds or imported seed in a
short time, which he will
| sow in beds, and which, if properly grown,
! will furnish atleastfifteen acres of plants.
! Nh. Menclas is deeply interested in the
| subject, and firmly believes that in
large section Of the South, including
/ Carolina, Middle Georgia and Flor
4 lnhamn nh |
| where the soil is favorable and where
there is a cOpious rainfall, the industry
] can be carried on as successfully as in
the tea-grOwing and tea-making countries
Of the East.
Mr.. Menelas will leave to-day for Florida
/ en- route for New Orleans and his planta-
! ton, where he will remain until the fall.
/ In recent trip through Carolina he Wis
/ tied number of tea gardens for the pur-
/ pose of observing the growth of the plant.
/ In narrating the result of his visit he
said:
Il left Savannah week ago for George
/ town, 5. c., to visit Mrs. A. NJ. FOrster's
garden. Her son met me at the depot,
and quarter of an hour later we reached
the old mansion, substantially built
! seVenty-tiye years ago, and in a manner
that bespeaks of comfort, elegance and
wealth, passed away for time only /
hope. Mrs. Forster, / found an elderly
! ldug. Dui lull Ol lie ana energy, nl3liy
cultivated, and remarkably well versed
in all the mysteries and beauties of
! botany"
''Her husband, the late DR.. A. NJ. Fors-
ter, was very hopeful for tea culture in
the South, and procured, in 1868, dozen
| tea plants. From the seed produced by
those few plants Mrs. Forster has now in
her gardens over 1000 plants from to
feet high. y few of the first plants grow
ing in bushes measure over 20 feet in cir
| conference. Some are in rows 6X4, but
the majority are in nursery rows, and
although the soil is very sandy and poor,
! the plants show remarkably vigorous
| growth.
"A year or so ago they were examined
/ by gentleman who lived several years in
/ China and was engaged in the tea bust
/ ness there, and were pronounced by him as
! being of very good variety. j myself
/ tasted some tea prepared from the plant
! by Mrs. Forster, and found its aroma de-
! liciOus, and its color beautiful, but def
| cient in taste for want of better know
| ledge to cure it. Mrs. Forster had some
1 three bushels of seed saved last year from
/ her plants, and the day l left her planta-
/ ton seed bed was prepared to receive
/ the seed Tor the purpose OF prOpagating
/ plants which very soon will represent a
very good money value"
"FrOm thence l proceeded to Summer
H..
/ on which so much money has been eX-
! pended without any satisfactory result.
/ Had the selection of the spot, for an eX-
perimental tea farm, been as fortunate as
! the conception of the idea to raise our
/ own tea was excellent and practicable,
! that all-impOrtant question would have
/ been satisfactorily solved by this time
! The government has decided to abandon
/ the farm and nothing has been done there
/ since last July. The plants remain in
I nursery rows, and failing to find moisture
| enough, they send their top roots to an
/ enormous depth and present a miserable
! existence. Had only one quarter OF the
money been spent on richer soil and in
/ a section of the country where the rainfall
is copious during the spring and summer
/ months, the results would have been most
encouraging
"What would be your advice to those
who anticipate planting tea garden?"
''If l were allowed to offer any advice
to the Southern planter who lives in Sec
tions as above described, L would most
conscientiOusly say, lose no more time;
plant from 90 to 500 tea plants for home
use, and before they reach the stage of
being utilized you will have all the infor-
nation required to manufacture your own
tea"
"What are your views ON the labor
question 20
tom of cheap labor in the Asiatic coun-
tries to disturb your mind. There is no
force in that argument, which unfOrtun-
ately stands as barrier On all our new
industries. With our labor defective, as
| called by many, we produce about seven
million bales of cotton, whilst India, with
her millions of cheap laborers, produces
only about One-third of that amount.
Our qualities, too, command in the
markets of the world from IL to ~
cents more per pound than those
of India. In a year or so, when our
cotton picker shall be perfected, we may
see India entirely out of the cotton
markets. We live in period of wonder
full achievements by the ingenuity of our
mechanics, and we shall obtain all the
mechanical facilities as soon as we are
prepared to use them"
''TO what extent can machinery be
used in tea manufacturer
ALREADY India manufactures the
largest portion of her tea by machinery,
and completes most favOrably with China.
AS we are ahead of all nations of the
world in regard to mechanical inventions,
we are fully justified in expecting better
results than those already established in
India"
lis there any advantage to be gained in
securing unadulterated tear"
"A most wonderful advantage The
adulterated to such an extent that our
government and some of those in the old
country have felt compelled lately to pre-
vent the landing of large cargOes. That
is the great difficulty met with in tea
grown in China. 1t is almost impossible
to get pure tea from that country, the
adulteration is so universal"
where are the best imported teas
grown?"
SIN India; and that country is COM
paratively new in tea culture. The first
experiment made there was in 1915, and
for the first ten years up to 1866 little was
accomplished, except to learn the posi-
bilities of the country. In the last %
years tea culture has become one of its
great industries, and now from 75,000,000
to S0,000,00 pounds are exported annual
ly, and the large tea companies declare
annual dividends Of from Is to 20 per
cent. Now, with the disadvantages
which attend the growing of tea in
India-the long distance which it must be
transported across the ocean, the great
cost of importing machinery and skilled
labor from England into the tea growing
districts, which are far in the interior
and long distances from the great ports of
entry, and the duties which are levied by
the customs-are all done away with in
growing our own tea"