The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-06-29
TEA CULTURE IN AMERICA.
Efonts Being Made to Establish the In
dustry in the South.

the South Carolina tea-growing eX-
Deriments. Commissioner of Agricul-
ture LeDuc, who once contributed to
The gayety of nations, was the first
person seriously and officially to urge
The wisdom of tea culture in the
United States. He obtained seeds, had
hem distributed from his bureau and
spread broadcast elaborate instructions
Is to the best method of carrying on
The culture. An expert from the tea
fields of Assam reported that the tea
could be grown for fifteen or twenty
,ents pound in North and South Caro-
ina. Ever since there have been peri
odical efforts to interest the tea trade
II American teas and in spite of dis
engagements few eXperimenters in
south Carolina have persisted in tea
culture.
There is no subject touching which
the tea trade of New York is more sllep-
teal than the possibility of making tea
culture profitable industry in the
United States. The men who sit in
lingy little downtown offices with
small, brass tea kettles about them and
ugly little teacups stored in cupboards
that would drive any neat housewife
into Mysteries, smile whenever Amer
lean tea is mentioned. The skepticism
Of the tea dealers. results partly from
the fact that they know so much, part
ly from the fact they know SO little
The literature of tea culture is a library
in itself. To know the subject is to
spend years in study. There are men
down in the tea trade who can appraise
to "a mill the value of given specimen
Of tea, but who use the very names of
teas withoutss knowledge of their sig
nificance. Tea, before its arrival in
market, is to the average dealer an ORR
entail mystery. Those who read books
on the subject find them full of contra
dictions. Some dealers fatty declare
their belief that travellers who write
upon tea culture in China have never
reached the interior of the country
As matter of fact, different
writer's upon Chinese tea culture are of
necessity contradictory, because they
happen to have seen the operations of
different districts. There are many
ways of cultivating tea in China, as
there are many of preparing it for mar
ket. Tea bricks. for example, which
are sold by the million pounds all over
Central Asia, never appear in the trade
of the United States. Should the aver
age tea dealer see close-packed, dark
green brick, hard on the surface and
marked in gold with Chinese char
acters. he would scarcely recognize it
as tea. The dealers find that the
oriental plays strange tricks with this
market. When one sort of tea has
been drug on the market, next sea-
son the same tea appears under a diff
ferent name. Young Hyson and Gun
powder are the same tea, differently
rolled, and there are dozen devices
by which the celestial takes advantage
of the occidental world.
In the face of all the current skepti-
cism as to the American tea South
Carolinian, who has a ten-acre tea gar
den, recently sent up some of his own
product to be appraised by firm of
New York tea dealers. He sent along,
also, tea plant, which has been exhib-
tied in dealers window. The firm To
whom the sample had been 'confided
tasted, smelt and drew the tea and
after mature deliberation wrote to the
experimenter that all the tests indi-
Gated that his tea was worth twenty
cents pound. The grower wrote
back to thank the dealer and to express
satisfaction that his sample could be
appraised at such rate.
| -,
upon the skepticism of the tea trade.
| Tea that WHOLESALERS at twenty cents a
pound should fetch about forty cents a
pound at retail. A fair average i'm
ported tea, such as is consumed by per,
sons of moderate means demanding
articles of good quality, WHOLESALERS at
| about twenty-five cents Il pound. Above
and below that pSices have wide range.
| Tea dust from China WHOLESALERS in this
market at from six To eleven cents n
pound. The best of it is drank by the
poor, who pay for it twenty cents a
pound retail. The worst is bought by
druggists and by dealers in whisky
| There is an unkind suspicion in the tea
trade that good deal of cheap tea
| dust goes into sugar-coat0d pills Of one
kind or another, in place of quinine,
| for example. 1t is well known that a
great deal of tea dust is used to color
new whisky and give it an appearance
of age.
After the tea dust comes various
cheap grades of Japan, Congou. Young
| Hyson and Annoy, wholesaling at
| twelve or thirteen cents "A pound. Then
there are other Young Hysons and
Japans and Formosa teas wholcsaling
J at twenty or twenty-five cents "a pound
The CeylOn teas range from fourteen
to forty cents Wholesale. with fancy
| qualities as high as eighty cents a
pound. Some of the fancy Young Hy-
sons and Formosas wholesale at from
sixty to eighty cepts, and Chicago
| firm has been retailing fancy brands as
high as three dollars Il pound. Dealers
downtown. smile at such prices as this
last and say that there is really no
better tea in this market than some
that may be retailed at one dollar a
pound. As a matter of fact the finest
| China teas do not leave the country and
probably would not endure transporta-
| ton.
The downtown skeptics say that
American tea must compete, if at all.
with grades of imported tea somewhat
below medium quality. They believe
| that the thing cannot be done. Climate
and the cost of labor are both against
it, and the fine art of adultcra.ion is
also in favor OF the foreign grower.
Indian teas, which have greatly in