The evening call., 1893-06-14
TEA CULTURE IN AMERICA.
Dealers Are Skeptical, but South Carolina
Growers Are sanguine.

L
Growers ARC sanguine.
Tea dealers in New York have once
more been asked to take an interest
III the South Carolina tea-grOwing
experiments. Commissioner of Agri-
culture LeDun, who once contributed
ID the gayety Of nations, was the first
person seriously and officially To urge
The wisdom Of tea culture in the
United States. lie obtained seeds, |
had them distributed from his bureau,
and spread broadcast elaborate IN |
structiOns as to the best method or |
carrying on the culture. An expert
from the tea fields Of Assam reported |
that the tea could be grown for ID or |
20 cents per pound in North and
south Carolina Ever since there
have been periodical efforts to inter-
est the tea trade in American teas,
and in spite Of discOuragements few
| experimenters in South Carolina have
persisted in tea culture, says the New
| York Sun.
There is no subject touching which
the tea trade Of New York Is more
skeptical than the possibility Of max
ing tea culture a profitable Industry
ia the United States. The mon who
Sit In dingy little downtown offices
with small brass teakettles about
them and ugly little teacups stored
in cupboards that would drive any
neat housewife into mysteries, smile
whenever American tea is mentioned.
In the face OF all the current skep-
|
Carolinian, who has ten-acre tea
garden, recently sent up some or MS
own product TO be appraised by hrm
or New York tea dealers He sent
along a tea plant, which has been
, exhibited in a dealers window. Vhe
:, firm to whom the sample had been
confded tasted, smelt. and drew the
tea. and after mature dellDeratlon
wrote to the eXperimenter that al
4 the tests indicated that his tea was
j worth 90 cents pound. The grower
] wrote back to thank the dealer and
to express satisfaction that his sam
pie could be appraised at sucn rate
All this makes no great impression
Y upon the skeLticism of the tea trade
! Tea that WHOLESALERS at 20 cents
Mound should fetch about 40 cents
mound at retail. A fair average I'M
DOrted tea, such as Is consumed o.
e nersOns Of moderate means demanding
y articles OF good quality, wholesale
u At about 25 cents pound. AboV
and below that prices have wide range
Tea dust from China WHOLESALERS i
- this market at from s to IL cents
ty pound. The best Of 1t is drunk o
iii the moor. who pay for 1t 20 cents
pound retail. The worst Is Dougn
by druggists and by dealers In whisky
w There is an unkind suspicion IN tn
re tea trade that a good deal OF cnea
" tea dust goes into sugar-eoated Pill
u of one kind or another, In place
ouinine, for example II Is wei
m known that great deal Of tea du
il used to color new whisky and gl'
"a. it an appearance Of age
lty The downtown skeptics say tn;
an American tea must compete, II
all. with grades Of imported tea som
what below medium quality. Th'
believe that the thing can not De don
n JAS to climate, the extension or U
IN culture has been very gradual part
b. because those in whose hands 1t i
have been jealous Of competition, al
partly because the climatic needs
III The tea plant have been greatly m
nm understood. The culture OF tea
N China IS matter of centuries, p'
m haps Of millenniums, but 1t Is CO.
the paratively recent thing IN Japa
me while it is only a little over III
. Years old in India, and less to
twenty in Ceylon. The American
an growers have recent precedent, a
III the tradition Of American enterpr
"a in their favor; they have agalI
them cheap skilled labor and C
49, scienceless adulteration abroad, a
II II AZ home the conservatism of deal
aa and consumers.