Evening journal., 1893-04-24
AMERICAN TEA.
IT MAY BE COSTLY, BUT THE PROD.
UcT is CERTAINLY GOOD.

There is no subject touching which the
tea trade Of New York is more skeptical
than the possibility OF making tea culture
a profitable industry in the United States.
The men who sit in dingy little down town
offices, with small brass teakettles about
them and ugly little teacups stored in cup
boards that would drive any neat house
wife into Mysteries, smile whenever Amer
ican tea Is mentioned. The skepticism Of
the tea dealers results partly from the fact
that they know so much, partly from the
fact that they know 50 little. The htera-
ture Of tea culture is library in itself. To
know the subject is TO spend years in
study.
There are men down IN the tea trade who
can apprase 70 a mill the value Of given
specimen Of tea. but who use the very names
OF tens without knowledge Of their sig
niflcance Taa, before its arrival in mar
ket. is to the average dealer an oriental
mystery Those who read books on the
subject find them full Of contradictions.
Some dealers fatty declare their belief that
travellers who write upon tea culture in
China have never reached the interior OK
the country As a matter Of fact, different
writers upon Chinese tea culture are Of ne
to have seen the operations Of different dis
tricts. There are many ways Of cultivat-
ing tea in China. a. there are many Of pre-
pairing IL for market Tea bricks, for ex-
ample. which are sold by the million pounds
all over central Asia, never appear Ia the
trade Of the United States.
Should the average tea dealer see close
packed dark green brick, hard on the sur
face aud marked In gold with Chinese char
acters, he would scarcely recognize IL astea.
The dealers iind that the oriental plays
strange tricks with this market. When
one sort OF tea has been drug on the mar
ket next season the same tea appears un.
der different name Young HysOn and
Gunpowder are the same tea differently
rolled. AMI there are a dozen devices by
which the Celestial takes advantage Of the
occidental world
In the face OF all the current skepticism
a. 10 American tea a south CarOlnian,
who hils lU-aure tea garden. recently sent
up -omr of his own product 70 be- appraised
by firm Of Ncw York tea dealers He sent
along also tea plant, which has been ex
hihited IN dealers window. The firm TO
whom the sample had been conhded tasted,
snelled and drew the ten. aud after mature
dclibeation wrote TO the eNperimenter that
all the tests indicated that his tea was
worth 20 cents a pound. The grower wrote
back TO thank the dealer and TO express
satisfaction that his sample could be ap
praised at such "a rate
All this makes NO great impression upon
the skepticism OF the tea trade. Tea that
WHOLESALERS at 30 cents pound should
fetch about 40 cents a pound at retail A
fair average imported tea such as Is con
lao of d..
manding articles OF good quality, whole.
sales at about % cents a pound Above
and below that prices have wide range
Tea dust from China WHOLESALERS in thi.
market at from 6 70 Il cents a pound Tn,
best OF II is drunk by the poor. who pai
for II 20 cents a pound retail The wOrs
is bought by druggists and by dealers ii
whisky There is an unkind suspicion t.
the tea trade that good deal Of cheap te'
dust goes into sugar coated pills of ON.
kind or another, in place OF quinine, for ex
ample Il is well known that great dea
Of ten dust is used 70 color new whisky an,
give il an appearance OF age.
After the tea dust come various chcal
grades OF Japan, Congou, Young Hysoi
aud Annoy, wholesaling at l2 or 10 cents
Mound Then there are other Young Hy
sons and Japans and Formosa teas whole
sailing at 20 or % cents per pound. Tn
Ceylon teas range from "a to 40 cents whole
sale, with fancy qualities as high as s
cents a pound. Some of the fancy Younl
Hysons and Formosas wholesale at from o
20 50 cents, and Chicago firm has been rt
failing fancy brands as high as 50 n pound
Dealers down town smile at such prices a
this last and say that there Is really no bet
ter tea 10 this market than some that ma
be retailed at 81 pound. As a matter @
fact. the finest China teas do not leave Oh
county and probably would not endur
transportation
The down town skeptics say that Amei
lean tea must compete Il at all. with grade
OF imported tea somewhat below mediur
quality They believe that the thing car
not be done Climate and the cost OF labc
are both against Il. and the fine art Of ndu
teration IS also In favor OF the foreig
grower Indian teas. which have great
increased In popularity OF late years, al
grown with labor that costs from 4 10
cents a day Nobody knows how much le.
may be the price Of labor in the heart OF n
Chinese tea growing regions Labor
South Carolina, where the ten growing e.
pertinent has been most persistently trel
Is anywhere from 60 10 times the cost
labor in Ceylon and India. But 10 was III
covered long ago that much Of the labor
tea culture could be- performed hy maclii
cry. and even that many Of the manipul
tious 20 which the Chinese tea produce
have clung for centuries may be- umittt
altogether without detriment 70 the pro-
net The tea growing expermenters
South Carolina have great hopes from Il
application OF American energy and inve
tion 10 this ancient employment.
A. 20 climate. the extension Of tea cultu
has been very gDidual. partly because tho
ia whose hands Il lay have been jealous
competition, and partly because the q
matte needs Of the tea plant have be-
greatly misunderstood. The culture Of q
in China is matter Of centuries perha
of millenniums. but IL Is a comparative
recent thing in Japan, while it is only
little over 30 years old In India and le
than 20 in Ceylon. The American Il
growers have recent precedent and the IT
dition Of American enterprise in their fave
They have against them cheap skilled lab
and conscienceless adulteration abroad, "a
at home the conservatism Of dealers al
consumers York sun.
The Hunchback Superstition.
At race tracks persons desiring to bet
the result frequently manage TO touch {
-, ~ 1. ralIurL hlliDvinr That N