The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-27
AMERICAN TEA GARDENs.
A High Quality of Ten Now Grown
I'm South Carolina.


New York Sun.
When Gen. LIE Due was made Commits
sioner Of Agriculture in 1873 he became in
terested in the private experiments of tea
started public experiments with the plants
in the hope of introducing a new crop for
fee before he could complete the experi-
ments. and the tea gardens which he
caused to be planted at summerviIle S. c..
We're abandoned TO grow up in wild thick,
cts. After this individuals again made ex-
periments, and in 1892 some tea was raised
amounted to a trife less than l5o pounds,
and judges pronounced it of high quality
on by DIR. Charles U. Shepard. At his place.
Pinehurst, he has six tea gardens of an
acre each. which have been planted with
choice tea seed obtained from various quar-
ters. After beginning his experiments he
bought part of the great Huntington plan
merville, where the government expert
ments were made, with the privilege OF re-
the trees AND plants If ne desired
abroad and started small nursery of tea
plants The seeds We're. obtained from
planted upon different soils and with differ
ent exposures. Experiments with young
ed by him in this way to-day. Gardens
covering fully ten more acres are in course
OF preparation now, With seeds brought
tea sections of the Orient. The tea from
the old government plants proved of ex-
based upon the plants raised from his own
selected seed. The South Carolina expert
experiments with the tea plants. At Old
Point Comfort, and on the Delaware and
Maryland peninsula the hard winters have
injured the plants to such an extent that it
does not pay to cultivate them for mar
ket crop; but in the piney woods country
south Of Raleigh the climate and soil APP
Of tea
The actual results and possibilities OF tea
IN ia
lied by DR.. Shepard. who says that the
plants can be grown successfully here.
1892. under high cultivation, proved equal to
any of the Indian gardens. Owing to the
picking the tea, the cheap grades cannot
be grown successfully in the United States,
but the higher grades, which are obtained
waited satisfactorily. The first crop of tea
picked at Pinehurst was Of the Assam ny
manufacture of black tea The Chinese and
Japanese plants in Dr. Shepards gardens
be made Ha to . py ye,u from these green and
oolong teas similar to those imported. He
says that the gardens are too young yet
the question of profits in growing tea, but he
thinks that the substitution of machinery
leaf viii make it possible to compete sue
cessfully with the cheap labor of the East
The outlook for successful a tea culture nm IN
chief drawback is that large expenditure
is required to get the gardens in paving or
are important factors that will largely de-
termine the result of the new enterprise.
leaf grown in the Caroiinas is better for
black than for green tea The cost Ct
picking with Southern labor is about 2
provements, this cost ought to be greatly
supply cheaper and better methods of pick
ing and curing the tea, should sthe crop
SON. who had charge of the SummervilIs
plantation under General LIE Due, and who
is an expert tea grower from ASSAM thinks
that he can make tea more cheaply with
the negro laborers of the South than with
coolie labor in India The former. while
getting higher wages. work longer, faster.
and are to be relied upon better than coolie
labor.
miles from Charleston, and being only
about seventy feet higher in elevation, it
enjoys about the same climatic conditions.
about the same as the upper stations OF
Ceylon, and is warmer than the portions
Gated apa The tea leaf raised IN Japan Is bet
ter adapted for the manufacture OF green
teas, and Ceylon and India are remarkable
for growing large crops of strong tea
Many of these teas are not enjoyed In this
country, and the more delicate, lighter
pTeferre sle to those Imported Many Of the
Japanese teas are prepared for the market
in the most artistic manner, ,t ana tt the pre-
est care Some varieties of the teas pos
sess peculiar and delicate f1avors, and con-
siderable skill is required in curing ana
packing the leaves so as not to destroy or
lose the flavor. The Japanese are noted
for their neatness and artistic skill in pre-
pairing these teas for the markets and
probably as much depends upon this skilled
labor as upon the plants themselves
At Pinehurst the delicate, highly fla
yored and expensive teas that are peculiar
ly adapted to the needs of the Americans
market have alone been raised The Assam
hybrids have been planted chiefly, although
experiments are being made with the seeds
Of many other kinds.