The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-07-12
Rising EFT IN AMERICA.
The Pioneer Plantation is at Pinehurst
South Carolina,

The Pioneer Plantation Is at Pinehurst in
South Carolina.
The only plantation on this CONT
nent where tea is grown successfully
for the market is at Pinehurst, S. c.,
says a Boston Sunday Herald cores
pondent. DR.. Charles u. Shepard, who
is making tea culture his life work
thinks 20 acres enough to lay out in gar
dens at present, though eventually he
expects to double this area. And 1t
is a queer looking patch this 20 acres.
The doctor has simply made a clearing
in the woods and as the visitor en-
erges from the trees into the open space
he sees what is apparently a stunted
peach orchard, only the leaves are too
small and of a very dark green. On
a closer examination the leaves re-
semble those on currant bushes though
they grow on stalks thick enough for
tree branches. Some plants are as high
as the waist, and some nearly as high
as the head. Planted at regular inter-
walls and in rows with branches care
fully pruned, they resemble an orchard
Of small fruit trees with the branches
forking like peaches. But 1t is not an
orchard-it is a garden similar to thou
sands in China and other Asiatic coun-
tries. 1t is "a genuine tea garden.
To those who have seen the cheap
prints and China representations of tea
bushes growing on mountain sides,
these straight rows along the fiat
ground have an unfamiliar look, but it
is the climate and not so much the
t'lay of the Land" that fosters them.
Right in this Carolina forest the tenn
perature happens to be the best in
the country for tea growing--it is just
about warm enough and just about
moist enough, and heat combined with
moisture are two special requirements
to make good tea leaves. The 20 acres
of gardens" contain several thousand
Shrubs" From these the owner hopes
to secure this year about 1000 pounds
of black tea, which will retail at 81 and
$140 per pound. Last year his crop
was about 500 pounds from an area of
Is acres. This is considerably better
than raising cotton at the present
prices, so he thinks
The garden contains shrubs raised
from tea seed imported from Japan,
China, Ceylon, Formosa and Assam,
Asia; also what are called Assam hy-
birds, which are considered the most
profitable, and Ceylon hybrids, which
are obtained by mixing the seed of the
pure Assam or Ceylon with some other
grade.
The shrubs grow six feet apart as
n Ia Of
ishment and exhaust" large area of
ground. Shingles or straw is placed
over the shrubs when the first shoots
appear, and every care is taken to pro-
tect them from frost until they have
reached a height of two or three feet,
when they become fairly hardy, and
can Withstand usually the changes
of temperature which occur during the
year. The shrubs can be grown by
| grating, but are less hardy than if
| grown by the seeding process. When
| the shrub is about three feet high, the
| harvesting of the tea begins, and this
| is perhaps the most interesting process
| of ALL Armed with a sharp knife, the
! field hand cuts off in May about half OF
| the leaves and smaller branches. II
! the growth has been healthy the shrub
| throws out a new foliage at once
| These are the tea leaves of commerce
I They will run from one to two inches
in length, according to the variety
| They are picked off as soon as they
reach a suitable size, and the operation
is repeated from May until October as
| often as the leaves come out. 1t is
| termed flushing" The most profitable
| species are naturally those that can
| bear the most flushing. At Pinehurst
| seven is the largest number Of 'hushes'
during the season.-From America
Only Tea Garden. Boston Sunday
| Herald, July II, 1880