The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-10-05

per poaod. per pound.
p-nnioo &c
Manurisg &c Dc
Cultiva .;on l3c lc
Leaf picking IA Sc
Factory work &C &c
273: l6s
A glsace at the above table shows
that the chief expense is that of gath.
ering the leaf. Experience has de.
monstrated that a smart lad or grown
girl can pick from good "fush'
twenty pounds of green laaf in ten
hours, or, say, enough to make FIVE
pounds of tea. This should be done
for 80 cents, or at 6 cents per pound.
The supervision in the field will add
1 cent. With immature plants or
poor "Ausher" there is necessarily
much more labor to be spent, and
consequently more time in securing
the same amount of leaf Again, the
"6ueness" of the plucking materially
influences it's cost. The picking of
a coarser and larger leaf or two from
each shoot greatly increases the yield
and lessons the cost. Bat with me.
dunn leaf picking aud in Southern
localities where labor is cheap, with
an outturn of at least 400 ponnds of
tea to the acre, this expense should
not exceed 8 cents per pound.
There remains TO be considered
the cost of superitendence and the
fixed charges for the outlay in the es-
tablsbment of the garden and its
maintenance until self supporting.
As to the former, the cost will large
ly depend on the size of the crop
on a production of 100000 pounds
per annum it should not exceed 2
cents per pound of tea. The ex-
pense of putting the land in suitable
condition for tea garden should not
exceed that for any other intensive
crop. The cost of raising and set
tieg out the tea seedlings will vary
from S25 to $50 per acre, according
to whether raised from domestic or
foreign seeds. In the establishment
of a large tea estate the initial ex.
penses are necessarily heavy, but it
should be borne in mind that once
we'll done it is practically for all time.
The best Japanese tea Is said to be
gathered from bushes 200 years old.
The leaf plucked from the Rose
garden,"as indeed from the whole
estate, is foe, l. e., it very rar
onsis is Of more than the Pekoe tip
and two leaves, and then only to the
first Souchong. Heretofore, and With.
out the aid of a protective duty" it has
been possible to sell all Of the Pine
burs. (black tea 81 per pound retail.
It aims to be seen whether the duty
will be repealed now that hostii;ties
have ceased, or, if not, what effect
it will have 90 the price of the better
grades of tea. But after all deductions
-aud. they are not to be underrated-
it must ba realized that there is q
wide margin of profit between the
cost of ope pound Of Rose garden"
tea, if produced 90 a large scale. say
25 cents, aud the wholesale price of
any equally good imported tea, say SO
cents A profit of 10 cent per
poutd means profit of $40 per acre
90 40 production Of 400 pouods Of tea.
And higher profits per pound. with
increasing yield per acre, will rapidly
swell the income.
The Rose garden" has appereu,ly
demonstrated tha. commercial tea may
be successfully grown 10 South Caro-
lima. The utilization of this knowledge
may be aloog several lines, but all of
them involve the erection of suitable
equipped factory, costing from few
thousand dollars upwards, according to
the proposed scale of operations. 10
some countries the bulk of the tea leaf
is raised by small farmers, who, at the
most, only prepare it sufficiently to
insure its safe delivery at factories in
the larger, often distant, towns Or 10
other districts the extensive tea estates
erect factories sufficient to handle not
only the output of their own gardens.
but also that Of the smaller producers
in their neighborhoods As 10 all other
branches of manufacture, modern tend
ency is towards Capitalization and the
cheapeuiog Of processes by increasing
the volume Of production. Machines