The age-herald., 1898-09-17
TEA CULTURE IN
 SOUTH CAROLINA

From the Charleston News and Courier.
 Less than ten years ago, and soon after
 the abandonment of the last serious at
 tempt to grow commercial tea in the United Stat@s, it seemed worth the effort of Dr. C. L. Shepard of Summervile to repeat the
 experiment on a much more diversified plan, in the hope that conditions might be found favorable to the successful de- veopment of a new industry. It is not nec-
 essary at this time to enter into a descrip- ton of all of the "Pinehurst' tea gardens
 and the outcome of the various experi-
 ments instituted therein. It suffices to state
 that all available sorts of tea, of soils and
 situations were utilized and very divergent
 results obtained, which further investiga-
 tions may modify, but hardly reverse. All | of which data are to be published later,
 through the kind interest of the honorable
 secretary of agriculture, James Wilson,
 But, in view of the chief motive under lying the work, and especially because of
 certain results recently established which apparently prove the feasibility of making l commercial tea in the southern states. it
 may be well to publish account of the 1 "Rose Garden" patch of tea. Its site was l an old piney woods pond, with a black, rich Gin humus), but sour surface soil, over lying quicksand and, yet lower, clay. The ground was thoroughly suD-soiled, drained, heavily sweetened with burnt mari and deeply ploughed. About 1,G0) plants of ac- clmatized Assane-hy brd tea were set out
 at by feet, 'quincunx." Whether from
 the slowness experienced in overcoming the original acidity of the soil or from the | comparatively feeble growth of the seed lings during the first few years-in this | respect resembling it's relatice, the camellia japoniea-little progress was made from 1S90 the date of the establishment of the | garden, until 1894, although some leaf was plucked from it in 1892.
 | Again, the system of pruning practiced
 at the start of the experimentation, where | by clean stems were maintained, had to be abandoned after the loss of many plants
 and a degree of disappointment which all | most caused the cessation of further work | in this direction.
 At present the garden contains about 800 | vigorous bushes, each one composed of | many stems, the result of cutting out the | original main stem and inducing a luxuri- | ant sucker growth. There are also about | 200 younger plants occupying the places | where older ones died; they naturally pro- | duce less leaf. Altogether, this garden of | less than acre may be regarded as con- | taining the equivalent of 800 plants in good | bearing.
 The output of green leaf from it has been | as follows Crop of 1892, 56 pounds; crop of | 1SgS, S1 pounds; crop of 1894, 151 pounds; crop of 1895, 399 pounds; crop of 1896, 500 | pounds; crop of 1897, 64S pounds; crop of | 1S9S LOCO pounds to September 1, with the prospect of reaching almost 1,2O0 pounds | by the end of the season.
 | It is to be noted that there has been a l material increase each year over the pre- ceding, amounting to almost if not quite | 100 per cent, with the exception of 1897, l when a prolonged autumnal drought ma | terially interfered with the leaf produce | tion. It is, of course, impossible to fore 1 tell to what limits this expansion may ex- Ftend before reaching that slight annual variation which marks the maturity of the | plant. But it would not be surprising if the l outturn were doubled within a year or | two. Twelve hundred and sixty pounds of | green leaf will afford 300 pounds of stand | ard Pinehurst black tea.
 On a basis of 300 pounds in the Rose | Garden" the production per bush is five | pounds Of tea. If it were full acre the l yield would approximate 400 pounds And l II the plants had been placed at shorter l distances apart as is the practice in the i Orient and now at Pinehurst the outprt | per acre would be materially larger The | average yearly production per bush in Ja- 1 pan does not exceed one ounce; in China it | Is from one to two ounces; in India and l Ceylon, three to five ounces. In the last 1 named countries there are estates which l annually produce oyer 900 pounds of tea | 10 the acre; but they constitute the rare | exceptions. Or1etnal tea gardens usually | contain about 2,O0O plants to the acre. 1 This gratifying preductiveness of an ex- ] perimental garden of almost an acre af- | fords good ground for the belief that com l mercial tea may be grown in South Caro- 1 lima in quantity quite comparable with the l average yield of the most fayorably situ- ated Oriental coutries. But the Rose Gar l den' is not be regarded as an exceptional l result, nor of difficult imitation. TWoIarger l gardens, also formerly piney woods ponds planted with Darjeeling seedlings promise l successful rivalry within a few years And l yet others appear to be awakening to a l more vigorous productiveness
 l The cost of crop of 300 pounds of tea | from the Rose Garden" by reason of it's l greater productiveness, is much less than | that rom Pinehurst, as a whole And vel | Il IS evident that very material reductions
 might be secured were it's area even only
 teh-told enlarged, much more so did if i contain lOO acres. The following tables l snow the actual cost of the several opera l tons in the growth, picking and curing of | the crop of 1898 in the Rose garden, as also
 the estimated and materially reduced ex | pense for the same rate of production on a larger scale:
 1