The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-21
 AN AMERICAN TEA GARDEN

l
 l South Carolina-It is the Only Tea
 Plantation in This Country That Has
 Succeeded and it Produces High
 Grade of Tea at a Profit-Outlook Tor
 Tea Growing in the United States.
 The only tea plantation in the United | States is at Pinehurst, suburb or sum- merville. After ten years of patient eX-
 pertinent 1t has been demonstrated that tea can be grown in South Carolina at profit. Dr. c. U. Shepard, the owner of the Pinehurst plantation, believes
 that tea can be grown at fair profit
 in any of the cotton producing states and that within fifteen years there Will
 be hundreds of tea plantations scattered i throughout the cotton belt. The yleld at Pinehurst in 1892 was 56 pounds
 Last year it was 2,000 pounds and tAls year it is expected that the yield Will not be less than 4,000 pounds. The yield 1 to Aug. IS was 2,S00 pounds
 The Plnehurst gardens-in all tea growing countries plantations are called
 gardens-cover twenty acres Some or
 the gardens are producing, others are set out to young plants and others are in the experimental stage. The hrst eX- periments were such failures that pr, Shepard thought seriously Of abandon ing the work. The plants were not mar 1 dy enough for this climate. Seeds or d hardier variety were secured anu latet experiments were successful. one or the Pinehurst gardens is producing an average of five ounces to the plant, which equals the Ceylon ana lnalan average and is double that of the Chine SC and Japanese plants. A prominent tea grower of Ceylon who visited Pins- hurst pronounced the tea grown thers equal to any in the world. One attract l ion for visitors to the Pinehurst gardens Is in the foliage, which is deep vel vety green.
 One of the first problems to be solved here was the growing Of tea Tn dls- 1 trict where the annual rainfall was % 1 inches. while in the tea growing districts ! of the Orient the fall varies from 80 to 120 inches. The question of moistur= was a vital one With an ample supply of water the plants thrive throughout the season. pr. Shepard, therefore un- dermined his land. ploughed deeply stir ring up and pulverizing the soil to a depth of eighteen inches. Draining ana deep cultivation have largely atoned Tor the difference in rainfall.
 The question of labor was another serious problem that confronted pr shepard At first it seemed impossible to compete with the cheap labor or the Oriental tea growing countries. It costs at least eight times as much to pick pound of tea in South Carolina as In Asia While some of the processes of manufacture can be done by machinery the picking of the leaves must be done by hand. The picking season at Pine hurst begins in April and ends in Octo- Der. The plants are picked from fifteen to twenty times during the season, and it Is all important to pike the leaves when they are in their best condition. If allowed to develop beyond the reqis- ite tenderness, they are unfit for use.
 Dr. Shepard originated plan to sst- tie the labor question here. The gar dens are not large enough to retain corps of pickers all the time and he had great difficulty in getting pickers just when they were needed. He built comfortable, well furnished school house at Pinehurst, secured a teacher and in NlIEQ the negro IdUlllltS Wup iiNC ii t'iS vicinity to send their children to his school free of charge. The children are taught all that can be learned In pri- mary school, and they also learn to pick tea. for which they receive fair pay The parents of the children are delight ed with the plan and Dr Shepard has no trouble in securing all the pickers he requires when he needs them, from among the pupils. The children require some instruction in the art of picking, but soon become quite expert at the work. Only the delicate leaves are pick ed, for Dr. Shepard's idea is that the only mode of making profitable crop Is to market a superior quality. A smart boy or girl can pick twenty pounds of green leaf in ten hours, which, when cured will make five pounds of Pinehurst black tea.
 The cost of raising and setting out the tea seedlings varies from $25 to S5O an acre, according to whether they are raised from domestic or foreign seeds The cost of putting the land in condi tion does not exceed that of fitting it for any other extensive crop. Seed from the Orient is expensive for the req SU1l llldl tlliS Oit Ol lct't p'iiBiiiVi'to Niii germinate The plants at Pinehurst bear the second year The best Japan ese tea is said to be gathered from plants 200 years old pr. Shepard Is of the opinion that plants in this country will bear for fifty years at least, perhaps for a century The system of pruning as practised by Dr. Shepard entails heavy expense. The constant removal of the young leaves by the piclers dur ing the summer has tendency to check the growth and weaken the vital ity of the plant The pruning at Pine hurst is directed toward the expansion of the breadth of the plant without greatly increasing it's height and in- creasing the shoots available for pick ing. In Indian tea gardens the practice is to grow and pick the plants three or four years without pruning, then prune severely and give the plants year in which to recuperate; but that would not produce the quality of leaf aimed at and essential to success at Pinehurst.
 The factory where the tea is cured is an interesting place. The first process is to wther the green leaves. This is done by spreading them out on trays or on the floor, so that every pound | covers ten square feet of space. After the tea is withered-a day is usually