The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-21
Roasting and rolling the leaf the

in this country must always prove a
failure. We hoped that if successful
this new field of agricultural enter
prise would furnish a wide and COM
paratively easy employment for many
who are unequal to those severer OPP
erations whose accomplishment can be
borne by but few in a sub-tropical
climate
The experiments at Pinehurst on the
growth and manufacture of tea began.
wisely on a small scale; but they have
been gradually increased until COW
and a commodious factory with the
requisite mechanical apparatus has
been erected. When the gardens shall
arrive at full bearing, the annual yield
s,l,rld be at l"as. 1C,n0n pounds Of
high-grade tea, and this quantity
should suffice for the object in view
viz, to determine whether commercial
tea may be profitably grown under the
local conditions of soil and labor.
1t was deemed desirable to conduct
experiments with as many varieties of
seed and under as different conditions
of soil and location as possible. To
this end, partly by the kind assistance
of the United States department of
agriculture and partly by purchase
from domestic and foreign producers,
considerable variety of seed, repre-
senting many of the choicest sorts Of
tea was obtained. Gardens We're es-
tablished on fiat and rolling land, in
drained swamps and ponds and on
sandy, clayey, loamy and rich bottom
soils.
1t was from the outset expected that
many of these attempts would prove
either partially or wholly unsuccessful;
but with very few exceptions the gar
dens are fully answering all of our eX-
pectations. The annual crop has grad
CT fyn, incS
than 100 pounds to over 5000 pounds
tdry) tea, and had it not been for the
terrible cold of last February should
have reached 5000 pounds for this
season.
1t was desirable to ascertain the
limit which the local climate puts to
the cultivation of the tenderer varie-
ties of the tea plant From Assam and
the intermediate attitudes of Ceylon
importations of seed Were made and
acres of these sorts planted out only
to sacrifice them to our too rigorous
winters. With the knowledge that the
best tea of the world is probably raised
on abrupt slopes in the mountains Of
the Flowery kingdom, hillsides were
planted in tea, but unsuccessfully, oW-
ing to the almost annually recurring
West Indian deluges which washed
away the soil 1t took years of expert
ment to develop a system of pruning in
having lost many plants and almost
heart in consequence of following meth
DDS successfully in vogue in other
lands And, finally, on February IA.
1899, occurred the most intense cold of
at least $50 years. The thermometer
fell TO zero, Fahrenheit. but fortu-
nately, a beneficent blanket of snow,
five inches in depth, protected the
ground and roots of the plants. The
destruction of sub-tropical shrubbery
in Pinehurst park was immense, but
with comparatively few exceptions the
tea gardens escaped serious injury.
From out of these trials the expert
mental fields as whole have emerged
with an ever-increasing crop: they
never have made so thrifty an appear
ance as now. Experience has been
gained by temporary misfortune and
more confidence than ever is imposed
in ultimate success.
The Rose garden contained in the
autumn of 1898 about 900 thrifty tea
plants Of the Assam-hybrid variety
at 6x6 feet distances, in less than an
acre Of an old piney-woods pond which
had been properly drained and cult
waited. It's prodnctinn had steadily ad-
NanGed from 13 pounds of ldry3 tea in