The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-02
TEA GROWING IN THE SOUTH
DR. SHEPARD or SUMMERVILLE,
 SOUTH CAROLINA,
Tells of the Present Condition of Ills Interesting Experiment..

vile, 5. C., has the distinction of own ing the only tea farm in the Western Hemisphere. For ten years he has been engaged in making experiments in
 growing tea in this latitude, and his success has been very fattering. AL though it has not yet been established that commercial tea can be grown at reached. Dr. Shepard now has sixty acres in tea plants, the greater part of which ia productive, and he expects within year or two to produce 10000 to 15,000 pounds. His crop last year was 3,600 pounds, the greater part of which has already been marketed.
 "The idea of cultivating tea in this country was not original with me, said pr. Shepard in conversations "The experiment has been made before, but with slight success. Efforts were made to introduce the culture of tea in South Carolina in the early part of the cen tury and with some success, but was abandoned. Shortly before the war the United States government undertook to interest southern planters in tea grow ing, and a considerable quantity of seed and plants was distributed in this section. Some progress was made, but the civil war brought the work to a standstill. Some time after the war John Jackson, who had been engaged for a number of years with his brother in India in the tea industry, returned to this country for the purpose of re- storing his health, which had broken down in that tropical climate. Learn { ing of the experiments which had been
 made in South Carolina he decided to take up the work there. The agricul- ; tural department was interested, and i in 1881 congress made an appropriation to aid in the experiment. MT. Jack sons health had so completely broken down, however, that he was unable to give the work the supervision which 1t required, and the experiment was un- favorably reported upon by the gov ernment expert
 The best evidence that the climate of South Carolina is best suited to the tea plant is given by the fact that the plants which had been raised in Sum merville and elsewhere in this section from seed furnished by the government during the various experiments contin-
  attention but Dr. Shepard found quite z a 1ourishing growth of the plants at Pinehurst when he arranged to take ! up his work there. Dr. Shepard found no difficulty in propagating the tea plant from seed obtained from other countries, and he furthermore found the tea plant to be very hardy one, with standing degrees of cold which totally destroyed floral growths and tender vegetation generally.
 ''February IA last" said Dr. Shepard, "there occurred the lowest temperature ever recorded in South Carolina during period of 150 years, one half degree below zero My oleanders, camellias and many other plants were killed to the ground but the tea plants were only slightly hurt. This was very gratifying demonstration of the ability of the tea plant to withstand the va- riations in our climate.
 "The English government has reduc- ed the growing of tea in India and Chi ma to science" said pr. Shepard, "and being of scientific turn, I naturally concluded that the best course I could pursue would be to follow their meth ods. I informed myself very thorough ly on this score, and obtaining plants and seeds from India, Ceylon, and China, set to work to cultivate tea af- ter the English system. After three years I found that I had made mis- take. The climate and the conditions in India and Ceylon are so different from what they are in this country that the same system of culture was not ap- pIicable here. I found that different methods would have to be adopted, and that the plants were benefited by cer- tain manner of pruning and cutting.
 "Nothing daunted, continued the experiment. learning the best methods to obtain results by experience and ob- servation think I can say that have met with a fair amount of suc scess. The acreage and the amount of tea produced have gradually increased each year, until I now have sixty acres in tea, and the product last year was 3,600 pounds. The crop should be con siderably larger this year. The exper iment has reached the stage where it has attracted considerable attention in this country and abroad, and I am In constant receipt of communications re- questing information on the subject. The United States agricultural depart ment has lent it's aid, and an appro- priation has been made to further the work. II have even had an offer from wealthy capitalists to furnish and to es- tablish large plantation for the pur- pose of growing tea on a commercial scale, provided I would agree to take charge. My ambition does not lie in this direction however. My idea in undertaking this work was to establish an industry which would give profitable I occupation to thousands of people | throughout the south, especially in ma larial districts where it is difficult for white persons to labor during the hot | months There are hundreds of thou { sands of acres of land along our South l Atlantic and gulf coasts which are l suitable for the production of tea, and | in which thousands of white persons | could find agreeable employment"
 pr. Shepard has succeeded in produc- | ing a high grade green tea from plants ! grown from seed obtained frob the | famous Dragon Pool plantation, near | Hangehow, China, which the Chinese esteem SO highly that none of this tea is ever exported, as high as $50 to s15o |