The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-06
A CAROLINE TEA FARM.

What Dr. Shepard Has Done at Fine
 hurst.
 During its visit to Charleston the Gridlron club spent morning at the tea farm of Dr. Charles U Shepard at
 Pinehurst Summerville, s. C., where for ten years the experiment of tea culture has been carried on with remarkable success under the auspices of the de- pertinent of agriculture. The experi-
 ments were begun in 1881, but were abandoned few years later, and were not renewed until 1S90 The beginning was on small scale but 1t has been extended year by year until there are now over fifty acres in tea, which, when the plants arrive at full bearing, should yield annually about ten thousand pounds. Last year the crop was about
 thirty-fve hundred pounds, and Dr. Shepard was able to sell it on the ordi- mary market at profit of about 25 per cent. This year he expects to be able to produce about four thousand pounds, not only because of the increased acres, but the increased yield The average yield of tea in China is about one hun dred and fifty pounds per acre, and more than two hundred pounds, but Dr. Shepard has confidence that hisf farm will produce an average of five hundred pounds during the present season. His yield In 1894 was eighty-three pounds to the acre; in 1896, two hundred and fifteen pounds; In 1898, three hundred and seven pounds, and in 1899 he had increased 1t to an average of four hun This is done by careful cultivation.
 The gardens are placed on flat as we'll as rolling land, In drained swamps and ponds. and also upon high sandy and loamy soil, and upon clay also, so that all varieties of soil can be tested. The soil has been enriched every spring with a high grade of fertilizer, at the rate of six hundred pounds to the acre, treatment unknown in China. The effect has been the increased yield as mentioned. The yearly production per bush in Japan does not exceed an ounce, or in China from one to two ounces, and in the last-named country there are estates which produced over a thousand pounds to the acre. The yield per bush at Pinehurst last year averaged between five and six ounces. The cost of cultivation is about twenty-seven cents pound, the greater part about fourteen cents pound being the pay for picking. Every leaf has to be plucked separately from the bush and carefully selected, and to do this work Dr. Shepard employs colored children between the ages of ten and fifteen. In order to secure reliable corps of pickers, he established school upon his estate, built comfortable school house and engaged competent teacher. The colored families of the neighbor hood were then invited to send their children to the school, with the under- that they would be taught the ordinary branches, provided they would agree to spend portion of. the day picking tea, for which they are paid by the pound, and earn from thirty to fifty cents a day. The gardens are picked about once every ten days, and it usual ly takes two days for the children now employed to make the round of the gar den.i This offer was accepted by every one of the colored families to which it was made, and in consequence Dr. Shepard is now supplied with a .compe- tent corps of teapickers. with a reserve 1f young colored girls in the neighbor- hood to be drawn from it additional help is needed. The children are sup piled with ordinary trout baskets, such IS are carried by fishermen, and drop the tea leaves as they pick them through the hole in the top. A smart girl can pick about twenty pounds of tea in a day.
 The cost of planting a tea garden will vary from twenty-five to fifty dollars m acre and will yield a first crop in about five years, during which time it must be carefully cultivated. While the initial exnenses are necessarily heavy md the garden pays no revenue for several years, it should be borne in mind that the life of a tea plant ex ends over centuries. The best Japa lcse tea is gathered from bushes over wo hundred years old, and it is often sold as high as fifty dollars a pound. None of that tea, however, comes to his country. The great bulk of the eas which we import from China and { Japan costs less than fifteen cents | ]ound at the port of shipment.
 A very superior quality of tea can be { purchased for twenty dollars a pound in { China. That is the brand usually sup l ,lied to the mandarins and the nobility, | vho are quite as fastidious about their | ca as in their choice of wine. Twenty l iollars pound means about ten cents | ! cup, which is not high when the prices ] ,aid for wines are considered. pr.