The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-01-10

rrrisation = rsa.
An investigation recently inauxu,
rated BY the United states Department
OF Agriculture promises IL successful
to promote the growing OF tea. Thia
is the Irrigation OF tea at Pinehurst.
the home Of DIR. G. U. Shepard. near
Summerville. 8. G. The labors OF this
gentleman have already produced In
teresting results. He has about fifty
acres planted to tea, which will when
IN full bearing produce each year
about 10000 pounds. Last year 1t pro-
duced about one-third Of this amount
HIS Investigations have pscn coa.in-
ued long enough to make 1t manifest
tnat In any part Of the South where the
temperature does not usually fall below
20 f., and never falls below zero
tea can be successfully grown, but that
In order to make 1t complete success
IN all cases irrigation is necessary. The
great obstacle in the way Of making
this industry commercial success is
the cost OF production, and the readiest
means OF reducing this cost is to In
crease the yield per acre. II more
pounds per acre can be grown, it means
less cost per pound for Fertilizers and
for cultivation. Picking will also be
made cheaper because less ground will
have to be traversed.
The need Of irrigation to stimulate
the growth Of foliage is shown by q
comparison Of the rainfall at Summer
Vile with that Of other tea-growing
districts. This Is given In DR.. Shep-
ARDS report and shows that the precip
itation during the growing season
at that point Is only about one-half to
one-quarter Of that Of the tea-growing
districts OF India and China. Summer
Vile is within twenty miles of Charles
ton, S. G. The rainfall at Charleston
from May to September Is only 31.3
inches, while the rainfall Of the tea
growing districts Of India and China
for the same period varies from 60 to
Ill inches. Through the cooperation
of DR.. Shepard and Elwood Mead, the
irrigation expert Of the Office of Ex-
pertinent Stations, plans have been
AAAS~NS Iva kAO SOASIl VI d SIUIdSS
reservoir sufficient to hold water
enough for seasons irrigation Of one
OF the tea gardens. This reservoir will
be filled from we'll dug to depth of
twenty feet and supplied by the under
flow Of neighboring stream. The
tea garden to be irrigated is planted
in rows five feet apart. These rows
q Fo11 Of ;,,o H.,
dred feet, which gives ample fall for
distributing water and for underdrain-
age should this prove necessary. In
order to test the relative merits of
surface and sub-irrigation, about one
half OF this plat will be watered by
means OF tile placed one foot beneath
the surface and laid down between the
rows. The distance between these
tiles will therefore be five feet, and the
water will have to percolate laterally
two and one-half feet to moisten the
ground around the plants. Another
portion Of the garden will be irrigated
by surface burrows run on each side
and one foot from the plants In order
to test the difference between the
growth and productiveness of the ir-
rigated and non-irrigated portions a
small part of this garden will be left
unwatered.
An interesting feature connected
with this extension of irrigation is the
fact that a part Of the farm on which
tea Is being grown was formerly, de-.
voted to the production Of indigo and,
was irrigated. The production of this
crop finally became Improbable and
was abandoned, but the remains Of the
bitches can yet be seen.
It will probably require several years
to fully determine the extent to which
this form of agriculture can be ex-
tended in the south. Even without the
aid OF irrigation tea has been grown
with profit, but If, as is believed, a
material increase can be made in the
yield through the addition of this
stimulus, and improvement in the
quality of the product as well, there is
little reason to doubt that the time is
near at hand when this country will
have made another significant addi-
ton to its capacity to be entirely self
sustaining.