The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-17
SOUTH CAROLINA
TEA.
LITTLE AS YET KNOWN OF THIS
GROWING INDUSTRY.

Experiments Have Fully Proven
That the Leaf Produced In the
Palmetto state Is the Finest I'm the
World, ami These Experiments
Are Being Continued ON Scientific
and Profitable Lines.
Columbia. S. c., Nov. 15.-Even after
President Roosevelt and the cabinet
have been informed by Secretary Will
son that in South Carolina the finest
tea in the world is grown. there is lit
tie known about this Industry that
promises fortunes as well as good tea
for Americans-the latter, according 10
Oriental standards. they now never
get.
While experiments will probably be
continued for years with different teas
under widely different conditions, the
most important facts about tea Gull
ture in America have already been de-
monstrated. 1t has already been prov
ed that a number of kinds of tea from
different countries-Formosa, Japan,
China and Siam-can be grown with
profit; yet other kinds have been found
Improbable in a commercial way. The
experiments will continue along this
line and also with a view of getting
the greatest productiveness from the
tea plant in the least possible time. An
other important point demonstrated is
that the tea bush can survive very
cold weather. While 1t is better thar 1t
should grow where the mercury does
"a hn1Oyy o. danraaa Earpnhaif vet
in the freeze of two winters ago the
tea gardens were subjected to a tenn
perature below zero and suffered little
damage.
In the East where tea grows natur-
ally, the rainfall, particularly in the
summer, is from two to three times as
much as here; this deficiency has been
compensated for by having the gar
dens irrigated. The careful labor need
ed for picking the delicate leaf is pro-
vided by giving special school advant-
ages to all the little negroes in the
vicinity who will take them, and these
children are, during school hours. in
structed in tea-picklng. Then during the
leaf plucking season they are given re-
munera tive work
Experimenting with tea was begun at
Pinehurst, near Summerville, in 1891,
by Dr. Charles u Shepard. This was
several years after the government hid
failed to get results from an appropri-
alton made by congress for expert
ments in tea culture. DR.. Shepards
work proved successful and recently he
has received the kindest interest and
most grateful pecuniary assistance
from Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
and from Congress.
In speaking of the only tea farm on
this continent, DR.. Shepard said:
Among the most important results of
the work of the past summer has been
clearer distinction between what is
probably profitable and not 1t was full
ly recognized from the outset of the
Pinehurst Investigations that their in
dustrial value must rest on a clear de-
monstrable pecuniary profit. Neverthe-
less, as an experiment station 1t was
proper to institute numerous trials
with different seed under varying con-
ditions.
THE most common objection to the
plea for the esta blishment of an Amer
lean tea industry" continued DR.. Shep-
ard, lis the difference in the price of
labor here and in the Orient But
with a full appreciation of it's force
as applied to poorer grades there has
always appeared to exist a good profit
in the production of those higher
grades in whose cultivation and man
ufacture cheap labor plays a minor
part. And the home production of tea
has this advantage. that the final dry
ing of the leaf need not be carried to
the same extreme heat, whereby a sac
rif1ce of much that is agreeable and
beneficial necessarily follows.
Among the experiments, the culti-
walton of tea in gardens protected from
the direct sunlight by mating has
proven quite successful so far as quail
ity goes. Whether 1t will be possible
to produce a tea commanding tenfold,
or more, the price of that grown An
the open, as in Japan. remains to be
solved; as also how great must be the
expense of the additional labor and
outlay. Years may elapse before there