The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-01-15


rated ~ the Llite1 states Department
81 Agriculture promises il successful
% promote Lss growing e tea Ihls
IS the zrrlg1r1n ~ tea at PInshursz.
TIE hoza Of Il. g. q. Shepard. near
summerElls. s. G The Iahsrs q this
Eantie2zz kzFe zl--a~ produced in
ter@I1g reztz He has about ffry
acres planted 10 tsa. which Eil WAen
n f1l Bearing produce each yezr
abolt la.1Ql pounds. Las Tasr 4 pro-
d-csi a1out o1e-fhirz & iris a-a1nl
His investigations have ozc1 c1--in-
ned lc1s elOuEl 10 make Il manifest
hat e any part q the south where ths
Temperature does not us1ally fzll be-oH
- F.. ard never falls below tsro.
TEA can e successfully grcwl. blt thai
IL order TO make i a complete success
il an eases irrigation q Necessary. The
srsat obstacle il the Fay o. making
this industry q commercial success IS
the cost 81 production. and the rezdiest
means q reducing this cost Is 70 in
crease the yield Per acre. II more
pounds per acre can De grown. il means
a less cost per pound FOR fertilizers and
for cultivation. Picking VIII also Be
made cheaper because less ground vii
have % Be traFersed.
The need of irrigation % stimulate
the groEth or foliage is shown by a
comparison Of the rainfall a. Sumner
vile with that Of other tea-groEing
districts. This is given IN Dr. Shep-
ards report and shows that the precip-
.tAtion during the tea-groEing season
az that point Is only about one-haif 10
one-quarter Of that Of the tsa-sr0wing
districts Of India and China. Sumner
ville Is within twenty miles q Charles
ton, s. c. The rainfall al Charleston
from Nay 10 September Is only 31s
inchee while the rainfall of the tea-
growing districts OF India and China
i0r the same period varies from 60 70
III inches Through the cooperation
o. DR.. Shepard and Elwood Mad, the
irrigation expert Or the once Of Ex-
pertinent Stations. plans have been
made for the construction Of a storage
reservoir sufficient 10 bold water
enough for a seasons irrigation Of one
Of the tea gardens. This reservoir will
be filed from q well dug to a depth Of
twenty feet and supplied b. the under
d0w OF q neighboring stream. The
tea garden 70 be irrigated Is planted
IN rows Eve feet apart These rows
have a fall Of four inches in one hun
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 viii be watered by
means OF tile placed one foot beneath
the surface and laid down between the
rows. The distance between these
tiles win therefore be FIVE feet, and the
water VIII have to percolate laterally
{ TWO and 0ne-half feet to mOisten the
ground around the plants. Another
I portion Of the garden viii 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 r.
rigated and non-irrigated portions
small part OF this garden viii 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.
II viii 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 II. 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 viii
have made another significant addi-
ton to its capacity to be entirely self
sustaining