The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
SOUTH CAROLINA TEA
COSTLY GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT
THAT SHOULD BE ENDED.
Ia Has Been Demonstrated that Tea
Cannot BE Successfully Grown
ut SummervfIIe.

we Ted1 III SODeT pUIdSluB anu III SONN
type the statement that the President wis
tied the tea gardens at Summerville while
on his South Carolina visit. I have Just
visited the same gardens and 1 can only
think Of them soberly when 1 reflect that
they may be taken seriously by the Nation.
In Mr.. Wagener's beautiful Pine Forest inn
at Summerville there is a small howcase
containing several packages and a few
bank bills and coins. On the glass or the
case are the words "Pinehurst tea" and 1t
Is evident that the hotel clerks sell the
packages and put the money in the case In
order 10 keep it separate from the hotel
moneys. In the case. or on II, is a sign
announcing tea talks at Pinehurst on
two days Of each week. Furthermore, II
you drink tea. you may have the Oriental
or the South Carolina product served to
you. as you please.
On one OF the roads whereon the North
srn visitors walk or drive In the pines at
6ummerv1lle you notice rows Of sturdy.
hardy-looking. dark green plants from a
foot to three feet high and, near the road
In one spot, Is a small plot containing many
rows OF this dark green plant. These are
tea plants-so much darker, heavier and
coarser than any I ever saw IN China that
I should not have known them for what
they are-but that is OF no moment, because
tea grows IN many lands in differing soils
and at different attitudes and is CORE
spondingly different IN appearance under
these differing conditions.
However. you have not been In Sum-
mervfle a day before the many hints of
this kind which you get TO awaken you
20 a realization that tea Is being Guilt
waited around you rouse your curiosity
and you begin 10 ask questions. You
find that the men smile, as a rule, and
call the experiment "Shepard's plaything."
They either notice nothing about the tea
or do not believe that what they drink
is grown at home, or declare II poor stuff.
The women. or the other hand, idoliZe the
tea gardener, go in raptures over the tea.
form a habit of attending the tea talks
and would have us all saddled with a spe-
cial tax TO keep the gardener in comfort.
Desiring to judge of the case for my
self, since IL had been newly discussed
in the Senate. L attended a tea talk"
I was taken to what was more nearly
a g~entleman's country seat and park than
10 a government subsidized farm. From
a lodge beside the gates a servant APP
peared and my carriage was admitted
10 a beautifully kept estate, with we'll
ordered drives edged by flower beds, with
plants and bushes blooming with gay col
ors, with lawns and ornamental trees set
about in a mode which was eloquent of
the owners taste, his love Of comfort, his
CdUdCllJ ~ luAu1N iii lis Jill " I'LL
lister 10 his own delights.
Thus a patch of piney sand barren had
been transformed into an alluring park
officially known as the scene Of an expert
ment in t-ea-growing by Charles u. Shepard.
special agent for tea culture, United States
Department of Agriculture"
At sight OF this lovely park I found my
self taking the case even less seriously than
at first.
I was directed TO what is called the tea
factory" a small wooden building, ordered.
IN oil marta that saw with a 6pQrpp of
neatness which Is not usually associated
with factories and cannot be produced in
really busy places Of the sort. The audi
ence for the tea talk" assembled in a
large room Of the factory which contained
some rude and primitive pictures and many
chairs. A half a dozen sober men and fifty
ecstat!c women composed the audience, and
the special agent, a man or Northern
lineage and certain suggestions OF New
England In his face and speech. stood be-
fore the crowd.
GETTING INFORMATION.
Now" said 1 to myself. II I'm going TO
hear why this nation should pay, directly
or indirectly. for the continuance Of this
experiment. 1 am prepared 10 believe IN
giving it generous national support, but 1
have a right TO know with what success,
from a practical. commercial point of view,
this experiment has thus far been attended
how well fitted Is this soil for tea-grow-
ing, how cheaply 1t has been produced,
how strong IS the incentive for others to
take II up and why no others have gone
into the industry In the years during which
this farm or garden has been maintained"
l may say in passing that this expert
ment has gone on for eleven years and yet
no other tea is grown In the locality or
State.
/ felt certain that a special agent Of our
government. working solely for the public
good. must, from a sense of duty and
nFnnwfafx~ v0ola nnN nTrhlia fQ1k fYnnn tho
subject bear almost wholly upon the eco
nOmic. practical and commercial view of
American tea growing as an experiment
Or as a proven success.
l misjudged this special agent. He gave
US instead such ormation as one might
obtain from an encyclopedia. He told us
where and how tea was grown, Ger
tain such words as 'pekoe" and ''oolong''
meant in English. how tea was drunk in
China and how very costly certain choice
teas or pickings are in that land of delight.
In return for government support and out of
a sense of the popular demand upon him as
a public servant, he ventured only two state
ments. The first was that t-ea-growing in
the South coupled humanitarian advantages
with its other qualities because il would
give employment to the negroes between
the harvesting OF the cotton and the rice.
Secondly. he said hat IL we were at war or
IL some pest or disease should destroy all
the other tea shrubs of the world IL would
be well for US TO be able to grow tea of our
own cultivation. he also said that the tea
he grows is pronounced by New York ex-
perts TO be of a very high quality.
The special agents little lecture was
very interesting and enjoyable. but il was
not practical, and il did not tell me as a
fellow-citizen why / should contribute the
biilionth part of a cent TO keep up his ex-
pertinent.
Therefore / presented my card TO the spe-
cial agent and asked leave to question him
be responded cOurteOuSly and drew aside
from the crowd OF his fair devotees 10 be
interviewed, but at the second question,
when the serious and practical nature of
my questions became apparent, he visibly
lost interest in re. From that time on he
stood with one shoulder toward me and my
companion, a member OF the New York bar,
and gave his answers. not to me. but TO
some bystancers- In time he took to re-
plying 10 them instead Of 10 me. and as I
had learned AL that 1 needed to know. I
came away.
The special agent is more at ease with
admiriDg groups of ladies.
NOT CAROLINA SOIL.
I had observed that the soil in which this
experimental tea was cultivated was very
dark in color. rich in quality and wholly
unlike the sandy soil OF the locality. In
-iuxtaposition with the white sand around
II the tea beds looked like chocolate. II
was, therefore. evident that the tea was
grown not in South Carolina soil but in a
prepared earth which, so far as l or any
one else knows. might be provided in many
other parts of the country. and. therefore.
does not represent a Carolina experiment
or Indicate an economical mode OF farming.
The special agent admitted that this par
ticular ground on which he conducts his ex-