Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-02-16

may NC Il "a M I5S " q bOOo iAl"AAy PCC
pie to learn that tea has been sue
c~essfully cultivated in the United
States for the past hundred years, n
that there are now raised about 10000
pounds annually on one plantation in
the south alone. The department of
agriculture has been working on the
tea problem for the past twenty-five
or thirty years, and just now 1t looks
as though tea were to be another of
the exotics transplanted to this coun-
try n raised successfully TO COM
pete with that from the foreign mar
aet.
No Tax on Tea Here.
There is at present no tax on tea In
the United States, as up TO date the
raising of the product has not been
considered infant industry worthy
of protection. But tea is higher-priced
here than in any other country in the
world. 1t is believed that an import
tax on tea would result in our getting
better tea in this country and cheaper
than 1t Is now sold without a tax. 1t
will likely be one Of the problems be-
fore the tariff revision workers at the
next congressional is, If the tariff
revision gets a show at all. AS we
are now spending about $40, 900, 900 a
year on tea a small tax would con-
siderably increase the revenue Not
withstanding the large amount spent,
III W IL lOl a. ldtiOtl " LCd vi I'm
ers. We spend $50, 600, 900 a year for
coffee and make on the average better
coffee than any other people. Great
Britain uses about six pounds OF tea
annually per capita to u one. Tea
in hat country is subject to a fairly
high duty, and yet IT is declared that
can buy better tea In England for
Al cents a pound than can be had here
for $50.
Only Cheaper Grades Used.
The United States imports as a rule
only the cheaper grades Of foreign
teas, and the average cost Is about IS
cents a pound. The difference between
this and the price that the consumer
has to pay In the stores represents the
profits Of the middleman and retailer.
The cost OF raising the tea grown In
the United States is about what the
imported lower grades cost, 80 that it
would not take a very heavy duty to
make the home grown tea equally
profitable with the imported.
The largest single tea garden In the
United States is at P~inehurst, 8. c.,
where DR.. Charles Shepard has for the
past five or six years been experiment
ing, first entirely at his own expense,
but later with the generous assistance
OF the department Of agriculture. Prior
to that time by almost a hundred years
tea had been introduced at Middleton
Barony on the Ashley river near
Charleston. In the forties also Junius
Smith experimental with tea at Green
Vile S. c.. Later the United States
government collected seed in China and
distributed It through the patent Office,
this being prior to the establishment
of the agricultural department. and as
a result there were many small gar
dens started through the gulf states.
some Of which still exist n are just
sufficient to supply domestic needs.
British Colonies Lead.
But in the meantime the palm of tea
raising has been wrested from China
by the British olonies Ceylon, after
the wreck OF her coffee plantations,
turned her attention to tea raising, and
India followed. So rapidly has the
growing Of tea in India and Ceylon
progressed that whereas thirty years
ago China grew 30 per cent. of the
worlds tea crop, she now grows only
8 per cent, and the tea crop in that
time has increased from $4,000, 900
pounds to something like 255, 100000.
1t has been found that the colored
children of the south take well to tea
picking, which is now the most import
ant branch of anu labor connected
with it's manufacture. Their wages are
higher, it is true, than those of the ORR
entail, but they pick more in a day.
The picking at Pinehurst, for instance,
is confined to the iner leaves, which
makes the work slower. Even at this
a single picker gathers as much as fif-
ty pounds of green leaves in a day,
while the oriental seldom gets above
twenty or thirty pounds. If the picking
were done on the coarSer leaves the
American picker might gather as high
as 100 pounds a day.
Much of the work of sorting, boxing
and preparing for shipment is now
done by machinery in the American
garden. and this is decidedly cleaner
and more wholesome than the majority
of oriental hand labor. 1t serves to
reduce the cost Of production, besides
making a better tea.
The department of agriculture hopes
In the near future to materially extend
the area of tea culture in the United
States, and possibly in a few years
America may be producing the bulk of
its own teas and getting them cheaper
than 1t is now doing.
Americans Poor Tea Makers.
There is one point on which the ex-
perienced tea drinker insists, and that
is that ordinarily it is almost impos-
sible to get a properly mad cur OF tea
In America. 1t Is said that If Amer
leans knew more about good tea and
how to make 1T there would be more
tea and less coffee used. There are diff
ferent tastes in tea. Americans almost
always use the green variety, but 1t Is
declared that for one who wants a
stimulating cup the black tea is the
thing. That is the sort that is used al
most entirely both In England and
Russia, the two tea drinking countries
of the world.
The proper way to make tea. accord
ing to IN authority on the subject, is
first to scald the pot. That gets the
pot hot and leaves the heat OF the boil
ing water intact to steep the tea in
stead of wasting it on heating the tea
pot. II the tea is good, half a teaspoon
ful Is enough for each large cup, and
II there are several cups to be made
q generous tea-maker throws in an ex-
ira spoonful for the pot" The water
should be brought quickly to the boil
and then poured directly on the leaves.
The teapot should never be placed on
the fire at all and the tea should be
allowed to draw under a tea coy just
nve minutes. neither more nor less.
The English Method.
A good many English people refill the
Dot with boiling water, but II Ia said
that this 10 not considered advisable.
~ Il gets all the deleterious portion OF
The lonvnU and aonA ~ fhn 0Anfrn hle