The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-06-19
6 Consolidated Aug. 2. 1881.

more difficult to pick.
cat present l handle my crop en-
ti.ely with negroes. From the prepa-
ration of the Soil to the packing for
shipment, every stroke Of work is
dcne by negroes. Some day. however,
I hope to be able to pat in machinery
such as DR.. Shepard uses on his Pine
hurst tea farm. ] don't believe the
use OF machinery changes the taste Of
the tea particle and it certainly fa-
cilitates handling.
..The pruning of the plants is task
calling for care, but have so 1ar
been able to get all the careful negro
men necessary. In picking the leaves
I much prefer negro children. They
make the best cotton pickers and DR..
Shepard whose experience has been
much greater than mine in tea rails
ing, finds that they do as well with
tea. have never had occasion to
try any other class of pickers.
1aThat is another point in which /
hope to be able to follow the exam
Pie of the owner of Pinehurst. He has
picking schools in which the little
darkies are taught just what tea
leaves to puck and how to pluck
them.
ssWhen these tea pickers are not
working in the tea fields there are
schools for them to attend. SO far as
am able to judge tea picking is the
ideal out Of door labor for children.
Aside from walking up and down the
rows of plants there is nothing tire
some about it.
after the picking comes the grad
ing, mixing, drying and polishing.
Polishing tea is a discovery Of Dr..
Shepard, I believe. He discovered
that by stirring the dried tea you
could give it the gray appearance no
ticeable in the best oriental varieties.
This stirring we call polishing. In
the oriental goods it is produced by
mixing with the dry tea powdered
tale.
strange as it may seem, tea is not
a pleasant plant to work with. Not
until it is thoroughly dried, just as
you buy it from your grocer, does It
have the pleasant pungent odor that
we call the tea smell. While in prep
aretion the odor to many is exceed
ingly unpleasant.
'3The plant itself is not particularly
beautiful, certainly nothing to COM
pare to the cotton plant The leaves,
as you can see by unrolling a leaf Of
the dried tea, are small and Of no par
tlcular beauty.
@On the bush the leaf is Of velvety
appearance and when the bush is kept
closely pruned the plants have the
dense foliage We associate with a
good hedge. They are not planted as
hedges, however, as each plant must
be set far enough from the others to
be worked and picked on all sides In
pruning the young twigs that are clip
PED off are dropped on the ground
and ploughed under for fertilizer.
CDR. Shepard's tea garden is work
ed with the cooperation Of the Uni
te6 States department Of agriculture.
SO. Of course, person going into the
business feels quite safe in following
what have been proved to be the best
methods on that farm. There is now
another large tea garden in South
Carolina, the American Tea Growing
company of Colleton county.
"I have understood that the agri-
cultural department is interested in
that ventuere also and that it contem-
plates making the experiment of set
ting the plants on hillsides, protected
against washing by terraces. If that
should prove a uccess it will mean
great improvement for our farms in
this section.
"As the hillsides are now planted a
dry season means partial, if not COM
piete, failure Of both cotton and corn
crops. If the tea plants will flourish
on our hillsides there is some hope of
farming in this section being made to
pay.
If the government could only be
induced to give US a duty on tea for
few years I am sure the Southern
States would soon be able to supply
the country. 1t need only be a tax
amounting to 10 or Is cents pound
on tea bought into this country. 1t
would have the effect of excluding the
cheap and unhealthful grades of for
ejgn teas and giving us native grow
ers chance to get UP demand lot