The Washington herald., 1907-05-30

well Is every stdple Iood NeT peOpit
might need. the United States has been
busily adapting foreign plants TO the
soils and climate of her own dominions.
The result In many instances has been
highly satisfactory. and optimistic exper-
imenters look forward 10 the day when
this country will be exporting the same
commodities that she now imports at a
cost OF many millions Of dollars each
year.
Rice was the first adopted plant to prove
its commercial value, though IL was some
time in the proving, South Carolina had
satisfactory crops 0f ii in the latter part
Of the seventeenth century, her low
lands being admirably adapted 20 its cul-
ture. Since il is the staple food of half
the world, it is grain Of no inconsider-
able importance, and its cultivation a
needful thing in a country using as much
Of IL as ours. For nearly 200 years the
output Of rice in the United States was
confined 10 South Carolina North Caro-
lina and Georgia. with "a small amount
raised in Louisiana by the 'Cajans Up 10
1851 the yield for the first three States
had averaged over 10500O00 pounds Of
cleaned rice each year for fifteen years.
Then Louisiana began to raise It on a
noticeable scale. The very old hand
methods of planting. gathering and
threshing obtained generally Then. in
1884, there came some immigrants from
the wheat countries Of the Northwest to
revolutiOnize things. They looked over
the level Louisiana lands, and saw that
proper irrigation OF the buckshOt soil
would not make il impossible for heavy
teams. After Installing a system Of reser- /
voirs, canals, and wells, they brought
down the wheat machinery they had used
In their Northern fields. and with slight
notifications used i for the planting
and harvesting of rice
a field of from eco 70 800 acres can be !
seeded to rice by one farmer. a helper,
and good teams. while the use Of har-
vesters has demonstrated that one of
those can do the work of forty men. This
introduction Of rice-farming on a large
scale in Louisiana was followed by a Tex
as venture In 1900 a. p. Borden. of
Pierce, put I'm $50 acres Of rice on a
prairie in Matagorda County, and despite
green hands unskiued management, and
terrific storms. sold his crop for SS5 an
acre. when .t had cost him only S15. He
used the seed Of the famous KiushiU rice /
which withstands storms. and which can
be threshed and polished with less break /
ing than other varieties.
In 1904 there were 23o, go acres in that
region in rice, the tract extending from /
the Mississippi nearly to the Rio Grande. |
Each year finds 5000 acres added TO the |
rice lands. Last years yield was in the /
neighborhood Of 400 100000 pounds. valued /
at S13ooooo. which is only about half the /
amount the United States uses.
While the United States IS known TO all /
the world as the great coffee drinking
nation, the consumption of tea here is /
also large item. In the year ending /
June 30, 1905, the imported tea amounted /
20 ll2905.5H pounds ar a value Of SlS1l9,- /
30 The same year the tea farms Of the /
United States yielded only six tons Willis /
the amount was small. the flavor and /
strength Of the American product COM /
pared most favorably with the foreign /
brew. 7 has proved It's adaptabllity 20 |
TIE climatic conditions Of certain sections. |
and when il can be raised at moderate 4
cost and marketed at the same price as
the products of Japan, China, Ceylon, /
and India. it suggests itself as a profit
able enterprise for those willing 10 under
take its culture.
The first tea plant in America was set
out in Middleton Barony, near the Ash
ley River, fifteen miles from Charleston,
G. c.. by none other than the famous /
French botanist, Michaux This has /
grown into a small tree since its plant
ing in 1904 In 1852 the Department Of
undertook experiments in
South Carolina, though IL gave up the
work at many stations before definite
were reached. As early as lSiS
Dr. Junius Smith had successful plant
ing OF tea. but the first marketable tea
was from the plantation Of DR.. Charles
L. Shepard. Of Summerviile. :. C., who
sold some in Baltimore, in 1892.
Experts pronounced the Summerville
product equal TO any Of the English
breakfast teas The Shepard farm Is
knOwn as the Pinehurst estate. and has
a large grove OF Assam Hybrid bushes.
Negroes are employed in the picking OF
the leaves. and have proved more efficient
than Orientals A rather unique solution
Of the question of labor has been made
there. In order TO insure skilled pickers
a good school was built, good teachers
employed and all the little negroes for
miles around were invited 20 attend free
Of charge Besides the lessons, they were
taught how 10 pick tea and then given
regular employment outside school hours,
making enough TO buy clothes and food.
A private corporation known as the
American Tea Growing Company has a
successful farm in Colleton County, South
while at South Fraser. and the
Rose Tea Garden stations, various teas
are proving their worth. Among the va
-ietics that have thrlved I'm the South
Carolina climate are Dragons Pool. As
sam Hybrid. DarjeelIng. Kaugra. Japa-
1ese. FOrmosa. and Csylon. At the exper-
ment station near Wharton, Tex, and in d
California, tea has been found TO grow
we'll In China the tea yield IS rarely
lver 210 pounds t0 the acre. The Pine
hurst plantation frequently produces as
high as $50 pounds from small trees. The ;
best Chinese tea comes from old trees,
some of which are 200 years old.
The good old padres Of Father Junipero
SeTra's mission band brought the olive ,
with them into California, and in the
san Fernando Valley, where there IS now
he largest olive ranch in the world, there
still remains the great stone basin and
stone press in which the fathers made
III for their own use. European olive !
rees bear little until fifteen years old. !
md are not fully productive until they s
Ire thirty. In California two gallons of I
berries have been picked from two-year-
I'D trees, and thirty gallons from six
'ear-olds. The San Fernando Valley
anch has LOO acres and sends out over c
0.oo0 gallons a year. One gallon Of the 7
litter green berries will make from
,int 70 a quart Of oil. Fifty varieties OF =
he olive viii grow in this country. though l
{ chooses only the southern and middle 4;
california valleys. and parts Of Mexico !