Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-24
P|NEAURsT TEA FARM
Dr.. Shepard Says the Indus
try Needs Protection.
SOIL IS WELL ADAPTED
Production at Summerville, S. c.,
Last Year $4,000 Pounds.
DEMANDS INTELLIGENT CARE
Domestic Article Is Pure, While
Much of the Imported Is Col
ored and Adulterated.
DEMANDS INTELLIGENT CARE
BY WILLIAM T.. CURTIS.

W
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
SCHAIERVILI.E S. c.. March 16, 1908.
That tea, equal in quality to the best
that comes from the orient. can be grown
in this country without more than ordi-
nary care and cultivation has been fully
demonstrated by DR.. Charles L. Shepard
and his tea plantation, called Plnehurst
is the greatest attraction at Summerville;
not including the climate Dr. Shepard
devotes great deal of time to explain
ing his methods of culture and his the
cries of commerce to the guests of the
Pine Forest Inn and the boarding houses
around him, and carries on continuous
educational campaign during the winter
when there are no tea leaves to pluck and
cure. 1t is beautiful spectacle. this
tea farm, particularly when the colored
children who are employed pickers
are at work. and the grounds surrounding
DR.. Shepards mansion are exceedingly at
tractive He has dense pine grove with
clearings filleu with Towering plants and
trees Of rare varieties from various parts
of the world. for Pinehurst Is not only
tea farm but an experiment station In
all kinds Of botanical products. There is
a schOolhOuse at which the children en-
ployed on the plantation are taught read
q.
where the gospel is dispensed by an earn
est and eloquent cOlOred brother. and there
are numerous cottages in which abide
many happy families who have no cares
and no anXieties and who seem TO be sat
isfied with the world as it is.
l asked an old nanny who was sitting
in her doorway how she was getting
along.
she said. The Lord is powerful good
to me-
! asked little colored girl. with laugh
ing eyes. If she was an invalid down
here for her health. and she said:
II picks tea fur Dr. Shepard. and Use
got all the health wants. and she gig
gled and ran away.
l asked an old colored man who was
driving a forlorn mule with a wagon
load of wood to market what all the
white people came down here from the
north for.
Il reckon they comes to purtake of
our health and happiness. God bless EN-"
was his pious reply. ''Summerville's
| mighty good place fo sick folks and
them that amt got no strength
Competition With Cheap Labor.
And SO it seems that everybody. is sat
isfied, except Dr. Shepard, who can't
compete with cheap Chinese and Japanese
labor in growing tea because OF the larger
expense of cultivation in this country.
Large sums of money have been ex-
pended In demonstrating the practicable
| ity of raising tea in this climate and soil,
said DR.. Shepard; land they have been
remarkably successful from scientific
standpoint; but the tea business in Amer
lea will not be commercial success
unit! we place a duty upon imported
ted or a bounty upon American-grown
tea that will equalize the cost of pro-
| duction. which is chiefly in the labor.
No agricultural product requires SO much
labor as tea, and. while 1t is not neces-
sarily expensive labor, and can be sup
plieG very largely by children during
school vacations, there must be some
compensation to cover the difference.
| Labor has gone ZIP in the east. but 1t
still costs ive times as much to perform
the same task over here and our ma
chinery at Pinehurst is more efficient
thar the hand labor upon which they
depend everywhere except in Ceylon We
are now doing everything by machinery
except picking the tea leaves from the
bushes and culling and sorting the leaves
according to their quality. That requires
tho exercise Of an intelligence and a dis
Grim that no machine can ever
be endowed with.
by my inventions l have bee nable to
| reduce the cost of production very rapid
| ly, and may be able to reduce it still
more, but we can never raise tea in this
country as cheaply as it can be raised m
| more denseIy populated countries ike
China and India. A small duty upon
! imported teas will not only serve TO
equalize the cost of production and en-
| able us to compete with the countries of
| the orient, but it will also keep out of our
market the cheap and nasty sweepings OF
| the factories and other low qualities
which cannot be sold anywhere else.
| There Is a duty on tea In every. coun-
! try except Belgium. In England it was
| 10 cents pound until recently. now 1t is
s cents, and the English people consume
| more tea than those of any other coun-
| try of Europe. Their average is six.
pounds year per capita. The people of
Australia consume between seven and
eight pounds per capita. The consump-
| ton in Russia Is very large also. We
drink more coffee than tea in the United
States. Our average consumption Is
about one pound Of tea per capita per
year"
Last Years Production.
Last year DR.. Shepard produced 1900
pounds of tea on his plantation of 100
acres, and he sold his green teas. which
rank with the very best. at 81 pound;
while his black teas brought so cents
pound and he tells me that he can sell
all he can raise at those prices. There
New York. Boston. Chicago and other
cities which supply hotels restaurants
and clubs and several of the latter ad-
vertise the American tea upon their
menu cards.
1t is curious fact, however. that IN
shipping such small quantities trans
portation rates are much higher from
Summerville to Chicago. or even Washing
ton. than from Shanghai and Yokohama.
1t costs only 2h cents pound TO bring
a package Of tea across the Pacific ocean
and across the entire continent of the
United States. while it costs 81 cents to
send 1t from Summerville to any north
ern city But l suppose when Dir. Sher
ard requires several trains a day to
| haul his crop from his factory to market
| this surprising difference will disap-
pear.
Two hundred years ago French bot
anist named Michaux discovered that the
| climate of South Carolina was especially
| adapted to tea culture and introduced it
| on the Ashley river near Charleston
| where now may he found trees twenty
4 apH feat hiob S{xty ,aarc