El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-09

geous. 1t saves them lot Of trouble,
because if impure or unwholesome tea
did get past the custom houses, it would
be seized under the pure food law by
the department of agriculture. But II
should be realized that the buyers who
purchase teas in large quantities
abroad, acting as agents for the i'm
porters, are themselves provided not
only with the government standards,
but also with testing apparatus exactly
like that used by the treasury. IN
deed. they make their own tests just as
the treasury does, and If they err II
is theft own fault.
When, as happens occasionally, a
batch of imported tea is found unSaLlS-
factory, the importer is required to
ship il out Of the country. II he fails
to do so, Il IS seized and destroyed
either by fire, or by 'denaturing it
the latter process consisting IN mixing
it with lime OF some other substance
that renders it useless. First, however
the importer is notified, and IS told
exactly what ii is that IS found oolec-
tiOnabIe about the consignment II ne
thinks that injustice has been done, ne
has the right of appeal TO the general
appraisers Of the customs service
The importation Of tea tablets as
they are called-One tablet being good
for a CUPS restricted, because the
material Of which they are composed IS
usually stuck together with wax or
some other foreign substance, which
under the law is an adulteration. 1t is
worth mentioning incidentally that
considerable quantities Of low grade
tea IS allowed to come in for the manu-
facture of caffeine-this alkalOid, 9TH
erwise known as theme" being found
IN both the tea plant and the coffee
berry.
terate tea with leaves of other plants.
The ingenious Chinaman had habit
of mixing weeds OF divers sorts with
the proper herb in preparing the latter
for export. Not more than a dozen
ri q q
ture found many foreign leaves IN some
samples of tea that were subjected 10
examination. But for some reason un-
explained this practice seems to have
ceased Tea leaves are themselves so
cheap that it would seem hardly worth
while to mingle substitutes with them
, Mention was made moment ago OF
government standards for scented or
ange DekOe" and scented Canton teas
1t should be explained that such teas
are prepared by placing fresh orange
blossoms lessamines, or other flowers
in a pan beneath wire or wicker tray
that holds the leaves, subjecting them
to a mild heat which causes their mOis-
ture to evapOrate and, in rising, TO car
~ with it their perfume. The perfume
laden moisture passes up through the
dry tea leaves, and is absorbed by the
latter.
The only tea garden now operated on
a commercial scale in this country Is at
SummerviIle. in South Carolina 1t is
a very successful enterprise, and the
government has done a good deal to
help it along. Perhaps the most inn
portant thing accomplished there has
been the development OF number Of
machines especially for tea farming.
Everything on the plantation is now
done by machinery except the picking
of the leaves; and it is announced that
a machine has been devised for per-
forming even this operation.
The only real obstacle in the way OF
successful tea culture in the United
States is the cost OF labor. Il has
seemed hitherto to be almost cut OF
the question to try to cOmD2ce with the
coolie labor of the far east. But IL We
can develop machinery that viii take
IN. Tiace Of hand labor, he prnh,, n
viii be solved. This, in fact. seems to
have been practically accomplished. For
example a thoroughly satisfactory ma
chine has been contrived for pruning
the bushes. thus reducing the cost Of
this operation from $3.50 to 30 cents
an acre.
This pruning machine gives a dome
like shape 10 each bush so that the
latter obtains a greatly augmented area
of leaf-bearing surface, and produces
three or four times as much leaf in
season. Then the picking machine
comes along-sc shaped as to adapt
itself to bushes of the form described
and cuts off the tea
Another piece Of apparatus IS a so
called 'fricuOniZing machine. which
gives the much valued drak green or
gray-green color to the cured leaves