The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-11-25
Cassina Ready
For the Market
Special Half-Pound Packages
Offered at the Charleston
County Fair
.lNews and Courier.


offered for sale at the Charleston
County Fair under government
auspices. These packages were
prepared at Mount Pleasant on
the farm Of Mr., Alfred Jourannet
under the personal direction of Mr..
George F. Mitchell, federal tea
expert, known as one Of the
worlds authorities on tea.
In the same booth, it has been
to dispense something
like thirty gallons OF soft drinks
in which cassin ca;fein has been
utilized as the. base. These sam
pie drinks will be given away and
it is believed that they will at
tract much attention. The syrup
was manufactured in Washington
from cassina prepared at Mount
Pleasant
Mr.. Mitchell has returned from
Washington in order to take part
In the cassina demonstration at
the county fair. He has received
auite number Of inquiries from,
Eastern men of business who ap-
pear interested in cassina as a
commercial enterprise. 1t is Mr..
Mitekells: opinion that 1T viii not
be long before cassina is {en the
market as an active competitor of
tea. He has: pointed out that cas-
sina is not to be confounded as a
substitute for tea. though in taste
they are fairly similar. Cassina.
Mr.. Mitchell holds. is a beverage
on its own merits. which have
been Thoroughly tested.
In the circumstances it's felt
that these packages of cassina will
find ready sales, as they will be
appropriate. for Christmas gifts.
the cassina being also known as
the Christmas berry. 1t is an
nouneed that these packages will
suggest Christmas. Six thousand
pounds Of cassina an half-pound
packages, viii be on sale in the
cassina booth. Mr. Mitchell sug-
gests that many persons will be
glad of an opportunity for sending
some of the packages 10 distant
friends at Christmas.
When the early settlers of the
southern part. of our country ar
rived. they found the Indians
along the coast curing the leaves
of our native cassina or Christmas
berry tree which you. all know is
"a species of holly. and preparing
from them "a drink which they
praised very highly as a stimulant,
and which they used as an every
idaysdrink, much as we now use tea
and coffee y Mr.. Mitchell said III
an address.
"The history of the use of this
plant by the Indians is even more
interesting and fascinating than
the history Of the early use OF. tea
and coffee by the Chinese and Ara
sbians. There is hardly a; report or
narrative relative to the Indians
by any Of the early explorers OF
settlers OF our country that does
not make mention of the use of
this beverage by the Indians, who
had great confidence in its sti,nu-
lating and curative qualities. even
to a point of reverence. using IT
in connection with their religious
ceremonies.
Perhaps the earliest p1ention OF
cassina occurs in the Migration
Legend of the Creek Indians No
doubt you remember the story OF
this lost tribe, known in history
as the Kasihta tribe. which is sup
posed to have started from some
point west of the Mississippi, or in
Southern Illinois or Southern Ohio.
and Travelled west, then south,
then southeast, until they reached
Eastern Georgia. There they met a
tribe called in the legend the Pala-
chueolas. who gave them cassina,
which the Indians called black
drink as a sign Of friendship, and
said to them:
Our hearts are white and
yours must be white, and you must
lay down the bloody toEiaha"-ll
and show your bodies as proof
that they shall be white Later,
in 1875. the chief of this same
tribe read the legend, which was
written in rcd and black characters
on buffalo skin. to Governor oglc-
thorpe and many British authori-
ties.
Casino was not only used hy
the Indians of the Southern ard
Guif States. where it grew al
along the coast, but was traded 10
the Indians OF the mountains
where it always brought d high
price in exchange for other articles.
1t is interesting TO note that be-
sides using the wild plants, they
also planted and cultivated the cas-
sina around their dwellings, in their
villages The Spanish settlers of
Florida and the French settlers of
Louisiana learned the use Of this
beverage from the indians fro.41
the: very beginning.
During the War Between the
states, when the south was cut of
from its source of supply of tea
and coffee. cassina was prepared
in a very crude way and used no:
only by the soldiers in the field.
but by large number of southern
families. and even to this day it
is being prepared and used in
place OF tea and coffee by certain