Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1879 — American Tea. [ARTICLE]

American Tea.

Over fifty thousand tea-plants have been distributed lately in the middle and southern states, by the bureau of agriculture. In three or four yean these plants will be large enough to permit a full picking of the leaves. Experiments have been made with tea leaves grown in the grounds of the department and in the south, after Japan methods, the product being pronounced an excellent Oolopg by dealers and e.xperts. The only pretent obstacle to the profitable cullivatteg ”O lrt in this country on a large scale i*g|lkM*nunt of hand labor required tn curing llm leaves. The Commissioner is confident that American ingenuity can produce machinery by means of which ibe preparation of the leaves may be effected better and cheaper than is possible even with -‘Chinese cheap labor.” There is no good reason why any family having a garlen plat, in the southern and middle pm-rrottsof the United Suites, should not produce with little irettble all lhe tea needed for home consumption, without elaborate machinery.