cost of Chinese labor would be fatal to American competition. But
the mills of the Gods grind right along, regardless of individual
opinions or precedents. Foreign tea plants have been so
acclimatised in South Carolina that a plantation of tea has
withstood a winter temperature of zero, the lowest recorded
degree for 150 years; the secrets of curing the leaf have been
disclosed and successfully practiced by Americans, and a cheap
form of child labor for picking the tea leaves has resulted in
commercial success for American grown tea.

This result is due to the encouragement of the U. S. Agricultural
Bureau, and the persistent efforts of Dr. Charles U. Shepard, at
Summerville, S. C., who continued his exertions to found a
permanent tea plantation on a large scale long after the
Government authorities had ceased to hope for success. In Dr.
Shepard's tea gardens the deficiency in rain fall is made good by
deep pulverization of the soil and artificial irrigation; the
natural shade of jungle or forest under which the seed germinates
and grows where the plant is indigenous, is supplied by
artificial shade; and the expensive process of picking the leaves
is cheapened by employing children, who are paid in money, and
also by being taught to read and write in a school maintained on
the premises by Dr. Shepard. Machinery has supplanted some of the
tedious hand-manipulation of tea in Dr. Shepard's factory, and
further progress in this direction is constantly being made.

The Pinehurst tea--for Pinehurst is the designation of Dr.
Shepard's plantation at Summerville--sometimes disappoints those
accustomed to the strong flavors and pronounced fragrance of some
foreign teas, but it contains a full proportion of that