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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1881)
i76 THE WEST SHORE. July, 1861 TliA t'Ul.TL'RL'. The subject of tea culture iioitc which ha of Ute received considerable atten tion in different part of the United Slate, and will l especially interesting to Oicgonian when it in once generally known that the toil and climate of many pnrti of thii State and especially of Douglas, Joorphine, Jackson and parta of Coo and Curry counties, furnihh every requisite to successful tea culture, We therefore devote considerable spnee in thi issue to how the mmnrr of grow ing and curing the leave of thi much used plant, and kin cetely how that en let pi ioing farmeitin the counties named at well a in other portion of (hit Mate will give the lea plant a fair trial. Seed can e ob lainctl free of charge fiout the U. S. Ag ricultural Depart inent through our leptetcntativr at Washington. 1 n China tea lm Ihtii ued for over a liouMiid yen; to Kngland it h in. trodured a a l-rv. eragein 16Y.1. Sime then nearly all the nation havvlrconie addicted to it. For the year S4 the IVilic Coast im Hirtt of tea from China and Japun were 1,1 1 Sjo 1U, alucd al Ijinsyfi, Mine tht'ii the an nual iucivae in con sumption hat leen imply ImmeiiK, For the year 1SS0 the import were iJ79 5H H., vl. md al $'.Vuij, and the Mai value of I ,m intMHl fiom Jan., tSor, to cemtar, iSSi, wa Ufi&$.K The figure lor to ;-iiM'ly r t tied cction a the Pacific Coast are certainly one, and flourishes in Japan at far north a astonishing n they arc true, and offer j as where in'winter the ground is every inducement to give tea culture a , frozen 6 inches deep for weeks in sue trial, even if a Mart ha to he made 1 cession. In Java where extensive tea will, a Jum.ii plmiU only. A ftr as gardens are established, it succeeds known, tea culture other than for or namcntal purjxMc, was first attempted in the United States by Dr. Junius Smith at Greenville, S. C, the results were excellent, but unfortunately the death of the doctor brought experiments to a clone. The tea plant is, contrary to a popular error, an extremely hardy I TT;,,r '"fr11"" ; 0 0 " t ri7i WfLDl:TS I'SED IN TFA IT RING. under entirely "opposite conditions of temperature. In China it grows as well in the most southern sections under a tropical sun where the thermometer re mains for long periods at too" Fah., as in higher latitude?, where snow and ice often cover its tender leaves. From this it will be seen that the plant adapts j itself to either heat or cold. ' - The tea plant . bears a. strong re : semblance to the '; myrtle; it has a dense, highly orna- ' mental foliage and brings forth in the spring a large num ber of beautiful white slightly odor ous flowers, in ap :. pearance very much ! like the camellia, ; only not so attrac ; tive; the leaves are ' alternate on short, .'thick channel I ed foot stalks, and form the valuable part of the plant. The best location for a tea garden ia a fertile hillside with, a southern expos ure, such as are to be especially found in the Youcalla val ley. A rich sandy loam in the vicinity of some small creek if the land is not subject to overflow will also make a fine tea garden. Seeds -should be planted in a hotbed or cold frame about Decern ber, and in early spring plants will be ready ' 10 set out. Before planting, the . land should be deeply plowed and thoroughly put verized by repeated harrowing and checked off into