It is evident from a study of the climate and soil conditions connected with the growth of tea, that the United States is not excluded from the possible areas in which it can be cultivated. For many years, the late Dr. Shepard, of South Carolina, has promoted the cultivation of tea in the vicinity of Charleston, Summerville, and the United States Department of Agriculture has collaborated in this work from time to time during the past 30 years. The tea gardens at Summerville have gained a deserved reputation for producing a tea of excellent quality. Unfortunately, the conditions of labor and wages in this country render it difficult to compete with the remarkably cheap labor of the countries most famous for tea production. Dr. Shepard has devoted the leisure of many years of his active life to the promotion of this industry, but it does not appear to have assumed any vogue outside of the immediate vicinity of his own activities. He is of the opinion that in certain sections of the United States, American grown tea may hold its own against the imported article.

The adaptability of the soil and climate of the vicinity mentioned, to tea growing has been demonstrated, and the very fact that the tea plants thrive there answers all doubts respecting the possibility of their growth. The tea which is produced in South Carolina is not of sufficient quantity to have affected in any way commerce in that article, nor to have established throughout a very wide range of consumers, its own standard of excellence. It is undoubtedly true that tea grown in the United States will have a character, flavor and quality of its own, and hence, at first might not be relished by those accustomed to drinking the teas of established grade and quality. It is only fair to presume that by use this prejudice against American tea would disappear, and assuming that it were produced in quantity to warrant the expectation, it would assume a just place among the tea drinkers of the world.