ITHE NRTIONRL BANK OF AUGUSTA
L. C. HATNB, Prea't F. G. FORD, CasMer.
Capital, $250,000.
Itadliided'pro^l* } $110,000.
. Facilities of oar magnificent Nev Vault
?containing 410 Safety-Lock Boxes. Differ
lent Sizes are offered to our patrons and
th? ; nolle at |S.on to $10.00. per annum.
THE
PLANTERS
LOAN AND
SAVINGS
BANK,
A?t?USTA, GA.
Paye Interest
on Deposits.
Accounts
Solicited.
L. G. Hayne,
President.
Chas, C. Howard,
Cashier.
- - - :-;. - jr
EDGEFIELD, S. C.. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 12. 1901.
ir
THOS. J ADAMS PROPRIETOR.
VOL. LXVI. NO. lU
$ SCHOOL
MEDALS.
We Manufacture
and College Med
Gold and Silver,
prices.
WI. SOTIGEBT
702 Broad St.,
.5r & 9? .5r 9 2 ^ 5
/IS
Talks About
Concerning Petticoats.
Tall women who wish to lessen their
height should choose petticoats flounced
with a darker color than their dresses
-or, if that cannot be arranged, then
thc same tone of color as the dress
should be chosen, or a contrasting
color, but one that is not lighter in
tone. A short woman, on the contrary,
should always contrive to have her
skirt end with a light color, as that
catches the eye and gives an appear
ance of height.
A Woman Saddler.
It is probable that the only woman
Middler in America is a German wom
an in Florida. Her husband was a
saddler and harness maker, with a
shop beside the little house In which
they lived. He never "made money,"
bot the two lived frugally and con
tentedly until his death.
Then there was trouble. The widow
owned the small place, but had no
money to live upon, and the sum to be
procured by selling the shop would not
count for much. So she determined
to continue her husband's business on
her own account, retaining his appren
tice. In course of time she mastered
the trade and built up a flourishing
business, long ago acquiring a much
larger bank account than her husband
had ever dreamed of accumulating.
Teach. Your Child to Love Nature.
If nature be the teacher, we need
never fear that our children have be
come pupils too soon, because hers is
not a cramming method. Every little
?ind brought In contact with her is
ito the lungs and fills them, giving
with each respiration new vigor and
life. even, so does Dame Nature impart
her instruction to the mind. Often she
may require a preceptor. Let us not
fall to be that preceptor, and show our
children how her book always lies
open before them, waiting to be read,
filled from cover to cover with every
living, growing thing about, and that
nothing is too insignificant to find a
place among the pages. If they be
come well acquainted with her they
will love her, and will have gained be
sides a knowledge which will never be
forgotten, nor relegated to the attics
of the brain on account of disuse. In
view of this would It not be wise to
let our children give up the first seven
or eight years of their lives to the tu
telage of nature alone?-Gertrude Okie
GaskelL In the Woman's Home Com
panion.
New Taffeta Silks.
Flowered taffeta silks are in much
more subdued colorings than last year,
but are more artistic. They are used
for evening as w?ell as for reception
gowns, and.oddly enough are com
bined with plain silk. An exceedingly
smart gown that ls a favorite model of
the season is of a light tan silk with
bunches of pink roses. The skirt it
self is strapped with bands of plain
tan silk finished with black taffeta and
hem-stitching in heavy black silk. The
waist is of the silk, in a blouse shape,
trimmed to match the skirt with the
bands of pure silk, and showing in
front a yellow lace over which are
straps of black velvet fastened with
rhinestone buckles. The belt ls a nar
row pointed one of black taffeta and
the collar a black taffeta stock. A
most original design has here been car
ried out, and the touch of black against
the light tan and pink is marvellously
effective. There ls In the black, blue,
prune, green and white an endless va
riety of design and coloring. The blue
Is a bright China blue and is the smart
est, tl"i prune more fashionable than
the blue, anj the green deliciously cool
looking, but red is newest of all.-Har
per's Bazar.
Victoria's Great Strength.
A writer In the Century tells how
Queen Victoria unconsciously over
taxed the strength of her attendants:
"The Queen, in many ways so domes
tic and simple, was always a great
stickler for etiquette and precedent,
and certain forms of deference were
insisted upon in her presence. This
must have tried her ladies in more
ways than one; for, possessing great
physical' strength herself, she saw no
reason why they should not stand in
her presence; and they were expected
to take long walks, in all weathers,
with their royal mistress. In later
years the Queen's outings in her pri
vate grounds were taken in a Bath
chair drawn briskly by a favorite don
key; and a lady who bad walked by
Her Majesty's side on various occa
sions, and who was unable to keep up
the conversation from lack of breath,
told me that the Queen had appeared
surprised at the occurrence. She was
evidently unaware of the hardships
that these things were to more delicate
women, for, when she understood, no
body could have been more consider
ate, kind and sympathetic.
"As an instance of ber thoughtful
ness a foreign guest of hers, who told
me about it, wan much surprised at
Windsor, one Friday, at finding a
whole maigre dinner specially pre
pared for her. The service was so
Quietly and beautifully arranged that
mao/ courses of th? two dinners
B all Kinds of School
lais and Class Pins in fk\
Write for designs and
-k CO., Jewelers. <fc
Augusta, Ga.
^^^^
went on simultaneously, without any
body's noticing anything unusual but
the one to whom the dishes were pre
sented."
Oovdoir
CHAT
The Queen of Portugal, it is said,
makes and trims all her own hats and
bonnets.
General Funston's mother was bak
ing a pumpkin pie when she hear.2 of
her son's great exploit.
Mrs. Besant now wears Hindu dress,
and has proclaimed the belief that she
was a Hindu In a former stage of her
existence.
Miss Marlon Ross, aged twenty
seven, a graduate of Glasgow Univer
sity, has been appointed junior sur
geon of the Macclesfield Infirmary.
The Queen Regent Christina of
Spain will keep in office until her son
is sixteen years of age, when he will
attain his majority, according to the
Spanish custom.
Sara Bernhardt's latest gown is said
to have cost $7000. It is decorated
with diamonds and turquoises, and the
skins of 200 ermine were required to
line the train.
The supervisor of physical training
in the public schools of Washington,
D. C., Miss Rebecca Stoneroad, has
held that office for twelve years. She
has nine assistants, trained by herself.
A law has just been passed in Ver
mont which enables women to hold
three new public offices. These are
town treasurer, town librarian and
notary public. For five years women
have been eligible to the office of town
The office of coroner Is a'new and lt
would "seem not altogether a pleasing
one for women. Miss Lillian. E. Hall,
of .Winfield, Kan., however, has no
fear of its gruesome duties, and has
accepted the office of coroner of Cow
ley Couuty conferred upon her lately
by Governor Stanley, of Kansas.
Mrs. Langtry's English house in
Chelsea is described as "a dream of
beauty." The flooring of the " draw
ing-room bas been taken up and re
placed by white marble, and every
thing is done on the same splendid
scale. The furniture and decorations
are said to have cost more than $10,
OOO.
The Woman's Column, a suffrage
leaflet, says that it is claimed that
woman suffrage is not making head
way in E? ?land, and it furnishes a
few suggestive facts to the contrary.
The first petition for woman suffrage
presented to Parliament in 18G7 was
signed by only 1499 women. The peti
tion of 1873 was signed by 11,000 wom
en. The last petition presented to the
members was signed by 237,000 women.
Pretty stocks to wear with dainty
lawn waists are made of finely tucked
white batiste with narrow corded hem
stitched edges.
The small editions of the baroque
pearls have found their way Into the
convenient little stick pins, sold fre
quently in sets of six.
Linen tints are to be popular during
the summer. Besides in linen itself,
this shad* is seen in wash goods,
Shan-Tung silks and other fabrics.
Small bishop sleeves, plain ;n style
or laid in horizontal or vertical tucks,
are more generally used with the
spring and summer shirt waists than
sleeves of any other description.
The popular taffeta Eton jacket, al
though often tucked all over, is also
seen hemstitched, or even plain. Some
have small vests, plain or embroid
ered, and some are trimmed with lace.
Large rings are set even into shoes,
low shoes as well as boots, which are
laced with ribbon an inch or more
wide. The rings are three times as
large as the ordinary hole for the or
dinary lacing.
A fob chain is now considered
the correct thing for a woman to wear
attached to her watch. It is small and
dainty, and to be strictly proper should
^iave on the end either a bunch of
seals or a single rare gold coln.
A charming white boa is of white
roses and white lilacs, with chiffon.
There are long ends of the chiffon held
In at intervals with shirring. Small
black rosettes and ends of black velvet
ribbon give character to the boa.
Collars and revers of lace are sold
to a great extent. They form a very
pretty finish to a silk waist, and may
be picked up just now at a low figure.
White lace, Ven?s? or Renal.sance, is
used, but Arabe or black with threads
of gold makes very effective decora
tion.
Pongee will be one of the leadinr
fabrics this summer. Models of this
old-fashioned and useful material are
elaborately trimmed with guipure lace
of the same tone, and made with the
circular flounce skirt, and bolero bod
ice over a blouse of fine white tucked
lawn divided in groups with a narrow
fine cream lace Insertion.
r
t
u
THE TR AV ELLI
BY HEN]
Most little girls are fond of stories,
and Annie MacFarlane was no excep
tion to the rule; but then, she was the
fortunate possessor of a grandmother
who could tell the most charming sto
ries in the world. Of these Annie's
favorite was a really, truly, live story
that had happened to grandmother
herself when she was a little girl. An
nie called it the "Lydia Tree Story,"
and twice a year, for a few days at
Christmas and a for a good long time
in summer, when she went to visit her
grandmother, they began at once with
poor Lydia.
"Haven't heard anything from Lydia
Tree yet, have you, grandmother?"
Annie would call from the carriage
door.
And grandmother always shook her
head and smiled, it seemed a little
sadly, as she said: "Nothing yet, my
dear."
This was the story:
When grandmother was a little bit
of a girl she did not have as many
playthings as little girls have now,
and the few she had were so plain and
home-made that the children of to-day
would consider them very poor affairs
indeed; but to grandmother they were
simply beautiful. never having
dreamed of anything any finer than
her simple toys, it never occurred to
her that they could be thought ugly
or ridiculous.
Grandmother lived on a large Iram
not far from the city of Boston. As
she was the only little girl in the fam
ily, she was greatly petted by every
one. In the long winter evenings,
when there was little to do, some or
the farm hands who were clever with
their pen-knives used to employ their
shelli in whittling out toys for grand
mother.
Sometimes they were rough block
houses that came apart. Avhich you
fited together puzle fashion. Some
times they were curious trick boxes
made of countless small pieces of wood,
which only those who were admitted
to the secret could open. Sometimes
they were wooden chains made of
small links which had been cut from
a long strip of wood, which grand
mother thought made beautiful neck
laces. Poor grandmother! You see
this was long ago and she didn't know
any better.
But the toy of toys whicn had sim
ply filled her little heart with rapture
was-what do you suppose?-a white
birch doll. Can you fancy such a
thing?
Its head was made of a knot of white
birch wood upon which eyes, nose and
mouth* had been painted with yellow
..paint .It had.a iAtle blue calico sun-,
"long yellow braids made of braided
silkJ It had a blue calico dress like
th 3 sunbonnet Its sleeves were
stuffed with rags for arms, and it had
two little pieces of wood for hands.
Legs it bad none; but then its dress
was very long, and grandmother never
missed them.
It must be that little girls who are
intended to grow up into good grand
mothers have grandmothers' hearts
from the first. When this beautiful
doll was given to grandmother, she
took it without a word, and simply
sank down on the floor and hugged it
to her small breast with a rapture
which made her speechless.
"Haven't you a word of thanks to
give John, my uear?" said grand
mother's father. He wished his little
daughter to grow up well-mannered
and not to be ungrateful. Grand
mother simply could not speak; but
she looked at John with such beaming
eyes that he understood.
"That's all right, little 'un," he
said, as he gave her brown hand a pat.
John must have had a grandmother's
heart.
Grandmother does not remember
how the doll came to be called Lydia
Tree; but Lydia Tree she was from
the first. Never-until the terrible
day which we are coming to-was
grandmother separated from Lydia
Tree day or night. From that day she
forgot to be lonely or to feel sorry that
there were no little girls with whom
she could play. Lydia Tree filled all
the empty places in her heart
What secrets they shared! What
plans they made! And they played
together so happily! Lydia Tree was
always thinking of new games-that
is, grandmother pretended that it was
Ldyia Tree who thought of them.
One day in the early summer it hap
pened that there was a ereat deal of
work to be done for some reason or
other, so grandmother was told to
take Lydia Tree and go out and play
in the front yard, where they wouldn't
bc "under people's feet."
So they went out and sat beside the
horse-block, as it was called, for it
was the place where the wagons al
ways stopped and where people
mounted their horses. The horse
block was the stump of an old tree
with a smoothly planed top, which
made the most beautiful place in the
world to play store.
It was Lydia Tree's turn to be store
keeper that day. She was standing
propped up against thc side of tho
block, trying to persuade grandmother
to buy some very expensive kind of
calico, which grandmother was not
sure she could afford. They were dis
cussing thc important matter of
whether it would wai;h or not, when
grandmother heard the clatter of
horr.e's hoofs coming up the road. Beth
she and Lydia Tree forgot the excite
ment of driving a bargain in their
interest in seeing who was coming at
that hour of the morning.
It seemed to grandmother after
wards that at first thc rider intended to
to keep on without stopping; but just
as he came opposite the horse-block,
his eye lighted on the little girl with
Lydia Tree hugged tightly und?r arm.
He aparently changed his mind and
reined In his horse.
Grandmother was never able to give
much of a description of tho man. She
always had a vague idea that he was
much browned by the sun, that bis
blue clothes were of a queer cut, and
that ho spoke in rome way differently
from people she knew.
But ho smiled down upon her very
pleasantly as he asked, "Who lives
here, little girl?"
"My father," said grandmother,
promptly.
And then, as she was really a very
polite little girl and wished to behave
properly, she introduced herself, "An,;
I'm his little girl, an' this is Lydia
Tree."
At the sight of Lydia Tree's inter
esting countenance held up for his In
spection, the stranger seemed much af
fected. Probably he had never seen
anything quite so beautiful. Grand
mother was very much pleased; so
when he asked her if she could get
him a drink of water, as he was very
warm and thirsty, and politely offered
to hold Lydia Tree while she went to
fetch it. she consented at once. lt
would be a pleasant and novel, expe
rience fer Lydia Tree to be on horse
back. She was not the mother to deny
her child any reasonable pleasure or
advantage. Lydia Tree was handed up
to the stranger, and grandmother de
parted for me water.
It took her some minutes, for the
drinking gourd was rather large for
her small hands, and she had to walk
very slowly to avoid spilling the water.
When she reached the horse block she
saw Lydia Tree's head sticking out
from thc top of the stranger's jacket
She looked very much distressed,
grandmother thought, buttoned up in
that way, with her arms inside. Grand
mother felt half inclined to cry. She
was just about to request Lydia Tree's
return, when the stranger finished his
long draught.
"I think I'll take Lydia Tree now,
please," said grandmother, holding up
her short arm.
The man cast his rapid glance over
the yard. There was no one in sight.
He gave his horse a sharp cut
with the whip. It seemed to grand
mother afterward that in that one
jump they were down the road, leav
ing nothing behind them but a cloud
of dust.
It was several moments before her
poor little brain was pierced with the
terrible idea that Lydia Tree had also
gone. For a moment she was simply
paralyzed with anguish. Then, with a
cry which brought her mother run
ning from the house, che threw her-;
self on the ground in a tempest of
tears.
It was some time before any one
could make out what had happened.
Poor grandmother could only
her hands and sob: "Lydia Tree!
Lydia Tree!" When, finally, she had
become sufficiently coherent to give
them some idea of the .tragedy thal
and several of the farm hands started
in pursuit Grandmother was ? great
favorite and everybody burned with in
dignation to think that a grown man
should meanly rob a little girl of her
treasure.
The man had too long a start Never
again had grandmother SPI eyes on
him or Lydia Tree, although it was
many years before she gave over ex
pecting them both. She could not be
lieve that he did not intpnd to come
back. Her heart was sore at the
thought of Lydia Tree compelled to
live among strangers. They all decid
ed that the man was probably a sailor
who had stolen this odd-looking baby
doll, perhaps to take to a little child
of his own.
Grandmother's father tried to com
fort her by promising that John should
make another Lydia Tree for her. John
somehow understood little girls as few
grown-up people do. So he made her
a playhouse instead, for which grand
mother was secretly very grateful, al
though she did not think it right to
say she didn't want another doll, as
her father had suggested it. She and
John became greater friends than ever.
He certainly did have a grandfather's
heart.
This story of Lydia Tree was An
nie's favorite story. She never tired of
hearing it. It was her secret convic
tion that Lydia Tree would return
some day, although grandmother had
given up expecting her. She never
dreamed that she was to have any part
in it.
When Annie was 10 years old, her
rather had some business that obliged
him to go away over to Holland, to
the city of Amsterdam.. As he might
have to bc there for many months,
Annie and her mothnr went with
him./ It was certainly a great ex
perience for a little girl, and to say
that Annie enjoyed all thc wonderful
things she saw on that journey and
the quaint life in that curious old
world city would not express it. It
is only with the part of her journey
that has to do with Lydia Tree that
this story is concerned.
When Annie and her mother had
been living in Amsterdam about a
month there was a great fair held
there for the benefit of some charity.
Annie's father had been told that one
of the chief exhibits was a collection
of all sorts of curious toys, which the
children from all parts of the world
are accustomed to play with. So An
nie and her mother went one after
noon.
It would take too long to tell of all
thc curious things that made up that
wonderful collection-of thc tops from
Iceland, kites from Japan, stilts from
thc Marquesas islands, and what An
nie called "Noah's Arks." from Africa,
Of course what interested her most
was the collection of dolls. Annie
thought most of them frightful, and
felt a great deal of pity for the un
fortunate children who had nothing
better to play with.
There was a very kind man there
who explained a great many things
to Annie and her mother in faultless
English. He showed them thc most
primitive form of doll from Mashona
land. Africa. Simply a small lump of
wood, polished and blackened with
age, with a few scratches on top to
represent features. The dolls of the
Kaffir tribes were a little better; they
at least could boast of arms and legs.
Then there were dolls from West Af
rica, made of hard brown wood highly,
polished. Tlic strangest thing about
these dolls was that their bodies were
RY DICK.
?D MISS TREE.
I
de bell shaped. Within the bell
a bunch of clappers made of
ds, which were supposed to repre
t the voice of the doll.
' do not think that the little girl
ds these strange dolls very beauti
said their guide laughing. "In
? moment I will show you some that
ty will admire more, for they have
?tye from the city of Paris. But first
"#111 show you a quaint doll from
ur own America. She is not very
pitiful, either."
they walked on, Annie's mother
Pped a moment to examine some ob
?i^ that had attracted her eye. She
s ^startled by a cry of "Mother,
ther, mother! Oh, do come here!"
e -found Annie dancing up and
w? in excitement, waving something
lout, to the great astonishment of
Jeir new friend.
"It's Lydia Tree, I know it ?3, I
know it is!" cried Annie, nearly in
-wars.
>-5It certainly was. In every particu
lar the outlandish looking doll baby
answered grandmother's careful de
>sr|ription. There was the knotted
wooden head with the yellow paint
features; tho blue calico dress and
sunbonnet, the yellow silk braids, the
legless body. Annie's mother was
nearly as excited as her little daugh
ter. With a few words of explanation
she asked permission to take off the
sunbonnet. She had suddenly remem
bered a part of the story that Annie
had forgotten. If this really were the
long-lost Lydia Tree, her name would,
bo found cut in the back of her head
where John had carved it so many
years before; and there it was! The
curator was very much amused and in
terested but of course Lydia Tree had
'ts-, be returned to her shelf for the
time being, as she was a part of the
collection.
I do not know just how it was man
aged, but the curator and Annie's
f?jfcher laid their heads together and
.managed it; but first one of the Am
sterdam papers published a long ac
count of the "Traveled Miss Tree's"
life and adventures. Annie could not
read it, to be sure, as it was all in
Dutch, but the paper is one of her
most treasured possessions today. It
tells how Miss Tree had been sent to
the. fair by the grand-daughter of a
;??ng dead Dutch sea captain, who had
bought the queer doll from one of his
sailors, presumably the very man who
had robbed grandmother of Miss Tree.
At all events Lydia Tree crossed the
Atlantic once more in Annie's own
trunk. After landing in New York
they went almost immediately to pay
grandmother a visit. You can imag
I ine-how excited Annie was when, al
most tumbling out of the carriage in
her eagerness, she asked the old ques
" "Haven't heard anything from Lydia
Tree yet; have you, grandmother?"
! : "Nothing yet,, my dear," said grand
{ pother. .
x-hay^-'^shrlekgd .Anni&^&nA.
j^iviufc'. -Lydia Tree before grAndmoth
? er's amazed eyes, she threw herself
-into ner arms.
It w?s certainly a complete sur
prise; and when, 'after a happy day,
Annie came to grandmother for her
.goodnight kiss, she received one of
even more than usual tenderness. "It
was the most beautiful present I ever
received in my life," she said.
For many years a.^erward Lydia
Tree, after her stormy and adventur
ous life, passed her time sitting in a
low chair beside grandmother's bed.
Grandmother's glance was some
times a little dimmed when she looked
at the old companion of her childhood.
So many things had happened while
Lydia Tree was on her travels.
Youth's Companion.
AMERICA'S NEW INDUSTRY.
Cal i fo rn i ii Erect* Hie l?i?jr*?t Snjra? licet
Fnrtory In tho Worlil.
The American farmer has suddenly
discovered that he can raise with large
profit as good sugar-beets as there
are in the world, and the American
manufacturer has learned that he can
make those beets yield thc highest
grade of pure sugar. Twelve years
ago the total production of bect-sugar
in America was 255 tons; six years
later the production Rad jumped to
16,000 tons, and year before last (1899)
the production was about 80.000 tons.
For 1900 those who know predict a
production cxcccdinn 150.000 tons,
nearly doubling the output of two
years ago and making the beet-sugar
yield of the country nearly equal to tho
cane-sugar yield. And thus., cut of
almost nothing, the United States has
built up a sugar industry in half a
dozen years, thc output of which this
year will bc about double that of the
island of Porto Rico. And thc work
has barely begun. In 1898. Michigan
had one sugar-beet factory; two years
later in 1900 she had 10 factories.
In California thc largest beet-sugar
factory in thc world has just been
completed, larger than anything in
Europe, although Germany has been,
years at tho business. This enormous
factory cost $2,750.000, and it will turn
out upward of 400 tons of sugar every
day, using 3000 tons of beets for the
purpose and consuming yearly the
product of 30.000 acres of land. Capi
tal is always shy about venturing into
new Industries, but lt has taken bect
sugar making to its heart. Indeed, one
who reads of the growth ?of the indus
try in Illinois. Nebraska, Colorado,
New York, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mex
ico and other states can hardly resist
the contagion of the beet-sugar en
thusiasm.
At the rato at which ibo industry
is now growing, it will be only a few
years before thc. United States will
supply her o^n sugar needs, great as
they are. thereby keeping at home the
large profits of growing beets and
manufacturing tho sugar, and saving
the expense of shipping thc sugar hun
dreds or thousands of miles.-Ameri
can Monthly Review of Reviews.
Vifluo Poorly Rewarded.
A curious example of thc reward of
excessive virtue is tho case of certain
British pickle manufacturers who have
been making their pint bottles hold a
little more than a pint, to be on the
safe side of th? English law. When
these pint bottles nrrived at Canada
they found that there was a law in
operation which provides that any
package measuring more than a pint
must pay duty as n quart.-T.ondoD
Chronicle.
ea Growing Ex
/*\ Bli
M 1311.
S Prospects of
_
i& -
P By Weldon
TUA century which has re
cently been ushered into
existence will see an .ad
dition to the already long
list of reasons why there can
never be a repetition of that fa
mous "Bostou ten party" which helped
to bring on the Revolutionary War.
This new preventive is found in the
fact that long ere thc present cycle of
n hundred years is rounded out, Uncle
Sara will, in all probability, be produc
ing within his domain sufficient tea
leaves for all the soothing beverage
which hts people can possibly drink,
and mayhap will have some to spare
to his brethren across the sea.
That this will be a highly desirable
consummation must be appreciated
even by the person who never sipped
? cup of tea in his life. For one thing,
lt will enable the poorer classes to ob
talu good tea at lower prices, and for
another lt will keep in the coffers of
the American people a fortune,
amounting to many million dollars an
nually, which now goes to feed and
clothe men and women on the other
side of the globe. Under present con
ditions every man, woman and child
In the United States consumes about
twenty cents' worth of tea each
twelvemonth, and the immense aggre
gate sum is divided among the tea
growers in Chin:!, Japan and Ceylon,
several middlemen and agents, and the
vessel owners who carry the precious
product to market.
The best feature of the new era
which ls coming, however, is found in
the fact that finer tea can be grown
In the United States than in the
Orient. This has been conclusively
proven by some interesting experi
ments which the United States De
partment of Agriculture has been con
ducting during the past few years at
9*
THE TEA. Pli ANT.
the pioneer tea plantation established
in the New World.
As soon as the Secretary of Agricul
ture became convinced that tea culture
in the South waa not only practicable
but might be made profitable as well,
he arranged for the institution of au
experimental plantation in Souih Caro
lina. The site selected has proven a
most admirable one. Pinehurst, as it
is called, consists of about seven hun
dred acres of beautiful rolling country
thickly strewn with wood-lands. About
fifty acres of the splendid estate were
transformed into tea gardens, and this
apportionment has gradually been ex
tended. The tiny seeds which had
been brought from the Far East were
left to repose lu earthy beds, prepared
and sweetened with all the care which
could possibly be bestowed upon a
couch of soil. Diminutive shades were
?ven provided te screen these babies
of the plant world from the glare of
thc sun. and then the tea planters
anxiously awaited results.
At first the little immigrants did not
appear to take kindly to the foreign
clime, and the investigators became
so discouraged that they were well
nigh ready to give up the experiment,
when, just In thc nick of time, fate
smiled, with the result that these1
American tea gardens now contain
thousands of bushes, each composed
of many separate stems. Better still,
the practical side of thc enterprise has
commenced to make a favorable show
ing. The yield of the plantation is
Increased by one-eighth each year and
the tea produced ls so vastly superior
to the black to* which conies over the
ocean that lt sells for a dollar a pound,
or three or four times as much as the
importations from China or Japan, and
thus nets the Government a very
handsome profit on Its investment.
But because tho tea which has thus
far been produced lu Dixie has sold
for three or four times the price of
PICKIN
the crisp leaves which have been car
ried half way round thc world, it must
not be supposed that the argument re
garding the ultimate cheapuess of
per?ments
7S\
its
lie United States, ?
the Industry.
i Fawcett.
American tea is -without foundation.
Thc Government officials have demon
strated that under ordinary circum
stances four hundred pounds of tea
<ran be counted upon as the yield of
each acre in a plantation. The .tea
can be grown and put on the market
at fifteen cents per pound. Thus if
the shop keepers sell this superior
grade of tea at the same prices that
are now charged for the inferior Im
ported teas, they will almost double
ROLLIN
their money, and presumably some of
them will be satisfied with less profit
than this when competition becomes
fierce.
Thc United States Government ls
now planning to distribute tea plants
free to all Southern colleges that will
agree to assist the Department of Agri
culture iu establishing tea gardens on
their land. Special sc'enlific agents
are being sent out to giro advice, and
after a thorough investigation has
been made of the possibilities of the
Gulf States for tea culture, experi
ments will be' conducted in Tennessee,
North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiac-T*^
ritory, Oklahoma Territory, Misso/
and other border . States. Climate -
fcS?a?tIons, rainfall and -soil must,
however, ?ll be favorable to conduce
to successful tea culture, and the
American tea growers have already
discovered that it is useless to try to
propagate the pJrnts where the winter
temperature is lower than fifteen de
grees above zero. An average of au
inch of rninr'all every week in the
year ls also essential, although it is
hoped to overcome this necessity by
means of irrigation.
One of the most tedious tasks which
SORTING TEA.
has confronted the pioneer tea grow
ers has been that of determining what
species of tea plants give the best re
sults when transplanted to this con
tinent. In order to demonstrate this
a number of miniature tea gardens
have been provided, and in each seme
particular variety is carefully nursed
under special treatment. Thus the
visitor to this romantic nook in South
Carolina may see, growiug side by
side, Japanese, Chinese, Ceylonese and
American tea. The difference in the
quantity of toa yielded by a single
bush presents as wide a range In the
case of the different varieties as ls
the case in the Orient, where the pro
duct varies from one ounce from each
bush in Japan, to eight or ten ounces
from the average bush in India and
Ceylon.
One of the problems which has puz
, sled the American tea plantera not A
little ls that of securing nerpert in
wages low enough to enable competi
tion with the ridiculously cheap labor
of the Mongolians. Machinery now
does much of the work of preparing
the tea for marke?t, but the leaves
must be picked by band, and with all
the economy that can be exercised it
costs just about eight times as much
to secure the harvesting of a pound of
tea in South Carolina as lt does in
Asia. Even as it is the cost would be
greater had not the projectors of this
initial tea plantation happily hit upon
the plan of employing colored flebool
children as pickers.
A school house is maintained on the
plantation, and in the intervals be
tween learning to read and write the
youngsters are taught how to pick tea.
None of these juvenile tollers can ap
proach in rapidity the records of the
expert pickers of Asia, but lt is
claimed that they are far more careful
in the selection of the leaves than
their rivals on the opposite side of the
world. About three days are required
G TEA.
for the force of pickers to make the
rounds of the gardens, and this must
be done every ten days, or about a
score of times during the season.
An expert can gather anywhere from
ten to twenty pounds of fresh leaf a
day. Some of the little pickers earn
fifty or sixty cents a day, but the ma
jority do not receive more than twen
ty or thirty cents.
The method of procedure after the
tea leaves have been picked ls not a
very intricate one. The crisp leaves
are gathered, as plucked, into Swiss
trout baskets, where they are per
mitted to Hf as loosely as possible lest
they become heated. Each basketful,
BS "M.""^ brought into the. f aetorjjj^j
careftilly'^Exammcdr-and -af toiuAelng
weighed is spread to dry in a cool,
clean place. Tea manufacture proper
consists of two processes. In the one
the tiny oil cells in the leaf are broken
and the contents extracted by hot
water, while by the other the leaves
are once more dried thoroughly.
The product of such a method of
handling is the green tea of commerce.
If it Is desired to produce black tea,
two additional stages of evolution must
be introduced-the withering, or prep
aration of the leaf for rolling, and
oxidation, whi?i involves certain
chemical changes. To such an extent
has mechanical genius entered the
field of tea production, that the black
tea secured at Pinehurst may now
fairly be said to be largely machine
made. The sifting, rolling, oxidation
and firing are all done by mechanical
process. A phase of the handling of
the tea in which the American grow
ers have exercised exceptional care is
found in the curing of the leaf. No
direct sunlight is allowed to strike the
leaves, either when they are being
withered or during the process of final
dryiug.
The possibilities of tea culture In
this country would seem to be almost
Infinite. Not oniy may the standard
grades be raised in quantities, but lt
is believed to be possible to produce
some of those marvelous teas known
only to dwellers lu the Orient, for thc
reason that no means has ever been
devised to successfully transport them
to this country.
It costs upwards of fifty dollars an
aore to set out and raise the tea plants,
and thousands of dollars must be ex
pended for a factory in addition to
the constant outlay for labor. A tea
garden, when once established, how
ever, represents an institution that
will stand for centuries.-The Book
World.
A Horse on the Peddlers.
"Sic-em, Bill!"
The pedestrians on Cadillac Square
who heard this command naturally ex
pected to see a dog respond. Great
was their surprise, therefore, when
they behold a horse prancing along the
curb. He was nosing at a banana
vender, who was excitedly trying to
get his cart of fruit out of harm's way.
The vender kept moving, too, and the
horse returned to his post in front of
his owner's fruit and peanut emporium
to walt for further interlopers. The
merchant has two of these horses, both
of which exhibit wonderful intelli
gence in protecting their owner's in
terests from the encroachment of no
madic rivals. It is against the ordi
nance for street peddlers to stand on
the public thoroughfare longer than is
necessary to make a sale, so the horses
are really relieving the policemen on
that beat of an unpleasant duty. It Is
an advantageous corner, aud many
peddlers try to do business there. The
horses, which are kept for delivery pur
poses, are stationed at the curb on
busy nights, and when a peddler ap
proaches the merchant slips the weight
and "sics" 'em on. Then he gives the
Irate peddler the equine ha, ha.-Dc
troit Free Press.
Ground Finn Completed.
Naggus (literary editor)-"How ls
your new society novel getting on,
Bonis V
Borus (struggling author)-"Splen
didly. I've got the French phrases I
am going to use iu the story all se
lected. There's nothing to do now but
to fill in the English and divide lt into
chapters,"-Chicago Tribune*