“Pray thee, let it serve for table-talk.”–Merchant of Venice.

“A cup of tea!” Is there a phrase in our language more
eloquently significant of physical and mental refreshment, more
expressive of remission of toil and restful relaxation, or so
rich in associations with the comforts and serenity of home life,
and also with unpretentious, informal, social intercourse?

If rank in the scale of importance of any material thing is to be
determined by its extensive and continued influence for good, to
tea must be conceded a very elevated position among those
agencies which have contributed to man’s happiness and well-
being.

Most remarkable changes have occurred in the production of tea
during the past century. About sixty years ago all the tea
consumed on the globe was grown in China and Japan. Our knowledge
of the growth and manufacture of tea was then of an uncertain and
confused character, and no European had ever taken an active part
in the production of a pound of tea.

To-day, about one-half of the tea consumed in the world is grown and manufactured upon
English territory, on plantations owned and superintended by
Englishmen, who have thoroughly mastered every detail of the art,
while nearly all the tea drank in Great Britain is English grown.

Twenty years ago, the suggestion that tea might yet be grown upon
a commercial scale in the United States was received with
derision by the Press and its readers; but one tea estate in
South Carolina has during the past year grown, manufactured, and
sold at a profit, several thousand of the tea of good quality,
which brought a price equal to that of foreign fine teas.

to be continued…