It has been suggested that the United States Government could, at a comparative small cost to it, materially assist in determining and demonstrating the feasibility of tea-culture in this country, finally solving the question of profit. These questions could all be answered satisfactorily and definitely in a very few years if our Government were to secure say twenty acres of land in a suitable locality and plant a portion of it yearly with tea plants, until ten or more acres were planted. Then, when the plants had become sufficiently matured, provide a small laboratory fitted with the necessary modern apparatus, placing it in the charge of a competent manager who could make such experiments in the preparation of the leaf as may be suggested by those interested in the enterprise. In a special report of the Department of Agriculture issued in 1877, we find the following extracts from letters submitted by cultivators of the tea-plant in the United States:— Mr. Thomas M. Cox, Greenville, S. C., says:— I obtained, in 1857, from the Patent Office, a box of tea-plants. I gave the most of them away, and retained a few myself. They have grown well without any protection, in the open air, and have attained a height of from 8 to 10 feet. They have frequently matured the seed, and there are a number of the seed on the ground at this time. They are an evergreen in this climate, and are now in flower, with the seed of last year’s growth fully matured upon the bush. I have never succeeded in making tea from the leaves, not knowing the process of manipulating it. Mr. J. J. Lucas, Society Hill, S. C., states:— The tea-plant has been grown successfully in this State, Georgia and Louisiana; General Gillespie’s particularly thriving well. On the Middletown place, Ashley river, near Charleston, tea-plants are now growing for ornamental use only, and are 10 feet high. A gentleman in Georgia obtained 441 pounds of tea from one acre of land, which, at 50 cents a pound, would bring $220.50; while our average yield of cotton is only about $15 per acre. Dr. Turner Wilson, Windsor, N. C., writes:—