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Robert Fortune and the Cultivation of Tea in the United States

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Robert Fortune and the Cultivation of Tea in the United States Robert Fortune and the Cultivation of Tea in the United States From 1839 until the Department of Agriculture was consti- tuted in 1862, the Commissioner of Patents in Washington was responsible for organizing government aid and encouragement to American farmers. In the discharge of this duty, the Patents Office drew attention to foreign crops of economic value that might be cultivated in particular areas of the United States. Among such crops tea figured prominently. An experimental tea plantation was privately established at Greenville, S.C., in 1848 and aroused considerable interest. The start of the ex- periment nearly coincided with the outbreak of the devastating Taiping Rebellion in China and prudent governments might well decide to experiment with tea in their own territories. The government of the United States was one such. The Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1855, on Agriculture,l discussed the advantages of establishing tea as an agricultural crop in some of the southern states and advocated the project as economically sound. It summarized the then current botanical knowledge of the tea plant, and quoted from Robert Fortune’s analysis (published in his Three Years’ Wanderings =) of the tea plantations that he had visited in China during the years 1843 to 1846. On the 21st July 1857 the Honorable Charles Mason, Com- missioner of Patents at the time, wrote to his customary seed suppliers in London, the firm of Charlwood & Cummins of 14 Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, to inquire the probable cost of about ten bushels of tea seed, and "the expenses that might occur in sending an agent for the purpose of collecting the same." 3 The seed merchants stated that they would "consult Dr. Royle 4 and Mr. Fortune," and hoped to supply the informa- tion in the next mail. They were as good as their word. Fortune, who had returned to England eight months pre- viously, from a visit to China on behalf of the East India Com- 1 Fig. 1: Robert Fortune, from Plant Hunting in China by E. H. M. Cox. pany, collecting tea seed for the government plantations in the Himalayas, was visiting friends and relations in Scotland. Within a week the firm had got in touch with him, and on the - 17th August they forwarded to Washington a copy of the pre- liminary letter he had addressed to them from Scotland. "No one in this country is so competent to give an opinion as Mr. Fortune," was their comment on this letter. Fortune had written as follows: Tea seeds are in great demand in India at the present time, and I doubt if a large supply could be obtained from that country. The finer varieties introduced by me from China, certainly could not be spared, and I would not advise the American Government to introduce and propagate inferior kinds. The best way would be to follow the example of the Fig. 2: Trachycarpus fortunei. China. Hemp Palm valuable for its fiber. Photo: E. H. Wilson, 1911. ~~a>j 4 East India Company and introduce the best kind from China direct. The plan proposed in your letter, viz. "to send the seeds in tin cases" would not succeed. From long experience I have found that these seeds, like acorns, chestnuts etc., retain their vitality for a very short time when out of the ground; - cer- tainly not one in a thousand would vegetate on reaching America. Any money spent upon an experiment of this kind would only be thrown away. You will find in my Journey to the Tea Countries of China and India, the plan I adopted with good success whilst en- gaged in introducing the Tea plant to India. If the Ameri- can Government is determined to give the matter a fair trial and wishes to spend a reasonable sum to insure success I would have no objection to take the business in hand, and from the experience I have here, would most likely bring it to a successful issue. Three days after sending this letter to the Commissioner of Patents, Charlwood & Cummins were reporting We have had an interview with Mr. Fortune, and he informs us that he would accept the same terms from you, that he had from the East India Company, which was £500 per annum and all expenses paid, which would amount to about L700 addi- tional : for this he would procure the best varieties of Teas. It would be too late this season as they ripen in October. He should leave this [? sc. country] in March and he would be able to get the seeds down from the North 5 of China to the Port of shipment in November or December, and he would arrive in America (several shipments being made by various vessels) during April or May. Thus 20 or 30 (or more) Ward’s cases could be sent each containing seeds enough to 2000 This could be effected the i produce say plants. during year and Mr. Fortune assures us this way only (that is by the seeds being placed in soil in Ward’s cases) is there any chance of success.... Should you therefore entertain the project of sending an agent - you can let us know whether we might engage Mr. Fortune, as we know of no other man so capable or experienced to carry out your views in this mat- ter. 6 Fortune was engaged; and he proceeded to arrange the broad plan of itinerary and shipments. Seeds and living plants were to be divided among several vessels, to reduce risk of loss. I 5 Should direct sailings to eastern seaports in the United States be insufficient, the Cape route to Europe could be used, with trans-shipment in the United Kingdom being handled by the U.S. Government agent in London, located in Henrietta Street, now W. 1. After despatching the collections from China, For- tune was to take the ’overland’ route through Suez. The quick passage across the Indian Ocean, before the south-west mon- soon broke, and a summer crossing of the North Atlantic, would save weeks on the journey from China to Baltimore round Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.7 Fortune left England on the 4th March 1858 on his fourth journey to China. It has attracted singularly little attention at any time. For information regarding it, we are almost entire- ly dependent on the letters from Charlwood & Cummins al- ready quoted, and from the series of Fortune’s letters to the Commissioner of Patents,8 both sets preserved and available only in the National Archives in Washington. Perhaps for this reason, the cardinal importance of the journey, as the occa- sion of direct introduction of various Chinese ligneous and other species into the United States, has been consistently overlooked; and to place it on record, while giving a full account of the journey, is the principal purpose of this paper. Fortune’s reports to Washington do not state precisely where he went in the course of seven or eight months of active col- lecting. It seems likely that he made straight for his old haunts in Chekiang. The Taipings during 1858 held little more than the Lower Yangtze valley west of the Grand Canal. Pressure on them there had been somewhat relaxed as a consequence of the Anglo-French military operations against the Manchu gov- ernment in North China. The more considerable operations of 1859-60 were to leave a way open for the rebels to overrun almost the entire province of Kiangsu south of the Yangtze, save for Shanghai itself, and again to extend their raids into Chekiang and Kiangsi. However, 1858 was a year of relative quiet. Fortune expressly states "the unsettled state of the coun- try does not interfere with my plans in the slightest degree. Everywhere the people receive me kindly and wellcome (sic) me back amongst them." He wrote this from Shanghai on the 10th August 1858 as part of his first report to the Commissioner of Patents. Ac- companying it were three packets of seed which he thought "may prove worth cultivation in the U.S." Two contained varie- ties of the Chinese turnip-radish. The larger, and more par- ticularly commended, contained seed of the Brassica chinensis 6I which he had already advocated for English and for Indian use because of the oil expressed from its seeds. He wrote to Mr. Holt that this variety of mustard or rape (reduced under Bras- sica campestris L., in the Index Florae Sinensis, Part I, p. 46, by Forbes and Hemsley) "is probably superior to the varieties cultivated in Europe, both in production of and in the value of the oil. The Chinese esteem it highly for burning in lamps, as well as for culinary purposes; the Ningpo ladies use it as a hair-oil." Word of a novel, even if possibly somewhat inflam- mable, dressing for the hair might have seemed welcome to the Patents Office of a generation overly dependent on macassar oil. Scientists at a later time might appreciate that there is a scientific reason hidden in the Chinese esteem for its unpre- possessing loose-leafed appearance as a vegetable. It is an ex- cellent source of the anti-scorbutic Vitamin C. As to the main task of the journey, Fortune reports: I have visited various great tea districts, and made my ar- rangements with the natives for large supplies of Tea and other seeds and plants at the proper season. I am now doing the same in the country about Shanghai, & if my health does not fail me, I hope to send you abundant supplies of inter- esting things during the autumn and winter.
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