That a beverage containing caffeine should fall into disuse and become almost forgotten is a singular fact. The use of maté has not decreased from the time of the conquest of South America by Europeans. The reason why the latter is still in use and the former not lies, perhaps, in the fact that the Europeans in South America mixed with the natives, married, and adopted their customs, while the English and French who settled the Gulf States did not associate with the Indians, and adhered to the use of Chinese tea. Now that we know that the leaf of the cassine contains caffeine or theine, can its use as a beverage be revived?
It is not as pleasant in odor and taste as Thea sinensis, and this may be against it; on the other hand, it seems to have some salutary properties which the latter does not possess, and may, perhaps, be far more cheaply obtained.
Distribution of the Ilex cassine, indicated by dotted portions along coast line.
A rough estimate can be made as to the number of square miles upon which it grows. Estimating the coast line from the James River, in Virginia, to the Rio Grande, in Texas—about 2,000 miles—and multiplying this by 20 miles, the extent of its growth inland, we get a total of about 40,000 square miles. On this area could be picked an immense quantity of the leaves, and if the trees are not destroyed in the picking the crops could be harvested every year. No estimate can be approximated even of the amount of the crop of leaves which could be gathered, because we can not estimate the number of trees on this area.
It would seem possible that further inquiries on this point and careful experiments in cultivation and manipulation might result in furnishing our market with a product which would be found in many cases an acceptable and useful substitute for the more expensive imported teas.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This was written before Professor Venable’s recent investigations, hereafter referred to.
[2] Prof. W. Trelease, of the Shaw School of Botany, St. Louis, Mo., has written an excellent synopsis of the genus Ilex in the United States embracing 14 species.
[3] This was written before Professor Venable’s recent investigations, hereafter referred to.