jAtI, I, 1SB7.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



45$ 



MB. G, H, D. ELPHINSTONE ON RUSSIA AS 

 A MAEKET FOR CEYLON TEA. 

 Russia being, next to Britain, the largest con- 

 sumer of tea of any nation in the world, our read- 

 ers will peruse with interest the graphic letter in 

 which Mr. Elphinstone records his experiences in 

 the modern and ancient capitals of " the White 

 Czar's" vast dominions. What he says about his 

 sufferings from intense cold will cause our readers 



to appreciate the desire of the Muscovites to 



" see before they die 



The groves and temples of the south," 

 The cemeteries and mosques of Constantinople 

 being, however, substituted in Tennyson's lines. 

 The instinct which drives the northern hordes 

 southwards is next to irrepressible, and we sus- 

 pect that do what England, Europe and the world 

 may, the banner of " Holy Russia " will yet float 

 over the mosque of Sophia, in its new character 

 of a cathedrial of the Greek " Orthdox Church." 

 The Russians may then, like the Turks take to 

 coffee, but meantime we have to regard them as 

 incessantly engaged in brewing tea in their samov- 

 ars to keep out the bitter cold, which Mr. E- 

 phinstone, though a Scotchman, found too much 

 for him. But the tea the inhabitants of St. Peters- 

 burg drink, is of a peculiarly delicate quality and 

 has artificially imparted to it a special flavour. 

 Then there is a " ring, ' such as we had to do 

 battle with in Melbourne, and such as exists also 

 in the United States, who are determined, if 

 possible to , keep out a new thing calculated to 

 interfere with their vested interests. But the crusade 

 against monopoly commenced by an energetic Ceylon 

 planter will be carried on by others, and long 

 before the Russians are sitting in " the Sublime 

 Porte," they will be delighting in the consumption of 

 large quantities of Ceylon tea, unadulterated and 

 of unsophiscated flavour. The battle against vested 

 interests, custom, habit and taste, may be severe 

 and long protracted, but Ceylon tea which has 

 conquered the markets of Britain, will yet triumph 

 in Russia and in the United States. Mr. Elphin- 

 stone tells us in a private letter that he will send 

 out to Mr. Rutherford the samples of tea he brought 

 from Russia, and he promises to let us have the 

 opinions of London brokers on those samples. We 

 cannot doubt that the movement thus initiated by 

 our good friend " Logid " will be followed up by 

 the Planters' Association of Ceylon and by in- 

 dividual planters. If so much tea is drunk in 

 Russia, burdened as the article is with a duty 

 equal to Is Cd per lb., we may look forward to 

 an enormous increase when a less onerous tariff 

 is adopted by the Russian Government. Not much 

 in this direction, at an early date, however, is to 

 be hoped for from a Government which discredits 

 its own depreciated paper money by refusing to 

 accept its promissory notes and insisting on gold 

 and silver payments. Still reform viiist come, even 

 in Russia. Even as matters stand, her tea market 

 is worthy the careful attention of our planters and 

 merchants. 



MR. ELPHINSTONE ON RUSSIA AS A 

 MARKET FOR TEA. 



To the Editor, 



London, 18th Nov. 188G. 

 Dear Sir, — I have for long believed that 

 one of the_ best markets for our Ceylon Tea could 

 be found in Russia and I accordingly made up 

 my mind to visit St. Petersburg and ascertain for 

 myself what chance there would be for the sale 

 of Ceylon Tea, either by wholesale or retail 

 agency. Through the kindness of a friend of mine. 



one of the largest merchants and shipowners in 

 the Leith and Petersburg trade, I was enabled 

 to do my journey at a nominal cost and I am 

 satisfied that my fortnight in Russia gave me more 

 bona fide information as to the requirements of the 

 trade than any amount of letter-writing would have 

 done. Thinking a short account of my trip may be of 

 interest to some of your readers, I send you a 

 few notes of what I saw and ascertained while 

 in Russia. 



I intended leaving Leith by the S. S " Petersburg " 

 but was unable to leave London the day the 

 steamer started and fortunate it was for me as 

 after leaving Leith she had to lay two whole days 

 in Aberleddy Bay, and after that had a fearful 

 passage across the North Sea, arriving fully four 

 days to five days late at Cronstadt— I went 

 via Flushing, Hanover and Berlin to St. Petersburg 

 by train. At Cook's office I got a second-class 

 ticket for £9 10 10 which took me right through, 

 and after a most comfortable journey, extending 

 from 8-30 Wednesday evening till 6-15 Saturday 

 evening, I arrived in St. Petersburg. The journey 

 from London to Petersburg is full of interest to 

 anyone who has never travelled that way before, 

 for besides the charm of novelty, there is so much 

 to be seen of real interest. 



The well-cultivated canal-divided Holland has 

 much sameness, but is of great interest. Then in 

 Germany one passes through varied scenery, and 

 none of more interest than the Black Country 

 where the coal and iron industries are carried out. 

 This is entirely between Hann and Hanover ; 

 Berlin is reached 24 hours after leaving London, 

 another 24 hours brings one to the Russian frontier, 

 and another 24 hours St. Petersburg. 



Once into Russia the temperature was sensibly 

 a great coat colder and at St. Petersburg with 

 ordinary English winter clothing the cold goes 

 right through one. 



On my arrival I was fortunate enough to secure 

 a most comfortable hotel, the Hotel de France. 

 On the following morning, Sunday, I started with 

 a guide to find the S. S. " Petersburg," as she 

 had then ample time to have arrived, but I had 

 a wild-goose chase, for, after 4 hours' cruising up 

 and down the river among the shipping, I ascert- 

 ained that she would not come further up than 

 Cronstadt. I can tell you I had a good taste of 

 Russian cold, 15 degrees of frost in St. Petersburg 

 in an open boat with no furcoat is no joko, and 

 I was right glad after cruising about for some 

 time to see " Dundee " on the stern of a steamer. I 

 promptly called on the Captain and experienced 

 not only his kind hospitality in the way of a 

 good hot Scotch dinner, but he also gave me a 

 lift down to Cronstadt, as he informed me none 

 of the Leith vessels came up further. Cronstadt 

 is 23 miles down the river, the Naval Arsenal and 

 the harbour where, until the completion of the 

 canal, all steamers were unloaded and loaded, the 

 river not having deep enough water for heavy 

 draught before the completion of the canal. Cron- 

 stadt is the key of St. Petersburg, and in ad- 

 dition to the real island there are several arti- 

 ficial islands on which fortifications arc built. 

 From what the older English inhabitants 

 say, Cronstadt ought to have been taken in the 

 Crimean war, but by some mismanagement it was 

 net. I did not find the " Petersburg" and was in- 

 formed she would not arrive till Monday, so I re- 

 turned by one of the river boats. Next day I 

 returned to Cronstadt and found the "Petersburg" 

 had arrived. I was thus able to get my box of sam- 

 ples. It would take longer than you would care 

 to read, to narrate all the trouble I had to clear 

 my box of samples. The difficulty lay in my hay- 



