May  i,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
68s 
THE  CAUCASIAN  “TEA”  INDUSTRY, 
EXTRAORDINARY  REVELATIONS. 
A commercial  swindle  of  the  most  barefaced  de- 
scription has  lately  been  brought  to  light  in  Russia. 
* The  St.  Petersburg  correspondent  of  the  Standard 
says  that  M.  Gulishambaroff  read  an  interesting  paper 
on  the  “ Transit  of  Tea  on  the  Russian  Railways,” 
before  the  Russian  Technological  Society,  in  which 
he  showed  that  various  stacions  sent  on  a great  deal 
more  than  they  received,  though  no  tea  plantations 
existed  in  their  neighbourhood.  A striking  example 
of  this  was  the  town  of  Kutais,  on  the  Transcaucasian 
Railway,  which  in  the  year  1890  received  only  one 
thousand  five  hundred  poods,  a quantity  not  more 
than  sufficient  for  its  own  consumption.  Neverthe- 
less, during  the  same  year  it  sent  out  two  thousand 
and  thirty  poods,  a fact  which  led  the  lecturer  to 
examine  more  closely  this  particular  case. 
It  then  appeared  that  an  enterprising  merchant 
of  Kutais  had  applied  to  the  “ Caucasian  Soicety 
of  Rural  Economy”  to  give  him  their  enlightened 
assistance  in  order  to  procure  special  privileges  for 
the  manufacture  of  “ Caucasian  tea,”  of  which  he 
furnished  them  with  samples.  The  chemical  analyst 
of  the  Society  discovered,  however,  that  the  so- 
called  tea  was  nothing  more  than  the  leaves  of  the 
wild  plant  called  “ brussnik”  ( Vaccinium  acrosta- 
phylos),  which  grows  in  profusion  in  the  forests 
round  Kutais,  and,  in  fact,  over  the  greater  part  of 
Russia.  The  secret  of  the  preparation  of  the  leaves 
proved  to  be  very  simple,  consisting  merely  in 
crumpling  them  iu  the  hand,  or  treading  them 
under  the  naked  foot  into  a lump  of  “ dirty  green 
material.”  which  was  afterwards  dried  in  the  sun, 
under  whose  heat  the  leaves  curled  and  shrivelled 
into  a resemblance  to  ordinary  tea.  An  infusion 
was  made,  but  the  taste  was  so  bitter  and  abomin- 
able that  nobody  could  be  found  to  drink  off 
a cup.  Consequently,  the  Society  refused  its 
countenance  decisively  to  the  manufacture  of 
Caucasion  tea,  a step  which  did  not  prevent 
the  inventor  from  pursuing  his  happy  idea,  which 
soon  found  imitators.  The  extent  to  which  this  trade 
has  grown  may  be  guessed  from  the  fact  that  from 
one  property,  near  Kutais,  three  thousand  poods  were 
exported,  at  an  average  price  of  six  roubles  a pood. 
Considering  that  the  cheapest  tea  on  ordinary 
price  lists  is  one  rouble  fifty  copecks  a pound,  or 
fifty-six  roubles  a pood,  the  damage  done  to  honest 
dealers  by  those  who  buy  the  “ Caucasian  tea  ” to 
mix  with  their  stock  can  easily  be  imagined. 
The  best  tea  in  St.  Petersburg  is  quoted  at  four 
roubles,  or  eight  shillings,  the  pound,  and  that 
generally  drunk  by  the  middle  classes  at  about  five 
shillings,  and  the  consumption  is  enormous.  It  is 
shown  by  M.  Gulishambaroff  that  the  principal 
market  for  ‘‘Caucasian  tea”  is  Odessa,  from  whence 
it  is  sent  up  to  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  and 
quite  a sensation  has  been  created  by  his  revelation, 
since  nothing  of  the  kind  was  suspected,  and  in  an 
elaborate  monograph  recently  published  by  M. 
Lubbotin  on  “ Tea  and  the  Tea  Trade  in  Russia  and 
Other  Countries”  not  a word  was  mentioned  with 
reference  to  “Caucasian  tea.” — Pioneer. 
VARIOUS  AGRICULTURAL  NOTES. 
Rubber  Cropping  in  the  Dumbara  Valley. 
— We  regret  to  learn  from  Mr.  Vollar  that  his 
Rubber  cultivation  in  Dumbara  is  not  likely  to 
be  permanent.  The  Cearas  were  originally  planted 
as  shade  trees  for  the  caoao,  but  they  have  not 
proved  very  suitable  for  this  purpose  and  will 
probably  have  to  be  cut  down.  Meantime  perhaps 
5,000  lb.  of  rubber  will  be  collected  on  Pallakelle 
this  season  : a cooiy  by  beginning  the  tapping 
eaily  in  the  morning  usually  gets  3 1b.  of  rubber 
in  the  liquid  or  soft  stale,  which  haidens  and 
dries  down  to  perhaps  half  that  weight.  There 
is  no  fortune  to  be  made  out  of  this,  considering 
how  long  the  rubber  trees  have  to  grow  before 
jieldingan  appreciable  quantity  of  milk. 
Coconut  Butter  is  now  being  made  at  Mann- 
heim. The  method  of  manufacture  was  discovered 
by  Dr.  Sehlunk,  a practical  chemist  at  LudwigshafeD, 
the  butter  is  said  to  be  very  nourishing. — Indian 
Agriculturist , Maroh  11. 
Coconuts  and  Cacao  or  Liberian  Coffee 
Cultivation. — We  call  attention  to  the  practical 
remarks  of  our  correspondent  “ W.  J.”  in  reference 
to  questions  raised  in  our  columns — more  parti- 
cularly as  regards  coffee  or  oaoao  being  cultivated 
with  oooonuts. 
Bolivian  Coca  and  Cinchona. — From  the 
Peruvian  port  of  Mollendo  123,000  Bo'es’  worth  of  ooca- 
leaves  were  exported  in  1891,  the  Chemist  and  Druggist 
tells  us.  These  If  aves,  with  few  exceptions,  come  from 
Bolivia  mostly  from  the  district  of  Cuzoo.  The  bulk  of 
the  leaves  were  sent  to  Hamburg.  There  is  a tendency 
(assisted  by  the  recent  civil  war  in  Chile)  for  Bolivian 
products  more  and  more  to  come  into  trade  by  w ay  of 
Mollendo,  instead  of  as  formerly  via  Tacna.Arica.  The 
exports  of  cinchona-bark  from  Mollendo  reached  217,200 
soles’  worth  in  1891.  Most  of  this  also  was  of  Bolivian 
origiu. 
Science  and  Coffee-planting. — Our  contem- 
porary of  the  “Times”  is  plainly  unjust  in 
denying  any  benefit  our  ooffee-planters  ever  received 
from  “ scienoe  ” or  “ soientifio  men.”  First  of  all, 
he  forgets  that  if  the  warning  of  one  man  of  soience 
— the  late  G.  H.  K.  Thwaites,  f.r.s. — had  teen 
attended  to,  Ceylon  coffee  planters  would  have 
saved  a great  amount  of  money  put  into  coffee  after 
1870.  Dr.  Thwaites  foretold  oorreotly- though  no 
one  behaved  him  at  ihe  time— that  Hemileia vastatrix 
had  come  to  stay  and  to  wear  out  Arabain  ooffee  in 
Ceylon.  Then  as  regards  Mr.  D.  Morris  and  Mr.  Mar- 
shall Ward,  each  did  undoubted  good  service  to  the 
planter,  and  the  latter  most  fully  and  accurately 
worked  out  the  life-history  of  the  fungus  pest, 
making  it  very  apparent  how  imposssible  it  was 
to  fight  it  successfully  in  any  large  district  in 
Ceylon.  Scienoe  therefore  should  not  be  des- 
pised in  the  present  day  in  regard  to  tea, 
though  it  is  open  to  every  planter  and 
man  of  sense  to  consider  what  value  Bhould 
be  attached  to  counsel  of  a positive  as  well 
as  of  a negative  character.  To  be  told  what 
not  to  do,  is  often  as  important  as  it  is  to  learn 
what  ought  to  be  done, 
Ceylon  Teas  and  Keeping  up  their  Repu- 
tation.— Tea  planters  will  give  all  due  consideration 
to  the  letLer  from  Minoing  Lane  of  Mr.  Wm. 
Somerville,  our  esteemed  feliow-oolonist,  in  reference 
to  the  importance  of  keeping  up  the  quality  of 
our  teas.  There  is  a good  deal  in  what  is 
urged,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  Ceylon  planters, 
— espeoially  as  a swing  of  the  pendulum  is  about 
due  in  favour  of  fine  teas, — will  be  careful  not  to 
abandon  their  medium  plucking.  But  we  should 
certainly  have  liked  Mr.  Somerville  (as  he  was 
writing  with  the  brokers  and  tea  buyers  within 
reach)  to  enter  into  some  explanation  of  the  state 
of  the  market  and  the  distinct  discouragement 
offered  to  fine  teas  sinoe  the  beginning  of  the 
year.  Here  by  this  mail,  onefirm  reports, — “Demand 
principally  directed  to  sorts  below  8d  per  lb.”, 
while  another  makes  the  following  comparison:— 
C ylon  Aug.  '92.  March  '93. 
Pekoe  Souchongs  61  8jd 
Broken  Pekoe  lid  10Id 
There  can  be  no  question  of  the  effect  of  such  a 
turn  of  the  market  in  encourging  the  shipment 
of  souchongs  ; but  we  oxpeot  to  see  fine  teas  very 
soon  in  demand,  and  our  planters  will  no  doubt 
be  ou  their  guard. 
