S4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTQEIST. [July 1, 1902. 
a year s.go {vide issue of Oth May 1901, page 330). 
All the older vines are Jaden with pods of iine 
size and substance, many of the pods being over 
nine inches long already, and have another four 
months yet to grow in. — Indian Gardening and 
Planting, May 8, 
THE RUSSIAN TEA MARKET 
DESCRIBED.! 
BY A EUSSIAN TEA MERCHANT. 
Mr. T. 0. Tchokoff, the Acting Russian Vice- 
Consul's address to the " Thirty Committee " last 
week, was to the following effect, Mr TchokofF 
clearly setting forth his views under (hree heads : — 
1 The favourable condition just now for buying 
tea on tha Chinese market. 
2 The -under-fermenting of Ceylon teas intended 
for the Eussian market. 
3 The demand at present in Kasaia for low- 
grown tea. 
4 The necessity of the one-pound draft to be allowed 
as done in London. 
5 The improving of tea chests for shipment. 
6 The means of advertising Oeylon tea in Russia. 
MOMENT FAVOrrRABLE FOR BUYING IN RUSSIA. 
Let me now look into the above-mentioned ques- 
tions. 
1 Talking of the favourable condition jnst now for 
buying tea. in China, the tea market for Kussia, you 
are, of course, Gentlemen, all of you awaro, that at 
the present moment the cost of silver is about 20 
per cent lower than it was a year ago. Take the 
average price of China tea paid by Russian buyers 
last year — it was about 20 taels per picul, which at 
the present low exchange would be 30 cents per 
pound on the local market. 
Now I have iuformation by wire from Hankow that 
they expect a very large crop this year and I don't 
see auy reason why the average price in China 
should be higher this yeiir than last year. The 
average I paid here last year for Ceylon tea was 
42 cts, per pound and, reckoning with the present 
condition of the local market, I don't think that my 
average will be lower this year; thus 1 shall have to 
pay twopence more for Ceylon tea than for China 
tea, always considering the exchange and the lower 
price of silver. If I mention this, Gentlemen, I do it 
to show you how ketn I expect the competition to be 
in Russia between China and Ceylon 'teas this year, 
and how every effort must be made to maintain the 
Ceylon tea at the place it has already attained on the 
Russian market. 
CEASE UNDER-FKRMENTATION OF CEYLON TEA 
FOR RUSSIA. 
2. One of the measures to this effect I should 
think would be to slop the under-fermenting of Ceylon 
tea intended for the Russian market. We want the 
Ceylon tea for blending with China tea and there- 
fo..u we require all its primili' e vigour, sspecially 
so as teas in China are, owin^ to the low prices, 
manufactured fery weak. Adiipting Ceylon tea to so- 
called Russian taste by making it, through underfer- 
menting, more like China tea is, in my opinion a 
decided mistake, as pure Ceylon tea is, up to the pre» 
sent date, sold in Russia in very small quantities. 
RUSSIAN DEMAND FOR I,OW-GROWN TEAS. 
3. At the present moment the demand in Russia is 
mostly for cheap grades and, therefore, the low-grown 
teas if well fermented, when they are very appropriate 
for blending, ought to be more energetically pushed 
on the local market than has been done. 
NECESSITY OF THE ONE-POUND DRAFT. 
4. In my opinion it will have to be done sooner or 
later, that a draft of one pound per package should 
be allowed, which I am quite sure will be grwitly ap. 
preciated in Russia. We must all of ns not forget 
that every buyer in London has not only this privilege 
but also a three months' credit, which considerably 
acilitates business. 
IMPROVED CHESTS WANTED. 
5. Don't you think, Gentlemen, that the chests, in 
which the tea is packed and shipped, might be im- 
proved upon ? I often do not buy tea from estates, 
where the packing, to my knowledge, is unsatisfactory. 
As to the means of advertising Ceylon tea on onr 
Russio.n market, I don't think that any special activity 
on the part of the agents would be of any great use. 
THE TEA BUSINESS IN RUSSIA 
is practically in the hands of a few leading firms in 
Moscow anfl St, Petersburg who have a full insight into 
the qualities of Ceylon tea and who at present buy it 
on the Loudon and local markets, selling it themselves 
to smaller firms. To try to enter into direct commuoi- 
cation with these smaller, would-be buyers, through 
agents or with consumers even, by establishing tea 
kiosks etcetera, is not only, in my opinion, a perfectly 
useless and hopeless spending of money, but is sure to 
lead to displeasure on the part of the principal firms, 
the buyers of Ceylon tea, and in that case they are 
snre to look for other markets to get their tea from, 
for instance from India. 
THE LEAF. 
One more point, Gentlemen, I should like to «lraw 
your attention to, find that is the leaf ; a small, care- 
fully rolled up leaf is especially appreciated on the 
Russian market. 
PLANTING NOTES 
Green Tea. — Our contemporary's omni- 
science as to the best green teas for the 
American market, although no reports of 
the prices fetched by the new makes hav« 
been announced yet, is vastly amusing. We 
shaU be interested to note the attitude it will 
take np when and if suhstautial eye-openers 
come to hand. Meanwhile green tea pro- 
ducers in Ceylon, who we were very glad to 
see had m;id« nearly 750,0001b. in tour 
months this year, will doubtless better ap- 
preciate the I.P.G.'s most practical article 
by an " old planter" (reproduced elsewhere) 
better than half a column or a column of 
semi-second-hand editorials, such as appear 
in the local " Times " of last night. 
The Hemp Trade.— A circular has been issued 
to the members of this trade drawing their at- 
tention to an act recently passed in the United 
States, entitled "Act temporarily to proride 
Revenue for the Philippines and other purposes." 
Under this Act (Section 11) the present export 
duty of $7'50 gold per ton is abolished in the case 
of hemp shipped direct to the United States, the 
effect being tantamount to the imposition of 
a discriminating tax on all hemp shipped from 
the Philippines to the United Kingdom and other 
parts of the world. The circular points out that 
" the grave importance of this matter to the 
rope-niaking industry of the country will be 
obv ious. The fact of our manufacturers having 
to pay about 30s per ton more for hemp than 
their competi-^^ors in the United States constitutes 
a serious menace to the trade, especially as there 
would appear to be nothing to ))revent the present 
export duty being doubled or trebled, should the 
United States Government think fit." It is sue. 
gested that it is in the interests of the trade 
that a memorandum on the subject shosld be 
submitted to the Foreign Offics.— London Times, 
Apri 7, 
