^ MONTHLY. O 
XXI. 
COLOMBO, NOVEMBER 1st, 1901. 
No. 5. 
FIRST RUSSIAN TEA. 
THE TEA PLANTATIONS OF CONSTANTIN'E POPOFF IN THE 
CAUCASUS. 
AVING beeu closely connected 
with the tea. tiade from a very 
early age, the project of intro- 
ducing the plant into Europe 
had long interested me deeply. 
I clearly saw, however, that 
before such a scheme could be 
carried out with any prospect 
of success, the conditions under which the plant 
flourishes in its natural habitat, the various properties 
of soil most favourable to the growth of the tea shrub, 
and the processes attending the manufacture of tea n 
China, would have to be closely studied. It was not 
until 1889 that I was in a position to carry out my 
long cherished scheme. For this purpose I visited 
Hankow in 1899 ; thanks to the influence exerted in 
my behalf by some Chinese friends, I was enabled, 
n spite of the disturbances then agitating the 
country, to make a thorough study of the cultiva- 
tion of the plant, and of the manner of plucking 
and drying the leaves, as practised in the province 
of Yung-low-toong. I there worked side by side with 
the Chinese workmen. Twice subsequently — viz., in 
1891 and in 1893-1 visited China. On the first of 
these two visits to China I turned my whole attention 
to the flower teas, as uell as to the black, yellow 
and green teas of Foochow, studying later on the 
methods of tea cultivation in Moning andNingchow. 
On my third visit to China, in 1893, a visit which I 
consider as the most satisfaciory of all, by its results, 
I su'iceeded in studying the culture of tea, not only 
in the provinces I have already named, but in 
those of Mankong, Sanho, Ta-sar-ping, Yung-low-see, 
and Nip-oar-see, observing the progress of the plant 
from the first buds to the plucking of the leaf , 
noting the conditions of soil and temperature, the 
atmospheric phenomena, as well as the methoc's 
employed in the culture and preparation of the leaf. 
Ceylon, Java, the Himalaya district, Japan, the 
Sandwich Islands, and Assam were all afterwards 
visited, in turn, more than once. The result f 
these voyages, and several subsequent ones, is that 
I possess ; (a) A collection of specimens of the 
various kinds of soil in which the tea plant flourishes 
best; (h) An herbarium of the branches of the tea 
shrub ; (c) A collection of the various parasites 
that infest the tea plant ; (d) A collection of tools 
used for cultivating the tea shrub ; (e) Specimens 
of the tea-leaf in every phase of its manipulation ; 
and (t) Various kinds of manufactured teas. 
I have imported on to my estates in the Caucasus : 
(a) 10,000 tea shrubs from three Chinese provinces — 
viz., Mankong, Ningchow, and Yung-low-toong, 
(h) 5,000 tea shrubs from Japan. 
(c) 500 ,, „ Ceylon. 
(d) 200 „ „ the Himalaya district. 
(e) 200 ,, ,, Assam. 
(/) 50 ,, „ Java. 
Unfortunately, several of the shrubs perished be- 
fore they reached their destination, I have still, 
however, 1,2.57 bushes imported from China, 67 bushes 
from Japan, 40 from Ceylon, 7 from Java, 16 tea shrnba 
from the Himalaya district, and 22 from Assam. 
The 1,500 bushes which had arrived intact out of 
the 10,000 imported from China had cost me, by 
the time they were landed in Batoum, and I had 
paid the Customs duties on them, close upon 
£5,000 sterling. 
Moreover, as I was particularly anxious that 
these plants should be given every chance, I 
had engaged fourteen Chinese labourers to accom- 
pany them to Russia, plant them iu my estates, 
