559 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. I, 1898. 
for something “extra special” on my arrival at 
St. Petersburg. Soon did T find it, as many 
otlierSgood old stories of Russia| -vvere, a huge 
delusion. The tea as drunk by the Russians, 
is very weak, with little flavour, and as a 
finish, it is served in thick tumblers. The 
custom of drinking tea in tumblers dates back 
to 1812. When the Trench soldiers entered Mos- 
cow they are said to have broken all the croc- 
kery, and only a few tumblers were found on 
their departurk In these the tea was served to 
the higher officials, and ever after it has be- 
come the custom. At 2 p.m., I again entered 
the office of Mr. Popoff, and was met by the 
chief clerk, who informed me, “ Mr. Popoff was 
not in, he was away from home, and would 
not be back that day ” I told the gentleman 
I would call the following day. “ It will be 
of no use, Mr. Popoff is away, and will not be 
back.” I thought it strange after my interview 
in the morning as then not a word was said 
as to Mr. Popoff being out of the city ! I 
asked for Mr. Popolfs address, as I wished to 
write him ? “ Don’t know, he is away, and 
may not be back for a month.” My doubts 
were then confirmed ; this gentleman must be a 
pure-bred Russian ; not one word of what he 
has said is true. The following morning, I 
went to the side entrance, and tlius avoided my 
friend of the previous day; sent in my card, 
end was shown into the Committee room where 
I met Mr. Popoff — “ the gentleman who was 
away, did not know where, and would not be 
back for a month or more !*” 
Mr. Popoff the founder of the firm “ K. & C. 
Popoff” (whose jiacketteas are known throughout 
the length and breadth of Russia), is very interest- 
ing to talk with, and all the more so to a Ceylon 
Tea Planter, as some of his ideas on the growing and 
preparing of tea are to say the least strange from 
our point of view. Mr. Popoff cannot understand 
why we in Ceylon, and India will spoil our teas by 
prejiaring them with macliinery when we have so 
much cheap labour? On his plantation where the 
cost of labor is Is. 6d. per day and free lodging 
it is possible they may use a roller and sirocco 
for the cheaper teas, but it will be much against 
his will as he knows it destroys the natural 
flavor of the tea ! ! Mr. Popoff says the differ- 
ence between hand rolled tea and that rolled by 
niachinery is as great as, “ a good tune played 
by a fine orchestra, and the same fiom a 
German organ ” ! Mr. Popoff who had visited 
China, Java and Ceylon, intends to adopt the 
])lanting system of the former, as- it is far a-head 
of that in Ceylon ! ! ! The prayer of the Indian 
and Ceylon tea gro\ er will be that not only Mr- 
Popoff, but otluis who maybe interested in the 
cultivation of t<a in Russia, will not only think, 
but carry out his ideas. Before leaving Mr. 
Popoff jiromised to send me a packet of tea 
grown on his plantation in the Caucasus, and a 
card of admission to the Superintendent who 
would show me round. 
A few days later, the tea and card having 
arrived, I took the express for Odessa, where I 
arrived in forty-eight hours. During my stay 
in Odessa I had the tea valued by the principal 
tea buyer in the South of Russia; “good tea 
suitable for blending, worth six-pence jier 
[lound C.I.P. Odessa.” M^itli Is ICd per lb. 
duty in his favor the Russian tea-grower could 
realise 2s 4d. The question is— should it pay 
to grow tea at that price what is the Govern- 
ment to do ? 
BATOUM. 
Make it a Government monopoly, place an 
excise duty, or stand to lose five and a half 
millions .sterling which is the revenue from the 
imports of tea ! Knowing the Russian Govern- 
ment as I do, I am very certain it will not be 
the latter. Take petroleum from the wells at 
Baku (Caucasus). The price free on board at 
Batoum is 30 Kp (7^d) per pood (four gallons) the 
excise on that consumed in Russia is 60 Kp. 
(Is 3d) per pood, just double the cost of the 
oil. Tobacco grown in the Caucasus is taxed in the 
same way, and leaves the grower little profit. On 
the 13th November I sailed from Odessa for 
Batoum, where we arrived on the 18th after 
an interesting passage, as the steamer called 
at many ])orts including Sebastopol, where 
I visited the battle fields of the Crimea. 
Batoum has grown much of late, and now has 
a population of 24,000. That it has a great future 
no one can doubt, as not only is it the seaport for 
the great petroleum wells at Baku, the export 
from which in 1895 was 957,711 tons, valued at 
£3,634,000 sterling ; lut it is the terminus for 
the Siberian railway, the importance and future 
of which few have any idea. On landing only 
one fort at the entrance to the town is visible, 
but during my stay I discovered it to be a second 
Gibraltar with guns all over the mountain 
which forms a back to the town. 
EUSSIAN PLANTATIONS. 
Calling on the manager of Mr. Pepofl’s retail estab- 
lishment I was astounded to learn that even he was 
not admitted to the plantation. He also informed 
me that the Minister of Finance at St. Peters- 
burg, after driving to the plantation, was not 
allowed to enter it The Svostchiks demanded 
double fare to drive to the plantation, as the snow 
in parts was deep, and they require four horses, 
so I decided to wait till the following day when 
I took train to Chakva and visited the first 
Russian tea plantation, which I now discovered 
was started by Colonel Solovitzoff in 1885. 
During my stay at the Caucasus I visited the 
Solovitzoff plantation, which has 100 acres 
of tea, Popoff’s plantation with 250 acres, and 
the Imperial Domains plantation with 150 acres. 
Colonel Solovitzoff, a retired Officer of the 
Engineers, was the pioneer tea planter in Russia. 
In 1885 he planted 36 trees that were imported 
from China ; with the seed gathered from these 
36 trees, 250 out of the 500 acres in the Cau- 
casus have been planted. The much-prized seed 
bearers stand three feet high, and are to be seen 
in front of the factorjq that they will each year 
bear seed in abundance they may be assured, as 
they are a jat known only too well at great cost 
to many in India and Ceylon. I vent through a 
clearing in its seventh year and fouml it not as far 
advanced as tea in Ceylon or India in its third 
year. This is partly due to the short summer, bad 
seed, and strong winds from the sea to which all 
the plantations are exposed. 
MR. popoff’s PLANTATION. 
Ml'. Popoff has his plantation closely 
guarded. On arrival at the gate three 
Circassians, each armed with two swords, 
three pistols, and a rifle, presented themselves 
and demanded my permit. Handing my card 
of admission through the bars, two entered a 
hut to study the document, while a third kept 
guard. After some fifteen minutes, when they 
had satisfied their curiosity, one ascended the hill 
to the Superintendent’s bungalow; another fifteen 
minutes in the sleet, and the messenger returned 
