54 » 
THE TROPICAL AORICULTURI8T. 
[February i, 1892. 
Ultra, etn. Governments where this tea is now 
mostlj known, drank pure and apx)rcciated by tboa- 
Baude of people. 
I have apfeLts in all the abovenanied Gorermnen's, 
and Depots for the salo of Ceylon Tea— on commia* 
flion or otherwise — are permanent!^ opened in everyone 
of thiir prmctpaUowDs. In Nijim-Novgorod, after the 
fair at the special request of the goncral poblio, I have 
also opened, on my own account, a rotnil-whoUsKlo 
Majjaziuo where I have sold from the 12th September 
tip to 3Ut October an average of 250 lb per week, wh-ch 
I consider as being a very good bcgiiu ing, vi ry encour- 
aging for the future, making me hopeful of doing 
there before long a considerable business, this Oovero- 
raent being the centre of tea operatious and the very 
one from ond for in which a new article has to be 
introduced loto Russia, 
A fact, however, worthy of notice is that St. Peters- 
burg and its Government has been, up to date, rathor- 
more difhoalt to oonvitioo ; the public seems to bo there 
more ooQservative as regarJs their taste for tea, and 
this field would thus require to be especially worked 
with extensive reclaim and large saoiificeB. 
Out of the 42,0001b. of tea I have imported into Kusda 
up to date, the quantity sold in retail (packets) us 
sbowu above, since the opening of iny business wa>8 
all for the general oonsumplion, viz: the sorts from 
Kb. 1-60 to Hb. 3. to the butter public and the tea from 
Rb 1-20 to Rb 1-50 to the lower classes, workman, 
peasantB, etc. The wholesi^es (part in packets and 
part in o&96s) about 15,000 lb. were made mostly to 
dealers acd Tractirs (Public houses). 
The Moscow wholesale and retail morclmntH, largo 
firms like Wogau k Co., K. and S. Prpoff k Co., 
Qoubkiue, Rastargonieff, Bobkine, etc., have, I am 
sorry to notice, not begun jet to buy from me, and 
this for the only reason that they arc sll ag:viust mo 
on account of my having opened magszino.s for the 
sale ill retail of pure Ceylon Tea, thus setting in 
competition with them against their rubbish ^'Cbiucsi;” 
and for mixtures of **Ceylou and Ohinoso,” hut now 
they import largely Ceylon kinds fnin London,*' 
used here for blending purposes, and it is an indi5- 
puable fact, the accompanying extracts of a letror 
from Mr. Seaton, ox-AsFam tea planter, who inten st> 
ed himself so much iu the welfare of the introdne- 
tiou of Oevlou and ludiau Teas iu Uuss'a and w ho 
was here, last year with mo, will testify it, that 
einoe I aca here the export of Oeylon tea " from 
London to Russia has oousidorably incroased. 1 wish 
I could furnish statistics of import iu Russia, but 
these are very difficult to procure here; it would be 
easier to get statistics in London of the exports to 
Russia. 
Smaller houses have often bought my toa in qnau- 
tities of 10 to 15 ossesat a time ; also for the hlendiug 
of Chinese. This is done now so largely and in such 
proportioos for ** Ceylon that all thene firms are 
damaging their names us well os Iboic marks for good 
Ohiucse, thus likely without seoing if, acoustomlng by 
degree the Russian public to the tas'o cf “ Ceylou ” 
and therefore helping mo greatly and serving <on- 
eiderably our cause and interests. This also will be 
testified by the letter (translation attached) of a Karkoff 
Russian mordianf, who takes the greatest interest in 
the Ceyluo staple. 
Keoabdino Pnic’Es. — Six months ago, when the ster- 
ling exchange was at Rb. 8‘50 per i! at. and the gold 
agio (duty ia always paid ia gold) relatively low about 
35 c/o, A t« a oosiing in Loudon 101. cuuld bo laid 
down in Moscow at Rb. 1*10 kop. Russian lb. duty paiil, 
now that the exchange has gone to over Ub. 10*50 
per £ St. and the agio is ttuolnatiug up to 73 o/o, 
the very same toa turns up to Rb. 1 50 kop., duty 
paid, in Moscow, a difference of fully 40 Oy'o. The 
above prices for “ Ooylon’* oompvred with tlje prioee for 
“Ohiucse’* are in favour of the former, because not with- 
standing thtix purity and economy, it is low mccr- 
taiaod by many that a Ceylon Tea sold hero at 
lay Rb. 2 per lb. is of far better quality than any 
• Which tho figures for exports from Britaiu to 
Uutiaia do not seem to bear out.— En. J\ A. 
mixture of Gbinefie and Oejlon sold at same price ; 
I Inve been often told that my pure Ceylon at say 
Rb. 160 per lb. is of much bettor quality than toa 
at lib. 2 from Pupoff, Tillippoff or other retailers. 
Reclame. — ^'fhis, as 1 have already po'uled out, is 
the “koy“ to the sucoobs, the “ main hinge “ in the 
•nterprise. To push an article, to introduce a new 
product, reclame and advertisomenls are absolutely 
neoesj'ary ; it is the s^mo in ev« ry country of the world; 
acd iu Russia when, I may say, this is carrel by all 
on a veiy largo and ixleneivo scale— perfectly well 
understood enormous sums being given away for th’a 
purpose— it ou^ht cortamly to be done especially when 
tho object in question is to change the taste of 
thousands of people aocQ.stomed to an article solely 
known by them which nevir had a like one to compete 
with. For Ceylon tea it is uot thousands, but many 
thi u-'ands of Roubles which ought to be ^pent now— 
after its iniroduotion — for its extonsinn all over this 
country, and I wish 1 could do as much as the enU r- 
prising American mer- chant who is now spending n 
sum of 40,000 Dollars in the reclame for Ceylon tea in 
the Ignited States, as will be shown by the interes'ing 
article pabliehod recently in the“Pycckoe Odozpirme”* 
Russian Review, of which I attach herewith a transla- 
tion. 
1 annex accounts showing first expenditure maiio in 
trying to attain these en ls, and I will draw again 
tho attent'on of your Committr o on the noco.ssity of 
muob mere fnnds to bo sacrificed in order to oou- 
tinuo tbe work and obtain the desired results, as it 
must be well understoo I that although some progress 
has evidently been made, much moio remains to bo 
done before Russia gets its toa supplies dinct and 
regularly from Ceylon. 
After having prolimtDarily advertised in newspapers 
snd by other dilTerert means, niy reclame began 
with the opening of my magazine fMtiroseika, House 
Lebledieff) of which the so ompaujing photos perhaps 
will prove of some interest in Ocylo *, in order to 
give the ptiblh the possibility of buying this tea iu 
packets and dritk it pure. PUcards, prioc-currentp, 
fly-bills, reclame, books, etc. (as per accompanying 
rpeeimen) have been printed and distributed abundantly 
all over the country and especially in the Kiosk 
opened at the French Exhibition iu Moscow wbero 
tea iu packets Aid in cup was eoM and presented 
to tbe public duiiug five months. 
In a commercial point of view this Kiobk was 
a complete failure, Rb. 2,0CK1 and more have bron 
dropp d, but it was and is still very not'oe^ble 
that it did a great deal of good as well in Moicow 
as iu the province, the sale having thus much increased. 
Auothor reclame of great weight was the Kijiui 
Novgorod Fair about which I have already written 
above ; tkero I may aay, Belling tea in packets of Jib. 
Ilb. ^Ih and lib. 1 have given to many tbous nds of 
people cf all olaasea and of almost all parts of the 
country, the means of tasting tbe pure and genulno 
article and I do not think it is bMsteroua f of myself 
to predict for the uext Fair there, a very consider- 
able business, if 1 am in a position to bring ou tb<^i 
market the necessary quantity of tea to do it. If 
calculate that about 50,000 lb. could easily be sold 
there (retail and wholesale) during tho foity days 
the Fair lasts. 
Paid Aoents were sLo engaged by me to visit Moscow 
and the Province, offering my tea in private house*, 
restau ants, bote s, tractirs, ttc. iu fact In every 
plac:) wbero tea is drunk, aud the result aa.s that 
many of these have been gained to tho cause of 
Oeylon tea and became my regular cuitonu rs, as 
they very soon found out the great and indisputable 
I'coi-oray in using it. Many, bowevor, are still re- 
luctant to its p'cula- taste compared with * Chi e c” 
aud it wi'l require a groat deal more work of per- 
• Mr. Rogivue oridcnily wrote tho name it* 
Russian. “Pycckoo” should be “ Russky.” “ OJoz- 
pirine ” is beyond us.— E d. T. A. 
t Mr. Rogivue moaut to say “boastful." — E d- T.A. 
