Koshman Judah Antonovich (c. 1870 [1] or 1838 according to the tombstone in the village of Solokhaul, Chernihiv Province , Russian Empire - 1935 , Solokhaul , USSR ) - Russian agronomist and breeder who in 1907 laid the most successful tea plantation in the world in the village Solokhaul near Sochi . Previously it was believed that it was impossible to grow tea north of Ajara . Judah Koshman went down in history as the founder of the Sochi variety of tea (also called Krasnodar ) - almost all subsequent tea farms in the Sochi zone were bred with seeds and seedlings from its Solohaul plantation [2] .
| Judah Antonovich Koshman | |
|---|---|
 Judah Koshman (center) with his wife and co-workers. Solohaul, approx. 1910 | |
| Date of Birth | 1838 (1870?) |
| Place of Birth | Chernihiv Province |
| Date of death | 1935 |
| Place of death | Solohaul |
| Citizenship | Russian Empire, USSR |
| Occupation | agronomist, tea breeder |
| Spouse | Matryona Ivanovna Koshman |
| Awards and prizes | Medal "In Memory of the 300th Anniversary of the Reign of the House of Romanov" (1913) Medal "For the Northernmost Tea in the World" (1923) |
Biography
Judah Antonovich Koshman was born in the Chernigov province . The details of his birth and early life are unknown. It is known that Koshman worked on tea plantations in Chakvi ( Ajaria ) at the end of the 19th century.
In 1900, Judah Antonovich moved with his family in Sochi. Initially, the Nightmares settled near Dagomys. There, in 1901, the first tea plantation was laid, and a few years later the harvest was obtained. However, due to a conflict with local traders, who saw a threat to their business on the farmer’s economy, Koshman was forced to curtail production [3] .
In 1905, the family moved to the valley of the Shah River near the village of Pokrovskoye (now Solohaul), where Koshman set up a new personal plot. Among the many fruit crops in the agronomist’s economy there were “800 tea bushes, of which 465 bushes were planted in 1907 and 335 were bushes planted in 1909” [1] .
It is known that in the fall of 1910, Koshman exhibited samples of his tea at the Sochi Agricultural Exhibition. Samples received a good rating.
In 1913, Koshman participated in the exhibition “Russian Riviera” in St. Petersburg, where he presented his tea bushes [3] Koshman was awarded the medal “In Memory of the 300th Anniversary of the Reign of the House of Romanov”, as well as a prize of 200 rubles [1] .
After the October Revolution, Koshman’s special role in the acclimatization of the tea tree at such northern latitudes was fully appreciated. In 1923, at the agricultural exhibition in Moscow, he received the gold medal "For the northernmost tea in the world" [4] .
Judah Antonovich Koshman died in 1935, was buried next to his wife in the territory of his own manor. Literally a year after his death, the mass development of the tea industry in the region began. New plantations were provided with seeds and seedlings from the Koshman plantation [3] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Khalyutin P. V. Peasant economy in Russia. Extract from the description of farms awarded the prize in memory of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the House of Romanov. Caucasus .. - Petrograd, 1915.
- ↑ Bakhtadze KE. The development of tea culture in the USSR. - Tbilisi: Acad. Publishing House. Sciences Cargo. SSR, 1961. - 171 with.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Khokhlachev, V. V. Everything about tea. - M .: "Agropromizdat", 1987.
- ↑ Daraselia M.K. , Vorontsov V.V. , Gvasalia V.P. , Tsanava V.P. Tea Culture in the USSR. - Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1989.