January j, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRiCULT URIST, 



479 



33 cents per cooly, and working this out, I find it 



comes to the following : — 



58 coolies at 33 cents = R19' 1-1 



Leas 8 coolies ,, = 2- 64 



K16- 50 



or per lb. on 400 lb. a saving of 4-125e not 74o as stated. 



The same mistake appeal's in the former part of Mr. 

 Armstrong's paper, under the hearling cost of plucking, 

 manufacture, packing. &c. The 6'3C0 cents for 

 withering, rolling and firing, becomes, as shown above. 

 E19-14 -=- 400 = i'TSSc, the total 15-785c instead of 

 I'-oOOc, and the total cost of tea hand-made 37'285o 

 not 39 cents. 



Deducting from this the total cost of cultivation 

 aud manufacture by machinery, viz : — 

 Cultivation 21 oOOc. 



Manufacture 11 "160 



lb. iu quantity and of easy sale. This is based on the 

 present high price of Para, viz., 4s per lb. for fine. Like 

 cinchona, rubber in small odd lots does not meet fair at- 

 tenl Ain and frequently Las to be sold under the value of 

 quantities. Consumption is enormous —15,000 tons a year — 

 and no lots of less I han a ton or two ought usually to be im- 

 port'.'d. But as a specimen and for a trial a few cwts. might 

 do at first. Value is still very high. — Dear sirs, yours faith 

 fully. Lewis & Peat, 



32660 not 31-660 as 

 'misquoted" by Mr. Owen, we have .37 '2850. 

 less .32 -660 



a saving of 4 '625 

 instead of 6'340c, or a difference of l'715c, due 

 apparently to a clerical error, which has run through 

 all the calculations. 



As the cost of the operations in which machinery is 

 used (and including withering) is seldom at 41c. 



0'25 

 and say at the outside, for re-flring 0'12 



A PBOBLEM FOR SOLUTION IN VEGET- 

 ABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 

 ^ Dimbula, 1883. 



I Dear Sir, — The fall of leaves results from the 

 choking up of their tissues by continued deposits 

 during evaporation. Being unable to perform their func- 

 tions they dry up, and die, and weakened at their point 

 of attachment, or articulation, fall off by their own 

 weight or contracting by loss of moisture disconnect 

 I themselves and /all. 

 j Here is analysis of the foregoing :— 

 I Their full developnit^nt 60 days 



Their choking up by deposits 120 do 



Their decay 160 do 



Advent of H. V. 60 days after their full develop- 

 ment. 

 Acceleration of decay by H.V. unknown.— Yours 

 i truly, J. HAWKE. 



0'78, it fol- 

 lows that the error now pointed out is equal to more 

 than the total cost of manufacture by machinery; or 

 in other words, as was said to you by the "gentleman 

 of authority," to whom the starting of the discussion 

 is due (and who was very undeservedly sneered at by 

 your correspondents), the saving represented by Messrs. 

 Armstronj^ and Owen i.s greater than the whole cost of 

 the operations in which machinery is used, as shown 

 in these c.ilcuUtions '. 



I am accused of misquoting Mr. Owen, and even you 

 are down upon me. Now, in the abovemeutioned 

 paragraph the saving by machinery is set down as 

 7J cents for withering, rolling and firing, and half-a- 

 cent is allowed as the saving on sorting— or together 

 7 |c.! I only said 78 cents. 



These figures remained in my mind, aud I quoted 

 them as part of the original figures under discussion, 

 although the estimated saving had been modified to 

 7 cents (Mr. Owen's Essay) or 6i cents roughly 

 and must now be again modified to 4'62 cents, or at 36 

 cents per cooly, 5 cents per lb. 



ADAM'S PEAK. 



[We insert the present letter only liecause the 

 writer is specially anxious to set himself right. As 

 regards saving by machinery, we are satisfied that it 

 amounts to 5 cents per lb., while the saving in 

 labour is still more important, in view of the fact 

 that by the time Ceylon grows tea in tens of millions of 

 pounds, coolies to hand- roll the quantity would not be 

 forthcoming. — Ed.] 



REPORT ON CEYLON CEAEA RUBBER. 



New Peradeniya, 29th Nov. 188.". 

 Deak SlE, — The following report on a sample of 

 Ceard rubber I sent home is from Messrs. Lt-wis & 

 Peat.— Yours faithfully, H. A. GILLIAT. 



Copi/. 



In reply to your favom- of the 29th, the samples of 

 Oeylon Ceara rubber which you hand us seem of good 

 buftlity, and we estimate the value at 2s 9d to 2s lOd per 



BLACKSTONE TEA. 



Dear Sir, — In the tea memo, of Messrs. Thompson 



brokers, published iu your issue of the 24th instant, 



there is a manifest error as regards the prices obtained 



for our August crop sold on 3rd October which aft'ccts 



I the credit of our tea. 



I send you copy of account sales furnished by Messrs. 

 ' Wm. Law & Co. for your own satisfaction, which 

 please return after perusal. The tea sold as fol- 

 lows ; — 

 1 Behests Bro. Pekoe 275tt) @ 2,4i £35 7 



e „ Pekoe 471 1/6J 36 6 1 



9 „ Souchong 715 1/2 41 14 2 



1 „ Dust 102 1/1 5 10 6 



i "ig" 1,583 £118 11 4 



The receipt by us of a cheque at the above rates 

 1 affords a more tangible proof of tlie correctness of 

 ' the above than even t! e copy account sales. There 

 i is no mistake about- the shipment, as our September 

 I shipment did not leave the estate till the latter end of 

 the month, and conld not have been sold on 3rd October, 

 I besides the number of chests do not correspond. — 

 ' Yours faithfully, FRED. BARBER, Superiuteudeiit. 



i COFFEE AND THE LEAP FUNGUS. 



Dear Sir, — I had hoped "An Old Coffee Stump" 

 I would have eaid something either for or against the 

 ' possibility of the advent of leaf-disease being due 

 ' to insufliciency or absence of crossing during fertiliz- 

 1 ation, but regret that he has done neither, as he has 

 , disposed of the fubjuct without even having touched 

 on the point in question. Before it can be disposed 

 j of, facts must be elucidated concerning the following: — 

 From whence was the seed obtained that served to 

 plant that estate (where leaf-disease was first re- 

 , ported)? Did the' estate or estates in which the parent 

 trees were located give an average or lower than 

 I the average crop in the season that that seed was 

 ! saved? Were the parent trees in estates surrounded by 

 jungV: or in the midst of a group of opened properties. 

 I Thes.i points would require to be decided conclus- 

 ' ively, in a manner which could admit of no poss- 

 ibility of error. Further, the same questions should 

 I be i pplied to a generation or two back, while there 

 are other questions that suggest themselves but are 

 i not of such importance as these. 



