?o6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 2, 188s. 



Holmes' Botanical Ndte Book, which will he 

 found advertized in another column, ia a work worthy 

 of its author, whose name is well-known to readers 

 of the Tropical Agricullw ist. It is intended as an aid 

 to students in acquiring a practical knowledge ok 

 botany, and ia admirably adapted for that purpose. 

 First there are diagrams of flowering plants, which 

 are explained, then directions for examining plants, 

 followed by remarks ou the microscopical examination 

 of plants and directions for describing plants in the 

 schedules ; then comes a glossary, interleaved with 

 blank pages, and then the scnedules, which occupy 

 the main part of the book and have an index; after 

 these come several charts with directions and ap- 

 pendixes, a floral calendar, and an index for use in 

 medical sohoola. All lovers of plants and flowers 

 should have a copv. 



HOKREKELLY COCONUT CULTIVATION GOV., CEYLON.— 



1. The Directors have the pleasure of submitting here- 

 with the Accounts for the year 1S84, shewing a profit 

 of K31. 97263, which, with the balance from 1883, less a 

 loss of B42348, incurred by the su s pension of the Oriental 

 Bank Corporation, leaves a sum of B33,700'57 avail- 

 able for distribution. 



2. The Directors recommend that a dividend of 12^ 

 per cent, be paid from this amount on the Capital now 

 ranking for dividend, leaving a baiance of R22U57 to be 

 carried to 18S5 from the beginning of which year, it may 

 be well to remind shareholders,— the whole of the Capital 

 of the Company ranks for dividend. 



3. The past crop has been a fairly good one but prices 

 have not been so favorable as was anticipated, both Coir 

 and Copperah having for a time fallen to very iow figures. 



4. The working of the past two seasons compares as 

 follows — (excluding interest) : 



18S3. 



18S4. 



37,805-77 



914 

 6,309 



Expenditure on estate and in 



Colombo office E37,20389 



Quantity of Copperah produced 



Candies 1,043 

 „ Coir Fibre made... Owts. 6,033 



At the third Annual General Meeting of the share- 

 holders of the Tamhracherry Estates Company, (Limited), 

 the Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, said 

 that the past year's working had been very unfavourable, 

 circumstances having combined to make the year an ex- 

 ceptionally bad one. Their crop had been below the 

 estimate, the quality of the coffee had been inferior, and 

 they had had to sell it in a much lower market than had been 

 known for many years. Although the average price 

 per ton for coffee during the last seven years had been 

 £76 per tou, the annua) price had gradually fallen off. This 

 he attributed to cycles of bad years following good on ac- 

 count of overplautiug. But he looked to more prosperous 

 times ere long. The Company had purchased three new 

 estates in close proximity to their Wynaad property, from 

 which he believed they would considerably benefit. The 

 directors looked for an improvement in the present crop. 

 They had already received advices that 750 tons of ccffVo 

 were coming forward, from which, it' sokl at 70s. perewt. — 

 which was 6s. below the average of the last seven years — 

 they would make a small profit ; and even if they could only 

 obtain 60s. they would clear their expenses. They were pro- 

 gressing very favourably with the cultivation of cinchona, 

 from which they hoped to derive a considerable profit. Dur- 

 ing the past year they had planted out no fewer than 

 300,000 trees, the monsoon having been most favourable to 

 them ; and, according to their last census, they had a total of 

 727,000 trees growing. The Board intended to continue 

 planting out cinchona until they had 1,000,000 trees growing. 

 If the programme of the boarel were carried out, they would 

 have over 1,500 acres in coffee in 1886, and 1,000,000 cin- 

 chona trees. If they had anything like an ordinary market 

 they would have some young coffee now comiug ou, which 

 would range from 200 to 230 tons, according to the seasons. 

 The object of the board was to pay their expenses entirely 

 out of the coffee, and to fall back for a bonus upon their 

 cinchona. The directors had on several occasions seriously 

 considered what they should do in regard to tea, He was 



favourable to some operations, and he believed it eould be 

 successfully grown on their estates ; but then there was the 

 question of finding labour, and that would be very difficult. 

 For three or four months of the year there would be hardly 

 any labour to be obtained, and that would reueler the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of tea very difficult, if not impossible. 

 But there was another reason why they had deciiled not 

 at present to cultivate tea even if it were more promising 

 than it was, and that was, the directors were very reluct- 

 ant to risk the capital of the company in too many under- 

 takings. They had a good thing before them in cinchona, 

 and they saw their way to working up coffee to a paying 

 point. The chairman then went at some length into the 

 operatious of the company in the cultivation of fibre, and 

 also the prospects of mining operations in the AVynaad 

 district. — Home fy Colonial Mail. 



The Sugar MARkET. — Althogh we do not in 

 Ceylon grow any sugar (except palmyra jaggery 

 for export) yet the main facts connected with this 

 great and valuable article of food, for such it ie, 

 whether used to sweeten puddings, fruit, coffee or 

 tea, cannot but be interesting to our readers. We 

 therefore take a couple of extracts from Patry & 

 Pasteur's comprehensive annual review : — 



Notwithstanding all that is saiel about the cost of pro- 

 duction we incline to the opinion that sugar can be grown 

 at a much lower price than was thought possible a year 

 ago ; manufacturers and planters will have to be satisfied 

 with a small percentage of profit instead of the splendid 

 outturns of previous years, and every effort will be made to 

 reduce the cost first by improved machinery and careful 

 planting. The American home consumption is rapidly extend- 

 ing, the increase over 1S83 being estimated it 150,000 tons. 

 The Java crop of 1834-5 will probably prove greatly in 

 excess of any previous one, approaching 400,000 tons. The 

 system of advancing for and buying up entire crops has 

 led to serious financial complications, but even at existing 

 low prices itisreported that the production will not be mater- 

 ially affected. The Cuba crop is estimated at about 700,000 

 tons. Porto Rico will have a full crop, probably 70,000 

 tons, the only important reduction being iu the Brdstts, 

 which had a very large crop in 1SS3. The Mauritius crop 

 has now almost ceased to come to Europe. As regards the 

 Eastern supply, Jaggery will only come forward slowly, and 

 in reeluced quantity unless prices advance a little ; the same 

 applies to Bengal, Penang and Manilla. The Phillipine 

 islands axe, howover, making a large crop, which will have 

 to be marketed ultimately. The present supply afloat from 

 these countries for Europe and America is 35,000 tons 

 smaller than a year ago. The total visible supply iu stock 

 and afloat for Europe and America remains, however, some 

 200,000 tons iu excess of last year's, viz., 894,000 tons, 

 against 698,000 tousat the close of 1883, and 626,000 tons 

 the year befsre. Messrs. Win. Connal & Co. estimate the con- 

 sumption per head of the population in various countries 

 as follows : — " United Kingdom 67s lb., United States 

 51 lb., France 23 lb., Germany 12 "lb., Austria 10 lb. 

 Russia 9 lb." The figures for Holland and Belgium are 

 not given, lint are probably uot much behind the con- 

 sumption of France. They show at a glance the enorm- 

 ous expansion in the consumption of England and 

 America under the influence of complete free trade or 

 moderate duties, whereas the beet producing countries 

 are making but little progress under the existing legislation, 

 which has not only fostered a most artificial over-pro- 

 duction, but is at. the same time preventing the lower 

 classes from reaping the advantages of cheap sugar as 

 an article of food. A moderate but gradual reduction of 

 duties in Europe would be a better solution for the 

 present crisis than any combination to keep down pro- 

 duction, and would at the same time benefit the exchequ- 

 er of the various countries, which areuow paying away 

 ill bounties the greater part of the revenue derived from 

 manufacturing. 



Fancy Germany giving bounties ou sugar, while her 

 poor inhabitants consume only 12 lb. per trend, or 

 3 lb. more than the average in semi-savage Kussia. 

 It ia uot the German people, but the inhabitants of 

 Britain who benefit by the bounties, however much 

 Englu-h-growerB of caue may be injured by a system 

 which is as foolish as it is wicked. 



