173 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [SeItember i, i88$. 



you want to succeed in this city with fowla, for eggs 

 only, take the common breeds. They lay their egEjs, 

 and when the reaper gathers them in (the chicken 

 reaper) you don't care. The houses should be cleaned 

 out twice a week (I clean mine three times), and well 

 sprinkled with disinfecting power, the perches washed 

 with kerosene ; and that reminds me that if you are 

 compelled to set your hens in boxes, alwava have new 

 ones, filled with clean straw and well-sprinkled with 

 coal-oil to prevent insects. Vour hens will then set in 

 peace. Last year I raised some chicks in a large box 

 with a wire front ; in the centre I put a coal-oil Limp 

 made firm, with a " mother " in one corner made of 

 stripi of old blanket, and those chickens were the finest 

 I had. It is a great mistake to let a hen run at large 

 with young chicks, with cats, &c., in perspective ; also 

 some hens are odious mothera, scratching like fiends and 

 flinging the chicks right and left, or trampling them to 

 death. Always choose old, quiet hens as setters, and 

 by confining them as I say you will lose none of your 

 chicks unless very weak. Dirty food, as some people 

 feed to hens, is as poison. Let all they eat be fresh and 

 sweet. It is not necessary to order from the Maison 

 Doree, but filthy swill is an abominable thing to give 

 to hens. Lots of green itufi in summer time is necess- 

 ary. I am writing for the benefit of amateurs 

 only. I assure you, to bo a good henwife is like 

 learning a trade, in the country chickens take care of 

 themselves, — Sydiiey Mail. 



THE TEA ENTERPRIZE IN INDIA. 



The publication of the reports of the numerous 

 Indian Tea Companies, from year to year, affords us, 

 in Ceylon much valuable information from which we 

 may derive warning as well as encouragement. The 

 fall in the prices of tea has rendered many of the 

 Indian "concerns" unprofitable, but the main cause 

 of want of success seems to have been extravagant 

 outlay in bringing estates into cultivation. Even in 

 cases where every effort was made to " open " at a 

 moderate expenditure, we can well imagine how, in 

 the earlier years of the enterprise, the best intentions 

 ■were bafiied by such circumstances as distance from 

 sources of supply and shipping ports, defective means 

 of communication and costly and precarious labour, 

 with j)eculiar liability to epidemic and exceed- 

 ingly fatal sickness. In regard to facile and cheap 

 means of communication the Indian planters of tro. 

 day are far more favourably situated than wee 

 the pioneers of the industry, or even the immediate 

 predecessors of those who are now growing tea in 

 Assam and Darjiling. But neither ai regards menus 

 of communication, climate and salubriky, or labour 

 supply, does it seem to us tiiat the ludim it'aoters, 

 except in rare case?, are equally favored with thi-ir 

 Ceylon brethren. In any case, we cannot possibly 

 conceive of such a taU being ever told of a Ceylon 

 estate as is related in the report for 1SS4 of the Land 

 Mortgage B*uk of India in regard to one of the pro- 

 perties of which they are the not very happy poeaeasors. 

 The season's results, the report statts, in Bylhet (where 

 fome of the finest teas in India liave been produced) 

 have been most unsatisfactory, and no wonder, for dam- 

 aging hailstorms (such as have oocurjcd iu Ceylon only 

 rarely in a few districts and iu destiuclivenf ss 

 not for a momi,nt to be compared to the fearful 

 effects of such phenomena iu India) were followed by 

 severe bbght, long-continued cold weither, which 

 affected leaf both iu quantity and quality, while to 

 crown tlie list of adverse and disastrous oircumstauces, 



cholera and smallpox broke out and disorganized the 

 labour force. No wonder if there was a loss on th. 

 season's working under such adverse circumstances. 

 The very title of Land Mortgage Bank of India show 

 that it was formed to take up the species of businesst 

 " block loans," which are generally considered to be 

 opposed to true banking principles and indulgence in 

 which has brought other financial institutions besides 

 the late Oriental Bank to the ground. The measure 

 of success achieved by the Land Mortgage Bank is 

 shown by its avowed anxiety to get rid of the pro- 

 perties which iu the course of its operations it has 

 been compelled to take over and work. From the 

 very full, clear and candid statement of affairs 

 which the Bank has published and which we take 

 over from the Home and Colonial Mail, it appears that 

 it owns six properties in Darjiling, four in Cachar 

 and Sylhet, two in Assam and one in the Western 

 Dooars, the latter district coming up generally to Col, 

 Money's ideal of a district good for tea but bad for 

 human health. But without sufficiency of labour 

 even the rich soil and forcing climate of tlie Dooars ara 

 of no avail. Our great advantage in Ceylon is 

 that a very large proportion of our tea-growing region 

 is equally salubrious and fertile. The total acre- 

 age of the Land Mortgage Bank's estates is 

 7,136, of which 6,458 in bearing yielded 1,651,712 lb. 

 This is at the rate of about 255 lb. per acre for the 

 whole bearing area, some estates of course yielding 

 much more and some considerably less. We should 

 think that in but rare cases can less than nOO lb. 

 per acre pay, or say 4 maunds, which would be 

 020 lb. The total expenditure, taking the rupee 

 at Is 8d, was i:7'i,524 and the gross proceeds of 

 crop £94,403. The proQt, from which must be deducted 

 an absolute loss of £3,418 on the working of 

 four out of the thirteea estates, was £19 297. The 

 cost of production per lb, was ll'COSd and the average 

 selling price 13 916d, so that the average profit per lb. 

 was 2-313d. We notice that the cost of machinery and, 

 it would appear of 491 acres' extension, were charged 

 against the cost of the year's pnduction, which is 

 certaiuly not in accordance with the true principles 

 of accounts. The report states that the reduced 

 cost of proiluctiou and the considerable area of new 

 tea coming into bearing are favourable circumstances. 

 Indeed, the reduction of cost in the growth snd 

 manufacture of the tea. ranging up to a saving of 3 69d 

 per lb. in one case, leads to the supposition either that 

 there was laxity in the past or that reductions were 

 made iu ihe expenditure' ol 18S4 which may adversely 

 affect cultivation in the future. The utmost economy 

 consistent with efficient cultivation and careful manu- 

 facture is ceitaiuly a necessity, in view of the extent 

 to which prices of tea have fallen in the p -at few 

 years. The expudituro per acre on Ihe whole acreage 

 seems 10 have Ijeen about iill, or somewhat over 

 £12 lOa for the area m bearing. The best result is 

 in the case of a Darjiling estate, Moondakootee, and 

 it is so wonderful that we feel surprize that attcLtiou 

 was not more specially attracted to it. On this estate 

 of 700 acres in bearing, the outturn was 210,430 lb. 

 (300 )ier acre) at a cost of little over £10 per acre, 

 or 8-936d per lb. of tea, the lea reilizing 16 814d, 

 or more than twice the o st of production, the profit 

 ou this estate beng £7,20'! or a little over .£10 an 

 acre. Against this we have ihe Western Dooars 

 estate that pr. duced tea at a cost of 18'113d per 

 lb., which sold for only 12 725il per lb., the loss 

 on the year's working being i' 1,693. The manager's 

 judgment seems to have been at lault in controlling 

 his labour force and he was dismissed. It was not in 

 Sylhet alone that circumstances were adverse. There 

 was deficient rainf.iU in Assam, while severe storms 

 occurred in Cachar. Darjiling experienced a severe 

 drougb uud unfavourable weather, which makes the 



