I September i, 1S85.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



i7i 



case of the exceptional estate the more remarkable 

 and causes us to wish that fuller details regarding 

 it had been given. What we are told is that the 

 tea on this estate was produced at a savmg of 2^^ 

 per lb. on 1SS3. If the circumstances are not alto- 

 gether exceptional, the case of this estate would seem 

 to prove that with cheap working and careful manu- 

 facture 300 lb. of tea per acre will pay very well. The 

 main thing wanting in the table we quote is the 

 absence of the figuies for capital expenditure per acre, 

 but these are supplied in the case of other Companies, 

 and, while we know that the original Assam Com- 

 pany was ruined, we also are aware that those who 

 purchased their properties "for a song" have shared 

 dvidends of over 30 per cent. The fair way to look 

 at tea planted on coffee land in Ceylon w ill certainly 

 not be to rate proceeds on the whole original ex- 

 penditure for opening, or even the half of it. In most 

 cases, we suppose, the accounts will commence de 

 novo. The accounts of the Land Mortgage Bank do 

 not afford any information regarding labour force and 

 its cost, but from the Report of the Scottish Assam 

 Company, which appears in the same paper, we gather 

 that the average number of men, women and children 

 on GS3 acres in 1SS4 was 736, or only 53 in excess 

 of one cooly per acre. We should tbink that the 

 manager's necessity, but not his will, consented to so 

 limited a force. The proper cultivation and harvest- 

 ing of coffee, when that enterprise was in its prime, 

 reijuired three cooliea for every two acres, and with 

 all possible adoption of machinery (unless the recently 

 patented tea-pluckiug machine is really as great a 

 success as that for picking cotton in America is said 

 to be) we cannot suppose that a smaller proportion 

 will suffice for tta? 



Just as we had got " proof " of the above article from 

 the printer, we received the following elaborate analysis 

 by an able correspondent of the accounts of a number 

 of Indian Tea Companies, which most usefully supple- 

 ments the information drrived [itom the Report of the 

 Mortgage Bank. We therefore append our contributor's 

 article : — 



" Most of the Indian Tea Companies made up their 

 balauoe in Jane, and this therefore is an opportune 

 season for comparing a few of the results shown ; 

 and, seeing that the industry according to a writer 

 in the Statiat represents a capitalized value of some 

 10 millions sterling and a cultivated area of from 

 200,ijOO to 250 000 acres, producing roughly ueaily 

 70 million pounds tea, a cumparison of the re.inUs 

 shown by the published reports of the more prominent 

 Indian Companies cannot but be instructive to the 

 planter in Ceylon. 



" The same writer above alluded to says, that the great 

 defect which at present characterizes tea acconuts is 

 the want of uniformity, which renders it difficult even 

 for an expert intelligently to compare the working of 

 different gardens, or to draw any rational conclusions 

 as to their relative economic merits. The following 

 table exhibits some interesting s'atisiics in connection 

 with the accounts for I8S4 of 15 more or less well- 

 known concerns. We may give " Spectator" 's letter to 

 the Statiil in full by and bye. Meanwhile, his state- 

 ment, that, ' owing to the largo increase in produc- 

 tion, and the tendency to a progressive shiiukage 

 in prices, it becomes a matter of increasing importance 

 for owners of estates to secure (1) the highest efficiency 

 in management ; and ("2) the utmost economy in 

 expenditure,' is one which iu the present condit on 

 of our Ceylon planting enterprize must strike every 

 planter as a ttiiism which cannot be gainsaid. We 

 trust however, that there are to be found not a few | 

 practical men capable of demonstrating, that not only 

 in the large manufacturing industries of Knglaud is 

 it possible, but that here also it is an accomplished | 

 fact, that where the two factors of 'highest efficiency | 



and 'utmost economy' go hand in hand, there the 

 greatest vitality exists. The table is as follows : — 



■2 . o. 



S "2 



ofi-c 

 1-1 k, 



3 I'O^-oS'.^a I 



2£ 



« io 







J3 O 



0<M 



la . 



S3 





?* ..-i 



^£ 



i^B 





I*. 



: aJ45 



5-S 



o o <a 



^ »> 4) 



M — 



■^s^s 



C-- 3c =£ 

 CM :^ r' 





-S*. 



ft 



05 O ^ 



Cl c- "* 



lQ -^ O 



-4. 73 "^ O 

 ce -£ -f CO 



o rc >^ 



O 51 6c M 

 2 a r Oi- 



J3 *" J^ 1 



— o n o 



n — o o 



O W t-gO 



OS 



t a 



'5 







J - o 



Ji; o o o o CO lo 

 tC '-o o lO ?» «> m 



OC IC O « QO s^ '-o 





>^9 



♦- <cS"' 





"The .Jorehaut Tea Company tops the list with a 

 dividend of 15 pfr cent, closely followed by tlie Assam 

 Company with 14 per cent. Two Companies pay 10 

 per cent' viz., Tokai and PanitoU, the Leboug and 

 Mookhamcherra each 9 per cent, Chargola 74, per cent, 



