^4^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1885. 



fidently rely upon such a yield as will reduce cost to 

 between 9d and lOd per lb. in London should devote 

 all their energies to improvement of quality. 



In the report of the Assam Copiuany's meeting 

 there are also some remarks to much the same 

 effect. At this meeting Mr. MeSwiney said : — 



That he must admit that he was to a considerable 

 extent dissatisfied on account of the very low prices 

 obtained for their teas during the pa.st year. He was 

 further disappointod at finding that their chairman 

 had not been able to inform them at present wliat 

 the mysterious cause was wliich deteriorateil the quality 

 of their tea. The result of that deterioration to the 

 shareholders was very important. He saw by the report 

 that their average price of tea was lijd.' per lb. 

 The Chairman: It is a little better now. It is Is. 

 Mr. MeSwiney found that their predecessors in Assam 

 obtained an average of Is 3d per lb. which was about 

 4d per lb, more than they did. That was a startling 

 fact, and he very much regretted that there was no 

 erplanation of the cause of it. He was the more sur- 

 prised at that, because he believed that Company in 

 former years was famed for the excellent quality of the 

 tea it produced. Teas of that Company he understood, 

 in past years realized the highest prices in the London 

 market; but now on account of these mysterious causes, 

 their teas appeared to fetch about the lowest price. 

 The Chairman, in reply, asked the last speaker to 

 do what they had done, and try to ascertain what 

 had been the result iu profit land loss to those 

 Companies which had made those large prices, and 

 he would find that it was anything but encouraging. 

 Their business, and the business of every person 

 engaging in an enterprise of that sort, was to work 

 tor a profit; it did not matter how that profit was 

 made. He perfectly agreed with huu that it was not 

 satisfactory that the quality of their tea had deter- 

 iorated. But to throw out one hint to him : supposing 

 that one cause of the inferiority had been the increase 

 in the quantity and supposing that it was not possible 

 to obtain quantity and quality, it might be a very serious 

 question whether they should sacrifice quantity to obtain 

 quahty for their teas. In former years, when they were 

 making small quantities it was easier to make high-class 

 teas; but in making a crop of tea very little short of 

 3,000,0001b. a very great deal of low-class tea must 

 be made. If they could make 3,500,0001b. which they 

 might come to eventually, and they got 2d per lb. profit, 

 making it at 8d and selling it at lOd they would be 

 doing very much better than any Tea Company had 

 ever done. There was but one Company in Assam 

 which had ever worked at anything like the profit they 

 had done. It had worked exceptionally well that year. 

 He was perfectly alive iu saying that he believed that 

 there was some inferiority last year ; and when he said 

 that they did not come to anything like a definite 

 conclusion as to the cause he said what was true, because 

 they had been gradually introducing machinery, and he 

 thought it quite possible that the inferiority might have 

 arisen owing to some defect in the drying process 



Turning again to your table I find three Com- 

 panies aggregating 9,638 acres, the yield of whose 



gardens was an average of 452 lb. per acre, viz. : 



Sale 



Yield Cost Price Profit Divid- 



Acres. per acre, per lb. per lb. per. lb. end 



Jokai ... 1,4.33 418 /7-45 1/075 /5-30 10 7 



Assam ... 7,609 491 //-SOO /1175 /4'25 14 ° 



Panetola... 59ti 446 /9-87 1/0-50 '2t>3 10 „ 



9,638 452 ^ /8-27 I 0-33 /4-06 11-3 

 On the other hand, Ifiad three Oompaniis aggreg- 

 ating .5,43 i acres, the average selling price of whose 

 teas was 1/4 '21 per lb. They are : — 



Sale 

 Yield Cost Price Profit Divid- 

 Acres. per acre, per lb. per lb, per lb. end 

 Luckimpore... 911 28.3 1/1-50 14-12 /202 3i7 

 Moabund ... 528 246 0/11-75 i/4-2;5 /4-5n 5'\° 

 .Torehaut ...4,000 301 1/0-25 1/4-25 '/400 15 „ 



6,439 27T 1 0-50 1/4- 21/3-71 Ts3 



Thus the average diflerence in favour of quantity 

 over quality is ■35d per lb. in the case of these 

 Indian Tea Companies, or an extra dividend of Si 

 per cent. 



In Ceylon quality need not be sacrificed to 

 obtain a yield of 400 lb. per acre ; and Is 2d 

 per lb. in London is a moderate average selling 

 price to reckon on according to the standard thus far 

 arrived at. With a yield of 400 lb. per acre, it 

 should not be difficult for us to lay do-wn our teas 

 in London for 8d per lb.— Yours faithfully, C. W. H. 



DOMBA NUTS: THE CULTIVATION AND 

 USES OF "CALOPHYLLUM INOPHYLLUM." 



13th Aug. 1885. 

 Dear Sir,— In a recent issue| under the heading 

 of "Curiosities of the Customs" you mention the 

 export of Domba nuts for their oil. It so happens 

 that last year I was induced to make enquiries on 

 the subject by noticing a number of these nuts 

 shelled and being dried in the sun along the road 

 to Galle, and from all I learned from different 

 sources as to the value of the cuts, yield, &c., for 

 these alone it appeered it might be made a remun- 

 eiative cultivation. In consequence I was tempted 

 to put iu a small nur-sery, the plants in which have 

 grown freely. But it is not alone for the] nuts 

 or oil that the tree is valuable, but it seems that 

 for certain purposes, in the construction of hackeries 

 and riggers and ribs for boats &c., it is the only 

 wood used owing to its toughness and the ease 

 with which it can be bent to shape, and trees of 

 small dimensions are consequently of value. As 

 to the age at which the tree may be expected to come 

 into bearing I have only been able to get very 

 conflicting and I do not think in any case reliable 

 evidence, and this is a point you may perhaps be 

 able to settle. It would also be useful to know the 

 wholesale value of the nuts and oil respectively, 

 at Colombo or Galle, and the extent of the demand. 

 I believe it is largely used as an adulterant for 

 mixing with coconut oil. R. 



[The " Callophyllum Inophyllum " is the teldomba 

 gaha of the Sinhalese and the punga of the Tamils. 

 Some fine young trees— in fruit and flower a few 

 weeks ago— are to be seen in the General Cemetery, 

 Colombo. All we know of value is that 1,205 bags 

 of punai or dumba nuts exported in 18S2 were 

 declared at the Customs to be worth E3,000, but 

 the weight or how many nuts in a bag deponent 

 sayeth not. — Ed.] 



MINERALS IN CEYLON. 

 Dear Sir, — Like the man who felt inclined to 

 kick the postman because the letters he brought 

 were all duns, I suppose I ought to pitch into you for 

 causing my "platinum "to turn out only "iron 

 pyrites." " O what learning is!" as Juliet's nurse 

 exclaimed. Metallurgy and mineralogy are sealed 

 books to me, but I judged it was not silver from 

 its being too hard and not white enough. I there- 

 fore oscillated between "tin" and "platinum"; 

 and as, in human nature, " the wish is father to^the 

 thought," I chose the latter. Boo, hoo ! Will "you 

 kindly supplement your information with a little 

 further instruction, and inform me britfly how sulp- 

 huric acid &c. is made from the pyrites? A course 

 of "Lyell" has since opened my eyes. The meta- 

 raorphic rock which contains the veins of iron 

 pyrites is the gneiss, snapstone, argillitp, schist, 

 or whatever it may be called, and is easily broken 

 up with a jumper. I will send you down some 

 fair office samples for yourself and the Museum, 

 if they have none there. — Yours ungratefully, 



PLATINUM. 



