4o8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Df.c. I, 1885. 



rrofits : 

 Oil account of commission , 



ji interest 



,, bills of exchange and 



insurance 



/• 



611,000 



981,000 



310,000 



from which must be deducted ; 



./ 1,908,300 



Expeuses of working 



Losses ou produce and 

 merchandise 



Losses ou debtors ... 



„ agricultural con- 

 cerns. ,. 



/■ 

 3!M,O00 



40,000 

 153,000 



1,100,000 



1,688,400 



Balance to the good /22O,00O 



With regard to Dutcli (iuiana, tlic report records 

 the following facts: — 



The return from the sugar plantation "Eesol- 

 utie " was much below that of 1HH3: it was only 

 527,000 kilos, against 1,039,000 the preceding year. 

 The great drought which prevailed in l.Sisl totally 

 destroyed many fields of canes. The price ob- 

 tainable for the produce was low, so that the 

 working entailed a considerable loss. The cultiv- 

 ation of cacao on "Mon Tresor" plantation is 

 progressing slowly. The central sugar factory 

 received Kl.tiOO.OOO kilograms of canes, the yield 

 being advantageous from an industrial point of view, 

 but the financial result was nevertheless unfavor- 

 able, on account of the fall in sugar. The working of 

 auriferous lands was equally barren of good results. 

 Finally, in consequence of the fall in sugar, the 

 estimated value of the properties has been lowered, 

 so that the Surinam agency gives a total of losses 

 amounting to 019, 000 florins. The pronounced 

 rise in sugar permits the ho])e of a belter result 

 in the future, although the greater part of the 

 last crop has been already sold at a low price, so 

 that the financial year lHHf) does not promise 

 much. 



The Company holds, to the value of 9,371,700 Horins, 

 stock and shares of the .State, of colonies, towns, mort- 

 gage banks, colonial banks of issue, of railway com- 

 panies both in India and in Holland, of steam- 

 ship companies, of canals, of dry docks and coasters, 

 of agricultural, commercial and industrial societies. 

 The interest and dividends yielded, in 1.S.S4, .S02,000 

 florins, while the loss by the end of December I 

 had reached 222,000 florins. The Company has | 

 obtained the concession of a railway from Batavia 1 

 to Bekassie, which concession it has given uj) to 

 the Eastern Railway Company at Uatavia, which j 

 was started to work this line with a cai>ital of ' 

 1,700,(JOO florins, of which capital a large ]iart was 

 subscribed by the Trading Company. 



The total result of LSHl has been for the Com- 

 pany, in round numbers : — 



I'lnn'ts : f. 



Batavia agency . . . . 22i>,llOO 



Connnission .. .. 913,(HW 



Interest l,.SOIi,(XKJ 



Stores and property . . 1(;,(I(HI j 



Bills of exchange .. ., l'.l,0()0 ! 



Foreign debtors .. .. l.(KIO 



Various receipts .. ., 1(),(|()0 



2,45(.),(XK) 



to which must be added a balance of rn,003-30 

 from the year 1KR3, which allows of the distrib- 

 ution of a dividend of 10 florins per shale of 1 000 

 flonns on the ejipital of the Company, which amounts 

 to 3.5,783,000 florins. 



Balance to credit 



/1,4S1,000 



Tire SviUT of Maidenhair fern is suielv a nov- 

 elty. It IS said to lie valuable as a medicine. 

 Few would have thouglit that there was much to 

 be got from this beautiful and fragile fern though 

 of course there is any amount of sweetness Gen- 

 erally speaking in the maiden, abstractedly from 

 the fern. The maidenhair abounds on these hills 

 and If it can be made useful as well as orna- 

 mental our chemists ought to be up and doin" — 

 Sniitli iif Ivilid Obaeri-i'i: 



Caxauies.— I liave been very successful both here 

 and in England in rearing canaries. I find that 

 here the young birds are very weakly and do not 

 leave the nest nearly so soon as in England. The 

 nests here should not be lined and the cages kept 

 m a cool place. If the cock-bird docs not destroy 

 the eggs, or disturb the hen, it is better to have 

 him in with her. Only once I reared four young 

 ones out here, out of one nest. I left home for" three 

 or four days, leaving the birds in my boy's charge ■ 

 when I returned they were all dead of starvation 

 at the bottom of the cage. The way that boy ran 

 round the bungalow would have been amusing to 

 see.— C'o)-. 



TiiK " QfAi;Ti:iu.v .Toi-iixai, of Veteiuxaiiv Scii;.\ci; 

 IN Ixdia."— The October number of this quarterly, 

 which has reached us, contains a good deal of 

 interesting matter relating to veterinary science in 

 India. Tlie following extracts from a paper on 

 " Snakes and the Prognosis of Snake fiite," by 

 " Snipe," may be useful to our readers :— 



I have often been surprised .it the ignorance dis- 

 played by members cf the profession on this .subject 

 in a country where sn.ikes are socomnion. The truth 

 however, I .siippo.H' is that so very seldom do they do 

 mischief to man or animal that our attention is but 

 rarely called to them in the course of our profes- 

 sional duties. Usually when a snake is killed the 

 nearest native is appealed to, who, a hundr-d to one, 

 declares it to be a " bora kharab sanp," the sahib 

 gives a slight shudder at h.iving been ,so near such 

 a brute, .and goes on his way rejoicing, unconscious 

 that he has killed an animal .is innocent .as a lamb 

 anil one of the gri'atest destroyers of rats, mice, and 

 such like noxious vermin, that we have in India. One 

 minute's trouble would have settled the matter satis- 

 factorily, if he had only known how to set to work 

 AVhen yon have killed a snake and are doubtfni 

 about hnn. put your foot on the .side of his head 

 so .as to force the mouth open, and |>ass the blade 

 of a penknife or a piece of stick along the edge of 

 the upper jaw, tliis will erect the fangs if it be 

 of a poisonous variety, if there are no fangs it is 

 harmless.... The Jlnhoin J-:/,f/rnis, also called Hii.ssit'i 

 fi/icr and the C/(»;« J'i/m: ' In Ceylon he is well 

 known and much dreaded, ami goes by the name of 

 the Tic PdlniHjii. Once noticed this snake will after- 

 wards be always recognized, for his Hat triangular 

 head, blunt nose, well marked nostrils, and con- 

 stricted neck are unmistakeable. On (jpening the 

 month the enermous fangs at once attract nttention ; 

 he is a true viper, and does i.ot bite hut strikes with 

 these fangs. In the larger specimens which run up to 3 

 feet 6 inches or perhaps t feel, tijeri' are .si-ries of oral 

 white rings wliich make ipiite a hanilsoine pattern on 

 the dark skin ; in the sniilbr ones there is a chain 

 of these oval rings running from head to tail. He is 

 far from nncomnion round Secunderahad, and I have 

 seen him at T.angalore, Bellary, and Saugor, so that 

 he is fairly distributed over the Ma Iras "rresideney. 

 He is a slothful brute .■uid if lying across a path is 

 just as liki-ly to st.ay there till you tread on liini as 

 not ; should you do so, bis slothfulness vanishes at 

 once and he strikes like a Hash of lightning. 



