COST AND PROFIT. 225 



his Coffee on the coast ; now he would consider himself very 

 unfortunate in having to accept that price. Yet to-day the cost 

 of labour is not greater, while carriage to and from the coast 

 is less. Coffee paid then, why should it not pay now ? The 

 answer is not far to seek, strange though at first sight that 

 answer may appear to be. I say advisedly, the high prices 

 that were experienced some few years ago, and which led to a 

 large area of land being planted which under no condition 

 was suitable for the cultivation of Coffee. Something also 

 must be put down to reckless expenditure the child of tem- 

 porary prosperity. But what about leaf disease ? I do not 

 believe that to Coffee cultivated under conditions not inimical 

 to its growth it will do any material injury, however fatal it 

 may have been to the class of estates referred to above, and 

 worn out properties, of which there are many such in every 

 district. As is the case in all epidemics, the aged and the 

 infirm are the sufferers. Taking the most adverse view of 

 Coffee, it is no worse than it was twenty years ago, when it 

 was considered a good investment, while its prospects in the 

 future are for many reasons brighter. The low price of 

 Coffee in 1860 tended to restrict production, which, reacting 

 on value, led to the high rate realised in 1873. This stimu- 

 lating production has brought about the present state of the 

 Coffee market. As it has been in the past, will it not be in 

 the future ? Have we not evidence of this already in Ceylon 

 and elsewhere? Old and worthless estates are being aban- 

 doned, while new plantations are. seldom or never heard of, 

 and this leads to a limitation in production, to be followed 

 hereafter by enhanced value of the article." 



Profits depend on two things chiefly the selling 

 price of clean Coffee, and the weight yielded per 

 acre ; quality, we are sorry to say, has not much 

 to do with the matter. 



Suppose expenses of working an established 

 garden, including manager allowances, overseers 



Q 



