i6o 
tHP TRGPJCAL AGRICULTURSST. [Septemter 2, 1889. 
their death their souls were sent into the bodies of 
insects and condemned to perpetually carry about with 
them a faggot of wood. 
The figures in the illustration are drawn of the 
uatiual size. 
E. Ernest Geeen. 
Eton, Punduloya, 24th June, 1889. 
— "Oeylon Independent." 
THE JOKAI (ASSAM) TEA COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
Capital £250,000, in 25,000 shares of £10 each- 
The ninth ordinary general meeting of shareholders 
was held on Monday at the registered office of the 
company, 14, St. Mary Axe, Mr. J. Berry White, the 
chairman of the company, presiding. The Chairman 
said : — 
Chop Estimates. — The estimates for next year's 
crop, as received from the several divisional managers 
point to a yield of two and a half million pounds of 
tea, to cost 7Jd per pound laid down in London, in- 
cluding sale charges. These estimates, I feel sure, will 
prove as they have always done in the past, to be 
the minimum of yield and the maximum of oost. It 
is quite right and commendable that the managers 
should err on the side of caution, but I am very 
certain that the results will be considerably better. 
Last year I took the responsibility of telling you that 
the outturn would be at least two millions, although 
the estimates were only for one and three-quarter mil- 
lions. Again I venture on the dangerous field of pro- 
phecy, and assure you that I will be greatly disappointed 
if the crop is not nearer three than two and a half 
millions, and that the cost of production will be under 
7d per lb. If it sells for 9d per lb. gross — a rate which 
provides for a further fall in the tea market — we will be 
able to continue the customary dividend, and also place 
a respectable sum to reserve, as Id per lb. is equivalent 
per cent on our proposed capital. 
The Fall in Tea. — The fall in the market value of 
tea has made a terrible difference to us on the year's 
working. When we issued our interim report in De- 
cember last our average sale price was per lb. ll|d, 
so that if we had maintained that rate our net pro- 
fits would have been exactly R15,500 more, or nearly 
equal to 10 per cent on our capital. I greatly fear 
that we will never see an average of Is, or even of 
lOJdperlb. again. We have still 100 millions of lb. 
of "Chinese tea to displace, and while the struggle 
continues it is hopeless to expect any improvement in 
prices. On the other hand I do notanticipate any fur- 
ther material drop. Putting the Chinese competition 
out of consideration, there is no doubt that more than 
50 per cent of all the tea exported from India and 
Ceylon cannot be sold on this market for 8d per lb. 
without serious loss tc the growers, and people will 
not oontinue a hopeless contest for any longtime. But 
while I do not expect any recovery in values, I am 
hopeful that our profits in this company in future will 
not be less satisfactory than in the past, and I look 
for such profits in the direction of still further reduc- 
tion in the cost of production. This reduction can- 
not be attained by penurious eoonomies or petty 
savings. 
Economic Working. — Our marked success so far 
has been due to a very liberal outlay judiciously ex- 
pended. A great deal of our past expenditure has been 
made with an eye to the future. We have not only 
made large extensions to our block, but have spared 
nothing in the general improvement of the estates. 
We have laid out large sums upon drainage, upon 
wire fencing, on all the newest types of labour and 
fuel-saving machinery, upon substituting permanent 
for temporary buildings, and all such outlay has been 
charged to the revenue of the past few years. If 
we found it necessary to curtail this sort of expendi- 
ture and work purely on revenue account, I am con- 
vinced that we could place our teas in London for 
CJd per lb. Indeed, this has been proved by the work- 
ing of tho Jamira division last season. If you will 
turn to the accounts, you will see that the tea cost 
lees than 4£d per lb. f. o, b. in Calcutta, and adding 
2d from there, was put down under 6£d here and in 
addition 156 acres of young plants were eitherplanted 
Tf M Pt up ' being more thaQ a fourth of the whole, 
it Mr. Hainworth, our excellent manager there, had 
only his full-bearing plant to work there can be little 
doubt that the cost could not have exceeded 3d per 
lb. in Calcutta and 5d in London. M< hat Jamira has 
done, all the other divisions are capable of doing 
whenever called upon. With the advantages we and 
our neighbours in the Luckimpore district— the natural 
home of the tea plant— possess in riches of soil, con- 
genial climate, and railway transport, giving returns 
of from 600 to 840 lb. per acre, we can look forward 
to the future with assured confidence that notwithstaad- 
ing the opeidng out of new tea district, our position is 
absolutely unassailable. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I now 
beg to move that the report and accounts be received 
and adopted. 
Mr. Tye asked whether the chairman could give any 
information regarding Ceylon tea. 
A Shareholder : I suppose the railway will even- 
tually effect a considerable saving ? 
The Chairman stated that he anticipated a very 
considerable saving. He went on at some length into 
calculations and facts connected with the manufacture 
of Ceylon tea, and pointed out that labour was dearer, 
that rice, ghee, and dhol were dearer, and that on 
many estates in Oeylon the soil was not so favourable 
for tea cultivation as in Assam. No doubt the enter- 
prise of the planters in Oeylon would, in time, lead 
them to substitute the cultivation of some other plant 
for tea. 
In reply to a further question, 
The Chairman said the directors did not anticipate 
the slightest difficulty with regard to labour on the 
company's gardens. The gardens had a good repute, 
and many of the men recruited the number of the 
labourers from amongst their own friends (Hear 
hear.) -H. and C. Mail, June 21st. ' 
Coconut Planting— Bajakadaluwa, Chtlaw, July 
9th. — Coconut clearings looking A 1 on my return 
from a brief holiday, despite an unusually short 
rainfall for the month and a very stiff south-west 
wind which, blowing continously, tried tire young 
plants a good deal. Coconuts everywhere round 
about are looking very well, and my 3§ year old 
tree with crop is a nine days wonder in the district. 
A plantain monstrosity on Toynbee has appeared. 
The tree, beside bearing its fruit in tbfe ordinary 
way, has 4 branches growing from the root, similar 
to the racemes of a cardamom bush. 
Coek.— The " Educator " says :— There are but three 
countries where cork can be successfully cultivated— 
namely, Spain, Portugal, and the north of Africa. 
The cork oak does not attain a great size, usually being 
only from twenty to forty feet in height. The cork 
is of very slow growth, and the trees are from twenty- 
five to thirty years old before the first bark can be re- 
moved. This bark.is called " virgin cork," and it is used 
in ferneries, conservatories, and for ornamental work in 
gardens. This outer bark has to be removed carefully 
so as not to injure the inner layer of spongy tissues 
which will produce the white bark out of which bottle 
corks are made. The second bark takes from eight to 
ten years to mature in Portugal, and two or three 
years longer in Spain and Algeria. The season for 
gathering the bark is from May to September. The bark 
is cut in a circle around the trunk or limb, and then 
longitudinal incisions are made to the desired depth 
with a circular knife having two handles. The bark 
18 then loosened, stripped off, and afterwards gathered 
into heaps and taken to the factories, where it is 
soaked in water, scraped, boiled for a few moments 
in caldrons, and then dried and pressed. into a flat 
shape. Healthy trees will usually continue to yield 
bark from 100 to 150 years. The prooess of peeling 
the trees is repeated at intervals of from six to ei"ht 
years, 
