39° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1889. 
that owing to the unsatisfactory working of the 
Hystem of " weighing net," buyers have com- 
bined in declining to purchase teas unless " aver- 
age tared " in the case ef factory-bulked teas, and 
separately tared in the case of London-bulked lots. 
In order to avoid serious loss of weight, planters 
Bhould strive to obtain even tares and to make them 
scale (say) 2 ounces under a certain full number of 
pounds ; the weight of the tea packed in each chest 
should be 2 or 3 ounces above a certain full number 
of pounds, e. g., if each package tares 16 lb 14 oz. 
and contains 50 lb 3 oz., the gross will be 67 lb 1 
oz. ; the Customs will call the tare 17 lb and in order 
to ascertain the net will subtract it from official gross 
of 67 lb no ounces,) thusleaving 50 lb. 
Sales op Tea. Phopebties and Amalgamation. 
We are very glad to see the process — which we 
have consistently advooated with the tea era — going 
on, of adjacent properties coming more and more 
under the same ownership and being amalgamated 
so far as to have their tea crops prepared in the 
one factory, rather than by means of the multi- 
plication of factories for every 150 or 200 acres 
of tea. The latest case of the kind is found in 
the purchase of Tangakelle estate in Dimbula 
from our late Governor Sir Wm, Gregory (whose 
visit to the island may not now take plaoe) by 
Mr. George Beck, the owner of Henfold, which is 
close by. Tangakelle has no less than 323 acres 
of tea at varying ages from two to five years, 
and as the soil is considered good and the jat 
of the plants exoellent, Mr. Beck may certainly 
be congratulated on a good bargain if as the 
"Times" mentions, he pays no more than £6,000 
sterling. Working such a place as Tangakelle 
with Henfold which has close about 300 acres 
in tea with an adequate factory and with the 
prospect of the average of the prices for this 
year continuing, Mr. Beck should not take long 
to wipe off the capital cost out of profits. We 
wish him all success, while regretting that we can 
no longer number Sir Wm. Gregory among our 
estate proprietors. At the same time, we feel sure 
this will make no difference in his hearty personal 
interest in everything connected with the progress 
and prosperity of Ceylon and with the diverse 
classes of the population in whom he took so 
much interest. — The other recent instance of 
" estate amalgamation" is found in the purchase of 
EoBita, the Dimbula estate so long fought over, 
by Mr, James Hill of Harrington who has gone 
home to make arrangements in connection with 
the fine series of adjacent properties he is now 
responsible for. All these— Harrington, Lochiel, 
Cameron's Land and Rosita— are situated in the 
Kotagaloya Valley, one of the most favoured 
divisions of our upland districts for tea. The 
total extent of these properties is 1,024 acres, of 
which more than one-half is under flourishing tea, 
besides the reserve being admirably fitted for ex. 
tension, and if all can be worked through an ade- 
quate and convenient factory, they ought to consti- 
tute as prosperous a tea concern as any in the 
country. We hear that there is a project for 
turning the Kotagaloya so as to get a fall of some 
35 feet with a large |volume of water to drive 
machinery. This will be a great advantage. The 
price of Rosita— only 31 acres out of 310 being 
kept up properly in cultivation throughout the 
protracted litigation— is £2,710— We trust to see 
this process of amalgamation either by purchase 
by individual proprietors or through the formation 
of Limited Companies still further extend in the 
tea distriots ; for it stands to reason that one well- 
equipped factory working for 600 to 1,200 acres of 
tea is likely to do more economical and even better 
work than half-a-dozen separate faotories each pre- 
paring for from 150 to 200 acrea. 
" Chicha," a South American drink, made by 
the fermentation of malted maize, witn the addi- 
tion of the leaves of the primum payaca, or " san- 
dino," as it is called in the country, when taken 
in excess as a beverage produces a feeling of extreme 
weariness, rendering the patients totally unfit to 
follow any kind of employment. The effects differ 
from ordinary alcoholism. — Chemist and Druggist. 
" Penny Quinine." — Messrs. Rivers Hicks & 
Co.'s letter on page 387 may be considered 
in the light of an advertisement, but he cause is 
so good and bo clearly a philanthropic one, namely 
that of bringing cheap quinine into universal use, — 
that we cannot but give it prominence and desire 
all possible attention to its contents. Besides, 
the business notice of the "penny quinine" 
firm already appears in our advertising columns. 
"Sunshine and a Cup of 7bv " is the title 
of a little sixpenny pamphlet snortly to be pub- 
lished in Edinburgh with a view to attracting 
public notice to the beauties of Ceylon and the 
goodness of our teas. The writer, Mr. Geo. Russell 
was out here about six months ago on a visit 
and called on us to collect information with re- 
ference to a paper he had undertaken to contri 
bute to a home magazine, but he writes to us by 
last mail; — 
On thinking over the subject I felt that there was 
much to be said about Ceylon outside tea culture, 
little kuown in Great Biitain, and it occurred to me 
that, with the aid of the information I ha d re- 
ceived, I might by a few pages of description put to- 
gether in a popular form, attract others to go out to 
enjoy all that had given me so much enjoyment. I 
am therefore giving to publication these notes as a 
pamphlet, " Sunshine and a Cup of Tea." I think 
that it will in this form have more readers than in 
the middle of a magazine. 
We are promised an early copy of " Sunshine 
and a Cup of Tea," and will see how it tastes, for 
the benefit of our readers. 
Meegui Govebnment Faem. — A contemporary re- 
marks : — " Experimental cultivation has been carried 
on for some years at the plantation at Mergui in 
Burma, but, according to tbe report of last year, it 
cannot be said to have achieved much success. Liberian 
c&ffee was fairly successful, though the plants were 
attacked by white ants, and tbe crop was less than 
in the previous year. Great difficulty has been ex- 
perienced in introducing tbe coffee for sale, as the 
first year's crop, which was sold to a Burman, was 
not properly prepared, and some persons declared 
tbat it was not fit for consumption. When the 
present Sub-Assistant Conservator of Forests took 
charge he suggested that the coffee should be pre- 
pared by the department itself and sold locally, which 
was done ; and though at first there was some difficulty 
in finding purchasers owing to the bad name acquired 
by the produce of the previous year, it was giadually 
sold off, and the purchasers were all pleased with 
its flavour. The crop of last year at once found a 
ready sale at Rs 1-8 per viss, and the 6upply was not 
sufficient for the local demand, the coffee being pronoun- 
ced much superior to tbat sold in the bazaars. The 
experiments with Arabian coffee proved a complete 
failure, and have been abandoned. The cocoa seed- 
lings and plants suffered severely from the attacks of 
white ants, so that only twenty remain out of 161. 
Only two of tbese produced pods, which have not 
as yet been collected. Tbe vanilla plants grew well 
and flowered, but the flowers all died without com- 
ing to maturity owing to the absence of insects to 
disseminate the pollen, but an attempt is now to be 
made to fertilise the flowers by hand. There were 172 
tea plants, but nothing is said about their produce 
and the four cardamom plants all died, whle the 
specially selected seed sent from Mysore did not 
germinate. As the total receipts from the sale of 
produce amounted to R272 and the expenditure to 
R617, it cannot be said that the experiments have 
proved profitable, but as the plantation only costs such 
a small sum it is to be continued." 
