June z, iSgo.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
The Directors have pleasure in stating that Mr. H. 
E. Rutherford, the Company's late Manager in Ceylon 
has taken up the office of Managing Director in London, 
and that Mr. G. A. Talbot has been appointed his 
successor. The Directors again desire to express their 
appreciation of the zeal and ability displayed by all 
the Offioers of the Company in Ceylon and London. 
Balance Sheet, 31st Dec. 1889. 
Dr. £ s d 
T0 12//o?fhTres of £10 each, fully paid 122,040 0 0 
To Bills Payable •••• . 38,14/18 6 
To Sundry Creditors : London £7,744 8 8 
Ceylon £3,714 12 9 
. , 11,459 1 5 
To Profit ana Lo69 aocount .... 23,651 18 10 
195,298 18 9 
Cr. £ s d 
By Cost of Estates (including New Clearings, 
Buildings and Machinery in 1889) 134,874 0 11 
By Value of Produce unsold at 31st Dec. 1889 19,388 19 8 
By Office Furniture, Loudon 117 2 3 
By Preliminary Expenses 265 0 0 
By Value of Tea Chests in Ceylon at31sDec. '89 1,061 10 1 
By Advances to Coolies 2,691 19 4 
By Sundry Debtors : London £14,424 10 1 
Ceylon 1,003 11 11 
16,428 2 0 
By Advances in Ceylon against Crops 6,754 18 7 
By Cash, viz :— 
At Bankers, London £6,205 11 6 
do Ceylon 660 0 11 
In Superintendent's hands, 
Ceylon .... 529 5 6 
, 7,394 17 11 
By Interim Dividend paid 18th September 7,322 8 0 
195,298 18 
Profit and Loss Account, 31st December 1889- 
Dr. £ s d 
To London ChiWges including Sent, Salaries, 
Directors' Pees, Income Tax, &c. 1,797 16 9 
To Loss on 1888 unrealized Assets and on 
Consignments 178 5 8 
To Balance .... 23,651 18 10 
£25,628 1 3 
Cr. £ s d 
By Balance from 31st December 1888 281 4 2 
By Net profit on ' sale of Pro- 
duce of Estates £22,593 10 10 
By Commissions, Interest, 
Transfer fees, &c. 2,571 13 G 
By Grain in Exchange 181 12 9 
25,346 17 1 
£25,628 1 8 
USEFUL PLANTS IN GUATEMALA. 
Coffee— Sugar— Cocoa — Peppek— Cinnamon— Coca- 
Tobacco— Rubber— Bannanas— Fibers. 
In a roport on the trade, commerce, and industries 
of the Republic of Guatemala for 1888, the British 
Consul draws attention to the various vegetable pro- 
ducts cultivated in the country. Coffee is described as 
the most important agricultural product, and from its 
excellent quality fetches a high price in the market. 
The area of land planted has possibly doubled in the 
last few years, and owing to failure in the last years 
crop in Brazil, and the consequent rise in the value of 
the product, an usually large acreage of fresh land is 
now being planted, and greater care taken with the 
present otates, many old plantations being renewed 
and added to. It is expected that next year, or the 
year after, 1,000,000 quintals will be produced, bringing, 
exclusive of consumption, a wealth of £2,300,000 to 
£2,500.000 to the country. There is still a quantity of 
good lnnd available for purchase. Sowing is generally 
done in June, and when about soven inches high the 
youiirr plants are transplanted into nurseries, watered 
in the dry season, and protected from the sun until 
ready to be planted out. About 100,000 quintals of 
coffee are yearly consumed in the country. 
Sugar stands next amongst the most important vege- 
table products. Cacao cultivated in Guatemala is of 
superior quality, and at one time it was an important 
article of export, but has of late years greatly fallen off, 
Bnd at the present time only abo'nt 4100,O0Ulb. are p t o- 
duced, scarcely more than is required for interior con» 
sumption. The Government are encouraging farmers 
to turn their attention to this branch of culture, and 
some new plantations have been made. The seeds have 
been distributed in considerable quantities in various 
parts of the south, the sowing has shown good results, 
and it is expected that the cultivation of this valuable 
plant will be much increased. It takes about six years 
from the time the seed is sown before a crop is pro- 
duced, but after that period each shrub will yield one 
pound three times a year, and last for 100 years. There 
is little cost in cultivating or gathering, no machinery 
is required, so that_ though there is some time to wait 
before new plantations give any return the ultimate 
profit is considerable. A slightly earlier result may be 
obtained by surrounding the plantation with lime or 
orange trees, well preparing the land, and shading the 
plants with suitable trees. 
A quantity of coca seed (Erythroxylm coca) was last 
year imported from Peru for distribution among the 
people in a suitable zone for its growth, but the result 
was unsatisfactory, from the bad quality of the seed, 
and fresh means are being taken to extend the culti- 
vation of this plant. 
Pepper and cinnamon are grown in the department 
of Alta Verapaz. Good seed has been imported from 
Ceylon, and planting is extending in that fertile dis- 
trict, while satisfactory results has been obtained in the 
department of Escuintla, where a few plantations 
have been made. 
Rice is a very large article of consumption in the 
Republic, and the Government have established at San 
Jose works for perfecting machinery to separate the 
husk. 
Good tobacco is grown, but little attention is paid to 
the mode of preparing it. The production is being 
encouraged by the gratuitous circulation of the best 
seed procurable from Havana, the United States, and 
Sumatra, and many new plantations are being made. 
In spite of endeavours made to protect the rubber or 
caoutchouc trees, the production of rubber continues 
to decrease, and only in Verapaz and Peten are trees 
found in any quantity, while the growers show no signs 
of replacing those that are worn out. Holes are made 
in the stems to extract the sap, and alum, saltwort, or 
some other juice used to coagulate it. It might be 
made a profitable industry if proper knowledge and 
appliances were brought to bear. A few new plantations 
are being made in one or two low-lying farms ; about 
8,000 quintals are annually exported. The plant yield- 
ing Guatemala rubber is CastUloa elastica. 
Amongst other products grown are maize, beans, 
peas, and potatoes in sufficient quantity for home 
consumption ; sarsaparilla and vanilla grow wild on 
the mountains all over the country. The price of 
sarsaparilla has fallen greatly ; there was scarcely any 
exported last year, and in 1887 it only reached the 
value of £1.621. The quality of the vanilla is 
good, but though it figures as an export, it is not 
cultivated for that purpose. 
Banana planting in the east is occupying much 
attention as a profitable industry, some 200,000 trees 
being now yearly planted for the supply of the United 
States market. About 120,000 bunches are at present 
exported annually. Peruvian bark has proved a fail- 
ure, and the cost of introducing the tree has been 
practically lost. Ramie (Bmlimeria nivea) was also intro- 
duced three years ago and more than 600,000 shoots 
were distributed, with a view to its general culti- 
vation, but exportation of the fibre has not met with 
satisfactory results. Indigo works are subsiding in the 
country, though a few still exist in the east, and 
means are being taken to encourage them. Indigo was 
exported to the value only of £93 in 18S8, though for- 
merly a very large trade was done in it. The industry 
in cochineal has almost entirely disappeared ; for thirty 
years it was the principal article of export, and now 
the little produced is used for native consumption, 
aniline dyes having ruined the trade. — Journal of the 
Society of Arts. 
+ 
A small consignment of Italian chestDuts have 
recently been safely imported into Cashmere.— Times 
of India. 
