THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July h ,887. 
iiu the. outlay, particularly at a time when there was 
:i large crop of tea to be manufactured, and when an 
adili i >nal acreage of young tea plantations had to be 
cult h ated. 
The general expenditure, including insurance and 
dwrges on tea amounted to £7,968 12s 4d, being 
£572 Is4d below that in 1886. 
Thus the several charges to the debit of the profit 
and loss statement are : — 
Expenditure in Darjeeling £17,338 15 7 
General expenditure 3,145 2 11 
Insurance and charges on tea 4,823 9 5 
Total 
Leaving a gross profit of 
£25,307 7 11 
12,009 12 '2 
£37,917 0 1 
The gross profit in 1885 was £14,293 5s 3d, so that 
the profit in 18S6 - shows a falling off of £1,683 13s Id. 
Hut under the circumstances this may be considered a 
satisfactory result, particularly when it is remem- 
bered that the prices for Indian teas in 1886 were 
the lowest on record, and that unfavourable weather 
at the plantations during the season proved detri- 
mental to the production of teas of the finest (juality. 
It is proposed to distribute the profit as follows : — 
Commissions to staff ... £1,513 4 0 
Directors' extra fees ... 75 0 0 
Income-tax ... . . 380 16 8 
Dividend at 7| per cent ... 10,156 JO 0 
.Reserve fund ... ... 184 1 6 
£12,609 12 2 
The following comparative statements show the oper- 
ations ot the Company during the past three years : — 
Total Outturn ok Tea and Cost at 
Plantations. 
Acres lb. lb. R. 
In W&4, 1,580 473,200 at 298 per acre, 174 932 
,, 1885, 1,001 511 037 at 307 „ „ 188,082 
., 18S6, 1,735 517,316 at 297 „ „ 173,387 
Gross Expenditure and Cost pek lb. of Tea, 
a iter deducting the difference in the rates 
of Exchange. 
In 1884, £23,850 ... cost per lb. Is. 0T8d. 
„ 1885, £25,022 ... „ 0s. ll-90d. 
„ 1886, £21,811 ... „ Os. 10T11 
Account Sales "Weight of Tra, Average 
Prices, and Proceeds. 
In 1884, 468,2391b. at Is. 5 41d , £33,975 
„ 1885, 504,311 „ at Is. 5721., £37,247 
„ 1S8G, 512,173 „ at Is. 3l8d., £32,411 
Dividend. 
The directors recommend the declaration of a divid- 
end ;it the rale of 7J per cent., clear of income-tax, 
to be made payable on and after May 4th and the 
members will be asked to sanction this by resolution. 
From 1^4 crop of ten, the dividend was 7 percent, 
i, 18-S „ „ 8 „ 
„ 1*W u ' n H » 
\lmt-A\VD J'ao'tTW. 
On the 31*t December, i$t§, the am-Kiit to the 
neiUt of this fund was , £S,06» 3 tS 
I'n m profit ind loss account, 1885 J,450 9 4 
VrOtU j>rolit and lijfii iSCOWt, 1886 
Totul undivided profits 
£5,424 14 0 
484 1 6 
*5,908:i5 6 
A portion of this amount has been invested in the 
purchase of £5,000 In New South Wales at 3J per ctn f . 
inscribed stock, at a cost of £4,850. 
Tka Season, 1887. 
The usual estimates have been prepared by the 
ansgsr at Dar.jeeling, giving in detail the probable 
lituro.at the plantations and amount of tea likely 
fco be manufactured, should fair, ordinary weather be 
experienced, of which the following is »u abstract 
Estimated Expenditure and Crop of Tea. 
Sudder charges 
Ambotia Plantation 
Ging do 
Tukdah do 
Phoobsetirjg elo 
R. 
11,498 
53,309 
47,827 
41,828 
23,632 
178,094 
Lb. 
2bb,boY) 
142 000 
124,000 
72,000 
538,000 
These estimat- s exhibit a probable increase in the 
outlay of R4,714, and an increase in the crop of 
20,0841b. of tea, as compared with 1886. 
Moderate extensioes have' been made in the tea plant- 
ations duriug the past cold season. These new tea- 
drying machines have been supplied, and the mainten- 
ance of the plantations in a high state of efficiency 
has been provided for. — II. $ C. Mail. 
TEA CULTURE AND THE NATIVES OF UVA. 
(From a Correspondent.) 
31st May 1887. 
I have been a long time answering your queries 
about the villagers. Much of my time has been 
spent in travelling lately, leaving little for cor- 
respondence. They (the villager;) have not taken 
yet to tea-cultivation, but many of them, especially 
from Paranagama, have gone to work on estates where 
tea is grow n — compelled to work by their poverty, and 
I have no doubt that one result of this departure 
will, by and bye, be village tea-gardens, superseding 
the abandoned coffee. There are 80 or 90 Kandyans 
working on Warwick estate, I believe. I saw 
about 40 gathered at muster on an Lva estate some 
few weeks ago. The poor things were a painful 
contrast, in regard to condition, to the Tamils mus- 
tered on the same barbecue. 
In some places, when I ask the people why they 
do not take to tea, the reply is, "We have not got 
the money needed to begin, and we have not the 
strength for the work." There is no doubt that 
large numbers of them are in a very sorry physical 
condition and are perhaps not strong enough for 
such work as tea cultivation requires, and there is 
no doubt also that with many there is very little 
inclination for work. 
It would be well worth while on the part of the 
Government to try the experiment and distribute 
tea seed. Great poverty prevails in the villages and 
mueh sickness resulting from poverty. 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 
by dr. 3, e. taylor, f. l. s., f. o. 8., &c, 
Editor of " Science Gossip." 
Recent experiments demonstrate that copperas or 
green vitriol (sulphate of iron) is a capital dressing 
for a variety of crops. A plot of ground measuring 
one-eighth of an acre, treated with 141b. of the above 
salt, yielded 5,2871b, of potatoes, showing an increase 
of 4001b. against the same size of a plot which was 
purposely left untreated. In another expsriment the 
sulphate was applied to a field of turnips, and the 
yield was as good as a similar-sized field on which 
gfittno and diasoifed bones had been used. In an ex- 
periment oil two fields of hay, one was manured with 
the salt and the ether not the yield of hay by the 
former was neatly double that of the latter. Other 
crops were equally benefited by it. 
Mr. R. Warrington has just published the results 
of the experiments he carried on at Rothamstead 
last autumn on the distribution of the nitrifying or- 
ganism in the soil. He shows that the conditions 
which favour nitrification in the subsoil are such as 
enable the air to pe etrate it. Artificial drainage, 
a dry season, or the growth of a luxuriant crop caus- 
ing much evaporation of the water of the soil— all, 
by removing the water from the soil, cause air to 
penetrate more or less deeply, and thus render nitri- 
fication possible. Mr, Warrington concludes that the 
