8 3 8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [j UNE l888 
30. 
Ye twittering swallows, rise and fall in your flight a- 
round the hill, 
But when next I go to the high Sunglo, I'll change my 
gown, I will ; 
And I'll roll up the cuff, and show arm enough, for my 
arm is fair to see : 
Oh, if ever there were a fair round arm, that arm 
belongs to me ! 
4 
THE FUEL SUPPLY FOR TEA ESTATES. 
Sambo came from the field in a state of great 
excitement, exclaiming, " Massa an' me great 'spute. 
He say sandy ground good for squash pumpkin 
an' me say de same ting ; an' we 'spute all day 
longl" It is much the same with "X. Y. Z." 
(see page 841) and ourselves. It was notwe who raised 
the alarm about firewood for tea estates, but a plant- 
er so largely interested and experienced as Mr. Rut- 
herford. He, no doubt, had in view the requirements 
of steam engines as well as of the furnaces of tea 
driers and stoves for warming the air of withering 
sheds. But the Visiting Agent who gave the 
strong opinion that an estate should have one- 
third wood to two-thirds cultivation is specially 
connected with the well-known group of estates 
in Ambagamuwa, which are so well supplied with 
water-power. He, therefore, had in view the re- 
quirements of Victoria and other driers, and of 
stoves or other appliances for warming the air of 
withering sheds. We had and have the greatest 
possible objections to steam engines, if the use of 
them can be avoided. Not that we undervalue 
this great triumph of engineering invention, but 
we object simply on the score of expense. We 
always hoped that water-power would be available 
in the vast majority of cases, and that the in- 
vention of a cheap artificial fuel would super- 
sede the wasteful use of wood. But the inexorable 
logic of facts is as yet against us. On the 
larger number of the lowcountry estates steam 
engines will be absolute necessities, and so, ap- 
parently will be fuel reserves. On a great number 
of hill estates too, while there is abundance of 
water for eight or nine months of the year, the 
supply is insufficient for one-fourth or one-third 
of the year. We have advocated central factories, 
and we believe great economy could be secured 
by the larger adoption of this expedient. But 
here again, the logic of facts must be regarded; 
Each proprietor of an estate of any size thinks 
he can do more justise to his own tea than it 
can receive from outsiders, and so the ten- 
dency is to separate establishments for estates, 
except, perhaps where a group is owned by an 
individual or a company. We have also written 
strongly in favour of utilizing great waterfalls, such 
as those of Craigie Lea and St. Clair in Dimbula, con- 
juring up visions of tea factories supplied not only 
with power but with the electric light from such 
centres. But actual plans and estimates prove 
that the co?t of generating and transmitting electric 
force would be very heavy; Then comes the ques- 
tion of transmitting power by mechanical means, 
— belting or stpel wire rope revolving on drums. 
We certainly did not mean to cast ridicule on 
this mode of transmission by adducing the case 
where the power of a turbine was wanted 1,100 
feet above it. There can be no impossibility in 
such a feat. It is a question of expense in 
machinery, and of loss of power from fric- 
tion and perhaps in overcoming gravity. We have 
seriounly asked for a rcientilio opinion on the 
subject. If the turbine gave 12 horse-power say, 
and if only half this power was available at the 
factory 1,100 feet higher up, that might prob- 
ably pay by superseding the use of a steam 
engine. An estate owner having an excess of 
wat er power might be able to help his neigh- 
bours who were less favoured by some scheme 
of transmission, but we suspect the idea of several 
factories being built on the favoured estate, the 
leaf from more or less distant estates being 
carried there and prepared, is Utopian. On the 
whole we suspect that what with the requirements 
of inevitable steam engines, and those of tea driers 
and stoves, the fuel question assumes a graver 
aspect than our correspondent is willing to admit, 
and so long as wood is chiefly burnt on our rail- 
ways, even railway extension will add to the diffi- 
culty. Our correspondent will, of course, argue 
that wherever the railway goes, it supplies the 
means of conveying firewood and charcoal, from 
places where wood is plentiful to wher- it is scarce 
But the very lowest rate* at which the railway can 
afford to carry coal, coke, firewood, or even char- 
coal, — say from Matale to Hatton, — make3 the cost 
heavy if not prohibitive. The railway itself finds it 
better to have firewood depots along the line than to 
carry any considerable quantity of reserve 
fuel. We have no more desire to create undue 
alarm than Mr. Eutherford had, but we must 
face facts, and that after a different fashion to 
that of the divine who looked scriptural 
difficulties boldly in the face and — passed on ! 
We must consider what is to be done, and in view 
of the differences of opinion which have arisen as 
well as the importance of the question, we submit 
that the whole subject of the timber and fuel re- 
quirements of tea estates, and how such require- 
ments can be best met, whether locally or from 
foreign sources, ought to be thoroughly investigated 
by a Committee of the Planters' Association, such 
Committee to be composed of the most experienced 
representatives of various districts. The Planters' 
Association might also, perhaps, offer a bonus to 
the discoverer and introducer of a really good and 
cheap artificial fuel, suitable not only for use in 
steam engines, but in tea drivers and therefore 
destitute of odour which might injuriously affect tea. 
» 
FIRST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE 
CEYLON TEA PLANTATIONS COMPANY, LTD. 
(Special Report for the "Get/Ion Observer.") 
The first annual general meeting of this Company 
was held at their office, 21, Mincing Lane, E. C-, on 
Friday, April 13th, at 12 noon. There were present 
Mr. David Reid, Milnathort, in the chair ; Messrs. 
David Eeid of Sevenoaks, P. G. Spence, G. White, 
W. M. Leake, A. W. Starey, E. Walker, and Henry 
Tod, Secretary. 
The Secretary having read the notice calling the 
meeting, the Chairman asked the shareholders if they 
consented that the report should be taken as read, 
and this having been assented to, he proceeded to 
address them as follows : — Gentlemen, — Before I move 
that the report and accounts be received and adopted, 
I daresay you will expect me to give you some account 
of your properties. Generally the first thing a share- 
holder wants to know is what property he has got, and 
what it has cost him. By referring to the statement 
of acreages which has been placed in your hands, 
you will see that, speaking in round numbers, you have 
1,600 acres of tea and 1,600 aores of jungle The cost 
of this may be readily found by taking the first item on 
the creditor side of the balance sheet, by cost of estates, 
including buildings &c, £ 36,863 3s 5d, and adding to it the 
£1,260 mentioned in the note to the statement of acreages 
as having been paid for laud included in the statement 
though not purchased till the present year. This 
gives us, again speaking in round numbers, £68,000 as 
the total cost of the Company's estates. Here then, is 
a simple calculation which each shareholder may easily 
carry away in his head : — 
