THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July fc, 1888. 
Tea Companies. — Our local contemporaries 
seem to miss the one point which most strongly justi- 
fies the turning of groups of tea plantations wherever 
possible into a Limited Company proprietary. It 
is the immense money saving which can thus be 
effected in factories and machinery. Under separate 
proprietors, each estate will probably have to pro- 
vide some sort of a factory and machinery however 
inferior ; while half-a-dozen such plantations under 
one control could afford a central and fully equipped 
factory — atthe spotperhaps where water-power can be 
got — and large economy in first outlay, as well as in 
fuel for all time, together with far better prepara- 
tion of the tea-leaf, can thus be anticipated. We know 
how difficult it is — in the case of old properties 
especially— to get all concerned — proprietors, mort. 
gagers, agents — to agree to merge their interests in a 
Company. But with competent valuators on both 
sides, and with shares in the Company to represent 
the greater part of value, the difficulties ought to be 
overcome by men of business. Then with well- 
selected judicious managers — on whom, success 
must always chiefly depend — and perhaps an al- 
lowance in a percentage on profits, we do not see 
why the properties in Ceylon of Tea Companies 
should not be worked more economically even than 
privately-owned plantations. 
Tea in Japan. — Says the Japan Weekly Mail 
of May 5th :— 
In Settu, Kawachi, and Idzumi the extent of ground 
under tea has this year been increased by about 10 
per cent. The Yamashiro Tea Preparing Company 
and the Kyoto Tea Preparing Company have each 
received an order to supply a quantity of prepared 
and black tea to the Imperial Household. 
The paper of May 12th has the following : — 
Large parcels of new tea from Kyshu, Kawachi, 
and surrounding districts, have arrived at Osaka, and 
prices are said to be 10 per cent, lower than those 
of last season at the same period. The Tea trade 
is brisk, over 10,000 piculs of leaf being the business 
of the week. The commodity is plentiful and good, 
and this year's growth bears favourable comparison 
with that of last season, Prices decline as heavy 
parcels come to hand, and this will have the effect 
of increasing the quantity fired, the general tendency 
being towards a cheap article. The total shipments 
from Yokohama and Kobe to the United States and 
Canada during the season just closed amounted to 
43,357,197 piculs, against 45,455,231 piculs in 188C-7. 
English Tobacco. — The London Chamber of Com- 
merce has awarded its prize of £50 for British- 
grown tobacco to Messrs. Carter & Co., and now it 
is proposed to submit the tobacco to chemical and 
practical tests. We may take it that it has been 
virtually settled that tobacco can be grown very well 
in England and Ireland. The specimens in their 
plant form are decisive enough on this point, which 
has been the one principally in dispute. The cur- 
ing of the leaves is the other and much more 
difficult part of the subject, and it is here where 
the need for inquiry and experimentation is so 
great. The present demand for light-coloured cigars 
and tobaccos, under the idea that they are necessarily 
mild, is causing a good deal of immature foreign 
stuff to be placed upon the market. If however, we 
could manufacture light-tinted tobaccos in England, 
without the necessity for sulphuric acid bleaching, 
we should have solved the double problem of benefit- 
ing agriculture and of satisfying a healthy demand. 
It is clear we can grow the plant, and that it will 
be profitable. The rest is purely a manufacturers' 
problem. 
Cape Diamonds. — At present, says the London 
Wemomist of March 10th, the total nominal capital 
of the various South African Diamond companies 
is not far short of six millions sterling, and the 
value of the diamonds exported from their pro- 
perties has been, as we have said, between forty 
and forty-five millions sterling, of which about 
fifteen and a-half millions represents the output 
of the past five years. The following approxi- 
mately, is the annual export of Cape diamonds since 
1882 ;— 
1887 . . £4,033 582 
1886 . . 3.504,750 
1885 •• 2 492,753 
1884 . . 2,807,329 
1838 . . 2,742,470 
The Madras Forest Report foe 188G-87 has 
reached us, and from the remarks of the Board of 
Bevenue we quote as follows : — 
Upon the whole, the working of the year was suc- 
cessful. The weak points in the department are the 
paucity of experienced and trained officers and the 
want of system in working the forests in some dis- 
tricts alluded to above. The conduct of the estab- 
lishments was on the whole good, though the Con- 
servator, Southern Circle, finds reason to complain 
of the want of thoroughness in the inspection of 
Range offices and depots by District Forest-officers. 
The Northern Circle Conservator, Mr. Gamble, in- 
sepcted, during the year, Godavari, Kistna, Ouddapah, 
Kurnool, Anantapura and the Nilgiris. His inspec- 
tions _ were very thorough, and his inspection notes 
on Kistna and Kurnool and his note on the Nilgeri 
forests are full of interest. Colonel Walker inspected 
every district in his circle during the year. The 
District Forest-officers spent a sufficient portion of 
the year on tour, and as a rule, showed great interest in 
their work. The year was not a healthy one and the 
superior and subordinate establishments suffered much 
rom fever. 
Davala, South-east Wynaad. — We are informed 
that the country about Davala, in South-East 
Wynaad, which was at one time occupied by 
flourishing coffee estates, now presents a scene of 
perfect desolation. Three or four estates, it is 
said, have escaped the general ruin, for which 
the proprietors are no doubt deeply thankful. 
The numerous, and in some instances stately 
buildings, that were erected when the gold mining 
fever was at its highest rage, are, we are told, 
completely deserted, those constructed of timber 
having yielded to the ravages of the termites, the 
white ants, while those composed of more substan- 
tial materials erect their silent heads with an air 
of despondency. The coffee estates, we think, gave 
evidence of decay, considerably before the gold 
fever appeared, and this craze gave the finishing 
stroke to their dilapidated constitutions. So much 
was expected from the gold, that the coffee became 
the subject of secondary consideration, and thus 
an industry which had contributed to the pros- 
perity of Davala, as it has contributed to the 
prosperity of the Wynaad generally, was allowed 
to make room for a speculation of a very un- 
certain character. This uncertainty may have been 
concluded from the expressed opinion of experts 
that the precious metal would never be obtained 
in remunerative quantities. The wealth which 
Davala has absorbed is not entirely represented 
by the unfruitful mining operations. To it should 
be added the enormous sums spent upon the 
coffee estates which now constitute deserts and 
wastes, and we should remember that the change 
was not sudden, but had been approaching by 
slow, although certain steps. The question there- 
fore arises, is coffee planting thoroughly under- 
stood in India ? There have been so many men of 
ability and experience engaged in the manage- 
ment of estimates, that the question may appear 
absurd ; there is, however, evidently, some 
secret which has not as yet become intelligible, 
or Davala would not have experienced her devasta- 
tion— S. I. Observer, 
