September i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
189 
THE BBITISH INDIAN TEA COMPANY 
LIMITED. 
The :innual meeting of this company Wits held at 
the offices, J ), St. Mary Axe, B. 0., on Thursday week, 
Mr. A. li. (Japol presiding. 
The report from which we extract the following, 
was taken ss read: — "The revenue statomout shows a 
balance at credit of £5.791 13s H i and after deducting 
from this sum £1,148 is lor debenture interest, 
£994 Is 8d for new extensions to the cultivation, 
and £2,31 17s 5d for income tax, &c, there re- 
mains £11,117 7s 7<l at credit of profit and loss 
account. This amount, it will bo noticed, exceeds 
by C2,315 8s lOd the sum available in last 
year's account, thus bearing out the anticipations of 
the hoard that the 1885-86 year's working was ex- 
ceptionally unfortunate. Out of the above sum the 
directors recommend the payment of a dividend of 
os per share (free of income tax), leaving £376 2s 7d 
to be added to the previous balance of £581 6s 3d, 
thus making an amount of £957 8s lCd at credit of 
reserve fund. The 1886-87 crop was estimated at 
030,000 lb of tea, but the quantity made was 697,935 
being an increase of 61,935 lb on the estimate, and 
of 05,701 lb on the actual produce of 1885-80. It 
was disposed of in the following manner: — Shipped 
to London and sold there, 080,716 lb ; lost in transit, 
and value recovered, 2,170 lb. ; trade allowance for 
taring, &c, 9,019 lb. The sales gives the following re- 
sults : — Ohe«ts, 7,613 ; invoice weight, 697,935 lb. ; ac- 
count sales weight, 688,886 lb.; net proceeds, £22,690 
2sl0d ; average per lb., gross 9T5d, net 7'91d. This 
results per pound, calculated on the account sales 
weight, viz., 08S 8801b., should be considered very grati- 
fying, being evidence of astill further reduction in the 
working exponses. The total cost, including all charges 
in India and London, with commission to the managers, 
only amounts to 7T3d per lb., which with a gross aver- 
age realised for the crop of 9 15d, leaves a profit of 
2 02d. The out-turn for 1S87-8S has been put at 8,550 
niaunds, or 081,000 lb., for a total Indian expenditure 
of K 221, '.192, which at Is l!d exchange, amounts to 
£15,262, or 5 30d per lb., f.o.b. Calcutta, adding to 
this CI, 578 for stores, machinery, &c, and £4,000 for 
freight, dock dues, sale charges, and London expenses, 
givesa total of £21,410 lb , or 7'52d per lb. for all ex- 
penditure except coininiseiou to managers," — //. ty" C. 
M oil, J u\y 27th. 
Tin-: Preparation of Rhea, — The Board of Trade 
have received information through the Foreign 
Office to the effect that the opening of the com- 
petition of machinery and apparatus for the prepara- 
tion of rhea, which was to have taken place at Paris 
on the 15th of this month, has been postponed till 
the 25th prox. The period during whioh applications 
for permission to compete will bo received has also 
been extonded to the 30th of August. — London 
Times, Aug. 1 1th. 
Plantains in Jamaica. — Tho largest shipment of 
bananas ever made from this island took place last 
week, when tho following ten steamci'B were loaded 
on tho North Side of tho island and sailed for the 
northern pot ts of the United ttlatos : — 
Lunches. 
"Brixbam" ... ... ... J2,5t0 
"Luthurna" ... ... ... 12, ) 
f'Bthelbald" ... ... ... 14,000 
"(Jodden" ... ... 10,000 
" Pomona " ... ... ... 8,000 
"Annan" ... ... ... lo.ooo 
"Dorian" ... ... ... 12, mil) 
"Kong Alt'" ... ... ... 12, miii 
" Kenilvvorth " ... ... ... 7.00(1 
*' Athos " ... ... ... 10,060 
Total 12li,i>00 
Tho 120,000 Bunches BanannB shipped are esti- 
mated to havo coat £ 12,000— which sum went into 
circulation in one week, Tho averago BhipnionU 
from March til 1st July, for lour months, amounted 
to about 70,000 per week, or £7,<>00 per week put 
in circulation. After the 1st July the shipments 
usually fall oil', and do not average over 40,000 
bunches per week, but the prospects for this year 
are better. — Gleaner, July 4th. 
Tea Machineey. — You may have noticed from a late 
salo of Mr. E. John's that the combined withering and 
saying machine, the X-L-ALLat Bambrakelbii, has begau 
to tell during the wot weather — as| Walla VMm/tea ithe 
bought leaf) and Queetilffdod tea both withered and final 
fired by the X-L-ALL have got the highest averago 
prices in that sale ot the teas of 18 estates. Mr E. Wiggiu 
uiakos only two classes of tea. so that the novelty of 
(in Ceylon) making a first-class tea from fresh wet 
leaf and drying it besides by thesame machine; deserves 
some consideration. A small size, the original (tho 
Myth) X-L-ALL from Brown, Kae & Co., goes in a 
few days to Mr. Hogg, Imbulpitiya, and a large size 
to Mr. Dicksouin October, and others shortly." — Cor. 
Caffeine. -The amount of caffeine present in the husk 
of Liberian coffee, and the pods of cacao and of kola, 
has been estimated by Messrs. Heckel and Seblagden- 
haulfen. In kola fruits they found only about one- 
fortieth of the amount present in the seeds (which 
contain 2'371 per cent.). From the cocoa pod they 
obtained only about one-thirtieth of the amount 
present in the seeds (49 milligrams per 100 grams), 
Liberian coffee husks yielded only about 0 milligrams 
per 100 grams. According to these authors the caffeine 
exists in the free state both in kola and Liberian coffee. 
The Liberian coffee husk gave off the odour of caffeone 
when roasted, hut the leaves of the cotfee plant and 
those of kola did not afford any caffeine (Rep. do Plia/fm. 
p. 205). — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
China Grass Matttnos. — We cull the following from 
an article in the Carpet Trade and lleview. The making 
of matting has been known to the Chinese from a very 
early period. Grasses from which the matting is made 
grow in great abundance throughout China, but 
the principal plant, the Arundo mitis, is cultivated 
mostly in the province of Canton. To perfect its 
growth, the plant requires a great deal of mois- 
ture, and this it receives lavishly in the lowlands 
of Canton, being adjacent to both sea and rivers. 
The excessive moisture makes the growth so rapid 
that "hearing the grass grow" is almost a truism. 
The grass requires little cultivation, and grows 
from the root instead of from seed. The principal 
foreign dyes used in the manufacture of these 
mattings are aniline, but before these were known 
in China the principal style of carpet was the red 
and white check. The matting loom simply con- 
sists of an upright frame work with cylindrical 
crosspieces above and below, over which the warp 
runs, the woof being woven in without a shuttle. 
A long, Hat and smooth piece of bamboo having 
an eye or split at tho point is used to shoot in 
the single straws, tho warp being regulated by the 
working-beam through which it passes. Each 
straw i3 fastened at the right and left hand side 
alternately by simply twisting the end in and out- 
ward around the outer and inner somewhat thicker 
selvage strings, and then the lay is brought down 
with sufficient force to give the texturo the lirmness 
required. The warp is easily arranged, tho necessary 
number of China grass strings (according to tho 
size of warp desired) being passed over the upper 
crosspicco and through the holes in the beam and 
the ends fastened to bamboo sticks, which in turn 
are secured under the lower oroaspiece ; when tho 
warp becomes loose it ia tightened by driving a 
wedge between the upright and tho orosspiece. 
Breaking of tho warp which is oiled to make it 
smooth, is of frequent occurrence, but apparently 
of little importance, as time seems to bo somewhat 
of a drug in the markota of all Eastern coun- 
tries,— Kitkhvt'l German Trade RevitK. 
