THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April t, 1889. 
green, and juicy. The latter would have little 
attraction for an appetite that is gratified by a 
post or part of a gate. They would certainly 
attack wood that iB already dry and their rjresence 
und'er the circumstances mentioned might lead casual 
observers to conclude that they would subsist on 
any wood. But until more careful experiments are 
made, it would be idle to hazard an opinion. 
We long contended that white-ants did not attack 
living tissues, but only dead matter. We were 
confirmed in the conviction that the termites spared 
living plants by a very interesting sight which may 
any day be seen in the Cinnamon Gardens near 
Colombo, — a cinnamon bush flourishing while grow- 
ing in the centre of the pyramidal nest, 3 to 6 
feet high, of the white-ants. But the Indian tea 
planters found that the insects paid no such re- 
spect to tea bushes, and accordingly they cleared 
away all dead wood, instead of allowing it to decay 
and form fertilizing matter, because the white- 
ants attracted by the decaying wood proceeded to 
feed on the living tea plants. On lowcountry 
estates in Ceylon too, white-ants have proved trouble- 
some, while coconut planters have to apply ashes 
to their young plants and take great care to pre- 
serve them from the attacks of the destructive 
termites. It remains true, however, that the white- 
ants generally choose dead matter as their food. 
4> 
CEYLON UPCOUNTBY PLANTING BEPOBT. 
COFFEE — CACAO — TEA — TOBACCO . 
25th February 1889. 
As to vegetation, good blossoms should be 
roasted out, and coffee looks us if it intended to 
do it if it got any kind of chance in the shape 
of a shower. 
Cacao is various. The trees that have just 
borne a big crop are resting : no sign of blossom 
whatever, whereas those that did little during 
the autumn crop are well to the front with a 
fair show of fruit set. On the whole I think it is 
looking well. 
Tea is all but shut up. We all say " if we 
only had rain." That too will come ; meanwhile 
everything is parched, and weakly supplies are 
finding life not worth the living and giving up the 
struggle. 
The numbers of those who intend to make 
a fortune by Tobacco go on increasing. I fancy 
when published there should be a considerable 
run on your Tobacco Manual, where the knowledge 
will be definite, instead of what obtains at present, 
which consists pretty much of nods and winks. All 
the same it is quite astonishing how satisfied a 
man is with this kind of indefinite information, 
and how he is prepared to build a happy future 
on it. Peppeecoen. 
INDIAN TEA IN AMEBICA. 
We hear that the project for establishing markets 
for tea in the United States has been received with 
favour. Shareholders in tea concerns, as well as 
brokers and dealers in the Laue, are supporting it 
in the belief that it is likely to prove a great 
success. Mr. Mucgregor, who haB control of the 
arrangement in America, is very sanguine as to 
the results, and ho is prepared to back his opinion. 
The directors mean business, and all concerned 
are firm in the belief that before very long the 
American market will absorb a large quantity of 
Indian t';u, — ii, (& 0, Mail. 
THE DEMAND FOB CEYLON TEA 
INCREASING RAPIDLY. 
The Colonies and India says :— The Ceylon Cham- 
ber of Commerce export figures from October 1st, 
18S8, to January 3rd, 1889, are as follows ': — Coffee, 
20,630 cwt.; cinchona, 3,354,521 lb.; tea, 6,983,686 lb.; 
cocoa, 1,464 cwt.; cardamoms, 55,761 lb. Over 3,000 
tons of tea for a single quarter is not by any 
means a bad sign for this industry. The demand 
for Ceylon tea is increasing rapidly on this side, 
and as the planters appear to be going in pluckily 
for its production, we may expect to see these 
figures rapidly rising. 
THE YATADERIA TEA COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
The first annual general meeting of the Yataderia 
TeaCompany, Limited, was heldat the offices, 21 Baillie 
Street, Colombo, yesterday (Feb. 28th; afternoon, Mr. 
H. K. Rutherford, Managing Director, in the chair. 
The following shareholders were represented, viz.: — 
-Messrs. H. V. Masefield, J. H. Starey, J. K. Fair- 
weather, S. L. Harries, H. Tarrant, W. Mackenzie, D. 
Fairweather, A. P. Orawley-Boevey, W. Church, 
and G. J. Jameson (by attorney), and the acting Se- 
cretary, Mr. T. Wright. 
Notice convening the meeting having been read the 
report and accounts for 1888 were laid before the meet- 
ing and taken as read. 
The Chaikman said that he trusted the shareholders 
would adopt the report which the Directors had sub- 
mitted to them, and he congiatulated the shareholders 
on the favourable position of the Company and 
strongly advocated their support in keeping the capital 
outlay per acre at as low a limit as possible, as it 
was only by having a low capital charge per acre 
that Ceylon or Indian tea companies could hope to 
show satisfactory dividends in the future if the price 
of tea continued to fall as it had so markedly done 
during the past year. He attributed the low prices 
of the Company's teas in a great measure to the 
temporary arrangements for manufacture, but it was 
to be hoped when the new factory was completed and 
the machinery installed that the Company's 
teas would not be below the Ceylon average price. 
Mr. Michie, the Engineer, had visited the property in 
the dry season and reported that there was sufficient 
water with a fall of 250 feet to drive the machinery ne- 
cessary. A few of the shareholders had lately visited 
the Company's property, and he was glad to learn from 
these gentlemen, that they eonsidered the growth of 
the tea and the condition of the estate iu every 
way encouraging for the future prospects of the 
Company. 
Mr. Starey said he considered the report satis- 
factory, and asked if its acceptance involved adopt- 
ing the policy proposed by the Directors to develop 
the estate out of profits. The Chairman pointed out 
that it did so as far as the past year was .con- 
cerned. 
Mr. Stare? then moved and Mr. Masefield seconded 
— '• That the report and accounts of the Directors 
be adopted." — Carried. 
Report of the Directors to be submitted at the First 
Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, to be held at 
the offices of the Company on 28th February 1889. 
The Directors have the pleasure to submit the General 
Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account for the 
year ending 31st December 1888, duly audited. 
The net profit on the year's working, as shown by the 
account, is R2,957'4fi, and the Directors propose that 
this Or. balance be carried forward to the workii g 
account for 1889. 
Owing, in u Urge degree, to the imperfect Factory 
accommodation for manufacturing the teas, and the 
depressed state of the Tea Market, the Director* re- 
gret the price realized for the Company's teas fell short 
of their expectations. The amount of tea crop, how- 
ever, exceeded the estimate by 9,9401b. 
