January 2, 1882 ] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
599 
shewing the net profit realized from each estate separ- 
ately, so that no one can accuse the Lanka Direct- 
ors of paying dividends out of capital. The Report 
is as follows : — 
Tiik Lanka Plantations Company, Limited. —Re- 
port to be presented at the first ordinary general 
meeting of the Lanka Plantations Company, Limited, 
to be held at the offices of the Compauy, on Thurs- 
day, the 10th day of November 1881 :— The directors 
beg to submit their report for the fifteen months from 
the formation of the Company to the 30th .Tune last, 
together with the balance sheet, as audited, showing 
the financial position of the Company, Ihe profit and 
loss account, und a crop account or statement of the 
working of the three estates, which during that period 
were in tho po-scssion of the Company. The balance 
of the profit and loss account is £6,692 10s 4d, out 
of which sum there was paid, prior to 30th June, 
£1,994 8s lid for two interim dividends at the rate 
of 8 per cent per annum, and for interest on monies 
paid in anticipation of calls, reducing the £0,692 10s 
4d to £4,698 15s Od. Since the 30th June, £364 0s 2d 
has been paid for 6 months' interest to that date on 
monies received in anticipation and advance of calls, 
and £2,848 17a 6d has heen distributed in a third 
interim dividend at the rate of S per cent per annum 
on the capital called up and paid, leaving the sum 
of £1,485 3s 9d, which the directors propose to carry 
forward to tho new profit aud loss account. The 
average price obtained for the coffee has been below 
the average of previous years, and the email quantity 
of cinchona which came forward was sent only to test 
its market value nevertheless the net profits have been 
equnl to lOi per cent. The Company is now in pos- 
session of "seven well selected estates, and it is be- 
lieved that as these properties are in different dis- 
tricts, a good average yearly profit for working opera- 
tions will bo attained, which the directors do not 
doubt will prove sufficient to ensure the paymeut of 
regular, and satisfactory dividends. 
Name. 
District. 
il 
go 
o a 
\k 
Patna ami 
Cbena. 
| Forest aud 1 
| Grass. 
Total Acre- 
age. 
Cost. 
Rappahannock 
ArnlmU 
Rillamalle 
jmpitiyokande 
Gonial 1 la 
Kttfoe 
Thotulagala .. 
pin mil ... 
Udapussellawa 
Haputale 
Maturata ... 
Haputale 
Dikoya 
do 
Haputale ... 
Dikoya 
14 
28,561 12 8 
33,000 0 0 
10,000 0 0 
j 43 
3,268$ 
117,579 15 1 
In addition to the forogoing, tho purchase of a small 
property (155 acres) is contemplated, as it adjoius one 
of the estates belonging to the Company. The reports 
recently received relative to tho c mdition of the es- 
tates are generally satisfactory, and tho manager has 
K n authorised to bring them into as high a stato 
of cultivation as is consistent with true economy, and 
B t.> maintain them. Tho expenditure daring the 
n \ two years may thurely be somewhat above tho 
average, but in the opinion of experienced advisers 
such an outlay will be judicious, and, with favorable 
season., will i-. rt.iinly In: productive of cuimi' -n-nratu 
return*. It will be seen by tho preceding statement 
of estates purchased, that tho total coftof properties 
acquired has been nearly equal to tho nominal capital 
of the Company. In some instances tho purchases 
wore made sulvjeot to existing mortgages, ami to tho 
amount of £26,606 13s 4d tho mortgages have not 
I been discharged. In two cases tho mortgagees have 
consented to accept G per cent interest from the 
Company, and it is .not proposed to pay those mort- 
gages off. The other charges, wich amount to £10,GG6 
13s 4cl, will, unless G per cent interest be also ac- 
cepted, bo paid off at their due rate, and to provide 
the requisite amount a call will be made. 
From the Balance- sheet, we take the crop account 
which shews the profit on each ctate : — 
CROP ACCOUNT, 1880-81. 
Rappahan- 
nock. 
Ampittia- 
kande. 
Arnhall. 
Total. 
£ s.d. 
12,182 3 7 
£ a. d. 
6,191 IS 11 
£ s.d. 
3,494 3 6 
£ R A 
2,496 1 2 
Freight, Docl< S '' 
577 15 10 
270 19 7 
189 7 7 
1,038 3 0 
Insurance ' ..' 
1,036 7 7 
157 7 10 
317 10 2 
71 11 9 
289 10 1 
54 11 2 
1,613 13 10 
283 13 9 
Balance carried to 
Profit and Loss 
Account 
7,963 10 2 
3,959 3 1 
4,154 14 0 
5,394 0 10 
3,029 10 0 
902 11 0 
,15,117 14 2 
10,255 14 11 
11,922 13 S 
9,518 14 If 
3,932 1 0 
25,103 9 1 
Rappahan- 
nock. 
Ampittia- 
KANDt;. 
ARNHAIX. 
TOTAX. 
Proceeds of cof- 
fee sold in Lon- 
don 
Do. of refuse 
coffee, &c, sold 
in Ceylon 
£ s. d. 
11,653 19 11 
24 3 4 
£ s. d. 
4,411 13 1 
22 14 3 
£ a. d 
3,793 16 0 
41 17 C 
£ s. d. 
19,859 9 6 
91 14 7 
Value of coffee 
(crop 1880-81) 
not yet realised 
11,678 3 3 
244 10 0 
4,434 7 4 
5,114 7 6 
3,838 13 t 
93 7 ( 
19,951 4 1 
5,452 5 0 
11,922 13 3 
9,518 14 10 
3,932 1 I 
25,403 9 1 
We may, therefore, well congratulate the shareholders 
of this Company on the good business done for them 
in Ceylon by their Directors, Agents and Manager. 
COFFEE PLANTERS AND THEIR CRITICS. 
With reference to the letter of " Po3t Tcnebras 
Lux" on page 605 we may remind the writer that 
Dr. Trimen and Mr. Marshall Ward have said their 
"say," and we doubt if they have " moro last words " 
to utter conveying knowledge beyond the existing ken 
of intelligent and experienced planters. A special 
question has been dealt with by specialists — Thwaites, 
Morris, Ward, Trimen, and others. The disease has 
beeu diagnosed and pronounced not to be constitu- 
tional, but due to an insidious external agency, as 
difficult to destroy as the mythical personage who 
derived fresh strength from every fall on mother earth. 
For long-continued years tho coffee trees were forced 
into heavy bearing by sharp pruning, but retribution 
did not take the form of a leaf fungus. IlnniUia 
vastafrix resembles the wind : its effects wo know ; but 
the laws which govern its coining aud going, we, 
as yet, know not. Wo have seen its coming, 
watched its existence with an interest the reverse 
of benevolent, and, with Irish vision, wo hope to see 
it go out of sight. Meantime, it seems that crying 
further to Hercules for help will bo of little uso. 
Plauters must put their owu shoulders to the wheel. 
Many of them are or ought to bo mon of science, know- 
