870 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1882. 
asa fact that any attempt to grow bananas on these 
plains on a stiff clay soil will prove a failure, and it 
should be borne in mind that unless the slope of the 
land be uniform, the cost of irrigating will be materi- 
ally increased. Before incurring any expense, it will 
be prudent to obtain the advice of some competent 
person as to the best way of taking and applying the 
water, for the inexperienced in such matters would 
be likely to make some costly mistake. After the 
land htvs been cleared and stumped, the irrigation 
trenches should be laid out and dug before any plant- 
ing is done, for the suckers should be irrigated imme- 
diately after being planted. The writer thinks it best 
to plant banana suckers at a distance of 10 feet apart 
in every direction, which gives about 435 plants to 
the acre. Some people however think a freer admission 
of light and air are necessary for the growth of large 
buuehes, and, as the smaller ones are not marketable, 
they recommend that the suckers should be planted 
at a distance of 16£ feet, from north, to south, and 
of 8| feet, from east to west. When so planted, the 
cost of trenching and irrigating is less than when 
they are planted in squares of ten feet. Good healthy 
suckers should be selected to plant, and they should, 
from the time they are planted, be irrigated, regard- 
less of whatever rain may fall, at regular intervals 
of - not more than fourteen days. The nature of the 
soil has so much to do with the quantity of water 
required at one time for irrigating, that it would be 
impossible to lay down a hard-and-fast rule, but it 
may be accepted that at least 1 cubic yard per hour, 
per acre, which is equal to about 68 inches rainfall 
per annum, is necessary. The plants must be kept 
free of weeds and creepers, and this may necessitate 
eight cleanings per annum. They arrive at maturity 
in a period varying from twelve to eighteen months. 
After the first bearing, the smallest suckers which 
can be used for planting should be removed, and the 
one which has borne should be cut up and spread 
round the root, after which the plant should be care- 
fully moulded up. In most cases this simple process, 
added to the mamnial properties of the water, will 
be found sufficient, but in others it may be necessary 
to use other manures after the third year of cropping. 
The cost of planting and cultivating 1 acre of bananas 
was found by the writer to be as follows: — 
Cleaning laud, if in wood or ruinate £1 10. 
Irrigation trenches, &c, 1 10 
400 suckers at 6s. 1 4 
Planting 400 suckers at 2s. ... 0 8 
8 cleanings at 10s 4 0 
Irrigation Water 1 0 
Contingencies .. 0 18 
Total per acre 
£10 10 
The yield of marketable buuehes of fruit will probably 
be about 25 per cent less than the number of suckers 
planted. 
The cost of cutting and delivering the fruit in 
Kingston does not exceed 4d. per bunch. 
The demand for bananas in the United States will 
probably increase, and it is at present so great that 
there is no likelihood of the market being overstocked. 
Steamers run every week from Kingston to New 
York, so that banana growers in St. Catherine are 
perhaps more favourably situnted than those in any 
other part of the Island.— Suptimus Feuktabo, 
Jamaica.— Journal of Applied Science. 
TEA COMPANIES IN INDIA. 
A return has recently been issued by the "Planters' 
Stores and Agency Company, Limited," of the results 
of the working of eleven tea companies having their 
offices in London, from which a considerable amount 
of information is available. A careful persual of this 
document shows conclusively why some companies 
are paying dividends and others are working at a 
loss. The table gives details for each company ; we 
shall here deal with the averag'-s of the eleven 
companies : — • 
1879. 1880. 
Gross price of tea per lb. 
including all receipts ... d. 17*37 14-41 
Cost of making per lb. 
including all charges ... d. 1603 14'18 
Profit per lb. of tea ... d. 134 0-23 
Dividends paid ... % 4"77 307 
Yield of tea per acre ... lb. — 349 
Capital employed per acre £ — 87 
Capital per maund of ten 
rnaunds ... £ — 21 
To any one who has studied the financing of tea 
concerns, this table speaks in language not to be 
mistaken. Here we have an average cost per pound 
for making for the two years of 15T0t£, while the price 
realised averages only 15'89d., leaving a profit of only 
'79d. per lb. The cost of making in individual gardens 
runs from 12'25rf. to 17'6?d. ; the prices realised were 
from 912d., to 19 37cZ , and the results per lb. from— 
4 - 12cZ. to+ - 25 to 5 12ii. Now we can understand with- 
out much difficulty why two gardens making an 
equal quality and having an equal outturn of net 
profit, should pay different dividends, as those depend 
on the amount of capital invested : but after allowing 
for local peculiarities in the way of expense, we are 
at a loss to understand why there should be such vast 
differences in the cost of manufacture. It is no doubt 
true that a large garden can be worked cheaper per lb. 
or per acre than a small one, many of the items being 
constant, but these gardens under notice are all pretty 
large concerns. We also know that a garden yielding 
470 lb. of tea per acre, costs less relatively than one 
yielding only 1921b. These latter figures depend, 
then, on management, and by management we do not 
use the term in its narrow meaning as referring to 
the garden management. We do not think the garden 
management is so often at fault, as there is an (sprit 
de corps which impels managers to try their very 
best. By management, we use the term in the sense 
of control. If gardens were, first of all, carefully 
provided with good managers, the proper plan would 
be to give these gentlemen reasonable discretionary 
powers, and allow them to do their best, without 
being hampered by instructions from directors or 
managing agents, who may be good business men, 
but who, in many instances, have little practical ex- 
perience of tea planting and manufacture.- 
The difference between the selling prices of 1879 
and 1880, viz., 2 '96^. per lb., is accounted for by 
the extremely low market ruling in the latter year. 
The minimum should be lSd. or say 12 annas, and iD 
1879 it nearly rose to that. On the other hand, a 
useful lesson is learned by looking into the difference 
between the cost of making in the two years, wh'ch 
amounted to 1 S5cZ. On this head 8 annas or \2d. 
ought to suffice, and a little more economy txei«sed 
in the direction of office charges would reduce the 
price to that figure. The column containing dividends 
is slightly misleading; it does not contain dividends 
earned, but dividends paid, and as some are guaranteed 
the column does not give a true idea of the profits 
made. Perhaps the fairest mode of estimating this is 
to work out the profit made per acre Wc hold that 
by proper management and control a fairly worked 
garden should give R100 profit per acre per annum. 
The Borelli, one on the list before us, made 170 lb. 
of tea, and made a profit of b'\2bd. per lb. This at 
par is exacily £10 0-S2 per aorc, and, gi\cn au ordinary 
good market, we see no reason why this should not 
be the rule, rather than the exception. 
