Oct. 2, 1893.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
To the Editor. 
CRITICISM OF THE VALUATION OF SOME 
CEYLON PROPERTIES AND PROSPECT- 
USES BASED THEREON. 
Deak Sib,— Sales of Teylon p operty at high 
rates to public Compinies are a matter for oou- 
gratulation to the sellers. If, however, the ex- 
peotations of the valuators and promottre are net 
realised and the sharehoMers cinsequeatly dis 
(innnintAri- will not the nredit of the Colonv ia 
tde home markets be Eeriously injured ? 
It may be an unp'easant tastr, but it is a duty 
on the pirt of every editor whose journal is 
oonneaiei with the Colony's industries, to give his 
honesi opinion in regard to the stability aid 
piospeots of any public Company that is floated, 
a lu e invariably adhered to by fiuano al journals 
at home. 
A very few years ago Ceylon inve tcnents " stank 
in tbe nostrils " of home capitalists and were 
connected oniy with disastrous failure with the 
result that many a struggling proprietor— to 
wbocn a few thoufan's of rupeei er pounds to 
tide him ever lemporary dffioulties would have 
mea It salvatioa an 1 comfort m his old age., — w,s 
unable to raise a single p nny and was ruthh ssly 
"sold up,'' his property in many instances only 
realizing a few rupees; and he forced to begin 
the struggle of ;ife again at the bottom of the 
ladder, a broken-hearted man ia middle life. 
It entai'ed another serious loss to tbe Colony. 
Properties which had, up to a certain point, b;en 
carefully cultivated were from the same cause 
suddenly abandoned, and, aft-r being neglected 
for a time, mamoty weeding was resorted to, and 
surface soil washed away, with the result that 
man> estates which w^re splendid cofifee propertif s, 
have tbrough this i 1-trcatmen., turned out very 
indifierent lea gardeus, hurdly more than pay ng 
the r way now. The most suocessful Compaoies 
in Oe^lon tolay are those whose capital account 
ia em >11, and cr. ps large, and the premier Company 
in every respect the " Ceylon Tea Plantition 
C.jmpany," has (I speak from memory) a capital 
of about £30 an acre ; and although it made 
only 2|d per lb. o( profit on its made tea last 
year, it pii<t a very large dividend. 
The Standard Company is another instance of 
some of the finest estates in Ceylon, having a 
capital of only about £30 an aoi'e. 
Wannarajah will have even less than this 
capital when in full bearing, and although there 
m iy be a long wait, fine results are assured. Tbe 
Yataderia and Yatiyantota Companies are other 
insttinces of small ct>pital and lart^e pr, fit ; wbiie 
I do nut think you could give a ringie instance 
of a Publio Company with large capital either in 
India or Ceylon that hiS given good returns for 
the last 4 or 5 years. Thase reflections have 
be n cmsed by tha flo t ng of two Companies, 
and With the figures given I oanoot for the life 
of me see where thj dividend is to come from, 
as to eara it a profit of something like 25 ceiits 
per lb. will require to be made, or 33 per cent 
more than the Ceyloa Tea Plantations Company 
made last year, and about two and a ha'f limes 
what Mr. Christie told the Kandy Meeting he 
was maUin^? with esclnnge at Is 4d 1 
The other Company is not yet before the publio, 
but the properties ware valued by two d ffereut 
Visiting Agents who took very different views as 
S3 
follows : (I give the proportions but not th« 
amounts ;) Mr. A. vi lued the properties at £74,650; 
Mr. B. at 105,000 ! in both cates valuation 
w s made with a view to floi.t a Company in 
England. 
No*, either the first man shame'ully under- 
valued, and by sale at his figure the present 
owners wouid have lost heav ly, or the s coi.d man 
ma^e an excessive valuation, and if floateJ the 
shareholders will have iheir fingers severely burnt, 
I lake the latter view, and hops it won't flo»t, 
as al hough at this figure it will pay tbe sellers 
largely, it will later on injure the credit cf the 
whole community in Ceylon if it fails to pay 
reasonable interest to the English shareholders. 
We have quite enough public Companies con- 
nected wi'h the Colony, — whose shareholders in 
England yenr after year wait vainly for the di. 
vidend which never comes, and whose sole func- 
tion seems to be to pay good fat fees to Direotore 
ard Agents, without warning to increase tbeir 
number. And I write this in the hope that the 
Editors of all the Oeylon papers will have the preS' 
pectus of each public Company carefully scrutinized 
as it appears, and if necessary oaU on the promoters 
aud valuators to explain any point that is not clear 
ar d to show where the dividend can be reason- 
ably eipeottdto come from, before they reoommeud 
their readers to take up a single abare. 
By doing so they will piomote the floating of 
all solid Companies acd help the free flow of 
English capitil into the isUnd and assiet their 
readers in investing, while at tha same time ttiOy 
will do a grand work in a si taig to exterminate 
any "cats paw" schemes whioh are put before the 
public. TEA PLANTER. 
THE ALLEGED DETERIORATION OF 
(jEYLON teas, AND THEORIES IN 
EXPLANATION THEREOF. 
Dear Sib, — In your issue of tbe 4th inst., a 
oorresponaent writing from the Nilgiria has 
oflered an explaaation, based on bis scientifio 
knowledge, of tbe deterioration of Oeylon teas. I 
am not at present oonoerned with tbe qaabtion 
of fact whether Ceylon teas are deteriorating 
or not, but 1 should like to say a few words 
with regard to the soientifio explanation offered 
by the correspondent reteriei to above, and tbe 
oriduism on that explanation or theory by " A 
Young Planter" in your issue of the 8th inst. 
Disouseion and ontioistn when oairied on in a 
proper spirit, with tbe object of edifioation, I 
believe to be desirable, and it is with a view to 
elucidating as far as lies in my power, some of 
the soientifio points bearing on plant life, and 
specially of plant-nutrition, whioh have been 
brought out in the discussion between your Indian 
cjrrespoodent and his Ceylon oritio, that I am 
peisuaded to write on this subjeot, Your oorree- 
pondent from the Ni>giris has wcitten a long and 
no doubt oarefully-thuughi-out letter whioh provea 
that he has been a student of the pby« 
Biology uf the plant. In the seoond paragraph 
of his letter he refers, for analogy, to the oaae of 
the deciduous trees of England that shed their 
leaves in autumn, and aeka, whence comes the 
sap that supplies (he leafless trees with 
young shoots in the spring time 7 His answer 
(10 quote his own words) is : " Why, from 
the same place that it went to in 
the previous Autumn, when the green leaves 
emptied their coatents before they fell dry and 
sapless to the ground. Tnat is from tbe store- 
house of the bark of tbe trees, where (be tap lay 
