'4^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [Dec. f, 1S93. 
ttspeot, ia probably now quite inadequate. At asy 
rai8, tbeeeaie mattere that moetly ooucerD the ownerti 
of the tea, and by them the remedy eboul<l be promptly 
atteoded to ; otbewriee the dittiouUies will increase, 
and their intereBts further Kuffer. 
Bo ARB OF Teadb Retubns— The Board of Trade 
KeturoB for October Bbow an inoreaee iutbe Importe ; 
while the deoreaee in the Exports ie, bh was to be 
expected, aomenliat large. Tbe imports for the 
mouth are 31,356,469 lb., an iocreate over the game 
month last year of 629,611 lb. This is chiifly pro- 
duced by the large increase in tbe import of wheat, 
of whicn we have received 1,321,704 owte. more 
than in tbe previous October. There has been an 
iDorease is tbe importation of rice of 312,077 cwt. 
and JCb!8,810 in value. Under tbe bead of suear tbe 
increage in refioed is 340,096 cwt., valued at £376,110 
and of unrefined and molasses of 207,288 cwt. aud 
in value £215,835. Of dutiable articles there is an 
increase of 3,175,5371b. and £73,2dl in value in tea. 
Cbina is now sending mora tea to this market, the 
receipts tbence being nearly 2,000,000 lb. more than 
in October, 1892.— if. and C. Mail. 
THE PLANTER : OLD STYLE AND NEW. 
THE »|EW. 
We approach them with awe. " By Jove what will 
Mrs. — say. I have left my cards behind, and I say old 
chap those breeches of yours are hardly up tooalliuf; 
■tyle." This is the converHttion between the two old 
ones ai they find themselves within reasonable dis- 
tance of Mrs. — (with a big Jf.) buogslow. However 
after a certain amount of ohaH between ourselves in 
which the absence of a rezor from my chin does not 
lose the critical glacce of my compaQioo, we gird our- 
selves, and at the garden (I am uot alludine to tea 
or coffee,) but an admirably kept, Madras maiee kind 
of compound with beds aud borders and stiHaess 
adorning every available point, meet Bamaswamy with 
an electro plated card tray and deposit our past board. 
My companion and I are a little disconcerted and he 
says " sotto "voce," " I hope they are in I'm awful 
thirsty," and this immaculate Kamasttauiy, (so diff- 
erent to the old style) ts lis us to wulk in. 
We feel ourselves out of it. Such a cosy little 
house, we are eventually met, by a lovely thing 
in diaphanous material, who fairly takes our breath 
away. 
He cannot speak for come time and then vaguely 
remarks on the weather, and how the eeatons have 
okanged, and somehow, though tbe surroundings are 
agaiabt him is eventually drawa out. She thaws, and he 
ebtertaini her with an account of the olden times 
which ia only interrupted by the entrance of the New 
Style immsioulate m gaiters, boots, coat and creiselesa 
shirt; we wonder how gorden work is c?riied on, or is 
it for our edifioation that the delay has occurred, and 
he ia only just out of his dressing room ? 
Somehow the conventionalities subdue us, the old hos- 
pitality is there, tbe true old planting spirit, but it is 
newly fashioned. 
The old "peg" is varied into "Would jou care to have 
any refeshment." Instead of the old method of going 
to the sideboard, acd satisfy one's craving, the creat- 
beturbaued butler hands round tbe whisky ic a silver 
salver, with peg meature, and silver monnted cut 
elasB bottle. 
It's the same thing bnt the way is different. 
After acoepting an invitation to lunob, we take a 
stroll round the "tote" and are learnedly instructed 
on the advantages of different chewioal manures, tbe 
exact analysis of the constituents absorbed by coffee 
and tea bushes respectively from the soil, arid the 
ne«eB8ary amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphorous 
that mother nature requires lor the due recuperation 
of the land. 
My Old friend squirms visibly and says little. In 
former years be tbongbt little and oared less about 
" faumuB," and other combinaticni aud constituents 
of manure, cattle or chemical, and at last merely 
•eke a few pertinent rtmarka as acreage and crop. 
The reply evidently makes bim cbuoUe, and h« 
talks of the old c^ajs, wbeu with his eattle t)x*i 
only be considered anything under 6 cwt. as aer« 
a bad crop. Poor felloi* ! He forcets Bortr, bug, 
and leaf disease — He is far behind the tioiea — but h« 
won't admit i*. 
He hates tbce new tangled ideas and for tbe mo* 
ment forgets that just now be is bordering on 
pauperism for the simple reason, that he eaonot 
move out of the old groove.— No he will go back to 
bis quarters and smoke his pipe— regret tbe past, but 
unable to reconcile biiOBelf to tbe present. Keturs- 
ing towards tbe bungalow a set of chimes walls iti 
melodiouB sound over the atmosphere which our boat 
iaforms us in tbe half boor bell. 
An excellent tiflon admirably cooked an^ served, 
BO different from the old " coli " "spatch coak," 
curry and rice and week-oM bread — a moat pleaaaol 
aftHrnoon with music, which puts the old man lo a 
alij^htly better humour and we wend our way hom« 
to tbe old bungalow which on «nteriog, thuOKh 
homely comfortable and hospitable, we at OLce retlize 
from the contract, has not been "progresaive." 
That evening we discuss our visit, discoaa oar- 
selves and them and we cannot help thinking (we 
may be wrouK) we were happier in the olden days. 
AVfi know little about Act. XIII. and kutcherrie*, 
in fict a case in court was a matter for serious 
thought and reilectioo. Banga'ore oonferences were 
unthcught of, unnecessary, and a CuSee >Stealing Act 
was undreamt of — We sometimes but rarely lost our 
advance*, I daresay we did lose iCoffee, but with- 
out being encyolopscdias of law, our " totes " paid, 
our coolits remained with us for years and though 
perhaps we were a trifle rough and r« ady we 
enjoyed life, and were willing to jog along its 
path without the many inLovatiocs and ezores- 
cences of civilization bo necessary to the planter of 
the new style. 
But he bad to oome. Assistant Collectors, globe 
trotteie, the improvement of cummunirations were 
bound to kill the eld style. Nature with her lap 
full of dii<e»8es that coffee life is heir to, completed 
the extinction of the old school who was able to 
take things easily, pick his crop, bank his pivjit and 
eventually look forward to passing tbe eveuing of bis 
life comfortably in the " auld couotrie." 
Whatever the cauee, he has nearly become extinct, 
but we are sorry to lose him and should we livr, 
tope to accommodate ourselves to the ways of bis 
rtcoessor. — Nilyiri Kews. 
_ ^ . 
"MILK TREE AND DYSENTEEY." 
With reference to an extract from Chamben't 
Journal, on page 409, Dr. Trimen writes: — "I 
never heard of any plant named ' Clusia Galac- 
todendron ' and do not believe it exists. There ia 
of course Brosimum Galactodendron the well-known 
' Cow-tree' of Venezuela ; of this, youug plants may 
be seen at Peradeniya and Heneratgoda. It is allied 
to tbe jack and breadfrait." 
THE LANKA PLANTATIONS COMPANy, LTD. 
DiEECTORs : 
Sir R. P. Harding. I Edward Pettit, Esy. 
George Allen, Esq. j Henry Bois, Esq. 
Agents in Colombo— Messrs, J. M.Robertson <$:Co. 
SECEETAiiy— Mr. Charles M. Robertson. 
BEFOBT 
To be presented at the Thirteenth Ordinary 
General Meeting of the Lanka Plantations Com- 
pany, Limited, to be held at the office of the Com- 
pany, on Wednesday, the 15th November 1893, at 
12 o'clock noon. 
1. The Directors submit their report for the 
twelve months ending 30th June last, together with 
the balance sheet and Accounts of the Company 
made up to that date, and duly audited. 
