Sept. j, 1S94.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
OUVAH COFFEE COMPANY, LIMITED. 
Capital £100,000, i" 10,000 Shares of £10 each. 
Directors. Alfred Brown, E-q., Managing Di- 
rector. H. H. Potts, Esq., L. Famin, Esq , Norman 
Stewart, Esq., 
Keport to be presented to ths Thirty-first Ordinary 
General Meeting of the Oornpauy, t> be he'd at 
No. 5, Dowgato Hill, London, on Friday, the 27th 
day of July, 1894 at 12.30 o'clock p.m. 
The following Annual Acoounts uro now preseired 
to shareholder?, viz : — Profit and Loss Account for 
Crop 1892-3 Balance Sheet made up to 31st May, 1894. 
Crop 1892-3. 
In the Directors' last Keport tho Coffee Crop of the 
above season was es'ima'ed at about 1 300 cwl., and it 
will be seen that 'he aotnal weight sold in London 
amounted to 1,348 owt. 2 qrs. 
The proceeds amou ited to £6,687 4s 7 '., giving an 
average of 99s 2d per cwt. againn an average of 100s 
7d obtained for the previous Crop. Coffee sol j iu 
Cevlon realized £189 3s. 
The Crop of Tea was estima'ed at 365,000 lb. and 
the actual weight eoIJ from the Company's own 
es<a f es was 410,0001b. Be3ides this, 369,902 lb. of 
Tea manufactured from leaf bought from neighbouring 
es'ates were sold. 
The value of Tea sold wai £32,596 143 lOd, or an 
average of lOd per lb. as compired with 10JJ for the 
previous season. 
The weight of Cinchona Bark sold was 1,949 lb. 
and the value £8 10^ lid or Id per lb. against the 
former year's average of 2|d p r lb. 
Cocoa, weighing 86 cwt, 2 qrs. 3 lb. realized £308 
15< Id, the average selling prci being 71s 4d per 
cwt. a?oiDst 91s 4d for the former jeir's crop. 
It wi 1 thus be eeeu that the total value cf all 
produce sold amounted to £39,790 14s 5d. 
The total Expenditure for tlin yeir ia Cey'on and 
London, amount d to £30,944 lis 91, aud deducting 
this from tho value of the Produce, a Profit is shewn 
on the season's working o? £8 846 2s 84. 
An Iuterim divi lend of 2 per ceuc on the capita! 
of the Company was p»id ou the 16th January List, 
which absorbed £2,000 of the above-named sum, and 
the Direc'ore now recommend that £4,000 be applied 
to the payment of a further dividend of 4 per cent, 
making 6 per cent fcr the year, aud that the balance 
of £2.H46 2i 8d be dealt with as follows:— 
To write off Balance of Machinery Account £364 17 5 
To be written off Cost of Ledgerwatte 1,150 0 0 
To be credited towards Cost of Badulla 
Town Tea Factory .. 1,000 0 0 
To be carried forward to next Account 331 5 3 
£2,846 2 8 
The Board consider the above result for Season 
1892-3 satisfactory, especially when the small Crop of 
Coffee is taken into account. The Coffee came off 
an area of about 858 acres, thus giving an average 
yield of little more than 1* cwts. to the acre. 
The Crop of 410,0001b. of Tea was obtained from 
an area of say 1000 acres, being equal to an average 
yield of 410 lb. per acre. 
crop 1893-4. 
The Coffee Crop for this season will be very short, 
and it is estimated that the weight to be sold will 
not exoeed 600 cwts. 
The Tea area, however, is maturing well, and the 
yield for Season 1893-94 ia expeoted total 540,000 lb. 
Speaking generally, the views of the Bjard a e, 
that the future of Coffee mu*t be regarded with great 
caution, although it is possible that Iiojj time to 
time a fair Crop may be secur d in a good season, 
should the pest* which attack tho bush lie dormant. 
At the present time good bL'Ssoma are reported for 
Season 1894-5. 
With regard to future Tea Crops it terms possible 
to fpeak with more oertainty, aud in view of the 
area jet to come into bearing on the company's 
Estates, and the facilities thov possess for manuring 
there seems every reason to believe that tho returns 
from this product will continue to be satisfactory. It 
is proposed to plant np 150 acres of Tea during tho 
ourrent year. 
22 
The Company's Tea Factory accommodation being 
already overcrowded, it has teen found receefary to 
extend it, and a new factory is now in oourso of con- 
struction in tho town of Badulla. This faotory is de- 
sgned to relieve tho three existing ."factories from the 
undue pressure, and farther, to provide for the leaf 
from the area yet to coma into bearing. 
Ihe area now under Tea is as follows :— 
TEA. 
Acrfs. 
Over 5 year3 old 
999 
Planted November/December ... 
1889 
18 
Do. do. 
1890 
283 
Do. do. 
1S91 
109 
Do. do. 
1892 
45 
Do. do. 
1893 
115 
Total area under Tea 
1,569 
Total area uodcr Coffee... 
765 
Tho Directors regret to report the deaths of their 
esteemed Ccllragnes Mr. John Brown, the late Manag- 
ing Director, and Mr. 13 Iward Cornier, and they have 
filled up Ihese vacancies on tfce Board by the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Alfred Brown and Mr. Norman 
Stewart. 
Mr. H. H. Potts, a Member of the Board, retires 
on this occasion, and, being eligible, offers himself 
for re-election. 
Messrs. Deloitte, De.ver, Grfhths & Co., the Audi- 
tcrs, also offer themselves for re-eloc'ion. 
By order, J. Alec. Robekt-', Secretary. 
19th July, 1894. 
COCOA PRODUCTION IN ECUADOR. 
Tb.3 cocoa crop for the year 1893 is the largest oa 
record, but the increase over 1892 has not been 
ovenly distributed over the variou'- cocoa producing 
districts. The following figures v. ill serve to ehow 
the origin of the exoesi : 
Receipts at Guayaquil duriap- fne years 1892-93 
1892. 
1893, 
Arriba 
10,966 
13,093 
Machala 
2,232 
3,077 
Balao 
1,752 
1,782 
Total tons . 
. 14.950 
17,952 
From the foregoirg it will be seen that nearly the 
whole of the increase is duo to the Arriba or up 
river crop?, owing doubtle^fly to the extensive in- 
crease iu the cul'ivation of tne cocoa tree, as men- 
tioned in former reports, and to exceedingly favorable 
climatical causes. 
Machala was fuirly abundant if we take into con- 
sideration the permanent injury done to many planta- 
tions by flood the jear belore. T$ut Balao, though 
showing an insignificant increase upon 1891-9-', f c 11 
considerably short of the average for former years. 
Prices were well maintained despite comparative 
high rates of exchange. Commencing in January at 
a rate of about £3 7s per cwt., tbey gradually rose 
to £3 12s 6d per cwt. iu March, and in April 
reached £4 4s per cwt., after which they began to 
decline, foiling to £3 10s Cd per cwt. iu July, 
and finally as low as £3 3i 10) per owt. in August 
at which rate they coutiuued with very little variation 
to the end of tha year. The mean average value for 
1893 is slightly under £3 7s 3d per owt. 
As tho greater part of tho oocoa crop finds its way 
to Guayaquil, whence it is shipped by s'eamer for 
Europe and the United S'ates, the receipts at this port 
may be taken as fa ; r standards of the entire quantity 
produced throughout the Republic. 
Beyond oliraatical causes, no r. ason whatever can 
be advanced to explain the variableness of tho coooa 
harveats. The absence of a few weeks' rain will caueo a 
notable deorease in the yield of an estate ; and the 
same result may be apprehended fryn a fow heivy 
showers; the young fruit in either' case becomiug 
blighted.— British Consular Report, 
