THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. i, 1894. 
Could you not collect some sure evidence upon 
the matter, Mr. Ed.lor ? —Yours faithfully, 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[We shall ho glad t~> hear from Ceylon plantere 
who have experience of prices before and afier 
manuring; for, we supposa if flavour deteriorated, 
the price would show ? We cannot find any 
authentic referenoo on tin point in our books on 
tea.— Ed. T.A.] 
THE CASTLEREAGH TEA COMPANY, 
Deab Sib, — Your paper gives ua very little inform- 
ation concerning the half-yearly r.port of the 
Castlereagh Tea Compaoy. Do you not consider this 
rather a mistake, seeing that the interests of the 
island and the savings of the majority of the Eu- 
ropeans are so deeply concerned in the working and 
dividends of our public Tea Companies ? On Mr. 
Armitage's list the Cattlereagh Company stands ninth 
out of thirty-four Companies as having the largest 
captial. I think it is therefore as much entiled to a 
full report as any of the other large or small 
Companies.* 
Will you kindly allow me space in your valuable 
paper to make a few comments of my own on the 
Circular now issued by the Company, and to reply 
to a correspondent in the Observer of the 23rd inst. 
who is making enquiries concerning it? 
"When the Company declared in January 3 per 
cent for the halt-year, I foretold in this paper that 
the dividends would dwindle down to half or nothing. f 
I was wrong it appears, for by the Companies' Cir- 
cular I find that there is to be no dividened at all. 
Thus on account of the Directors' action in work- 
ing the estate tbe shires have dropped from B102'50 
to R70 - 00 in the space of one year. But lot us 
turn to i he circular which so many are looking at 
almost with despair, I use this word advisably, for I 
know of a shareholder who is ill, and was ordered 
home. He only waited until the Company paid their 
half-yearly dividend to enable him to sell a fe.v 
shares to meet his expenses. Now, the shares have 
dropped 30 per cent, in one month, and there is no 
dividend and no buyers. 
Upwards of six years ago this Company was formed 
with a capital of 11240,000 for 476 acres at R500. 
Then the Rupee was at Is 6id. Since then it has 
" dandled " on, giving in favourable seasons as mo ch 
as 113,0001b. of tei. This year they will be very 
short of their estimate getting little over 100,000 lb. 
and the Directors suddenly discover that they must 
spend R6,2(I0 on the purchase of new machinery to 
make it work. How in the name of all that is 
wonderful has the tea been manufactured during the 
last four years, and now when we are getting less 
than formerly the Directors issue a circular, which 
say that they require "a much greater efficiency 
and to improve and add to the machinery at an 
estimated cost of R6,200 " 
If the shareholders were induced to subscribe R500 
per acre for 400 acres, how comes it that there is 
not machinery sufficient to manufacture 100,000 lb. 
of tea? But what have Messrs. Rollo and Armstrong 
got to say to all this : was it not on their valuations 
and reports that the Company was floated ? Should 
they not speak out and justify themselves? 
* A Shareholder is under some delusion : how can 
we give information about a Report we have never 
seen ? We are not shareholders ; and if no Diri ctor 
or Shareholder sends us a copy of a Report we are 
helpless. — We have had to strike out some parts of 
the above letter ; because while any limited Company 
may, to some extent, be open to public criticism, 
still the proper course for a Shareholder with a 
grievance must first, surely, be to try and get up 
a meeting of those concerned, or to call on his 
Directors to explain 'f— Ed. T.A. 
f Was " Shareholder " wise in thus prophesying 
evil about his own property ? Who knows but he 
thus did harm to his own shares !— Ed. T.A. 
Again the Circular t-tates that during the six 
Honths " they pot 51,905 lb. of tea, the quantity 
falling short on account of the dry weather," and 
further "it has been decided to extend the manuring 
by 100 acres more than what was estimated." viz. 
60 acres to be included in tbe annual expenditure, 
and that " the same involves an additional outlay 
of about R5,0U0, which suni must be paid for." 
A fine stale of affairs this ! It ia a new idea 
to make good their shortness of rain by spending 
the profits on extensive manuring. 
At the annual meeting in January not one word 
was said about this new machinery or increased 
outlay on manure, notwithstanding the outturn of 
crops was raised. No, no. it was much more conve- 
nieut for the Directors to choose their own time 
and advise their shareholders of the fact, after the 
money had been made and spent, and w.ien there 
was no meeting of iudignant holders to dispute the 
necessity of it. A SHAREHOLDER. 
iSurely " A Shareholder " is hasty in condemning 
"manuring," the benefit of whicn he may WW 
expect to reap during tbe next twelve month*, not 
only in a fat dividend, but in seeing bia shares 
rise correspondingly. — Ed. T.A.} 
« , 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
Peed and British Central Africa. — We 
call attention to the letteis from Messrs. Robo 
and H. Biown: the Utter especially, contains 
information which must be considered very tempt- 
ing by planting capitalists wanting to iuve«t in 
coffee. — |See page 232.] 
The " Otaheite Potato " said to be brought 
to West Africa from the An damans is the subjeet 
of tpeoial notices in the papers sent us by Mr. 
Ashmore from the Gold Coast. In the opinion of 
Dr. Trimen, tbe name is probably a corruption, 
and the plant is obviously some ordinary yam 
(Dioscorea) and not at all likely to be anything new. 
Trimen's "Ceylon Flora.' — Mr. Britten's 
notice of Dr. Trimen's "Flora" which we repub- 
lished the other day from Suture is appreciated; 
but our worthy Director does not understand why 
Mr. Britten should send him to Ceylon three 
years too soon, — 1877 instead of 1880. As Mr, 
Britten took Dr. Trimen's place at the British 
Museum, he ought to know the date well enough 1 
Drought in Selangor. — Mr. G. C. Bellamy 
reporting for Ju'y from Kuala Selangor, writes : — 
',' The drought which has lasted for so long assumed 
serious proportions during the month, so much 
so that only one well was available for driLking 
purposes and I had to put a guard on it to see 
that the water was not wasted. Fortunately we 
had a few light showers when matters were at their 
worst, and in the last day or so heavy rain has 
falleD, so that all anxiety is now removed." — 
Selangor Government Gazette. 
" The Ceylon Blend." — A prominent New 
York Tea retail house winds up a very cleverly- 
worded circular — described by an Amerioan editor 
as afiue example of candid statement to consumers 
and one admirably calculated to command con- 
fidence, with the following paragraph ; — 
what we recommend. 
A single pound will make from one hundred ar,d 
fifty to three huudred oups of tea. A few certs 
more per pound ad ib but the merest trifle to the 
cost per cup. 
We make it a rule, therefore, to advise tea-drink- 
(rs to purchase as high grade teas as they feel they 
can afford. 
Our 403 teas are good drinking teas, but the 50c 
anJ higher grades, especially our Ceylon blend at 
75c, a-e so much suptrior, we believe everyone will 
be well repaid by the additional outliy, 
