5 2 4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. i, 1895. 
Value of Plantation Property.— The sale 
of Bogawane estate, Bogawantalawa, the other 
day would seem to establish a " record " rate 
for tea. The upset price was £17,000 and the 
property was knocked down to Mr. Fort for 
R500 above this rate or say £17,030. Then the 
property consists of 436 acres, of which 273 are 
in tea, 66 in coffee and the rest in forest, 
patana, &c. This works out according to the rates 
wc venture to put down as follows: — 
273 ac-es tea @ £63=^£14,469 
67 „ coffee @ £25— £ 1,650 
97 „ forest grass @ £9 8s= 911 
436 = Totals £17,030 
So high a value for tea has seldom, if ever, been 
paid before now. 
Bad News for Cacao Planters— is involved 
in the fact that Java witli its superlatively jjclji 
soil is not only increasing its output of cocoa ; 
but that its planters have learned all about the 
Ceylon mode of " curing and to this fact is 
attributed the fall of well-nigh 30 per cent in 
the London price of choice Ceylon marks. One 
gentleman tells us how the keenly shrewd Chair- 
man of the Ceylon Land and Produce Company 
shook his head over Java samples — fine bright red, 
with better shaped beans than Ceylon — which were 
coming home quite a year ago. — It is just pos- 
sible, therefore, that Mr. Vollar has got the better 
of the bargain with Mr. Lipton this time ; but 
the latter has facilities for getting his produce into 
consumption which cannot fail to make his cacao 
investment pay. 
Tea Production and Consumption.— We 
direct attention to the important circular issued 
by the leading firm of Mincing Lane Tea Brokers 
Messrs. Thompson give the total supply and con- 
sumption of tea for season 1894-5 within the United 
Kingdom as follows :- 
Indian tea 
Ceylon tea 
China and Java tea. . 
Sttpph/. 
115,000.000 lb. 
75,000,000 „ 
45,000,000 „ 
Consumption. 
120,000,000 
77,000,000 
43,000,000 
Total .. 235,000,000 ,', 240,000,000 
The consumption is therefore to be 5 million lb. 
in excess of the production and doubtless it 
would be more with a better supply. As it 
stands the actual total consumption will be half- 
a-million lb. less than in the previous season 
1893-4 ; but there is this difference that a larger 
proportion of Indian and Ceylon teas and a much 
less supply of China is used in 1894-5 which 
means an actual increase in consumption. As 
regards the total supply there is a compara- 
tive deficiency this season on the last of 8£ 
million lb., but this is nearly all in China tea. 
The conclusion of the whole matter, however, is 
that the tea market is likely to continue very 
firm for some months to come and if an in- 
creasing demand sets in from America and Aus- 
tralia, there may be a scarcity of supply for London. 
Rivals to Ceylon Cacao.— The correspon- 
dent who brought under our notice the progress 
made in Java with cacao, sends us London re- 
ports indicating a very dull and depressed market 
for our Ceylon product with "no demand." 
Can this be owing to the continental countries 
chiefly using cacao, beginning to get their sup- 
ply direct as in the case of Coconut Oil? We 
see, however, that the best Ceylon "bold to fine 
bold bold" is quoted by Messrs. Lewis & Peat 
in the circular before us (December 13th) at 60s 
to 65s; while over the page, "Java good red" 
is quoted 62s to 75s" and we are told in the 
same report that "privately there have been sales 
(of Java) at 70s for fine —nothing said aboqt 
"dullness'' here. "Madagascar cocoa fair red- 
dish" is quoted at 45s to 60s in Messrs. Arbutlmot, 
Latham &■ Co.'s report, we read what may explain 
about Ceylon : — 
Cocoa. — A very qalet t f ne continues to ru'e the 
market, and < eylo> was represented chiefly by old 
imp' rts and unafraciive quality. 
But the stock of cocoa on 30th November at London 
Liverpool and Havre w re all, unusually high, agg'e- 
gating 198,752 bags against 150,226 at same date of 
1893. We trust to see this worked off soon, and 
more particularly in a year when the avai able tea 
supp y is lik-ly to be scarcely equal to the demai d. 
Tea in the Kelani Valley. — At a time when 
there are not wanting croakers who insinuate that 
the yield of tea on our older estates is falling off, it 
is pleasant to find a planter with so long an experience 
of the low country as Mr. A. M. Forbes, who has just 
returned from a visit to the Kelani Valley, bearing 
testimony to the fact that he never in his life saw 
the Valley looking better than at present. The estates 
belonging to the Company of which he is managing 
Director (The Panawal Tea Company) all look ex- 
ceptionally well, strong, and vigorous, some fields of 
Ernan having given over 900 lb. an acre this year ; 
whilst the average yield for the whole acreage in 
bearing on Ernan and Glassel — some 443 acres — is 
about 600 lb. an acre. In a short year this must be 
considered very satisfactory. The Company is open- 
ing more land on Iiangaganuna, .which is eaia to 
promise well. 
"Colon J a." — The issue for the winter ses- 
sion of the "Colonial College Magazine" is 
a very interesting one. It is really of great 
practical value to get together the experiences 
of old students as young colonists or settlers in 
diff erent parts of the world, and in regard to Aus- 
tralia, New Zealand, America, West Indies and 
Argentine, really useful information is given in 
this department. We refer separately to Mr. 
Stapleton-Cotton's rather sanguine opinion about 
Antigua and Dominica : he says nothing about 
, labour supply unfortunately. Mr. Percy H. 
Browne, an old student, contributes a paper on 
Mashonaland and Matabeleland in the course of 
which he remarks : — 
The country is capable of growing almost anything, 
wheat, oats, barley, maize, rice, etc. in unlimited 
quantities. In many localities tea and coffee would 
thrive well as we have already proved. 
Another ex-student gives an account of Bush- 
farming in Tasmania. Natal conies in for a good 
word : — 
A recent correspondent in Natal writes "Tak- 
ing it all round, after soldiering in the four quarters 
of the globe, I know no pleasanter place than the 
'Garden Colony of South Africa' to quietly rest in 
and wait for the restitution of all things." 
The work of the College in all its departments 
goes on steadily. We quote as follows : — 
We had a fortnight's visit this Term from Mr. A. 
C. Hardy, one of the earliest Students of the Col- 
lege, who gave us a great deal of valuable informa- 
tion about tea planting in Ceylon, to which pleasant 
occupation he has since returned. Mr. Hardy was 
able to confirm our opinion that a knowledge of many 
of the branches of instruction here is of great value 
to those engaged in Tea, Coffee, Indigo planting, &c, 
in India and Ceyion. The Tropical Agriculturist, a 
monthly magazine full of useful information, publish- 
ed in Ceylon, in referring to the College, lately 
expressed similar views, and remarked that a Student 
from Hollesley Bay would be well fitted for planta- 
tion life. 
Ceylon has now half-a-dozen representatives of 
Hollesley Bay College in Messrs. S. P. Blackmore, 
A. C. Hardy, B. H. Jenkyns, E. G. Jones, M. 
Wi Grant-Peterkin, and W. L. Rolph. 
