June t, 1895.] THE TROPICA. L 
AGRICULTURIST. 
789 
PEACE IN THE PAR EAST AND TEA 
PROSPECTS. 
We quoted from a Japan paper, the other day, 
a report to show that the new tea crop in 
Japan was an uncertain quantity so far. It 
is asked what effect will peace and the enrich- 
ing of Japan at the expense of China, have 
on the tea industry ? So far, it is difficult to 
give an answer to such a question ; but it may 
be said at once that the transfer of the rich 
island of Formosa (15,000 square miles, nearly 
2 million people and mountains up to 12,000 
feet) to the enterprising Japanese with its ex- 
tensive and prosperous tea industry, may be a 
far more serious matter in the way of rivalry. 
A full account of " Formosa" will be found in 
our Tropical Agriculturist for 1893-4, page 324. 
Fifteen years ago, we were told tea cultivation 
was rapidly extending in Formosa, and as 
America is a great customer, it is quite pos- 
sible the Japanese may secure American capital 
and native (Formosan) labour to develope the 
industry. All the more reason, therefore, that 
Ceylon and India should go ahead in capturing 
the American taste. 
«- 
CURRENT TOPICS. 
The question of the value of 
AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY, 
with reference to its net annual returns, seems to have 
begotten needless warmth in one direction. " Seven 
years' purchase" used to be a familiar formula in the 
old coffee days ; and I see that in the valuation of 
tea estates too the annual net returns multiplied by 
seven are considered a fair basis of calculation. 
It would be too much to say that that is an infallible 
method of valuation, or that it yields even approxi- 
mate results always. There are lands for which the 
proprietors would be glad to get seven times the annual 
profits they yield ; while in the case of well-situated 
estates, with good depth of soil, it would be folly to 
part with them on the policy of seven years' purchase. 
But I agree with those who think that the longer life 
of a coconut plantation justifies a more liberal mode 
of assessment in dealing with coconut estates. 
The writer of your 
PLANTING NOTES, 
if I understand him aright, seems huffed at your revi- 
sion of the seven-years'-purchase rule in favour of 
local rents, and says he has no objection to 18 years' 
purchase being conceded to coconut property yield- 
ing 5 per cent. If he meant to imply that the 
percentage he named is the highest that coconuts 
would yield, he is mistaken. Good estates, not bought 
at fancy prices, should yield 10 and even 15 per cent. 
Whether so or not, the basis of valuation is not affected 
by the animal profits netted. If a 5 per cent yield- 
ing estate is valued at 18 years' purchase, because 
it is planted with coconuts, an estate yielding 10 to 
15 per cent can claim the same method of valuation 
for the identical reason. But 10 per cent on the 
capital cost is a different matter from profits of R100 
or £10 per acre, of which Mr Davidson spoke at the 
Planters' meeting. 
Thore are not many coconut tstates that yield that; 
and in that respect coconuts must yield the palm 
(pardon the unconscious pun) to tea. I was assured 
by an up-country Planter that a well-known Dim- 
bula estate had given its proprietor £18 stg. per acre 
last year, and that a Kelani Valley Estate had yielded 
as much as £30 per acre.* That is enough to make 
one's month water ! 
■ .Surely R300 per m-ie was meant ?— KD. T.A. 
99 
THE KELANI VALLEY RAILWAY COMMISSION. 
What does the examination of Mr. Swettenhani 
aB a witness by the Kelani Valley Railway Com- 
mission mean ? What knowledge has he of the 
route, the district to be tapped, or of the traffic- 
yielding capabilities of the country to be traversed I 
I presume next to none. If it be that, as a mem- 
ber of the Executive Council, he was believed to 
have thrust a spoke into the wheel of progress, 
his cross-examination by his adversaries must add 
new terrors to the discharge of executive functions. 
I suppose, we shall see the outcome of it all when 
the Report is published ; but meanwhile, let me 
utter one word of warning. Whatever the traffio 
might be, it is unsafe to calculate, save perhaps 
with reference to Tea, that all the produce yielded 
by the lands and villages through which the line 
will pass, will be sent down, or even a considerable 
part of it. 
The local demand for coconuts especially is im- 
mense ; and what with household wants, Copra 
manufacture, the consumption of nuts by Desiccating 
Mills &o.j no calculation, however precise, of the 
yield of lands, would serve as a basis for ascertain- 
ing the proportion of the produce which would be 
carried down by the railway. 
I have assumed that the Commission has dealt only 
with one route. With the contending claims of the 
different routes I have no concern ; but I suppose 
the Engineers will not lose sight of the liability of 
the line to submersion if carried across certain 
tracts, and also of the danger of adding to the 
embankments which prevent or retard the passage 
of flood water, into the sea. The Southern route, 
as it was called, into Uva had to be abandoned 
owing to its liability to submersion. Rambler. 
THE WEATHER AND TOBACCO 
CULTIVATION. 
Our Trincomalee correspondent writes : — We had ft 
good downpour of rain lately, but not enough to 
revive the drooping vegetation from the effects of 
the excessive heat. The evenings are cloudy but the 
mornings are bright and clear. We expect to have 
more showers before the change of the monsoon. 
Cultivators are busily engaged in curing tobacco 
leaves. This time the plants thrived well though 
there was no rain during the season. Traders from 
Jaffna are shortly expected and it is hoped that the 
tobacco will fetch a good price. 
THE LONDON "ENGINEER" ON 
MOUNTAIN TRAMWAYS: 
ELECTRICITY NOT LIKELY TO BE 
UTILISED UNLESS LIGHTING 
AS WELL AS TRACTION 
CAN BE COMBINED; 
THE FUTURE RAILWAY POLICY IN 
CEYLON. 
Very apropos, as is remarked by our London 
Correspondent, has there appeared the article 
on the above topic, in the London Engineer 
and which we reproduced on page 760 of 
our last issue. It seems to be past disput- 
ing that if this Colony is to experience the 
full benefits of Railway communication, out- 
lying 'groups of estates should obtain facilities 
for the transport of their produce to the nearest 
stations on our trunk line. We fancy there 
are but few of our planters who do not experience 
both trouble and expense in effecting this at 
present. And so long as the means at their dis- 
posal for it are confined to long stretches of 
hilly cart roads, and the only method of con- 
veyance is by bullock carts, this experience 
must be continued, while in sonic case the all- 
