July  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
35 
SfcSS 
valuable  forest  land  but  an  excellent  site  for  factory, 
with  ample  and  exclusive  water  power.  Works  at  the 
factory  are  progressing  rapidly . 
The  Company’s  total  acreage  consists  of : — 
Tea  in  full  bearing  ...  1,498  acres. 
,,  in  partial  bearing  and  young 
clearings  ...  ...  62  ,, 
Coffee  and  other  products  ...  14  „ 
Forest  and  waste  land  ...  374  ,, 
1,948  acres. 
and  the  yield  of  Sea  from  the  Company’s  Estates  for 
1891  amounted  to  574,481  lb.,  and  in  addition  120  cwte. 
1 qr.  5 lb  of  Coffee  were  secured,  and  13,925  I'd.  of 
Cinchona  Bark. 
It  is  not  the  intention  of  the  Directors  at  present 
to  create  fresh  capital  to  provide  the  money  te  pay 
for  their  recent  purchases,  but  should  it  be  thought 
necessary  or  expedient  to  do  eo  later  od,  an  Extra- 
ordinary General  Meeting  of  the  Company  will  be 
called  for  the  purpose. 
The  Board  a re  deeply  sensible  of  their  obligation  to 
their  Manager  in  Ceylon,  Mr.  D.  Kerr,  for  his  untiring 
and  efficient  conduct  of  the  Company’s  affairs,  and  desire 
also  to  express  their  appreciation  of  the  cordial  affec- 
tive cooperation  of  the  staff,  who  have  throughout  the 
pasf  year  acted  as  one  in  their  efforts  to  promote  the 
Company’s  interests. 
In  accordance  with  the  Artioles  of  Association,  Mr. 
B.  W.  Forbes  retires  from  the  Board,  and,  being  eligible, 
offers  himself  for  re-election. 
The  Shareholders  will  be  called  upon  to  fix  the  re- 
muneration of  the  Directors. 
The  Shareholders  will  be  called  upon  to  elect  an 
Auditor  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Laurie  offers 
himself  for  i e election. 
3rd  May  1892.  H.  L,  Fobbes,  Chairman. 
THE  “ JAM  CROP  ” OF  1891. 
Interesting  and  profitable  as  are  the  tables  anually 
published  in  these  pages  in  connection  with  the  fruit 
crops  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  they  would  pro- 
bably be  of  still  greater  value  could  they  be  suple- 
mented  by  such  returns  as  that  noted  above,  the 
“jam  crop  ; ” but,  to  obtain  these,  manufacturers  would 
have  to  be  consulted,  and  we  are  very  well  aware 
that  most  of  them  object  to  the  publication  of  that, 
which,  as  they  put  it,  “the  benefit  of  which  to  them- 
selves they  do  not  see.”  Perhaps  they  are  right — - 
possibly  they  are  wrong ; at  any  rate,  what  we  have 
termed  the  jam  crop  of  the  present  year  must  be  a 
very  large  one,  and  in  humble  life  will  run  margarine 
very  closely  in  the  race  for  economic  food  supply. 
The  taste  is  a growing  one,  and  extends  with  the 
population.  London  adds  60,000  souls  to  its  great  total 
every  year:  given  four  in  a family,  then  60,000  -f-  4 
= 15,000  families.  Suppose  these  consume  1 lb.  of 
jam  per  week,  then  the  consumption  for  the  twelve- 
months  is  represented  by  785,000  lb.  ==  (say)  350  tons 
per  annum.  The  consumption  per  week  for  each 
family  is  admittedly  low — but  even  at  this  figure  what 
an  enormous  mass  of  wholesome  sweetness  must  enter 
into  the  food  bill  of  5,000.000  men,  women,  and  children 
— a million  and  a quarter  one  pound  jars  per  week, 
or,  roughly  625,000  tons  a year!  You  can  do  much 
with  figures.  Quite  an  enormous  sale  of  “ bread  and 
jam”  made  in  all  the  busy  quarters  of  London — in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  factories  and  work- 
shops. The  keeper  of  one  little  “ general  ” shop  in- 
formed the  writer  the  other  day  that  she  sold  over 
500  slices  of  jam  every  day — there  were  plenty  of 
margarine  slices  as  well,  but  the  “ jam”  was  prefered. 
It  would  appear  then  that  the  supply  can  hardly  be 
overdone — as  yet,  and  the  amount  of  labour  called 
into  use  in  the  manufacture  and  marketing  is  very 
great.  There  are  the  regular  field  and  orchard  workers, 
those  concerned  in  harvesting  and  manufacturing, 
in  the  manufacture  of  glass  and  earthenware  bottles 
and  jars,  in  fancy  printing  and  packing-cases,  and 
in  a lot  of  other  industries.  Here  is  a little  item 
worth  nothing,  as  giving  point  to  our  remarks  all 
round.  The  Britannia  Fruit  Preserving  Company  at 
the  world-renowned  Tiptree,  in  Essex,  have  this 
year  harvested  over  200  tons  of  fruit— have  made  100 
tons  of  jam,  in  which  they  have  used  50  tons  of 
sugar ; in  producing  all  this  have  employed  400  per 
sons,  young  and  old,  for  various  terms;  and  have 
used  nearly  58,000  glass  bottles  and  jars  in  getting 
this  jam  ready  for  market.  How  the  genial  coun- 
tenance of  the  once-famous  tenant  of  Tiptree  Hall 
“Alderman  and  Sheriff”  Mechi,  would  brighten  at 
such  an  enumeration  as  this,  and  how  he  would 
have  lectured  his  brother  agriculturists  on  jam  as 
Ins  theme!  But  not  only  this  “ sweetness  ” is  manu- 
factured by  this  young  and  enterprising  company 
as  with  nearly  all  other  fruit  preservers,  some  dozen 
other  commodities  are  put  upon  the  market— not  all 
the  eggs  being  put  in  one  basket.  But  it  would  be 
waste  of  space  to  occupy  attention  further  with  this 
mattei  at  present ; the  reader,  landowner,  grower, 
manufacturer,  speculator,  vendor — whichever  he  may 
be  can  readily  read  for  himself  the  lesson  sought 
to  be  inculcated  by  us  in  thus  noting  the  “jam  crop  ” 
of  the  present  year  —Gardeners'  Chronicle. 
SERMO  SINENSIS. 
“ Gome  up  to  my  house  for  a chat  this  afternoon 
if  you  have  nothing  better  to  do.  It’s  raining,  busi- 
ness  has  gone  to  sleep,  and  I don’t  fancy  that  there 
is  much  doing  in  your  line,”  said  the  great  teaman 
to  me  a few  days  ago. 
I replied,  and  later  in  the  day  found 
myself  in  Awai’s  hospitable  mansion  reclining  in 
the  easiest  of  morocco-covered  arm  chairs,  my  feet 
the  while  sinking  into  the  thick  pile  of  a luxurious 
carpet.  The  furniture  of  the  room  was  nearly  all 
of  European  manufacture,  and  the  best  of  its  kind. 
The  walls  were  covered  with  the  “ silken  pictures’’ 
so  loved  of  the  wealthy  native,  and  there  was  withal 
a general  sense  of  those  solid  comforts  which  money 
alone  can  supply. 
And  the  dismal  iteration  of  the  rain  drops  in  the 
courtyard  only  tended  to  make  more  sensible  the 
serenity  which  reigned  within. 
Napoleon  was  not  long  in  making  his  appearance, 
and  as  is  his  wont  plunged  at  once  into  the  dis- 
cussion of  that  great  subject  about  which  he  is 
universally  admitted  to  know  so  much.  “But  before 
we  go  any  further,”  said  he,  “try  one  of  these 
smokes.  They  were  given  to  me  as  a kind  of  thank- 
offering  by  a chaasze  who  got  a cheap  chop  of 
Ningchow  out  of  me  last  season. 
“ Yes,  did  the  tea  pay  ?” 
“ Not  exactly,”  he  replied.  “ It  only  lost  9d  per 
lb.  and  that  is  saying  a great  deal.  You  don’t  often 
come  across  such  a sincere  case  of  gratitude.” 
Awai,  your  former  delivery  on  tea  pros- 
pects did  not  evoke  much  discussion  in  the  paner 
as  you  had  hoped.”  r e ’ 
“No,”  said  he,  “still  Iwasamused  at  what  did  appear 
First,  there  came  a letter  signed  Chaasze  who  com- 
menced  by  congratulating  me  on  my  vigour,  and  wound 
up  by  telling  me  that  I was  quite  wrong  in  mv 
figures  as  to  the  average  cost  of  last  season’s  crop. 
I confess  I was  wrong.  I always  am.  Then  a Yea, 
Merchant  informs  me  that  he  had  read  my  remarks 
with  pleasure  and  that  it  has  set  people  talking  over 
what  wdl  soon  be  the  business  of  the  hour.  And  that’s 
all.  Finally  appears  a letter  signed  A.  J.  L.  He 
doesn  t agree  with  me  at  all,  and  with  unanswerable 
logic  points  out  that  if  the  production  of  India  and 
Ceylon  is  this  year  200,000,0001b.  it  will  only  make 
more  patent . the  steadily  dwindling  consumption  of 
China  tea.  But  I still  maintain  that  China  tea  can 
hold  its  own  in  the  competition  if  the  crop  is  large 
and  cheap  and  good.  But  I dare  say  that  he?e 
again  I am  wrong  as  usual.  Further,  speaking  of  the 
heavy  export  A.  J.  L.  adds,  ‘For  merchants  to  Pursue 
their  trade  under  its  weight  is  but  to  go  on  from  year  to 
year  fogging  a dead  horse  ” until  nothing  of  the 
carcase  is  left.  For  the  life  of  me  I cannot  see  the 
object  of  flogging  a dead  horse  at  any  time,  but 
especially  from  year  tp  year.” 
