iSo 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept,  i,  1892. 
of  the  crop  of  1891,  but  they  were  taken  from  the 
tree,  February  25th.  We  follow  the  custom  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Florida,  and  keep  the  fruit  on  the  trees  till 
the  new  leaves  appear,  the  last  week  in  February.  We 
have  noticed  one  remarkable  fact  in  this  connection. 
In  the  winter  of  1890-91  we  had  two  snowstorms  : 
the  snow  began  to  fall  in  the  night,  and  it  remained  on 
the  orange  leaves  till  8 a.h.  next  moaning.  I could 
not  discover  that  the  fruit  was  in  the  least  injured, 
through  after  the  snowstorm  the  leaves  most  exposed 
were  somewhat  injured.  The  crop  of  oranges  should 
be  gathered  about  1st  of  March,  and  kept  in  a dry, 
suitable  place  till  the  season  opens  in  Siam  I 
learn  that  orange  sold  form  the  Government  Gar- 
den in  Gujaranwalla,  and  other  gardens  usually  fetch 
from  5 to  8 rupees  per  hundred,  and  it  is  quite 
certain  that  Maltese  oranges  sent  to  the  Simla  market 
'“April,  when  there  is  little  fruit  for  sale,  would 
fetoh  8,  and  perhaps  10  rupees  per  hundred.  An 
orange  tree  8 years  old  that  gives  an  annual  crop 
ot  over  200  oranges  could  give  the  owner  at  profit 
of  16  rupees,  and  that  on  only  10ft.  square  of  ground 
Indian  Agriculturist. 
NUTMEGS. 
An  erroneous  impression  has  gained  ground  in 
th?1  nutme8s  wil1  E°t  flourish  higher  than 
1,000  feet  above  sea»level.  This  is  in  consequence  of 
a statement  in  Dr.  NicholPs  “ Text  Book  of  Tropical 
Agriculture,  ’ that,  “ as  the  nutmeg  is  essentially  a 
lowland  plant,  its  cultivation  is  not  likely  to  prove 
successful  at  a higher  elevation  than  1,000  feet  above 
the  sea. 
Mr.  John  Davidson  writes:— “ Mine  are  all  doing 
splendidly  at  Bellevue  at  an  elevation  of  1.500  feet.” 
PiPon  Schooles  writes  from  Gre- 
nada, ‘ Nutmegs  in  my  experience  thrive  and  bear 
as  well  at  1,500  feet  as  at  1,000  feet  ;-beyond  the 
former  elevation  I know  nothing  from  our  experience 
Here. 
The  following  letter  give  similar  testimony : — 
„ Kingston,  April  28th,  1892. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Fawcett, — In  reply  to  your  note  of  the 
2bth  received  today,  my  nutmegs  are  growing  at  bet- 
ween 1,800  and  2,000  feet  above  sea-level.  When  I 
last  saw  them  10  weeks  ago  there  was  no  sign  of 
blight,  and  I have  not  heard  of  any  since.  Only  some 
6 or  8 are  fruiting,  but  they  are  nearly  all  growing 
filo  healthily  that  I am  going  on  planting  them. 
One  tree  I have  has  an  enormous  amount  of  fruit 
OH,  the  boughs  being  all  bent  down  under  the  weight, 
it  is  a really  fine  sight  and  makes  the  tree  look 
quite  golden.— Yours,  &c.,  W.  Eloin  Sant. 
— Jamaica  Bulletin. 
COCONUT  DISEASE  AT  MONTEGO  BAY. 
In  Bulletin  No.  23  for  September,  1891,  a report 
was  published  on  this  disease.  The  following  corres- 
pondence shows  that  the  simple  remedy  of  burning 
the  leaves  in  the  early  stages,  has  proved  sucoessfol: 
Montego  Bay,  4th  May,  1892. 
W.  Fawcett,  Esq.,  Gordon  Town  P.O. 
Dear  Sir,— Your  letter  of  date  28th  ultimo  I duly  re 
ceived,  the  subject  of  which  I communicated  to  M. 
Doull  and  attach  the  correspondence  for  your  infor- 
snaation.  I entirely  agree  with  Mr.  Doull  that  the 
-disease  is  spreading,  and  no  one,  so  far  as  I am  able 
ito  ascertain  has  tried  the  other  remedies  you  sug- 
gested. 
The  disease  is  steadily  thinning  the  coconut  trees 
ro  and  around  the  town  and  its  progress  appears 
amse  rapid  in  the  dry  weather  than  in  the  rainy 
seasons. — I have,  &e.,  J.  W.  Geuber. 
Montego  Bay,  30th  April  1892. 
Dear  Sir,— Mr.  Fawcett  would  be  glad  to  know 
whether  you  tried  the  remedies  suggested  to  check 
the  coconut  disease,  and  if  so  with  what  result. 
Are  the  trees  recovering  naturally  and  without  the 
application  of  a remedy,  or  is  the  disease  spreading  ? 
—Yours,  &c.,  J.  W.  Gbubeb. 
Alex.  Doull,  Esq.,  Catherine  Hall  Estate,  Montego  Bay. 
-Reply,— I have  not  as  yet  tried  the  Sulphate  of 
Iron  remedy.  I have  continued  the  application  of 
Salt  and  have  kept  to  the  firiDg  of  the  trees  and 
as  far  as  I oan  judge  at  present  I consider  the  last 
named  remedy  good — if  the  trees  are  not  too  far  gone 
when  fired.  A good  number  that  were  fired  last  year 
are  now  bearing  fruit.  The  trees  do  not  recover 
naturally  and  the  disease  is  oertainly  spreading. 
Catherine  Hall  Estate,  2.5.92.  A.  D. 
— Jamaica  Bulletin. 
FROM  THE  METROPOLIS. 
London,  July  8th,  1892. 
THE  CALEDONIAN  (CEYLON)  TEA  PLANTA- 
TIONS LIMITED. 
Ip  the  Public  Nibble. 
The  capital  of  this  venture  is  £30,000  in  £1  shares, 
of  which  at  present  only  25,000  are  to  be  issued.  It 
has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  “ acquiring,  and 
by  the  addition  of  new  capital,  further  developing  the 
following  tea  estates,  situate  in  Ceylon  and  known  as 
the  Miriacocta,  New  Caledonia,  Selegama,  and  Nika- 
kotua  Tea  Plantations.  The  purobase  price  to  be  paid 
to  the  Vendor  is  £22,000  of  which  £12,000  is  to  be 
in  cash  and  the  rest  in  lullj  paid  shaies  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  fortunate  man  who  is  to  receive  this  nice 
little  sum,  of  course  providing  the  public  nibble,  re- 
joices in  the  familiar  name  of  Alexander  Ross.  It 
appears  that  this  gentleman  “ is  so  satisfied  with  the 
value  of  these  estates,  and  the  profit  to  be  derived  by 
this  Company  that  he  has  agreed  to  guarantee  a 
dividend  ot  6 per  cent,  per  annum  for  a period  of 
seven  years.”  Of  course,  if  he  goes  bankrupt  before 
the  expiration  of  that  scriptural  period,  his  guaran- 
tee would  be  a very  valuable  aseet.  We  do  not  say  that 
he  is  likely  to  go  bankrupt  for  we  know  nothing  about 
his  financial  affairs,  but  the  misfortune  in  question  is  a 
oontingenoy  to  which  every  business  man  is  liable.  And 
again  if  Mr.  Ross  is  so  confident  that  6 per  cent  can  be 
made  out  ot  bis  property  why  does  he  sell  more  than  half 
his  interest  in  it  ? Six  per  cent  is  not  to  be  made  every 
day— or  rather  every  year.  Six  per  cent  is  not  all  the 
profit  expected  to  result  from  the  working  of  the  tea 
estates  concerned.  "An  estimate  baseu  on  the  sale  by 
public  auction  of  200,000  bales  of  tea,  the  anticipated 
yield  for  the  first  year,  after  making  all  allowances 
for  expenses  in  Ceylon  and  London,  should  yield  a 
dividend  of  at  least  10  per  cent  on  the  issued  capital 
of  the  Company,  whioh  dividend  should  be  materially 
increased  in  the  course  of  the  next  two  or  three  ytars 
as  the  present  area  of  tea  comes  into  loll  bearing. 
But  supposing  the  yield  is  not  so  favourable  as  it  is 
anticipated  to  be  Buch  an  event  is  by  nojneans  improba- 
ble, judging  by  the  way  in  which  the  anticipations 
in  the  prospectus  of  the  average  limited  company  are 
fulfilled,  or  rather  unfulfilled. 
A somewhat  lengthy  list  of  the  present  value  of 
shares  in,  and  dividends  earned  by  several  Ceylon 
tea  companies  is  given.  Why,  we  know  not, 
unless  to  fill  up  the  prospectus.  The  pro- 
fits made  by  an  established  tea  planting  com- 
pany have  no  more  bearing  upon  the  prospects  of  the 
floatation  under  notice,  than  have  the  Iosssb  made  by 
other  established  tea-growing  conoerns.  If  the  pro- 
moters of  the  Caledonian  Tea  Plantations  have  no  more 
sound  arguments  to  advance  in  favour  of  their  nurse- 
ling—and  we  cannot  find  that  they  have — we  do  not 
think  the  prospects  of  the  enterprise  are  very  brilliant. 
The  capital  asked  for  is  very  small  and  if  there  were 
any  chance  of  making  the  remunerative  dividends 
mentioned,  we  think  that  no  difficulty  would  be  ex- 
perienced in  getting  the  necessary  money  subscribed 
in  Minoing  Lane.  As  we  have  frequently  pointed  out 
the  Tea  Trade  has  been  very  much  cut  up  of  late 
years,  ard  no  favourable  opportunity  of  employing 
their  capital  would  be  allowed  to  pass  by  the  members 
of  tbe  “ Lane,”  who  mostly  know  how  many  beans 
make  five.  By  the  way,  we  do  not  notice  that  the  pro- 
moters of  tiro  0 ?lodoii!au  Tea  make  any  mention  of 
