THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
tSept.  i,  1892 
tg6 
parent  jelly.  Each  fruit  contains  usually  one,  some- 
times two  or  three  nuts  with  hard  black  shells,  and 
divided  at  the  top  into  two  or  more  deep  lobes. 
The  fruit  of  the  Lodoicea  has  germinated  more  than 
once  in  hot  houses.  The  first  time  at  Glasgow,  but 
the  young  plant  did  not  survive.  Quite  recently  ger- 
mination has  been  successful  in  the  museum  of  Paris, 
and  the  young  plants  are  doing  well  up  to  date  ; it 
remains  to  be  seen  how  they  will  fare  subsequently. 
It  would  be  most  interesting  to  be  able  to  cultivate 
this  remarkable  palm  in  our  colony, — Revue  Agricole. 
The  Editor  of  the  Indian  Forester  writes  : — In  put- 
ting before  our  readers  the  above  translation  of  an 
article  from  a magazine  which  is  by  no  means  the 
least  interesting  of  our  exchanges,  we  wish  to  mention 
that  it  does  not  seem  to  be  generally  known  what 
large  numbers  of  these  nuts  must  be  brought  to  India. 
In  travelling  last  year  and  this,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Hurdwar  and  Rikhikesh,  both  great  pilgrim  places 
on  the  Ganges,  we  noticed  that  all  the  better  class 
of  the  ‘ fakirs,’  who  frequent  the  banks  of  the  holy 
river  and  live  on  the  offerings  of  the  pilgrims,  carried 
habitually  with  them  a black  curiously  shaped  bowl 
with  a handle  in  which  they  drew  from  the  river 
the  moderate  supply  of  water  for  their  day’s  use.  We 
made  enquiries  and  at  last  through  the  kindness  of 
a brother  officer  procured  one  of  these  bowls  for  the 
Forest  School  Museum.  It  proved  to  he  the  half  of 
one  of  the  nuts  of  the  ‘double  coconut.'  Judging  by 
the  numbers  we  have  seen,  the  trade  must  be  con- 
siderable and  the  numbers  of  the  nuts  brought  to 
India  for  sale  great,  for  we  can  hardly  snppose  that 
even  all  those  we  have  seen  were  orginally  washed 
up  by  the  sea  on  the  coast  of  Geylon  or  Malabar.  The 
only  reference  we  can  find  in  books  to  this  use  of 
the  nuts  is  a very  short  one  in  Dr.  Watt’s  Dictionary, 
where  it  is  also  said  that  the  nuts  are  procurable 
in  Bombay,  at  Bl  to  R2  each.  Seemann,  in  his 
“Popular  History  of  Palms  ” says,  that  the  Chinese 
considered  that  water  kept  in  the  shell  would  preserve 
those  who  drank  it  from  every  complaint  ; but  adds 
by  the  East  Indian  as  by  ‘ Europeans  ’ “ it  is  probable 
that  they  are  now  only  sought  as  a matter  of  curiosity 
or  for  domestic  purposes.”  We  hope  some  of  our 
readers  may  be  able  to  add  some  further  informa- 
tion on  this  interesting  subject.  [The  extraordinary 
fact  ought  to  be  added  that  a period  of  ten  years 
is  occupied  from  blossom  to  mature  nut.  We  have 
never  heard  of  any  of  these  nuts  being  washed  up  on 
the  coast  of  Ceylon. — Ed.  T.M.] 
THE  AMSTERDAM  CINCHONA  AUCTIONS. 
Amsterdam,  July  14. 
At  today’s  cinchona  auction  over  3, COO  packages 
Java  bark  were  offered,  but  half  of  this  was  bought 
in,  the  remainder  (viz.,  1,567  packages)  selling  at 
the  low  unit  of  6g  cents  per  half-kilo  (equal  to 
1 l-16ths  d.  per  lb.)  This  price  shows  hardly  any 
advance  upon  the  last  sale-rates.  The  following  prices 
were  paid: — Manufacturing  bark  in  chips  and  quills, 
5 to  53  cents  (equal  to  Id  to  91d  per  lb.)  ; ditto 
root  14  to  36  cents  (equal  to  2Jd  to  6Jd  per  lb.) ; 
druggists’  barb  in  quills  and  chips  10  to  39  cents  (equal 
ljjd  to  7d  per  lb.)  The  principal  buyers  were  Mr. 
Gustav  Briegleb,  of  Amsterdam,  theBrunswick  quinine 
works,  the  Frankfort  works,  and  the  Amsterdam  factory. 
— Chemist  and  Druggist. 
» 
UYA  COFFEE  COMPANY,  LIMITED. 
Capital  £100,0)0,  in  10,000  shares  of  £10  each. 
Directors. — John  Brown,  Esq.  Managing  Director, 
H.  H.  Potts  EBq.,  L Famin,  Esq.,  Edward  Oonder,  Esq. 
Report  to  be  presented  to  (he  Twenty-ninth  Ordi- 
nary General  Meeting  of  the  Company,  to  ue  held  at 
No.  5 Dowgate  Hill,  London,  on  Thursday,  the  26th 
dayof  July,  1892,  at  12-30  o’clock  p.cn. 
The  following  Annual  Accounts  are  now  presented 
to  Shareholders,  viz.; — Profit  and  Loss  Account  for 
Crop  1890-91.  Balance  Sheet  made  up  to  31st  May,  1892. 
Crop  1890-1; 
Iu  the  Directors'  last  Report  the  coffee  crop  of  the 
above  eeasou  was  estimated  at  2,500  cwts.,  and  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  actual  weight  sold  in  London 
amounted  to  2,791  cwts,  0 qrs.  27  lb. 
The  proceeds,  inclusive  of  a small  quantity  sold  in 
Ceylon,  amounted  to  £13,875  5s  2d.,  giving  an  average 
of  97s  lOd  per  cwt.,  against  au  average  of  102s  5d 
obtained  for  the  previous  crop. 
The  crop  of  tea  was  estimated  at  280,000  lb.  and 
the  actual  weight  sold  from  the  Oompauy’s  own  estates 
was  286,346  lb.  Besides  this  225,800  lb.  of  tea  manu- 
factured from  leaf  bought  from  neighbouring  estates 
were  sold. 
The  value  of  all  tea  sold  was  £22, 816s  10p,  Id  or 
an  average  of  lOjd.  per  lb.  compared  with  10Jd  for 
the  previous  Season. 
The  weight  of  Cinchona  Bark  sold  was  32,650  lb.  and 
the  value  £424  15s.  10d.,  or  3d,  per  lb.,  against 
the  former  year’s  average  of  3jjd.  per  lb. 
Cocoa  weighing  52  cwt.  2 qrs.  0 1b.,  realized  £252 
I4s.  8d.,  the  uverage  selling  price  being  97s.  2d.  per 
cwt.  against  8Ss.  3d.  for  the  former  year’s  Crop. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  total  value  of  sll  pro- 
duce sold  amounted  to  £37,369  5s.  9d. 
The  total  Expenditure  fur  the  year  in  Ceylon  and 
London,  after  allowing  for  Front  on  Exchange,  amounted 
to  £33,833  8s.  2d.,  and  deducting  this  from  the  value 
of  the  Produce,  a Profit  is  shown  on  the  season’s 
working  of  £3,535  17s.  7d.  To  this  has  to  be  added 
the  balanoe  of  £52  7s.  lid.,  brought  forward  from  last 
year,  giving  a total  of  £3,588  5s.  fid.  at  the  credit  of 
Profit  and  Loss  Account. 
Au  luterim  dividend  of  1J  per  cent,  on  the  capital 
of  the  Company  was  paid  on  14th  January  last,  which 
absorbed  £1,500  of  the  above-named  sum,  and  the 
Directors  now  recommended  that  £2,000  be  applied  to 
the  payment  of  a further  dividend  of  2 per  cent., 
making  3J  per  cent,  for  the  year,  and  leaving  £88  5s. 
fid.  to  be  carried  forward  to  next  Account. 
The  above  season  has  proved  an  important  and  for- 
tUDat9  one  for  the  Company,  as  during  the  year  works 
of  much  value  have  been  carried  out  on  the  Estates, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  Directors  have  been  able  to 
maiotain  a fair  rate  of  Dividend.  This  was  almost 
entirely  due  to  the  increased  Coffee  Crop,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  larger  returns  et cured  from  this  pro- 
duct, it  would  have  been  necestu  y either  to  curtail 
the  Dividend  or  to  have  indefinitely  postponed,  to  the 
great  detriment  of  the  property,  works  which  have 
now  been  successfully  accomplished. 
During  the  season  258  acres  of  Tea  were  planted  up 
and  nurseries  and  other  preparations  were  made  for 
planting  up  a further  109  acres,  and  this  additional 
area  has  now  been  completed. 
Very  considerable  outlay  was  also  incurred  during 
the  season  on  improved  appliances  for  manufacturing 
tea,  two  large  Withering  Houses  have  been  erected, 
besides  additional  Machinery  for  dealing  with  the  in- 
creased quantity  of  leaf.  It  is  impossible  to  over  rate 
the  value  of  having  ample  appliances  for  manufactur- 
ing tea,  and  especially  is  this  true  with  regard  to 
Withering  accommodation,  and  the  high  place  which 
the  Company’s  Teas  now  hold  in  the  London  Market, 
is  in  a great  measure  due  to  the  efficient  way  in  which 
they  are  now  treated  during  the  process  of  manufac- 
ture. The  completion  of  the  Company’s  Factories  has 
made  it  possible  to  carry  out  the  purchase  of  leaf, 
and  the  manufacture  of  tea  for  adjoining  estates  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  proprietors  and  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  company.  The  total  7; eight  of  tea  manu- 
factured at  the  Ocmpauy’s  Factories  during  season 
1890-91  was  596767  lb.  Any  leaf  purchased  is  bought 
on  a sliding  scale,  so  that  the  Company’s  profit  as 
regards  bought  leaf,  is  not  affected  by  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  market. 
Following  the  strict  line  of  the  policy  they  have 
laid  down,  the  Board  have  debited  the  whole  cost  of 
the  above  works  to  the  season  in  which  they  were 
carried  out  so  that  all  expenditure  of  whatever  sort 
has  been  written  off,  and  nothing  held  up  in  suspense. 
By  adopting  this  course  the  Board  feel  confident  that 
Shareholders  will  reap  the  bentfit  of  11  gradually  im- 
proving property,  as  it  will  he  seen  from  the  table 
