Oct.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
227 
and  calls  all  these  cultivation  expenses.  There  is  an 
error  of  R700  in  his  additions  as  publithed,  he  makes 
this  R39.140. 
Mr.  G'-ey’s  calcula'ions  for  crop  expenses  are  exceed- 
ingly modtrite,  and  only  amount  to  2 cl.  per  lb.  on  the  tea 
made  deliver,  d in  Madras.  But  his  charges  for  sup  r- 
iutendence  are  a great  deal  more  than  I calculated 
op,  as  they  amc unt,  including  Writer,  Teem  ker  and 
Maistries,  to  R6.C00  per  year  or  R20  per  acre  ; the 
allowance  for  this  is  geni  rally  takm  at  R15  per  acre. 
Manuring,  which  he  include  , is  an  extra  charge,  which 
should  bo  covered  by  increased  yield. 
Iu  myr  calculations  I have  allowed  a cost  of  5d 
per  lb.  of  made  Tea,  for  all  expenses  connected  with 
the  crop,  from  field  10  delivery  and  s le  inLmdou. 
I£  this  was  calcua’ed  < ut  as  au  acriate  charge 
on  610  lb.  per  acre  on  300  acrer,  say  192,000  lb.  of 
Tea  at  5J  per  lb.  and  taking  the  anna  and  penny  as 
equal,  the  crop  charges  amount  to  R60  000,  or  R20  per 
acre — which  is  a gnat  deal  more  than  Mr.  Grey  put  it  at. 
In  addition  to  this  I make  the  cultivation  charges: 
R 
Superintendence  at  R15  per  acre  = 
...  4,500 
Weeding 
12 
...  3,600 
Pruning 
7 8 
...  2,250 
Roads  &e. 
Tcols,  upkeep,  build- 
1 „ 
300 
iogp,  &a  , med.  end 
Tappal  and  contin- 
gencies 
4-8 
...  1,350 
Total...  12,000 
No  doubt  these  figures  can  or.lv  be  taken  as  an  average, 
and  must  be  corrected  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  district  ; but  they  about  tally  with  Ceylon  Esti- 
mates where  labour  is  more  expensive.  Mr.  Grey  would, 
I th  nk  find  it  safer  to  make  all  his  calculations  ou  the 
amount  of  Tea  made — and  not  on  the  acreage  cultiva- 
ted. If  he  can  piy  all  expenses  on  crop,  from  field  to 
Board  Ship,  for  21  per  lb.  little  fault  should  be  found 
with  his  extra  charge  f r superintendence  ; the  Oeyb  n 
average  cost  for  this  is  15  cents,  say  2 J-d.  The  addi- 
tional co3t  of  superintendence  and  estate  cultivation 
varies  according  to  the  amount  of  crop  per  acre — aid 
the  profit  to  the  owner  depends  on  a just  medium 
between  quantity  and  quality.  Se.nex. 
— Madras  Times. Aug.  15. 
MIXING 
IX 
CEYf.ON. 
INTERVIEW  WITH 
MR. 
JOHN  FERGUSON, 
OP  COLOMBO. 
Although  there  is,  probably,  no  part  of  the  Queen’s 
Dominions  about  which  more  has  been  written,  and 
about  which  the  average  intelligent  stay-at-home  book- 
reading  Briton  has  read  more  than  Ceylon  ; yet,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  vast  resources  of  the  “ utmost 
Indian  isle  ” are  but  imperfectly  understood  and  ap- 
preciated by  most  except  those  whose  immediate 
business  relations  necessarily  place  them  in  posses- 
sion of  more  than  a merely  superficial  knowledge  of 
the  colony.  In  commercial  geography  it  certainly, 
and  most  deservedly,  occupies  an  important  position, 
as  it  should,  in  view  of  its  large  and  yearly  increasing 
exports  of  such  staple  commodities  as  tea,  cocoa, 
coffee,  cinchona  bark,  cinnamon,  coconut  oil,  and 
plumbago  to  the  United  Kingdom  and  other  coun- 
tries. But  as  a modern  mining  country  it  isnotyet  re- 
cognised, as  we  reckon  mining  countries  here  at  home. 
Yet  it  has  vast  treasures  of  mineral  wealth,  although, 
perhaps,  these  do  not  cover  any  great  range  in  the 
matter  of  variety.  It  is  one  of  those  colonies  whose 
mineral  resources  have  yet  to  be  exploited  in  the 
light  of  modern  mining  and  financial  practice,  and 
the  first  step  towards  any  such  consummation  is  to 
let  it  become  more  generally  known  what  the  charac- 
ter and  extent  of  its  mineral  deposits  are. 
With  a view  to  placing  our  readers  in  possession  of 
some  reliable  data  on  this  point,  we  have  taken 
advantage  of  the  presence  in  this  country  on  a short 
visit  of  Mr.  John  Ferguson,  of  Colombo,  a gentle- 
man who  is  regarded  by  general  consent  to  be  a 
leading  authority  on  all  that  pertains  to  the  social 
and  material  concerns  of  Ceylon.  Mr,  Ferguson  re- 
cently read  a paper  on  Ceylon  : Its  Attractions  to 
Visitors  and  Settlers  ” before  the  Royal  Colonial 
Institute,  necessarily  referring  tn passant  to  the  gem 
digging  and  plumbago  mining  interests  of  the  colony. 
But  what  we  desired  to  obtain  for  the  benefit  of  our 
readers  was  the  most  up-to-date  and  authentic  infor- 
mation we  could  secure,  O11  representing  our  wishes 
to  Mr.  Ferguson  he  very  courteously  consented  to 
being  interviewed,  and  called  by  appointment  at 
The  Mining  Journal  office  for  that  purpose, 
also,  with  much  kindness,  placed 
hands  which  enabled  us  to  gatlie 
formation  for  present  or  future 
John  Ferguson,  Bsc.,  of  Colombo,  Ceylon. 
Mr.  John  Ferguson,  whose  portrait  we  give — and 
we  do  not  mind  saying  that  it  is  an  excellent  like- 
ness—is  a Scotsman  by  birth,  which  goes  at  once  to 
prove  what  an  admirable  colonising  race  our  friends 
beyond  the  Tweed  are.  And  more  than  a Scotsman 
— Mr.  Ferguson  is  also  a Highlander,  which  is  a 
synonym  for  grit,  and  pluck,  and  energy,  and  stay- 
ing power.  He  was  born  at  far-off  Tain  in  Easter 
Ross,  in  December,  1842,  and  was  educated  at  the 
Royal  Academy  in  that  town,  where  he  won  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  gold  medallist.  He  prepared 
for  his  press  career — for  be  it  said  Mr,  Ferguson  is 
co-Editor  of  ’The  Ceylon  Observer,  the  chief  news- 
paper in  the  colony — in  Inverness  and  London,  and 
left  for  Ceylon,  which  has  been  his  home  ever 
since,  in  October,  1861,  to  become  Assistant-Editor 
of  tlie  important  and  well-known  journal  just 
mentioned,  and  at  that  time  a bi-weekly.  Two 
years  afterwards  he  was  enabled  to  allow  his  uncle,  Mr 
A.  M.  Ferguson,  u.m.g.,  the  proprietor  and  editor  of 
the  Ceylon  Observer,  to  have  his  first  holiday  trip  home 
after  26  years’  residence  in  the  island.  Mr.  John 
Ferguson  extended  the  bi-weekly  paper  into  a tri- 
weekly, and  at  a later  period  it  became  the  daily 
newspaper  which  it  is  at  present,  while  the  overland 
mail  edition  for  Europe,  &e.,  became  a weekly 
instead  of  a fortnightly  publication.  Mr.  John  Fer- 
guson became  partner  and  co-Editor  with  Mr.  A.  31. 
Ferguson  in  1877 
Tropical  agriculture  being,  necessarily,  the  subject 
most  largely  dealt  with  in  the  columns  of  the  Ceylon 
Observer.  Mr.  John  Ferguson,  in  1881,  when  his  uncle 
and  partner  was  acting  as  Commissioner  from  Ceylon 
to  the  Melbourne  Exhibition,  started  a monthly 
