648 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  i,  1893. 
The  Burma  Ruby  Mines  (Limited)  state  that  the 
results  of  the  last  three  months'  washing  are  r — 
Number  of  loads,  6,493,  produoing  11.IG3  carats, 
worth  K4l,710,  or  £2,780  I3s  4d,  at  the  exohange 
of  Is  4d.  This  is  equal  to  81s  6|d  per  load. 
The  January  results  included  in  the  above  have 
been  received  by  telegram,  and  are  not  yet  con- 
firmed. The  rumour  that  a satisfactory  arrange- 
ment has  been  ooncluded  with  reference  to  the  rent 
of  the  mines  is  incorrect.  The  question  is,  the 
Times  is  informed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
pany, still  pending  before  the  Government  of  India. 
— Pioneer,  Maroh  1. 
Indian  and  Ceylon  Tea  in  Australasia. — 
While  the  export  of  Indian  tea  to  the  end  of 
January  is  a million  lb.  short  as  compared  with 
the  same  date  previous  season,  our  Ceylon  exports 
this  year  so  far  show  an  increase  of  nearly  half-a- 
million  lb.  Here  are  the  figures  from  Messrs,  Forbes 
& Walker’s  Circular  today  : — 
INDIAN  EXPOETS,  SEASON  1892-93. 
(To  Australia  aud  New  Zealand.) 
To  end  of  January  ...  ...  3,329,840  lb. 
Same  period  last  year  ...  ...  4,352,416  „ 
BXrORTS  OF  CEYLON  TEA. 
(To  Australia  and  New  Zealand.) 
Total  export  from  1st  Jan.,  1893,  to  date  811,000  lb. 
Srme  period  last  year  ...  ...  325,000,,' 
Tobacco  Cultivation  in  the  Noeth. — The  cultiva- 
tion of  tobacco  is  being  vigorously  carried  on,  but  the 
crop  expected  is  likely  to  fall  short  of  the  demand, 
cot  because  a less  extent  than  that  for  the  last  year 
is  cultivated,  but  becauae  the  number  of  tobacoo 
traders,  large  and  small,  has  greatly  increased  within 
the  last  few  years.  The  trade,  whether  in  the  leaves 
bundled  and  exported  to  India  or  in  the  cigars  manu- 
factured here  and  supplied  to  the  boutiques  in  Colombo, 
Kandy,  and  other  southern  towns  of  the  island  is  no 
longer  the  eminently  paying  and  profitable  venture 
it  ence  was.  The  cigar  trade  is  of  comparatively  re- 
cent date,  having  been  started  about  35  years  ago. 
If  it  does  not  pay  so  well  as  it  did  formerly,  it  is 
owiDg  to  its  being  overdone.  The  cultivators,  I think 
are  much  better  off  now  than  the  traders. — Cor., 
“Jaffna  Guardian.  ’ 
Joint  Stock  Entebprise. — There  is,  however,  one 
aspect  of  Juint  Stook  enterprise  which  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  satisfactory  ; and  the  unsatisfactory  feature 
is  more  apparent  in  plantation  affairs  than  in  other 
investments  and  branches  of  business.  With  Banks 
and  Hotels  for  instance,  the  knowledge  that  most  of 
the  profits  go  to  absentee  capitalists,  is  modified  by 
the  conviction  that  foreign  capital  is  essential  to  the 
business  whioh  they  do — that  to  some  extent  the  lack 
of  local  capital,  and  to  some  extent  the  absence  of 
special  experience  and  training  in  those  lines  would 
render  success  more  qualified,  if  not  altogether  pro- 
blematical. Further,  we  have  got  to  be  as  familiar 
with  the  drafts  of  such  institutions  from  the  Island,  as 
with  the  carriage  by  the  continuous  streams  of  Tamil 
immigrants  on  their  return  home,  of  savings  from  their 
labours  here.  The  effeot  of  the  multiplication  of 
Plantation  Companies  has,  on  the  other  hand,  the  effect 
of  diminishing  the  Dumber  of  resident  proprietors  to 
whioh  we  have  been  accustomed.  To  be  sure, 
there  is  an  immense  proprietary  of  looal  landlords, 
whose  numbers  and  aggregate  possessions  are  often 
underrated  by  people  owing  to  their  infinitesimal  in- 
dividual influence,  and  the  smallness  of  their  separate 
possessions.  These  happily  remain  to  us,  and  we  are 
glad  to  think  that  there  is  a steady  improvement  in  the 
numbers,  intelligence  and  inflnenoe  of  at  any  rate  suoh 
as  own  an  eppreciable  acreage.  But  we  refer  to  Euro- 
pean Proprietors— or  Colonihts  as  they  are  misnamed. 
In  the  sixi'ies  aud  seventies — aud  even  in  the  latter 
yearB  of  the  eighties,  after  the  scare  caused  by  the 
collapse  of  coffee  bad  subsided— there  was  an  appreci- 
able increase  in  the  number  of  Proprietors— of  men 
who,  if  they  were  not  Colonists  in  the  fullest  sense, 
had 'settled  down  in  the  island  resolved  to  work  in  it 
and  to  hold  property  in  it,  until  at  least  they  should 
have  acquired  a competence,  or  disposal  of  their  land 
preparatory  to  retirement  in  old  age  to  the  mother 
country.  The  effect  of  Joint  Stook  enterprise  is  to 
give  to  a large  number  even  a more  evanescent  inter, 
est  in  the  land  of  their  adoption.  With  such  capital 
as  they  have  distributed  over  a number  of  Companies, 
or  invested  in  the  one  whioh  has  taken  over  their 
property  with  others,  they  go  home  to  live  on  divid- 
ends : or  even  if  they  remain  here  they  have  not  their 
time  and  attention  devoted  to  a property  or  properties 
which  they  oan  call  their  own.  The  drawbacks  under 
the  old  system  of  absentee  mortgagees  who  took  away 
the  better  part  of  the  profits  of  estates,  are  aggravated 
by  the  absence,  or  rather  the  diminution  of  a pro- 
ptitary personally  interested  in  lands,  resident  on 
them  and  supervising  their  cultivation.  While  this  is 
undoubtedly  a drawback,  havirg  reference  to  the 
general  interests  of  theoountry,  it  is  a great  advant- 
age that  under  the  influence  of  Joint  Stock  enterprise 
a larger  extent  of  land  than  might  otherwise  be  possible 
is.brought  under  cultivation,  and  thus  contributes  to  the 
general  prosperity  of  the  island. — Local  “ Examiner.” 
[We  are  of  opinion  that,  as  a rule,  the  Re- 
sident Manager  of  a Limited  Company’s  planta- 
tion or  plantations— generally  a shareholder  in  the 
Company  as  well — is  quite,  as  useful  a member 
of  the  looal  planting  community  as  a Resident 
proprietor-manager.  In  faot,  there  is  very  little 
difference. — Ed.  T.A.~\ 
Chinese  Labodb  for  Brazil. — We  see  from 
the  Rio  News  that  at  a meeting  of  planters  in  Sao 
Paulo  on  the  31st  Dec.,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing 
measures  for  the  introduction  of  Chinese  labour,  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  communicate  with  the 
municipal  councils  of  the  state  and  with  Congress 
to  find  what  assistance  can  be  prooured,  and  to 
study  the  question  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  at  a 
future  session.  From  inquiries  made  in  London 
it  had  been  found  that  it  would  cost  £25  per  capita 
to  bring  the  labourers  from  China,  and  that  they 
would  want  £4  per  month  as  wages.  It  had  also 
been  found  that  difficulties  would  be  encountered  in 
procuring  suoh  labourers. 
Forests  in  Russian  Turkestan. — Aocording  to 
the  February  number  of  the  Geographical  Journal, 
Russian  Turkestan  is  so  poor  in  forests,  and  the 
existing  woodland  have  Buffered  so  much  of  late 
from  reokless  cutting,  that  attempts  are  now  being 
made  to  replant,  partly  in  the  mountains  and  partly 
in  the  Steppes.  It  is  estimated  that  of  the  total 
area  of  Turkestan  (162,000  000  acres,)  the  territory 
has  but  945,000  acres  of  forest  land  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  nearly  16,000,000  acres  of  buehland  in 
the  Steppes.  As  to  the  plantations  of  trees  which 
are  met  with  in  all  native  towns  and  village,  they 
cannot  even  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  steadily  in- 
creasing population  for  building  purposes.  The 
saxaul  tree  has  been  pitilessly  exterminated  all 
along  the  banks  of  the  Syr  Daria,  and  for  a great 
distance  around  the  centres  of  population,  and  as 
natives  says,  “the  saxaul  has  fled  into  the  depth 
of  the  Steppes.’’  The  forests  in  mountains  were 
also  recklessly  cut  down  till  the  year  1879.  At 
the  same  time,  the  whole  of  the  legion  is  from 
eome  physioal  obange,  generally  undergoirg  dessi- 
oation.  Both  glaciers  and  rivers  are  decreasing; 
the  lakes  dry  up  ; the  extremes  of  temperature 
become  more  marked  ; and  the  moving  sands  are 
increasing  in  areas.  The  recent  attempts  at  planting 
forest  trees,  without  irrigation,  whioh  were  made 
in  the  province  of  Samarcand  in  1880,  have  proved 
quite  suooeBsful ; so  also  the  attempts  made  in  the 
dry  Steppe  in  the  bou'Ii  of  Sr.mnroand,  between  the 
Shaar-sabiz  Mountains  and  the  Dargh  Canal,  where 
nearly  400  aores  were  planted.  Since  1880  the 
system  has  been  improved,  the  young  trees  being 
now  planted  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills  in  terraces, 
which  follow  the  contour  lines. — Pioneer,  Feb,  23 
