THE TROPICAL 
AGblCULTUmST. [Aug. 1, 1899. 
are not worn, has generally poor soil, with 
exceptio)is, the tea having succeeded coffee 
or some other pi'odiict wliich had left the 
land without rest for 30 to 40 years. Dolos- 
bago does not regard its soil ;is particul;uly 
poor, and lias no wornout estates. Hatton 
retui-ns a decided " No " to the questioa 
whether nianui ii;ig would Inipvove tlie teo. 
and make it more profitable ; but gives us 
no reason in support of the stron.g opinion 
it holds. Nawalapitiya not only holds a 
diametrically opposite view ; hut also ad- 
vances grounds in support of it which seem 
to us cogent, when it says that manure 
would improve the bushes and thus increase 
the quantity, on that the improved condition 
will enable' the bushes to resist " the so- 
called rust, and otlvr pests from which tea 
is by no means as free as some people ima- 
o-ine." These results would necessarily be 
profitable : Dolosbage reports the prosecu- 
tion of manuring ; and argues that, if 
it only pays the cost of the manure and its 
application, it shoiild be continued, as afford 
ing work for coolies during the slack season I 
In regard to Factories, Hatton does not 
complain of any deficiency of withering rooju 
ov machinery ;' but thinks the motive power 
admits of iiiiprovement. Nawalapitiya is in 
a different case, lacking as it does wither- 
ing room, hnt being well-off' as regards 
machinery, while sharing the deficiency in 
motive power. Dolosbage gets on well with 
its withering space for nine months ; but 
when April to May pours m thrice the 
average yield of leaf, there is necessarily 
pressure. Neither in respect of machinery 
nor motive power has it any grievance. All 
three districts eiijoyed a sufficiency of labour 
diu^ing the past year ; but Dolosbage dm-ing 
the rush has to resort generally to cash 
plucking, and even with that it is not pos- 
sible to go round within ten days. Pruning 
is not too severe in Hatton, though it is 
neglected too long on most places ; but 
Nawalapitiya is free from either neglect or 
undue severity, while Dolosbage laments the 
spare use of the knife which it thinks should 
be on the move once in 18 or 20 months, when 
flush practically stops, whereas the rule has 
been to keep the bushes on for two years. 
Hatton's general remarks embrace the counsel 
to prvme "frequently, and to adapt the manu- 
facture to the district, without attempting 
to get high-grown tea from low-lying places. 
Dolosbage's forcing climate results in lack 
of flavour in its teas ; hwt where quantity is 
not aimed at, fair prices are obtained. 
Nawalapitiya considers the district well- 
suited to tea, but does not hope for a larger 
output, as what little land may be added to 
the acreage will be enough only to make 
up the falling-off from older fields. Indeed, 
that is its view of the whole Island, save 
Balangoda where a big acreage has yet to 
show its yield ; and there is some signi- 
ficance, coming as it does from an old hand, 
in the hint that the weather alone cannot 
explain the lack of growth in the output of 
the island's tea. 
Satinwood in Ceylox.— Mr, A. F. Broun 
has an interesting paper on this subject 
with a sketch map in the Indian Forester 
to hand. We ahall take it over in full 
latey on, 
RUBBER ESTATES OF PARA. 
DIFFICULTIES WITH THE VENDOE'S OVEll- 
COME-RUBBER ALREA.DY BEGINNING 
TO COiliS IN. 
An extraordinary general meeting of the Rubber 
E-tales of Parn, Limited, was held yeeterdav. at 
Winchester House. Old Broad-street, E.G.. the Hon. 
John Augustus de Grey in the chair. After the formal 
busmess. 
Mr. WooDBOw said : Will you tell us something about 
the business of the company now ? 
The Chairman : Our position, as I understand it, is 
now a very favourable one. But before going into 
that question, I feel that the board have to account to 
those t'entlemen who originally subscribed for the 
shares of the company, for the fact that we have not 
yet been able to pay a dividend. I should remind 
those who hold preference shares that their dividend 
has not been passed over; it is simply postponed until 
the company is in funds sufficient to enable it to pay 
them. The reason why we have been obliged to defer 
payment of the dividend is a very simple one. When 
we were in treaty for taking over the company's pro- 
perty in Para, we ought to have concluded our con- 
tracts in April ; but the company's issue was not res- 
ponded to by the public sufficient to enable us to do so, 
and consequently we had to ask for an extension of 
time, and so it came about that we were not able to do 
so until September 10 of ast year, when we did com- 
plpte our contract by the purchase of the property. 
The result of that was this, that the vendor had us 
more or less in his power. We received an assurance 
through the vendor's agent on which we thought we 
could rely, that we should receive compensation for 
their crop which the vendor announced that he was 
going to deprive us of, and at that time we were 
obliged to pay £2,000 as compensation to the vendor 
for not having fulfilled the • ontract at the time it 
should have been fulfilled. Then we were informed 
that the vendor intenied to appropriate the whele of 
last year's crop, but that we should be compensated. I 
should explain that the season for rubber collecting 
begins in Jul_v, but that the arrangements are made as 
early as about the February before. The vendor had 
made his arrangement for sending men to the estates 
and was in process of getting that crop when we com- 
pleted our contract. We should not, if we had taken 
over the estate then, been in a position to interfere, but 
we expected that the crop would have been handed over 
to us. But we were disappointed in that respect, and 
in the result none of the promises which were made te 
us by the vendor were fulfilled. And, moreover, we were 
proJjisedtbe rents of therubber roads from the tenants, 
and we received £1,400. The whole of the montey we re- 
ceived from the estates was in the past season. Those 
facts are what caused us to be unable at the present 
time to pay a dividend for our shares, because it 
was not until March 1 of this year that we obtained 
full possession of the estates, and were able to com- 
mence working on them. Some months ago, however, 
we sent out Mr. Milne, our manager, who has had 
his work supplemented by an accountant and several 
storekeepers from this country. You will have received 
the circular, dated April 14, which was the first in- 
formation that we were able to give you of our 
prospects in the coming season. That circular is of 
an encouraging description, and as far as the ex- 
pectations held out in it about the beginning of the 
season, they have been fully realised, because we 
have received altogether from the estates during the 
wet se<ison, and up to the end of May, some 7i 
tons ; and we have now at Para about 1§ tons more 
awaiting shipment, which brings up the amouDt from 
the estate to a little more than we anticipated in 
that circular. We are, perhaps, the first people who 
have had any result at all from a rubber estate in 
the wet season ; but we sent our men up early, and 
they consequently got this return, and we hope that 
the June returns will fully come up to what is 
foreshadowed in our circular We have sent up 
about 650 men on our own account, and we are 
working the estates, as I told you that we should, 
OS (he diiecti system; that ie to say, witboali tbe 
