160 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1899. 
London office expenses, and £500 for depreciation, 
the net amount at credit of Profit and Loss is 
£15,709 4s 9d. 
Dividends aggregating 6 per 
cent., less Income Tax, 
have been paid for the 12 
months on the Preference 
Shares, amounting to . . £3,440 2 9 
An Interim dividend of 4 per 
cent., less Income Tax, on 
the Ordinary Shares, has 
been paid, and amounted 
to ii;4,586 12 
It is proposed to pay a final 
dividend of 6 per cent, on 
the Ordinary Shares, mak- 
ing 10 per cent, for the 
year, and which will amount 
to i'6,879 18 0 
Thus leaving to be carried 
forward to next year a 
balance of £802 12 9 
i-15,709 4 9 
Thfe past season in Ceylon has probably been 
the worst ever recorded as regards the yield of 
tea. The crop from the Company's estates, owing 
entirely to untoward weather, has tarned out 
some 70,000 lb. under the estimate, so preventing 
the full profit which your Directors were justi- 
fied in looking for. The result, however, cannot 
but be said to be very satisfactory, and your 
Directors consider that great credit is due to 
fehose responsible for the management of the Com- 
pany, both in Ceylon and London. 
The total crop for the past season amounted to 
930,281 lb. which sold for £39,127 13s 4d, or an 
average of 10-09d per lb., as against the previous 
year's crop, 833,874 lb., which realised £30,923 
7s 4d or 8-90d per lb. 
The Estates are in a high state of cultivation, 
a liberal expenditure, as will be seen by the 
summary below, having been allowed. The tea 
cost f.o.b. about 29 cents, of a rupee per lb., dis- 
tributed as follows : — 
General .. .. .. "039 cents. 
Cultivation .. '072 „ 
Plucking and Manufacture . . •171 „ 
Buildings (upkeep) . . . . '005 „ 
Capital Account on Buildings 
Machinery, and Tea Clearings £2,056 6 7 
The freight, warehousing, and selling in London, 
cost -93 of a penny. 
Exchange averaged at the rate of 1/4-29, as 
against last year at l/3i, and 1/2 9-10 the pre- 
vious year. 
The outlay on capital account exceeded our in- 
tention of a year ago, but as practically the whole 
of this was laid out on factory extensions at 
Tillicoultry and Belgiavia, the better prices 
realised have lully justified the outlay. 
Mr. McDonell retires by rotation, but, being 
eligible, offers himself for re-election. 
Messrs. Singleton, Fabian & Co., the Auditors 
to the Company, retire, and, being eligible, offer 
themselves foi re-election. 
East and north of Polonnaruwa, too, there are 
thousands of acres of park country extending in a 
broken series to Knmadi village. The park country 
varies in openness. When very open it is possible to 
see for a mile through the trees dotted over the plain, 
while at other times they are so close as to be of the 
nature of an open forest. The trees are seldom of 
great size, and among them are many lovely blossom- 
ing varieties such as satin, ehela mee, damba, Sec, 
and when many of these are in flower before the grass 
laud is scorched it is the most lovely country iu the 
Island to travel through. 
Game. — The chief liig game in Tamankaduwa are 
elephant, buffalo, bear, leopard, sambur, cheetah, 
spotted deer, red deer, and pig. In the rainy season, 
when water is to be found in every "dola," the elephants 
are scattered over the whole country and seem to 
travel about considerably, but as water becomes 
scarce they retreat towards the Mahaweli-ganga and 
the vicinity of the great " villus,'* The steep banks 
of the river are worn into steps and stairs by these 
animals constantly descending to drink, and the 
marshy ramba grass land along its banks is pitted with 
their footprints. Buffalo are not plentiful and their 
destruction by sportsmen is discouraged by Govern- 
ment. They usually frequent the marshy pools near 
the park country far from human habitations, but 
they have often been known to attach themselves 
to a herd of tame ones. Leopards are found where- 
ever their quarry is, be that where it may. 
Bears are most common in the park country when 
the fruits and flowers they feed upon are ripe, but 
the search for honey takes them everywhere, and the 
marks of their claws made in climbing trees are met 
frequently. Their favourite haunts are in the vicinity 
o£ bare rock hills and boulders and caves as in the 
country south of Kotawela. They are the most dreaded 
of all the denizens of the forest by the inhabitants, 
and the number of the horribly disfigured and scarred 
bear victims among them show good reason for the 
dread. 
Sambur are met with all over the district, but they 
are oftenesfc found iu the hills or feeding in the park 
country. They rarely go in large flocks ; a buck and 
two or three does with a fawn or so being the usual 
numbers met with, though occasionally the stag alone 
is met, and he is then most easily approached. Their 
breeding season is during the rains, and the young 
fawns are oftenest seen in the early mouths of the 
year. 
Spotted deer are more numerous in Tamankaduwa 
than the other varieties, and in the dry season they 
are met with in herds of a score or so in the park 
country — the does being by far the most numerous. 
Their breeding season does not seem to be so well 
defined as that of sambur. In January and February 
many young fawns have been met, but again fawns 
are not uncommonly found in September at the end 
of the dry season. 
Bed deer are probably least common of all deer in 
Tamankaduwa, but they shun the open country and 
frequent the forests in pairs or often singly. No 
direct evidence of their breeding season was 
noticed. 
Wild pig frequent the vicinity of paddy fields and 
abandoned but not quite empty tanks, in which they 
wallow. Among the Moor villages and in the low-lying 
" ramba-damanas " along the Mahaweli-ganga they 
roam in great droves of twenty or thirty, tearing 
up the ground as they go iu their search for lOots. 
GAME AND THE PARK COUNTRY 
IN CEYLON. 
( Frohi Mr. D. Wair's Report, Survey Department, 1898.) 
Park Country— The park country is situated in 
scattered areas among the forests. One of the largest 
is the Hingurawatdamana situated between the 
KanduUa and Minneriya-oyas, covering not less than 
10,000 acres. Another great park extent lies between 
the band of the "Prakrama Sea" and the Amban- 
ganga, and even between the Amban-ganga and Maha. 
weli-ganga along the road from Kotawela to Dastota. 
China Tea— or Poison ?— An analyst records 
that there are over sixty substances used by the 
Chinese in colouring and weighting much of the 
tea that finds its \\a,y to this country. These 
substances include subacetate of cooper, iiidigo, 
and tumeric mixed together co make a blight 
vegetable green ;sul])hateof lime or gypsum, to 
give the tea a greyish, smooth, glossy appearance ; 
glucose ot gum arabic water, to make the gypsum 
adhere to the tea ; Prussian blue, Dutch pink, 
aoapstone, graphite, rice, and starch. — Daily Mail. 
