354 
THE TEOPICAL 
AGEICULTUEIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1889. 
this way mannies seem eseential to obtaiuiug and 
maintaining colour in the bean. The Committee 
admitted, however, that colour depends in a great 
measure on climatic influences, which vary from 
year to year, and on the lightness of the crop. 
Another 13 years of leaf disease have convinced 
most'planters of the necessity of regular manuring, 
and also of following Mr. Elliot's advice of concentra- 
ting high cultivation on the best fields. That 
policy has, however, been in full swing ever since 
the crisis of 1882-85, and has been supplemented 
by planters putting their inferior lands under cin- 
chona, pepper, and tea. These, though not exactly 
methods of improving coffee, are very efficient 
methods of improving the coffee planter's finances 
when one of the crises, to which coffee is periodi- 
cally liable, occur. 
There is yet another way in which planters may 
try to prromote the vigour of the coffee tree, on 
which tne quality of the bean so largely depends. 
This is by the introduction of new varieties of cofiee, 
either by importation from other countries, or by 
the selection of pedigree seed, or by hybridisation. 
The first has been freely tried without any bene- 
fit, except in one instance, that of Nalknaad coffee 
seed. Attention has been drawn to the marvellous 
results obtained in wheat and cotton by the culti- 
vation of pedigree seed, i. e., sowing seed only from 
exceptionally vigorous and heavy cropping plants, 
and again taking seed only from the most 
vigoroua progeny, till after several genera- 
tions an entirely new, hardy and heavy cropping 
variety is established. But sufficient attention has 
not been paid to the fact that, though it is easy 
in the case of annuals to grow rapidly enormous 
numbers of successive generations from which 
to make the necessary selections to establish new 
varieties, it would entail a very heavy expense 
over a long series of years to do this in the case 
of a plant like coffee, which takes three years to 
come into bearing and seven years to reach maturity, 
and requires virgin land if it is to be grown success- 
fully on a large scale. In America, or in the British 
or Dutch Colonies, large or small, this would be 
done by State officials ; but the Government of India 
has not yet learnt the importance of liberal scientific 
aid to agriculture, although India is more dependent 
than almost any other country on that industry for 
its revenues. The same is true of hybridisation, but 
fortunately it has chanced that individuals have al- 
ready obtained results in this lice, though more by 
good luck than anything else. It will, of coiirse, take 
some time to establish by careful selection a fixed 
variety; but the following results, reported at the 
Conference of hybridisation experts held at Chiswick 
injuly last, are full of encouragement for planters 
in dealing with hybrid coffee. It was stated that 
varitiea are perpetuated in crossing, and not as a 
matter of fact obliterated ; that, although in the first 
or second generation nothing new may be seen in 
some cases, yet often in the third and fourth genera- 
tion 58 and 75 to 80 per cent, of the variety desired 
may be obtained that hybrids are not as a rule in- 
fertile and, when they are, it is due to some special 
circumstance. 
In this connection it would be well if coffee planters 
followed the example of their tea brethren, and tested 
the results of their experiments in the cup. For, 
though the grocer buys largely by appearance and 
even values his coffee by the even appearance of the 
roasted bean, yet there are not wanting men who are 
Eointing out that the surest way to promote their 
uainess is to buy entirely on the flavour of the roasted 
bean, and who are urging grocers to disregard ap- 
pearance when the flavour of the roast is good. If 
thii" method of valuing coffee becomes universal — 
and it is said to be the coming revolution in the 
coffee trade — we shall hear less of the superior ap- 
pearance and evenness of Central American coffee, 
and, provided our coffees hold their own for flavour, we 
need not fear a little uneveuness or even lack of 
colour — such, for instance, as is common in Mocha 
CoUee,— Madras Mail. 
INDIAiN AND CEYLON TEA«. 
SliCOND ARTICLE. 
A fortnight ago we published an article dealing 
with the progress made by British-grown teas in the 
regard of the tea-drinkers of the world ; we now 
turn out attention to the working of tea companiei 
in the year 1898-9. 
First, we will briefly survey the Indian Companiei. 
Last year the lot of tea growers in India was not a 
happy one. Exchange remained consistently high, Is 
3Jd to Is 4d being the average figure. Freight was 
also an expensive item, of which the chairmen of 
tea companies, with one accord, have complained to 
the sympathetic ehareholders at the meetings held 
during the past few months. Then, again, the crop 
in India did not realise the anticipations of planters 
who had computed the yield at about 158 million 
pounds. As time went on it was seen that thii 
figure would not be reached. Unpropitious weather 
was experienced in some districts, and, as a matter 
of fact, the actual crop was 153 million pounds, of 
which about 135 millions came to this country. The 
Cachar and Sylhet gardens suffered severely from 
drought, and their tea was poor, realising not more 
than 6d per lb. on an average. Assam, Darjeeling, 
and Dooars teas, on the other hand, were of pretty 
good quality, and realised satisfactory prices. 
The total paid-up capital of 31 companlea ii 
£4,487,308, and the total profit £281,589, an average 
of 6,275 per cent., which is a sufficiently satisfactory 
result, all things considered. The average profit per 
acre of mature plant works out at close upon £2 IBs. 
Turning now to Oeylon, we gire a table showing 
the dividends paid in 1898 by fifteen representative 
Companies, as compared with the dividends for 1897. 
Dividends 
oij ordin- 
Paid up Capital. »ry Sharsa, 
Company. 
Preference. 
Alliance 
Burnside 
Ceylon Proprietary . . 
Ceylon Tea Plantation 
Eastern Produeetfe Est. 
Galaha 
Imperial 
Kelani Valley 
Nuwara Eliya 
Penawal 
Portmore ., 
Scottish Ceylon 
Standard 
Sunnygama 
Yatiyantota 
26,127 
81,080 
753 
60,000 
5,800 
9,000 
15,000 
45,000 
9. 
Ord. 1897 
ISi'S 
% 
£ 
% 
2* 
65,2C0 
6 
17,600 
7 
2 
5 
78,380 
5 
4 
7 
167,380 
15 
15 
5 
299,135 
7 
7 
6 
50,000 
2 
4 
90,000 
4 
4 
18,765 
10 
5 
200.(100 
6 
6 
7 
17,000 
2 
4 
40,000 
13 
13 
7 
41,000 
10 
10 
59,560 
15 
15 
6 
50,0C0 
6 
3 
6 
90,C00 
S 
4 
The dividends paid on ordinary shares, it will be 
noticed, were lower in 1898 than in 1897, for the 
most part. In Ceylon, as in India, the effects of 
high exchange were felt, and freights to the home 
market were rather high, although in this respect 
competition at Colombo places Ceylon in a better 
position than Calcutta. The cron was below esti- 
mates, and the quality was only fair. There w»« 
not much development work done by British tea 
companies. In Ceylon, there is not much room 
for the extension of plantations; most of the 
land has been planted, and the Government has 
practically ceased to lease out land. Some of the 
existing companies have a little land not yet ander 
tea, but the acreage is small and we may take it that 
the rapid increase in production which has taken 
place during the last decade will almost cease. The 
output of Ceylon tea is about at high water mark. In 
India there is, of course, abundance of land ready 
for planting ; the great difficulty there is the supply of 
labour, which, it may be said en passant, is the reason 
why tea-planting in Fiji, where has climate and soil 
are specially favourable, the never been aucceasful, 
