38 
THE TROPICAL 
AftRICULTUBIST. 
[July 1, 1898 
plants, but is due to the iuBufficiency of some other 
element or elements of fertility and those wliich 
from experience we know to bo almost always defi- 
cient are phosphoric acii and potash. 
The planter has recognised tlie necessity of keeping 
hissoilclear from weeds in order to render the conditions 
under which the micro-organisms perform their func- 
tion more favorably, but is it not equally important 
that he shoQld make sure that the fruit of the labour 
of tho^e micro-organisms — the nitrates — be not lost to 
the plant tlirough the delicienoy of the other ne- 
cessary plantfood confitituents ? 
"We owe the theory of the niicro-organi:-:ms to 
Pasteur; it is still within my memory when the dis- 
covery of the nitrifying organisms by Winograd-ky 
was made at Zurich; the fixation of tlw atmos- 
pheric nitrogen through micro-organisms by Bertholet 
is of still later discovery ; but it i^ practically only 
during the last few years and due to experiments 
some of which have already been cited by such 
eminent agricultural chemists as P. P. Deherain, that 
an entirely new light has been thrown on subjects 
which formerly escaped a satisfactory explanation, 
and that thus a better knowledge of the oondilions of 
inducing soil fertility was brought about. — Y.iursfaith- 
i\i\\y, A. BAUR, 
The Ceylon Manure Works. 
. ^ 
SCOTTTlill CKYLON TEA .COMPANY, 
(LIMITED.) 
(Specialli/ Reported for the ''Tropical AgiicuUiinst".) 
Mr. H. L. Forbes presided on May 12tli at 
the riiiiLli annual ordinary nieetinfj of slnue- 
hoklers in this Company, lield at 16, I'iiilpot, 
Lane, London, the oHices of Messrs. Lynll, 
Anderson & Cc, P^^'ents and secretaries. 
The ChAIKMAN said :— The iiett iJiolils for the 
year amounted to £4,429 5s 8d, ami addinj? to 
this the balance iironght tojward from tlie pre- 
ceding year's accounts, £1,2')2 7s 8d, we liave 
£,5,681 i2s lid to dispose of. Last Sepieniber, 
YOU will remember, we paid an interim dividend 
of 5 per cent, which absori)ed the sum of 
£2 051, and £630 has been paid on the preference 
shares'; and we propose to pay now a final 
dividend of 5 per cent on the ordinary sliares, 
which will leave us witii a balance of £951 12s 
lid to carry forward to tiie current year's 
accounts. As you have been told in the report, 
the directors liinch regret tiiat, owing to the 
high level ot exchange during tiie past year and 
the depressed stale of the Ceylon tea market, 
and of the te.i uiatket generally, the results of 
our 1897 'working coniMaie unfavourably with 
those of previous years. The average rate of 
exchange was Is 3 13/32 1 per rupee, againsr Is 
2 15/16d per rupee, for 1896. We reahyed an 
average price of 7-956d per lb , against 8-S60d ia 
1896, "but you will be glad to know that we 
were' above the Ceylon average as regards price 
in the London market, which, according to 
Messrs. Wilson, Smitheti's report, was r.tther 
over 73-d per lb. Owing to the unfavouiable 
weather at the close of the year our total crop 
fell short of expsctations, the out-turn being 
708 533 lb. against 721,200 lb. for 1803 -some 
12 000 lb. less— the averaae yield being 415 lb. 
to each acre in bearing. In addition to tliis we 
manufactured ftbont 206 500 lbs. of tea for other 
proprietors, making a total output from our 
factories of 9l4,997 lb. of made tea. Mr. Kerr, 
our manager, reports that all the estates uu.ler 
his charge" are in a thoroughly satislaorory 
state. I shall h ive to ask yon, gentlenr-!-,, to 
pass a vote of liianks to our staft in Leylou 
for the admirable manner in which they have 
looked after the Conipany'.s iuteresiM (liCKr, haar.) 
Mr. Craib, who ha* cliarge on oii<> of onr ei^ialea, 
is over here, and I regret that lie in unavoid- 
ably abs'iot to-iay from oiu meeting. HiK«^<al« 
has (lone best dtniiig the year, ihongli iluit, 
too, (shows a falling off in conijiarlsTMi with 1896. 
I liave had a long interview «it!i .Mr. Craib 
about the eBtate's present results and it.^ pre- 
vious pro.sperity, ait<l lie merely sa^ s ; •'It will 
come again" (hear, hear.) Aud f l>elif\e it 
will come very Khorily. Tlie higti • > -and 
the fall in the market price log. ; \iit 
for a very large snm. Other fact4>.- iiera 
mentioneil must be also considered. The qnefttion 
of the rice I have not put in, for I do not 
believe that the rifce in the cc»i of ri<e is 
anything but a very small mHtter. One year we 
make a Utile money out of it ; anoliiut ytnt we 
make leMi>. But L dou't iliiuk it maket> an a|i- 
preciable din'crenee Ui the dividends. Xhe cost 
of our prodnciioii during the Wl year lias been 
lather highci tii.-m before. Ore ut die ieas<ina 
has been iliat labour wa.s gofecaiceat (lie l>t-;iii- 
ning of the j'ear that wages went higher, 'nid 
the cost of production was necessarily gr<»ater. 
Comparing 1S97 with the jirevious year we fpent 
about JL9u(j on manure an<l its apjijicatiou 10 
the estates. Out of this vve have £mi farjecciveJ 
no result, and we have the prospect of fht;Ui(i 
a return for that expeii<liture iu ilie future. I 
niiiy point out that it lta»' been cdiartrtd, not 
to capital account but lo ordiiiiiry ex|ieii><eK. An- 
other thing that increased the coKt of production 
was that ihong'i labour was KCfirce we di<l not 
get the full value out of the labour we employed 
that we u.-cil to get. My cNpeiieuce of the pai-( 
seven years is that the coidie is scarce lo llnd, 
dear to pa}', .and hard to work (laugliier. ) He 
ha.s rather deteriorated, I am afiaiil, and liaii 
perhaps been rather s|)oilt We clo nut get the 
same day's work for the day's pa^ that we used 
to get in any day. I should not like l«i say that 
the superintendents are to blame— not onroAn, 
at any rate — but in some )>aris of the island tliey 
have gi'own a bit loose, pcrhap?. The rises in 
the exchange may pnjve to be a bles'sing in dis- 
guise, for they may help to stop the too rapid 
extension of the tea imlustiy in ('eyion. As to 
the cure of the jiresent exchange tnuible — well, 
we should be glad to cure it but 1 don't know 
how to go .about it; in fact, nobody knows any- 
thing aoout it (laughter.) A fiepartmental 
Committee has been appointed liy the Goveri - 
nient, but nobodv as yet knows what the reme- 
dies are lo be. Undoubtedly the causes of the 
trouble include the closing of the nijnt.-s in India 
and the raising of the vaiu"* of the rupee to the 
fictitious value of Is 4d. We are all endeavour- 
ing to assist the market — this Company as well 
as others- and I believe that ail tlie private 
owners of estates are also doing whatever they 
can. In Ceylon we have a sell-iiujio.sed tax for 
the pushing of Ceylon teas into new marketf, 
and our Indian brothers are working with us iu 
this direction, and I hope our united efforts will do 
much to still more widely spread our tea over the 
world than it is distrilniced d.i present (hear, hear.) 
Ot coarse, the jiiesent wars and runinnr.-i of wars 
do not help us, 'out we have to hope for a speedy 
ternunation of the jiresent conflict. We will not 
say mucli about rice. All that ueeds to be said 
is that tiie fainiiie iri India is over, and that 
we hope it will be a very long time before we 
get another one. As to the cost of prod miction, we 
