July 1, 1898.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
45 
THE CEYLON AND ORIENTAL 
ESTATES CO. 
It is very evident now that Mr. Ford, 
operating witli Messrs. Cooper & Cooper, will 
carry out the arrangement shadowed forth at 
the 'last meetinp; of the shareholders in the 
above Company. We learn on good authority 
that the deposit of £3,000 has been paid to the 
Directors and this will be absolutely forfeited 
should Mr. Ford tail to form the new Com- 
pany with sufiicient subscribed capital to carry 
out the purchase by 31st July next. 
So far, no ordinary dividend has been paid 
by the C. & 0. Company for 1897 and we 
learn the accounts were not audited when the 
mail left owing to the pending sale with Mr. 
Ford. If the Company takes over, they have 
to pay a dividend of 7 per cent for 1897 to 
the bid shareholders ancl 6 per cent interest 
for the current year until the assets are fully 
paid for in cash. On the other hand if the 
shareholders elect to go on in Mr. Ford's new 
Company they are to have on ordinary shares 
a bonus of 14 per cent, and on Preference of 
12 per cent. 
Amalgamated -with Messrs. Cooper & Cooper, 
it seems to us the new Company ought to be 
a powerful one ; and it should to some extent 
form a Direct Supply Association if it chose to 
sell its own teas direct to retailers and con- 
sumers ? The Manager of the C. & O. Com- 
pany's estates in Ceylon is Mr. A. J. Deni- 
son, the Colombo Agents being the Eastern 
Produce and Estates Co., Ld. The following is a 
list of the estates belonging to the Company, 
so far as our Directory shows :— 
Other. 
District. 
Total 
Culti- 
Tea. 
Pro- 
area. 
vated. 
ducts 
Bogahawatte 
Dimbula 
618 
541 
541 
0 
Denegama 
Balangoda.. 
419 
320 
320 
0 
Keenekelle 
Badulla .. 
1,517 
782 
566 
216 
LeVallon 
Nilambe . . 
2,095 
1,218 
1,218 
0 
Moralioya 
Kelani Val- 
ley 
4,53 
335 
335 
0 
Oodewelle 
Hantane. .. 
1,181 
817 
817 
0 
Peacock Hill 
Pussellawa. 
388 
300 
300 
0 
Pathragala 
Kurunegala 
725 
406 
100 
306 
Peradeuia 
Hantane . . 
498 
424 
424 
0 
Wiltshire 
Matale W... 
644 
327 
272 
55 
Wangie-oya 
Dimbula . . 
667 
400 
400 
0 
Acres : 
9,135 
5,870 
5,293 
577 
PLANTED AREA UNDER TEA IN CEYLON . 
AND THE CURRKNCY AND EXCHANGE DIS- 
CUS.SION. 
It would certainly be wrong— that is pre- 
mature— to say in October 1897 that three were 
375,000 acres covered with tea in Ceylon. But 
i.he ligures were as certainly not a niis))rint for 
315,000— as some London friends suppose— for that 
would have been far more erroneous the other 
■way. We probably wrote 355,000 in our rough 
draft of statistical corrections for Kelly's Direc- 
tory and in the copy sent home, the blunder 
must have been made. But we cannot under- 
stand how Mr. Leake and other London friends 
connected with Ceylon should not have recalled 
the fact that both 1896 and 1897 were years of 
exceptional activity in planting tea both in new 
plantations and in reserves attached to existing 
estates. The check to such extensions only took 
efl'ect in reality early this year, with the realiza- 
tion that the rise iu exchange was not to be 
temporary, and the low prices were likely to con- 
tinue for some time. 
Now the latest complete return of the planting 
districts showed .305,000 acres covered with tea 
in October, 1895, and surely Mr. [jcake has heard 
of the extraordinary activity in planting which 
lias prevailed since then ? Why in the one dis- 
trict of Balangoda, mainly tlirou;;h the Companies 
represented by Messrs. Finlay, Muir & Co., nearly 
5,000 acres will have been added to the tea area 
since October 1895 ? An ad<lition of the same 
extent has been made to the Kalutara district, and 
no less than double or 10,000 acres additional to the 
Kelani Valley district in the 2| years— so that we 
have here20,000 acres added for three districts alone! 
We are not quite prejiared to give the exact 
figures for the whole country— although a few 
more days will bring them out — but we may say 
that the total addition to our tea area, including 
native tea gardens, is certain to bring the figures 
much nearer to 375,000 than to 3-55,000 acres. 
Still, the a'v;tivity represented belongs to 1896 
and 1897, rather than 1893, although there are 
doubtless included, clearings which having been 
felled in December- January last have to be planted 
during the present South-west monsoon. What 
is the lesson to be derived from the largely-in- 
creased area under tea in Ceylon ? Why, surely, 
that a halt should be cried both in Northern 
and Southern India as regards further tea ex- 
tensions, in the face of such ligures ; while, it is 
no less true that the continuance of the Ceylon 
industry on its present large scale depends a 
great deal on the course adopted in reference 
to the Indian Currency. Indeed, though we have 
had no actual returns of "abandonment " made 
to us for Directory purposes, it is none the less 
a fact, we believe, that the cultivation of certain 
poor tea fields has already ceased, and that this 
unfortunate experience may extend is, we fear, 
quite possible, should the rupee be artificially 
maintained at Is 4d and no sjiecial improvement 
take place in Min 'ing Lane prices. 
BRAZILIAN COFFEE. 
Coffee-Planting in Brazil has for many years com- 
pletely overshadowed all the other branches of 
industry and agriculture in that vast country, and no 
check seems probable in the near future to the cons- 
tant increase of tlie already enormous trade. Last 
year the exports from Eio consisted almost exclu- 
sively of coffee, the supply of which exceeded in 
quantity that of any previous season, having far 
surpassed all calculated expectations. The entries 
at Rio and Santos totalled 10,032,390 bags, an increase 
over 1896 of 2,701,584 bags, and the shipments from 
the two ports were 9,687,317 bags. The average value 
was about 363. per bag. The unprecedented supply, 
greatly in excess of the consumption, caused prices 
to drop to a point hilherto unknown in the history 
of the article, type No. 7, in November, having 
been sold initio at about 6;. 6d, for 32 lb. In the 
same mouth, 1896, the lowest quotation for this 
quality was lOs. 3d. for 32 lb. The large increase 
in production ia the inevitable result of the very 
high prices which ruled from 1887 to 1896. These 
prices gave an average profit to the planter estimated 
at 150 per cent., and naturally stimulated planting 
to an enormous degree. As it requires several years 
to bring the coffee plant to a bearing and paying 
stage, the effect of the enormous exiension of plan- 
tations has only been seriously felt in the past two 
years; but whilst it takes some years for the coffee- 
tree to bear, it continues to bear for many years, 
and therefore the low prices and depressed couditioa 
