August 1, 1S98.] THE TROPICAL AGEICULTrPJST. 
93 
"A GREAT WOELD OF COMMEECE^' 
Waiting to be opened up, is the description given 
by the S'-ofsmcni, June 1 in re\iewing Consui 
Baurne's Report on the valley of theYang-tzs which 
he ascended for the lirst time. We quote as fol- 
lows : — 
As a site lor coiiimerce and manufacturing in- 
dustries the Lower Yang-tzi Valley is described 
as being •' as perfect as can anywhere he found 
coal and iron are within easy reach ; the cliuiate 
is temperate ; and behind and around it is a 
magnificent system of water-wiys. But, besides 
the li-kin barriers, commerce seeking its way to 
the interior of China has to overcome the obstruc- 
tion of tiie hundred miles of rapids that break 
the course of the B'ne River. We have now the 
tre.ity ri^^ht to serid steamers up the stream to 
Chung king, the comiuercial capital of Ssu-chnan ; 
and in point of fact the experiment of navigafing 
the gorges in a steamer has been successfully 
made since Mr. Bourne's report was written. 
His own voyage, however, was made by the oid- 
fashioned method of tracking — " aiost inhuman 
work," he calls it. By this Via Dolorosa, the 
Mission reached a new and wonderful world — the 
"Red Basin" of Ssu-chnan, some 100, iX") square 
miles in extent, and supporting between forty 
and fifty millions of souls. The country is won- 
derfolly rich and well-cultivated. And yet its 
trade, in comparison to its resources, is quite 
insignificant; it has not yet found an outlet for 
its wealth. The travellers passed on to Cheng-tu, 
the capita! — a place of nearly half-a-mii!ion of 
inhabitants : — 
A few words will describfi the cotmtry traversed — 
the same for hundreds of miles— an endless sac- 
cession of hills of soft red sandstone washed into 
rounded shapes by the streams that have eaten below, 
and flow at least in winter, through hard grey 
sandstone, with water of limpid clearness. The hills 
are terraced from top to bottom, and enough water 
is lying on most terraces to cover and fertilise the 
earth. It is astonishing how the Chinese contrive 
to retain water at great heights without any ap- 
pli;»nces — labour, ceaseless and minute, is the secret. 
Here and there are white farm-houses, with black 
gables and beams, and graves surrounded by cypress — 
of a variety resembling the trees of a toy Noah's 
Ark — and temples embosomed in pines. 
Cheng-tu was distinguished from the average 
Chinese city by " the great display of articles of 
Chine.se luxury ; gorgeous silk brocades, delicate 
pongees, and silver-ware— all products of local 
art— musk from Tliibet, and scents. The officials 
and literati assume a very grand air : they ride 
gaily ca,parisoned steed, or are earned about at 
great speed in sedans, witli poles bent up in the 
middle, so as to put the rider above the heads 
of the pedestrians- and ^rith large retinues. 
Then there is the lini-c with Central Asia, evid- 
enced by the Thibetans in the streets, and the 
authority of the Viceroy, who re-sides here, over 
tliat curious country ; and the historical interest 
of the place with its memorials in the palace and 
tomb of Lui Pei, the great Emperor who ruled 
Western China from this place in the 3rd century 
of our era." .Sucli is Ssn-Chuan— a great world 
of commerce, waiting to be opened up ; a country 
"drained by a splendid system of rivers, making 
water communication easy with a soil, " culti- 
vated in the most careful manuer and producing 
ample foo<l in average years for the teeming 
jwpulation :'" and with a cliraate rema'-kably mild 
tor the latitude, in which Europeans eajoy gocnl 
Uealth. Yet, strange to say, " tiieve is not at 
present a single Western merchant engaged in 
the cotton rroiods import trade in the whole of 
tlie Yang-tzi Valley, except in Shanghai ; English 
capital has been withdrawn from Hankow, and 
has never been investcl in the new ports like 
Chtmg-king." 
^ 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Applications for the under specified inventions have 
been made : — 
No. 179. — William Jackson, of Aberdeen, for improve- 
ments in machines or apparatus for packtng tea or 
other analogous products into chests or boxes. 
No. Ib4. — Samtiel Clelaud Davidson, of Belfasi. for 
improvemeats in apparatus for drying tea or tobacco 
leaves, colire, fmits, cloths and other substances, and 
for ciae baking cf tobacco stems auJ o^faer saCiStaiices, 
— Indian and Eastern Enginen'. 
OUVAH COFFEE COMPANY, LTD, 
CROP 1S96-7. 
The coSee crop as estimated in last year's Re- 
port proved to be a very shrrt one, and it will be 
seen caac the actual, weight sold in London amounted 
to -105 cwt 1 qr 22 lb. 
Tiie proceeds amounted to £1.846 9s lOd, giving 
an average of 91s Id per cwt, against an average 
of 92= 2d obtained for the pjevious crop. Coffee sold 
in Ceylon reaLzed £'14 163 id. 
The tea crop was estimated at 650,(X]0 lb, and the 
actual weight sold from the company's own estates 
was 69S.60O lb being a yield of 4-57 lb per acre oS 
the 1,524 acres plucked, and of this area 279 acres 
were only in partial bearing. . In addition. 13-5,986 lb 
of tea manufactured from leaf bought from neigh- 
bouring estates were sold. 
The value of the tea sold in London was £28,07-5 
95 Id, at an average of SOS-i per lb, as compared 
with 91-5d for the previous seasoo. Tea sold in Ceylon 
r- alized £10 7s 6d. 
Cjcoa, weighing IGO cwt 1 qr 101b, realized £276 
73 4d, the average selling price being .5o3 Id per cwt, 
against 463 1 Id for the former years crop. Cocoa sold 
in Ceylon thus realized £16 ils Sd. 
It wili be seen that the total value of all produce 
sold amounted to £30,270 2s. 
The tOLal eipendiittre for the year in Ceylon and 
Lonaon amounted to £26,039 19= lid, and deducting 
this from the value of the produce, a profit is shown 
on the season's working of £4 .230 2s Id. To this 
has to be added the sum of £t66 os 93. brotight for- 
ward from last account, giving a total of £4,396 73 iOd 
at the credit of Profit and Loss Account. 
An Interim dividend of 2 per cent on the capital of 
the Company was paid on the 9th November last, 
which absorbed f 2,U<X) of the above-named sum, and 
the Directors now recommend that £2.000 be ap- 
plied to the payment of a further diridend of 2 
per ceut. makins 4 per cent for the year and that 
the balance of £396 7s lOd be carried forward to 
next account. 
The coSee crop satnced to cover the expenditure 
incurred ia maiutaining the area still under that 
cultivation, and it is 'noped that the coffee will con- 
tinue to do this until it is replaced by tea. 
The favourable anticipations formed regarding the 
tea producing capabilities of our estates, and the 
rupee cost of prodtiction have been frdly realized. 
The shrinkage It profits is due to the fall in the 
market price of tea, and to the rise in the value 
of he rupee. 
The cost of extsnsious, aaJ the maintenance of 
vouDc tea not yet yielding crop, necessarily con- 
tinues to be a heavy charge on the profits earned by 
the bearing area. 
Since the date of last Report a further 133 acrea 
of Tea have been planted, bringing the total area 
under that cultivation up to 2:111 acrea de« 
