272 
THK TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1898. 
of my work as nianafjei' of the ConipanyV 
estate. Mr. Sinclair makes a fjcneral cliarge of 
iiiisiDana^^eiiieiit agaiitsl me, luit </ivtii no parti- 
cnlarB as to how I n)ismana{,'e the estates (md 
then goes on to say in his speech, of tiie I'Jili 
July, that the Company's tea cost tiiirty four 
cents, f.o.b., \viien in tiic jirevioiis year it cost 
but twenty-nine cents. Now tiie follow in}; 
fifjnres will show at a c;lance the yieM of the 
(Company's estates for 18'J(j 97, 1897 93 ami 
Mr. Sinclair'.s estimate for 1S97-0S. There 
•was nothin<? whatever to justify such an iii- 
cr«ascd estimate in the case of any of tlie 
estates. The actual yield is shown in the third 
column ajid the actual cost jier lb. f. o. b. in 
the fourth column. How Mr. Sinclair makes up 
liis estimate of thirty four cents I do not ktiow, 
Lut he must havo debited items which .'-Ixnild 
go ag.'iinst c,a])ital to the yearly expendii ui e. 
Thus in the case of Tillicoultry, which was in 
my immediate cliar^^e, I{.S,(J!)7 '18 have been adile<l 
to general e.vpenditure, which should have jjnne 
to capital account : — 
C! to , 
a 
■ 'JS 
>^ 
111,271 lb. 
Belgravia 
177,074 lb. 
Mouaella 
Laugdale 
121,513 lb 
Berwell 
117,472 lb, 
Lippakelle 
'Tillicoulti'v 
10.3,873 lb 
Elgin 
lb. 
lb. 
« s . 
-la 
U 
ct. 
140,000 112,150 32 
200,000 162,477 2(! 
— llG,8o2 28 02 
140,000 120,560 24 65 
130,000 100,719 28 02 
150,i'0e 110,110 2'.)-47 
t> - £ S 
ct. 
33-80 
2U 
00 
2.V80 
27-02 
30 
31 
149,000 81,020 36-80 
I challenge Mr. Sinclair to deny the arcu- 
raey of these fitjures, and, if they are unnecessary, 
to 'i)oint out that Mr. Sinclair must have lieen 
wrong in the allegation that .34 cents was the 
cost of production. 
As] regards the second allegation of under- 
plucking, by which the crop is alleged to have 
Leen reduced from nearly a million pouiuis 
to 833,000, due (as implied) to my under pluck- 
ing ; tiie leaf on all tiie estates was plucked in 
the same way in wlikli it had always been 
plucked, but crops wore short all over t!ie 
island and on many ot the Company's estates 
I was compelled to prune large mens which 
had been allowed to run too long. Tims in tlie 
case of Elgin tliiee years, Tiilicouliry tiiree 
year^, and iJelgiavia two to three years'; 1 had 
also to prune nearly the whole of Laii<;dale. 
This pruning would of itself increase the cost 
of tea in the particular year und«r leview. 
Moreover some 50 acres on Elgin were aban- 
doned by Mr. Sinclair's order, as far as jjluck- 
ing was concerned, for 12 niondis, the bushes 
bein^ too shuck to pluck. Erom Mr. Sinclair's 
own staLenienI; it would apjioar tiiat the alleged 
mismanagement will secure good returns to the 
Company in the futnre, andl feel that 1 have 
been made a scapegoat, as Mr. Sinclair was 
unable to redeem the large iiroiiiises he had 
previously made to the shareholders. — Yours 
faithfully, C. J. PATTENSON, 
STllAWliEKHIES. 
Near Ninvaia Eiiya Ang. 22. 
Dkau Sii:,— Are you partial to sli awbenics ? If 
so now is the lime to take j'our well-descrve<i 
liolid,-iy trip and pay a vi^it to Mr. John 
Cotton's garden.s, Nnwara Kliya. lioni two 
smill patclies, each altiut K yards by ]2i, 
he picked on Saturday last :iO lb of beaniiful 
ripe strawberries : (plc'a'e work it out, 1 make 
it 72G lb tu the acre). This was only one pick- 
ing, but from the same |'atclic*R he had already 
taken this season, .-tbout Uie same quxniity in 
smaller lots, and even now doeu not consider 
that he has got in moie than lialf the crop.* 
I trust this record will "catch llie eye" of 
the gentlemen Mho sat on the piii-diitl products 
thefts' Commib--ion, a few ycais ago at the llandara- 
wella liotel, ae during an after dinner discus- 
sion, on fruit, soma of (ho<! present were is»ir- 
liri.sed at a slatemeni made by me re htrawberries 
that I had grown here. Tli.;y can now i-ee for 
themselves wh it can be done ill Nuwaia I'^liy.-i and 
Mr. Cottoii'.s |)lanls having been piopagateil in tlic 
u^ual way from the ideniical jdants that were 
then bearing here, is proof that they have not 
deleiioiated.— Yours truly, AMATEL'li. 
UJtEAU FltUlT IN CEYLON. 
22'nl Ang. 
Dkau Sitt, - 7,'f recent paiagiaphs on ibis sub- 
ject, I was told by the Jate Di-. Tiiineu titnt 
the .species in the island was by no meaiH a 
good one, and that a far t-uperior variety is 
gro-.vn in I'iji. Any onlinary gaideiier like my. 
.self would e.\)>ect the CJovei iimenl to u^e c»eiy 
opportunity to intiodnce all de.-irablo plants, 
giving Consuls and others no jieace till snlis- 
lied. I sujipose we must form au As^^nciation 
and do these thiiign oui.-elves.— Yours faithfully, 
lasTicus. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
Pf.AXTr.KS' A.SSOCIATION OF CKYI.ON. 
Kandy, Aug. 22. 
Sir,— I enclose copy of a further letter from 
Mr. Will. Mackenzie to Mr. Lane, together with 
tiie various sjpecimens of ailvertisements received 
at the same time.— 1 am, sir, yours faiibfuliv, 
A. 1*11 1 LIP, 
Secretary, " Thirty Committee. " 
London', Joly 28'.h, 1898 
Deah Lane, — I have not much to tell ' oa this we»k. 
I enclose press co])y of our advei tiseraeut which 
appears today ii the pap-rs of which 1 Ec-nt yon a 
list last week. I also enclose an article on " i' lepar- 
ing, &c., for Market," which is to appear gratis in per- 
haps sixty to eifihty piper ^ ; note the bist oai sgraph. 
La?t year two gentlemen knowQ to AV. B'.ecbynlen 
aul myself, started ronnd the world to take iiaerest- 
ing views for Edisoiis & Co. We asked them to look 
into some Factories in Chini and Japan with the 
repult that we have this statemc-nt. We may vet get 
phjtostrom these. Mr. W. C'bipman : I have "not yet 
heivd fiom this gentleman, but at last I hav-s heard 
of him. 
Fio n Winnipeg the report is " never heard of 
here." But from Vancouver I bear '• Chipnian sells 
Nirvsna paoket, Ci'vlon tea, bat ^osa \-ery little ad- 
vertising or business." Still if he writes me, and 
satisfies me that he is able to contiibute money and 
energy, Ishall help bim on the i.snal terms in Van- 
couver I have arranged with Liikhi for Eastern 
•Last year he got over 100 lb. 
