Fee. 1, 1899. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
565 
meals, from ship-biscnit, turmeric, and cayenne. 
Ptppjr is turned out which consists exchisively of 
gypsum, raasiard husks, cereal starch, linseed meal, 
and DO.vdered capsicums. Cloves are ground up v/ith 
50 percent, of charred walnut shells ; while the bulk 
of cinnamon is increased by admixture with coconut 
shells. In all these cases a judicious soup^on o£ 
cayenne is added to supply the lack of pungency in 
the adulterants. Thus are companadeJ those gay 
deceivers the " spice mixtures," which, masquerading 
as a "term of art," are ever in waiting to beguile 
the unwary. 
KicE Cu-bTiv.\T0[N IN RUSSIA. — The Ruasi»*ns com- 
menced rice cultiTation in the early eighties, and in 
1883 the first rico cltaning steam fao'ory wa.s opened 
in Baku, producing 100,000 pouda (1,612 tons) the first 
year. According to Consul-General Holloway, of St. 
Petersburg, there has been a stesdy increase in the 
production, and there are now five rice-cleaning 
steam factories in operation with an annual produc- 
tion of 3,000,000 pouda (48, .387 tons). An additiona 
factory is now in course of construction, which la to 
be supplied with the most improved machinery. The 
demand for rice is increasing, and it is now generally 
used by the peasants throughout the empire, the 
quality of the native product being equal to that of the 
imported article. — II. and C. Mail, Deo. 30. 
MARKET FOR INDIAN TEA SHARES. 
1898. 
It was not until well on in th« spring of this year 
that the full effects of the unfavourable conditions 
prevailing daring 1897 (referred to in our annual 
review of that year) began to make themselves 
manifest in the results actually obtained from that 
year's working. When accounts came to be balanced 
up it was found not only that the actual rupee 
expenditure on the gardens had, in most cases risen 
owing to increased cost of food and labour compe- 
tition, but that the abnormal rise in the rnpse, 
occasioned by the closing of the Indian mints to 
silver, had told much more heavily against the gardens 
than even the most pessimistic croakers had foretold. 
The weight of the crops, too, kept down the price 
in Mincing Lane, so that practically tea producers 
found no compensation at all to balance off their 
higher costs of working. Those companies, of course, 
which had laid aside something for a rainy day, and 
those which had only undertaken limited programmes 
of extensions were less seriously affected than the 
weaker one 3, but one and all suffered to & greater 
or lesser degree, and it soon became evident that 
in moat cases there would be a considerable dimi- 
nution in profit, and, of course, also in dividends, 
while drafta would need to be made on reserves to 
help out even the lower dividends, which were the 
rule rather than the exception. Notwithstanding a 
general uneasiness among investors in tea property, 
however, values of shares held their own pretty well 
up to the middle of the year, but since then there 
has been a considerable drop all along the line. 
The season now in progress has been more favourable 
than the last in Assam and also in the Dooars dist'^iots, 
but ill Darjeeling and in Cachar and Sylhet it has been 
unfavourable — the latter districts having suffered 
-severely from drought in the early stages, which has 
caused both shortness of crop and poorness of quality. 
The tea interest has been well represented btfoie 
the Committee of the House of Commons on the 
Currency question, but it would no .v appear unlikely 
that the Indian (jroverntnent will recede materially 
from their attitude of closed mints, notwithstanding 
its admitted adverse influence, for the time being, 
upon the tea planting and other similar productive 
industries. It can only b» hoped that ''time wili 
bring Its compensation" in the shape of a curtail- 
ment of production, with its probable attendant im- 
provemout in the price of the produce. It cannot, 
however, be overlooked that any material rise in the 
price o£ lea may not unlikely render the task of 
capturing new markets for the prodiico even moro 
^ilticult ihau it bueu iu the paat. 
Notwithstanding the various aforesaid disabilitie.?, 
it is satisfactory to record that continued acd in- 
creasing piogre.ss has been made in opening up new 
channel? of consumption for Indian and Ceylon tea-, 
notably in America and the British Colonies, but 
also in Europe — especially in Russia and elsewhere. 
With the close of 1807, the flotation of new com- 
panies came to a standstill — this having been pre- 
viou=ly, as had been feared, rather overdone. Some 
of the older companies, however, have made additional 
is.=:nes, either in the shape of share capital or in 
debentures as follows: — 
Baraoora, ^'20,000 debentures, 5 per cent ; British 
Assam, £8,500 debentures ; Cachar Dooars, £16,000 
debentures, 5 per cent ; Chubwa, £39,000 shaves ; 
D.)om Dooma, .£23,000 shares ; East India and Ceylon, 
£30,000 shares; Lungla, 75,000 debentures, 5 per cent; 
Moabund, £20,000 debentures; Makum, £25,000 
debentures (1897) ; Majuli, £8,.500 shares ; Single, 
£30,000 shares. While the Amalgamated and Con- 
solidated Companies of Glasgow have each made a 
call of £1 on their Ordinary shares, amounting to 
£50,000 and £40,000 respectively. 
The Moran Company reconstituted its capital 
making its shares fully paid up instead of part paid, as 
formerly, and the old Upper Assam Company reduced 
its £204,000 of Ordinary and Preference capital to 
£45,000 of Ordinary capital only. 
Wo append our usual abstract statement, showing, 
in the case of the best known shares, the range of 
values during the year: — ■ 
Year 1893. 
Company. Jan. 
Assam . . 621 
Brit. Indian . , 
Braraapootra . . 14 
Cachar Dooara Pref. 12^ 
Chargola Ord. . . 1 
Chargola Pref. . . 1| 
Chubwa Ord. . . 7 
Chubwa Pref. . , 7i 
Dooars Ord. .. 20^ 
Dooara Pref. . . 18| 
Doom Dooma . . 23j 
E, Ind. and Ceylon 
Pref. . . 13 
Empire Ord. .. 13^ 
Empire Pref. . . lit 
Indian and Cachar , 5^ 
Jhanzie .. 8i 
Jokai Ord. . . 18 
JokaiPref. .. 15 
Jorehaut . . 57 
Lebong .. 17i 
Lungala Ord. , . 10 
LungalaPref. .. 12? 
Majuli . . 74 
Moabund Pref. . . 1 
Makum .. l| 13-16 1 
Scottish Assam .. lOi llj 9 
Single Pref. .. 12i 13 llji 
Ceylon Shares (for Comparison). 
Ceylon T Plant Ord. 28 28 21i 24 
Ceylon T Plant Pref. 17J 17| 165 ^SJ 
Eastern Produce . . 65 6j 51 5J 
Standard £6 pd . . 14 14 11| 12 
H. ci C. Mail, Dec. 30. 
Top. 
62J 
14 
12^ 
1 
13 
7 
7i 
18i 
23i 
13 
13i 
11 
5i 
8S 
18i 
]5i 
ni 
10 
12i 
74 
1 
Bot. 
52i 
2^ 
12 
a 
1 
51 
6 
17 
i5i 
18^ 
7i 
9 
lOi 
2^ 
5i 
13.^ 
14i 
44 
Ul 
3i 
7i 
i 
Dec. Fall. 
52i 10 
12 2 
m H 
4 * 
1 i 
5i li 
6 li 
17 3i 
16 
20 
9 
m 
3 
54 
14 
Uk 
48 
14 
34 
74 
5i 
111 
2 
34 
5 
44 
1 
2i 
3 
4 
9 
3i 
6^ 
5' 
2 
i 
2i 
14 
4 
1 
THE BLACKMAN SYSTEM OF 
CACAO DRYING. 
The Blackman Ventilating Company, Limited, of 
03, Pore Street, Loudon, who are the makers of the 
wellknown Blackman Pan, so generally nsed for 
withering tea leaf, have been engaged during the List 
two or threo yeara experimenting with and improvin;* 
their ayatom of cocoa drying, and now adviso us tliat 
the reports received from planters confirming the 
satisfactory working of their ,ipparatu3 cni'liles thetu 
to coui^doutly recomiueud tht^ir system to those wbg 
