788 
THE TltOPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. [M\v 1, lb99. 
THE FOOCnOW TEA IMPKOVEMENT 
COMPANY. 
The /<o&c/(ow BcAo sayfi :— The newB of the winding 
up of the Fooehow Tea Iinprovcmei t Company comes 
as a great disappointment to us all. Any hope that 
remained of a possible revival of the trade rested on 
the chance of our being able to meet the demand in 
London and other markets for Diacliine niade t' ac, 
and now that has to be abandoned we are left Tiith 
the gloomient of prospects. The wish being father to 
the thought there are those who argue that the e;>d is 
not yet, that there ia nothing more certain to happen 
than the unexpected, that we need not despair. Who 
knows, they ask, that Indian and Ceylon will be able 
to meet the rapidly-increasing consumption of tea all 
oyer the world '/ Are there not such things as drought 
and blight, without referring to the arbitrary Indian 
exchange ? Will not the Chinese see soon how greatly 
it would be to their advantage as an economic measure, 
to do away with, or at any rate lessen, the heavy duty, 
likin and squepzes which have been killing the trade? 
These thoughts will be read by most of us as the 
dreams of despair. Nothing remains but to make the 
best of what is still left us and await the course of 
events ; but in the meantime our thanks are due to 
the Tea Improvement Company for the time and 
money they " have expended in their endeavour to 
revive our languishing trade. 
« 
ELECTRICITY AND AGRICULTURE. 
Science as applied to the operations of Agricul- 
ture has for many years engaged the attention of 
enthusiastic exiierimentalists, and iu m.my caecs the 
results of applied sciences have hecii litilo short of 
marvellous. The idea of the application of electricity 
to growing crops is not by any means i e v. Wo have 
ourselves achieved good results by using it i i connection 
with a crop of potatoes. The Cnhfomiu J<\ uit Oioirer, 
writing on the subject, says : — 
Perhaps the most extensive and coi olvnive expei-i- 
ments on the relation of electricity to plants grow- 
ing were those of Dr. Selim Lein?trom, a physicist 
in the University of Helsingfors, Finland. He became 
convinced that the rapid growth of plants in the short 
summers of Finland and Spitzbergen was due to the 
highly electrified atmosphere. Laboratory axperiments 
were so successful that in the summer of 1885 a field 
trial was made with barley. Part of the field 
was covered with parallel wires, abont ayaidapart, 
which were secnred to insulators on low posts at 
the margin of the field. At distances of eighteen 
or twenty inches each wire was supplied with 
metal points, through which a current could dis- 
charge into the air. The whole was connected n iih a 
Holtz electric machine, and the curient was snp- 
plied from six to ten o'clock in the morning and 
from five to nine o'clock in the evening, from the 
middle of June until the first of September. The 
barley was well up when the experiment began, nnd 
at harvest time it was found tha,t the yield of this 
portion of the field was thirty-five per cent greater 
than the other ; also that the quality was corres- 
pondingly improved. The following year the experi- 
ment was repeated upon a more extensive scale. In 
this case garden vegetables were the plants tested, 
and white beets, red beets, potatoes, radishes, parsnips, 
leeks, celeriao, turnips and rutabngas gave increased 
yields in the order named varying from 1C7 per cent, 
to one per cent. Ou the other hand, carrots and 
kohlrabi showed losses of five per cent and cabbages 
cereals and potatoes gave per cent. Farther experi- 
ments with of forty-three results that were considered 
very favourable. 
At least one instance may be cited in which elec- 
tricity has been used commercially. Near Boston 
a large grower has put the electric light to work 
in forcing lettuce so that a gain of at least two weeks 
on three crops is secured. Two lamps are hung above 
the house, and tlieix effect ia apparent for at least 
JQO feet. 
COOPER, COOPER. ANU .JOHNJiON, LTD. 
A PROMISING INULSTIilAL IKVKSTMRNT : 
THfclK CKVLON KbTATKS 
The shaip rise which hais recently l„\ieD place ia the 
price of common teas, and lht< improveineut in tbe 
general outlook of the trade, hav.:; caused coii«iderable 
attention to be paid by luvestora to the hhhren in 
conipauitB owning eelalee iu Ceylon 8nd liidiii. The 
ordinary and preference ehareii iu tbe above-named 
company seem to ub to be unduly depresbed and well 
deserving the attention of iiiveetoiH, combining, a* 
the company does, two esBeutiul fuctore, viz . prj- 
ducing and distributing busiDeste<!. The company 
was foruit-d to take over the old-eetablii>hed and well- 
knov.n bu^iueKbes of Messrs. Cooper, Cooper, and 
Company, Limited, and ttie Maiichc-ster and London 
buisiuesses of Messrs Johnson, Uodd^, and Cuuipauy, 
the piotita of tbe latter being gu irauleed by the 
vendom at a miniuinm rate of £5,UU0 per aununi for 
three years. In addition to these Lusiuessee, the 
company look over as going concerns the well-known 
estutes of the Ceylon and Oriental Eatatfs Company, 
Jjimited, and the pKllikellie Ceylon Estates Company, 
Limited, and numerous tea arid cocoa eatKteg owned 
by private ownerB. The board is cowpoufd of suand 
business nit-n, and we aru ofiiciuUy loformed that 
Mr. E U. Hancock, one of the dir' ctor«, is now in 
Ceylon inspecting and supervising the management 
of the company's estates. The important ri^e that ha« 
occurred in the pr:ce of common teas, and which is 
now uflfccting te.<s of a higher rante of v;»Iue, must 
necessarily have an important bearing on the earning 
capacity of the company, having regard to their 
valuiiblo tea and cocon estates iu Ceylon. The special 
settlement in the comp.>iiy'K shares and debeulurei 
has been lixed for April (i, and an oflicial quotation 
will 111' applied for in due couibo. We look for a 
considerable increase in the price of the chores from 
the present unreasonHbly depressed level, which i« 
1.58 to I6i for the £1 fully-paiJ ordinary, and IBs to 
]')3 for the £1 fully-paid six percent prefereDC«, the 
five per cent, first mortgage debenture stock being 
at the same time quoted about 9.5. The company 
have paid the interim iiiterest to Decembar .SI last 
on the preference and debenture capitals. Tbe 
estates of this company in Ceylon are both important 
and extensive. They comprise 19,(170 acres, of which 
6,6tj0 acres are already in cultivation ii) lea, 3,643 in 
cocoa, and 177 in coSee.—Sutuia!/ Times, March 20. 
TEA GOSSIP. 
The most important feature of late in the tea world 
is the issue of Mr. Blechyndcn's renort on the Indian 
Tea Propaganda, in America. On tlie whole it cannot 
be doubted that the movement is in first-class hands 
there, and the only point to be deplored is the want 
of push l>t;hind the American explorers. 
We have waited until the conclusion of Mr. Apjohn'g 
experiments in tea bulking locally to note our opinion. 
We call them "experiments" advisedly, for it was 
patent from the first that the machine would not 
completely or nearly effect tlie desired object. The 
machine as it stands does not effect the object pro- 
posed because of the absence of any arrangement for 
thoroughly incorporating the teas during their pas- 
sage through the funnel. How to do this without 
cutting the leaf is the problem and a pretty stiff one; 
and when this is overcome the question remains how 
the tea is to be exposed to the humid air of Calcutta 
without taking injury. Special dry chambers will 
certainly have to be devised to get over the latter 
difficulty. 
With regard to the question of uniformity of tea 
supply we attribute the great success of packet teas 
eveiywhere to this feature. Undoubtedly the great 
advertising firms deserve their success to their cara 
in ensuing uniformity. 
Most districts are reporting prospects of a pros* 
perous year to come. We fear that in most instances 
ihe prospects have only in regaircl actual g,uantit| 
