THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1903. 
lands or get their friends to join them in 
giving pro-notes to Chetties or other money- 
lenders on the coast in anticipation of send- 
ing their Ceylon earnings back to repay 
loans and support their families, &c. This 
will depead a great deal on the estate they 
join, if irra feverish district, new coolies, as 
they try to live cheap and are not accustomed 
to getting wet, will sooner or later get the 
fever ; and if the Superintendent will not see 
to their special wants and have them properly 
attended to, they naturally will think that 
estate is no home for them, and as soon as 
well enough will want to leave that estate 
and go to some of their friends on 
estates which are better situated and 
where coolies are properly supervised 
and able to save money to pay their 
coast debts. Then we have on some of our 
tea estates very steep land and small bushes, 
difficult for coolies to pluck leaf on— even 
to get their day's name. Then we have 
other estates where land is flat, bushes 
are broad and there is plenty of leaf. 
Here they not only get a day's name, 
but get paid for extra leaf. Again some 
estates often work short time; here the cooly 
is a loser.— Youi-s faithiillly, 
j. HOLLO WAY. 
FLOWEKING BAMBOOS. 
Passellawa, September 13. 
Dear Sir, — I read the article in your Friday's 
issue of the Observer, under the column "Inter- 
esting Notes" re the flowering of Bamboos in 
England, and though the correspondent asserts the 
seed to resemble that of oats, is not aware of the 
use the Ceylon villagers make out of it, and for 
bis information I pen this letter. 
The seed is termed in Sinhalese as "oona haal" 
(which literally means Bamboo Rice), and is pre- 
pared in the same way as rice for food and is a rare 
luxury for them. -Yours truly AREBEP, 
SALICYLIC-AND CRITICAL-ACID. 
Sept. 16. 
: Sir, — Your correspondent, H. M. M., who 
writes to you in the Observer issue on S ili* 
cylic Acid, is nothing hue ti hahblef and pla- 
giarist. Any f( ol can copy our, of atiofcher 
person's book, and add a few remarks nt his 
own. To come t(. the point however, what ex- 
perience has your comm IT i cant had « uL 
acid ? Has he used it at all ? One v/ould natu- 
rally have thought that he would hrive, 
after reading the writers he has quoted, ex- 
perimented with it himself, and then have 
given his opinion. 
He hfs hardly gone far enough with his 
quotation from Mr. Mann. He should have 
added, " Owing to lack of time it has been 
lip to the present impossible to continue this 
line of investigation (with salicylic acid), but 
this is a promising method at least." 
Being myself much interested in the manu- 
facture of tea, I shall be obliged if you would 
publish this letter with a view to your coiie- 
spondent giving the fullest details, and his 
own experience^with the use of Salicylic Acid 
during the manufacture of tea, — Yours faith- 
fully, TEAMAKER. 
THE CLTOES ESTATES COMPANY OP 
CEYLON, LIMITED. 
The Report was as follows ; — 
DIR«-CTOHS. 
Messrs. S L Hari ie?, G H Alston, V A Julius. ViB't- 
ing Agent Mr. S L Harries. 
Clunes Diviaion. BrrRcht Division, 
Snpprintendent: Snperiutendent: 
Mr F Daucan, (Acting.) Mr B AUeyn, 
Teat in bearing 390 aares. | Tea in bearing 501 acres. 
Forest 174 „ | Forest and Waste 
I land .. 244 ,, 
Total .. 564 „ | 
I Total .. 745 „ 
Grand Total 1,309 acres. 
The Directors present herewith to the Shareholders 
the acoonnts and Balance Sheet of the Company for 
the year endinar 30th Jane, 1903. The crops of tea 
secured atnountpd to 344,251 lb or 73,149 lb short of the 
estimates. This shortage was caused by very unfavor- 
able weather from .July to December l;ist year, and 
also by a severe attack of HelopelMson C'unes Estates. 
The cost of prodnction was 22'78 cents while the 
price realised for the Tea was 31'87 cents net per lb 
compared with 29'03 cents for the previous season. • 
It has been found necessary to write ( ff the sum of 
E1,S67'17 for irrecoverable Coast Advances for which 
provision was made in last Balance Sheet. Daring 
ths months of May and June B 4,355"83 were expended 
on the manuring of the property, but as no benefit 
was derived from this manure before the end of the 
last financial year, the Directors have decided to 
carry this amount forward to the current season's 
expenditure. The profit for the year's working amoanta 
to R29,038-26, equal to about 8-75 per cent on the paid 
up Capital of the Company, out of which the Directors 
have decided to write off iR8,528'61 for depreciation of 
Building and Machinery ; to this has to be added 
R4,17§"10 brought forward from the previous season, 
making R24,684'75 available for distribution. The 
Directors now recommend the payment of a Dividend 
for the year of 6 per cent and that the balance of 
E4,764'75 be carried forward to the current season's 
working account. The Estimated Crops for 1903/1904 
amount to 407,000 lb including 12,000 lb of tea from 
purchased leaf, on an expenditure of R90,890'59, of 
which (inclusive of the sum above mentioned) E7,724'00 
will be spent on Manuring. As intimated to Share- 
holders in the circular of 22ad Jane last, the Clunes 
Ornp of black tea for the current season, estimated at 
175,000 lb has been sold for 34^ cents per Ih delivered 
in Colombo. It is also proposeil to inter-plant with 
Pcira Bubec 150 acres Tea on Erracht Division and 
nearly the whole of the tea on Clunes. During the 
year the Fon'ble. Mr. W H Figg resigned his peat 
Oil "n; b arj a.id Mr G H AUiou wid appointfd to 
the v.,cfliioy. In terras of the Articles of Associi'tion 
Mr S L Harris's now retires from the board, bOit is 
eligible for re-eleotion. The appointment of an Auditor 
for the p. esent year rests with the Meeting. Cy order 
of the Direotorp, Whittall & Co. 
Colombo Aug. Ilch 1903. Agents & Secretaries 
ST. HELIER'S TEA COMPANY, LIMITED, 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS. 
D^pctors : — Hon. Mt S Boisaud W J Mason, Esq. 
AcBEAGE. — la bearing 250 acres, f lanted in 1896, 29 
acres, Pl nted in 1898, 34 acres— Total 313 acres Jungle 
&c, 114 a':re8— Grand total 427 acres. 
The Directors have now the pleasure to submit their 
Eleventh Annual Report and Accounts to the 30th 
June last, from which it will be seen that Xhe Profit 
and Loss Account after writing off the sum of 
Bl,487-50 for depreciation on buildings and machinery, 
shows a credit balance of R2,630'94 which in view of 
shortness of available cash the Directors advise should 
be carried forward, The orop which was estimated at 
