46 THE TROPICAL 
prudent policy to cut down the distribution foj- a 
time. Another Company whose profits have been 
heavily reduced is the Yatiyantota. This pro- 
perty produces large quantities of cheap tea at a 
very low cost, aud it succeeded in doing so last 
year. The extremely low prices ruling, however, 
hit the Company hard and are responsible for the 
diminution of the dividend from 7 to 4 per cent. 
Nor at the present range of tea values can the 
shares of the Yatiyantota be considered very at- 
tractive. Still it is possible that the swing of the 
pendulum will bring about some slight improve- 
meni in the value of low-grade teas before the close 
of the year. As an illustration of the severity 
of the drop in prices, it may be mentioned that, 
while 18 months ago the average figure obtained 
for tea from these gardens was 6d and upwards 
per pound, the product only realised an average of 
S^d to 4d per pound at the end of the year. We 
have not included the Dimbula Vallky in our list 
of Companies because the last report issued only 
covers nine months, the financial year being made 
up to the end of December instead of March as 
heretofore, in order to bring it into line with the 
other Companies. A dividend of 7^ per cent is 
distributed for the nine months, or at the rate of 
10 per cent per annum, while £1,000 is placed to 
the reserve and £1,970 carried forward; the rate 
is the same as that for the previous financial year, 
so that in the conditions prevailing the Company 
must be considered as having done fairly well. 
In connection with theCompanies dealt with above, 
the report and table of prices, compiled by the 
Indian Tea Share Exchange and published in our 
today's issue, should be studied. 
Writing on the Ceylon Tea Companies at this 
time last year, we referred to the cloud of over- 
production which still overhung the horizon. 
That cloud, as he have seen, has since burst with 
a vengeance and caused a great shrinkage in 
prices. We also remarked that large extensions 
of gardens were practically at a standstill, and 
that remark applies with even greater force 
today. It is doubtful, however, whether we have 
even yet quite got over the effects of the exten- 
sions of previous years, so that, urffortunately, 
the over-production bogey is not definitely laid. 
Efforts are certainly being made to bring about 
a reduction in output, either by finer plucking or 
by resting the less productive portions of gardens 
for a time, but we do not think that sufficient 
attention has yet been drawn to the necessity 
of checking the expansion of gardens, and we 
would urge everyone interested in the welfare of 
the industry, either as a shareholder or otherwise, 
to press home this point. In Ceylon the danger 
of over-expansion is mitigated by the compara- 
tively poor character of the low-lying lands, some 
of which under cultivation are already 
rumoured to show signs of exhaustion. But in 
India there is room for unlimited expansion, and 
if everything else fails to check it we can but hope 
that the increasing difficulty of financing such 
propositions vvill have that effect. As regards the 
Ceylon Companies not included in our list, it must 
be confessed that the majority show poor results for 
1900 —in some cases exceedingly poor results — 
the extenuating circumstance being that the 
conditions were exceptionally unfavourable. 
With these concerns it is a question of the sur- 
vival of the fittest, and the weeding out process 
will not be altogether disadvantageous to the 
stronger undertakings. With reference to present 
AGRICULTUEIST. [July 1, 1901.' 
conditions, the Ceylon crop, now in full swing, 
shows a slight curtailment, while the latest news 
with regard to the coming Indian crop is to the 
effect that the drought has delayed the early pick- 
ings, so that it will probably be somewhat late 
on the market. That, however, is rather a favour- 
able feature than otherwise, since it will allow 
of time to clear off accumulations but, as the 
Indian season is only just commencing, it is too 
early to speak with any certainly on the subject. 
— Financial Times, May 14. 
FISH CULTURE IN INDIA. 
The following information contained in 
the Asian will be read with interest by local 
fishermen : — 
During a Municipal discussion upon the condi- 
tion of the water in the Ootacamund lake, it inci- 
dentally transpired that the imported carp and- 
tench had multiplied up to myriads, as one pisca- 
torial enthusiast put it. Whether due to climatic 
or other causes it is certain that the success of 
fish acclimatisation on the summit of the blue 
mountains is assured, and it is to be hoped, there- 
fore, that efforts at emulation will be made in 
all our hill stations and other places where lakes 
already exist or can be improvised by bunding or 
stream diversion. A good deal of attention has 
recently been directed to Assam. It maj not be 
generally known that in the mountain range, 
dividing that province, there are numerous lakes 
and tanks where pisciculture or rather acclimatisa- 
tion could be carried out. Now that District 
Officers, like Mr. Earle of Darjeeling, have been 
permitted to take these matters in hand, we would 
direct special attention to the very considerable 
expanse of water at Nurtiang, eleven miles north 
of Jawai, in the Jyntia hills, the large artificial 
tank four miles west of that sub-division ; the 
Batao tank (should the bund have been repaired), 
and the reservoir erected by Mr. Inglis in the 
centre of the abandoned station of Clierrapunji for, 
though the latter place has been given up as a 
European haunt, it is becoming a large native 
town. The localities mentioned are wiihin easy 
distance now of steamer or rail communication. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Applications for the under-specified inventions 
have been made. 
No. 162. — Andrew Gilmour McMeekin, tea plan- 
ter of the / llynugger Tea Estate, Shamshernugger, 
South Sylhet, British India. Improvements in tea 
firing machines. 
No. 164. — The Right Honourable Douglas Mac- 
kinnon Baillie Hamilton Cochrane, Earl of Dun- 
donald, of 34, Portman Squaie, in the county of 
London, England. An improvement in tea and 
coffee pots. 
No. 179. — Frank Edmund Winsland, engineer, 
and George Ernest Moore, engineer, both of 
Joyhing Tea Estate, North Lakhimpur, Upper 
Assam. Improvements in apparatus suitable for 
packing tea. 
No. 180. — M Judah, mica merchant, residing at 
No. 40, Radhabazar Street, Calcutta. Improve- 
ments in sun-proof mica hats. 
No. 182. - Jatnes Begg, tea planter, of Hoolun- 
gorie Tea Estate, Assam. A new or improved 
machine for artificially withering tea leaf. — Indian 
and Eastern Engineer, May. 
