July 1, 1901.1 THE TROPICAL 
The Acreage of the Estate is 
A. 
R. 
p. 
921 
2 
12 
Tea in bearing. 
39 
0 
0 
Fuel clearing. 
38 
2 
4 
Ravines. 
17 
1 
12 
Grass field. 
11 
3 
13 
Bnilding and Gardens 
30 
0 
14 
Cart Bead and Eoads. 
23 
2 
25 
Railway. 
1,082 
0 
0 
In terms of the Articles of Association Mr. JameS 
Ryan retires by rotation, and being eligible offers 
himself for re-election. 
It will be necessary to appoint an Auditor for 
aeaaon 1901-02. 
By order of the Board of Directors, 
J. M. ROBERTSON & Co., Agents & Secretaries. 
Colombo, 25th May, 1901. 
SPRING VALLEY COFFEE COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
REPORT 
To be presented to the thirty-seventh ordinary 
general meeting of the Company to be held at No. 5, 
Dowgate Hill, London, on Tuesday, the 14th day of 
May, 1901, at 12*30 o'clock p m. 
The following annual accounts are now prepented 
to shareholders ; — Balance sheet made up to 31st 
December, 1900. Profit and loss account for the year 
ended 31st December 1900. 
The crop of tea for the paat season 
amounted to 656,2201b, and this, together 
with 15,8451b bought from neighbouring estates 
and manufactured at Spring Valley, sold for 
£19,062 19s 5d; the average selling price being «"81 
pence against 773 pence obtaned for the 1898-99 crop. 
The crop from the few remaining coffee trees 
amounted to 173 cwts 3 qrs 2 lb, and realised 
£592 5s lid, being at the rate of 688 2d per cwt 
against ,628 lOd obtained for the 1898-1899 crop. 
Coffee sold in Ceylon to the value of £29 15a 6d. 
The total proceeds from the salei of produce 
amounted to £19,685 Oa lOd and expenditure in Ceylon 
and London to £16,007 Os Id, leaving a profit on 
the yedr's working of £3,678 Os 9d. To this profit 
has to be added a sum of £240 lOs 4d brought for- 
ward from last Account, and atter debiting £15 12s lid 
for Income Tax and £1,275 for Dividend on the Pre- 
ference Share Capital for the seventeen months 
ended 31st December, 1900, there remains a balamce of 
£2,627 18s 2d to be now dealt with. 
The Directors recommend the payment of a Dividend 
of 2§ per cent, on the Ordinary Capital, which will ab- 
sorb £2,000 of the above sum, and that the balance 
of £827 18s 2d be carried forward to next year. 
Good flushing conditions prevailed during the year 
under review, and a crop of 482 lb. of made tea per 
acre was gathered, which compares with 326 lb. 
■ecnred during the year 1898-99. 
Cultivation and manufacturing accoMmodation 
and appliances are being well maintained, and the tea 
planted in recent years promises well. 
The only unfavonrable feature is the tea market. 
Prices have been steadily falling for a long succes- 
sion of years, and the heavy supplies, more especially 
of common sorts, that came forward from Ceylon and 
India last Autumn, caused a further severe shrinkage 
in values. 
This is being met by finer plucking on most Cey- 
lon gardens, and the imnroved quality and antici- 
pated smaller supplies have already had a beneficial 
effect on quotations. 
Present conditions mn?*; arrest further exten- 
sions, whilst the consumption of tea should be 
stimulated, and it is hoped that these causes will 
operate to raise values to a figure that will leave a 
AGRICULTURIST. ^ 53 
fair margin of profit to the grower. The area of the 
tate as on 81st December, 1900, was as follow? :-- 
Tea 5 years old and over ... . . 1,362 acres 
Planted November- December 1896 . . 159 
,, 1897 . . 194 
1898 . . 196 
Total under tea .. 1,911 
Total under fuel .. 163 
Forest, &a .. 257 
Oolanakande estate . . 365 
Total area . . 2,690 acres 
Oolanakande Estate, comprising 100 acres of tea, 
has been let on lease for a term of years at a 
nominal rental. The lease has now expired, and 
the cultivation of the Estate by the Company is 
for the present suspended, as it is found to be unre- 
mnnerative. 
Mr. P. C. Oswald, a member of the Board, retires 
on this occasion and, being eligible, oSers himself for 
re-election. 
Messrs. Delotte, Dever, Gripfith & Co,, the 
Auditors, also offer for re-election. — By Order, 
London, May 3, 1901. J. ALEC ROBERTS, Secy. 
THE MALAY STATES COFFEE 
COMPANY, LIMITED. 
The Directors beg to submit to the Shareholders 
their report and accounts for the year ended February 
28th, 1901. 
During the year 79'97 piculs of cofi^ee were secured, 
netting R2,385'59, this being slightly in excess of 
the amount estimated. The balance of the Capital 
has now been called up and it is calculated that 
the funds in hand will be sulficient for the working 
of the Estate until March, 1902, when it should 
be self-supporting. The cultivated acreage is now 
as follows ; — 
144 acres of coffee (from which 300 piculs is estimated 
as the crop for season 1901-1902.) 50 acres of Rub- 
ber planted 12" x 12' 
34 acres of the Coffee has also been planted with 
Rubber 20' « 10' and with Coconut 54 trees to the 
acre, the remaining 110 acres of Coffee has likewise 
been planted with Rubber 20' m 20' and with Coco- 
nuts. The Rubber is all coming on well and we are 
advised by the Superintendent that the older trees are 
branching out, 8 to 10 feet up the stem. 
The Directors have to record with much regret the 
death of their colleague, Mr. W Sandys Thomas. Messrs 
F W Bois and W Kingsbury have, owing to their de- 
parture from the Island, resigned their seats on the 
board, and the three vacancies have been filled up by 
Messrs. J Ryan, H G Bois and E M Shattock. 
In terms ot the articles of kssociation Mr. V A 
Julius also retires from the Directorate but being 
eligible offers himself for re-election. 
It will also be necessary to appoint an auditor for 
season, 1901-1902. 
" Some Notes on Cocoa Planting in the 
West Indies " — is a neat little pamphlet of 
70 pages, by our London " Cocoa Corres- 
pondent," Mr, H iHamel-Smith, and contains 
a good deal of useful information, more 
particularly in reference to the industry in 
Trinidad and other West Indian islands, 
with estimates of cost of opening a planta- 
tion of this product (also of bananas,) and 
of the best means of improving the pro- 
duct. The author holds the opmion strongly 
that the world wants more cocoa than is 
as yet available and yet Trinidad exported 
over 260,000 cwt. in 1899. -Copies of the Httle 
work (published at Is nett) will be made 
available locally very leoon, 
