332 
THE TROPICAL 
AriRICULTUEIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1901. 
ved a decrease of £1 13s lOd in the profit per acre, 
which fell from £3 8.s 2rt to £1 14s 4 I, and meant 
that the profit ou the total capital was only 3 ''20 
per cent cni.ipar d with 6o9 |jer cent in 18.9. 
From all this a decline in the averaf,'e dividend 
natural y ensured, and the di^tiilmiion (jii the 
total capital fell u> 3'90 per oeiiL co'npared with 
5 61 per cent for iIih se-as'iii 1899. Even so, how- 
ever, the dividends jiaid exfeed the findits, their 
agtiregate amount heinp £.S46 9-'s or £1U2,386 les-s 
than in the pieceding sea-nn. But lo pay even 
thi.<i tlie reserves* and ha lance oai i ied foiwaidhad 
to be reduced by £70,469 ti> £498,684. How dis- 
astrous *,he season was to the CMinpanies may be 
measured to some extent by looking; in detail at 
some of the figures relating to individual com- 
panies, but we can do this only in the most sum- 
mary way, for lack of space. In 1899 there were 
three companies wliose teas commanded upwards 
of lid per lb in tlie maikft and eif^ht that ob- 
tained more than lOd, vliile there wa.s oiily one 
amonf; tlie whole forty-live whose crop realised 
less than an averaj^e of (Jd per lb. In the pa^it 
season not one single company secured as mii(di as 
lid per lb for its tea, and only five {;ot moi e than 
lOd, while there were eleven Companie.s tiiat 
received less thati 6 I, and five whose average sales 
yielded between 4 45il and 4"56il per lb. How tar 
the additional weight marketed had to do with 
the decline in price thus roughly exhibited, and 
how far it was due to ineieased Biitlsh taxation, 
we are unable to say, but would natni ally asciibe 
the fall to the increttsed supp'y more than to any 
other Cause By another year we shall perhaps 
see more clearly. — Investors' Ileview, Sept. 21. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
"Blue Mountain" Si<;ed.— Those who were for 
tnnate in getting a pound of the new Blue Moiin 
tain seed from Jamaica report that this seed 
is germinating splendidly and shews every sign 
of coming on well. — Central African Times, 
August 17, 
"Ceylon Tea on the Continent."— We 
direct attention to the long and interesting 
letter from Mr. Renton which will he found 
on another page : he is evidently covering a 
great deal of ground and making some 
interesting experiments in different countries 
which ought to bear fruit. 
Sugar. — It is claimed that the price of raw 
sugar has reached a point where it barely covers 
the cost of production. Only the most modern 
plantations in Cuba can expect lo secure the 
coming crop without actual loss. Beet sugar is 
al»o down close to the line of acLual cost of pro- 
duction. ' Amtriean Grocer, Augu.'st28 
CoFFEU Over-Production,— '1 he over-produc- 
tion of coffee in Bi azil has beiiome very serious. 
According to the following paragraph, one great 
coflee producing, country at least seems even in 
•worse case than any great Tea ))r<>dncer : — 
"Letters reaching Lisbon from Brazil report; thai the 
coff' e-growias industry of tliai country is threatened 
with ruin. Tha Province of Sin Paolo is aheady 
reduced to a state almost bordering on famine. At 
the depots of Sa-utos and Eio de Janeiro, stocks are 
accumulating to an extent which makes th(-ni a drug 
in the market, and the fall in piices is ruinous. 
The crisis is attributed to the large quantities of 
coffee now in Ceu rxl Africa, the Congo, German 
East Africa, and Uf^anda. Fro)n these regions it is 
transhipped at Aden or Hodi-ida, where it becomes 
" Arabian," if not actually " Mocha,'' 
Tea in Java.— It is very satisfactory to 
learn, ou the authority of Mr. R. 0. Wright, 
that no matter how much the cultivation of 
tea extends in Java, the production is n;)t 
lik'^ly to exceed the local dmiand, so greatly 
is the drinking of tea extending nmong the 
Javanese, Malays, &c. This is good news in 
the interest of the people, as well as of tea 
planters everywhere. It will be a giand 
thing when tea becomes the universal diink 
in India and Ceylon to the ousting of arrack 
in a large nnniber of cases. 
Tub Mountains of the Moon —Tlie vol me 
which Mr J K Moore has just published on this 
subject has \a\o main lines of interest, says the 
Spertator. It de-ciihe> the eh-iin of lakes which lie 
like puddles up the central li't valley>, in proper re- 
laii 11 to their geological iinieand formation, and it 
pieces together the great cam ral ranges of mountains 
CMst ff these lakes, un il it is difficult not to 
agme with him that theie exists iht-re what is 
inactically an immense c nti al range, iiflen snow- 
C !i>ped and gl eiei-worn, almost -.is long as the 
Rocky Mouniaiiis in their United Stales spdion. 
On iliis subject, he has also pruved tl'at in-ti-ad" 
ol there being some sii;g!e "Mount Ruwenzori " 
north of Albert Eflwanl Lake, there is a sphndid 
snowy ratige, "composed uf a.s many dilit-rent 
elemental peaks as the AltJS seen from the lialian 
piain." In a length of .-^eveniy-fivemiies visil.h- iinin 
one spot were four iii.men e liisiinct gumps of 
snowy peaks. To i al k (d " ascending HnwMiznri" 
is as absuid as to talk^of ascending the Alps. 
The forests and their b.is*es, the snow spi-aks, ihe 
glaciers, the asronishing views looking up' and 
looking down, f rni the subject of the most in 
teresting chapters of the book. We can only 
touch on a few of the main discoveries. The vcge- 
tatii:;; is ext i aordi l a.i y. A Love the tropical foiest 
in a cold zone lies a, forest of heathe . i he heather 
grows in trees to a liei;;ht (d 8 < ft., and these trees 
f:dlen and decayed, cover the o d watercourses 
like rotten platforms. Both the men and the 
goats which the explorers in eiiiously selectee' to 
drive up the mountain with them, and so 'o ensure 
a food supply, constantly fell in through natural 
flooring. V^arious points were reached on a line 
as long and as high as that between Mont Blanc 
and St. (iothard. Mr. Moore ascended above the 
line of snow and ice to a connecting ridge, where 
calculations showed an altitude of 14.900 ft. 
and immense snow-fields and green glaciers shone 
around. Mr Moore admits that South Africa has 
the finest climate in the world, and says nothing 
against the high ])Iateaux over which the Ugamla 
railway runs, and fiom which English ladies'" have 
recently returned, after accompanying their le- 
latives on hunting-trips, in the best of heiL h and 
spirits. Sotnaliland, too. is all ihat could b;- desired 
in legard to the condirions of health. But Mr 
Moore deals with the centre, the lakes, the 
adjacent mountains, the river outlets, and cast.s 
an eye over the I'pper Niie swamps. Heiow, to 
the west, are the endless marshes and feveri.-h 
forestsofihe Upjipr Confjo ti iliuiaiies. Conse- 
quently, when he pronounces Central Africa t,o be 
unfit for habitation, he passes a verd.ct on the 
whole country from (he Zambesi jiori h to Gon- 
dokoro, and fiom the central line to t!;e western 
ocean. Ir, is perhaps as well to know and re- 
member tliis. Ir m.\y nairow the area which a 
certain class of Englishmen think we are bound to 
police, settle, and " develop." 
