.Tune 2, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
811 
The Crop Account shows a profit from the working ot 
the Estates of £15,297 4s Id. 
The Profit and Loss Account, including the sum 
brought forward from last year, and the payment of 
Debenture Interest, Income Tax, (fee., shows a credit 
of £15,791 lis 6d, from which £2 000 has been written 
off as Depreciation, leiving available for distribu- 
tion 
An Interim Dividend of 3 
per cent, free of In- 
come Tax, was paid on 
23rd October, 1901, ab- 
sorbing ... £6,000 0 0 
It is now proposed to pay 
a final dividend of 3 per 
cent, free of Income Tax, 
makiug C per cent for 
the year, which will ab- 
sorb a farther ... 6,000 0 0 
£13,791 11 6 
13,008 0 0 
And to carry forward the balance of ... £1,791 11 S 
The Directors regret the falling-off in returns aa 
compared with last season, in view of which they 
have considered it unnecessary to charge against the 
past year's profits the Capital Aoconnt outlay on 
additions to buildings and machinery, but ample pro- 
vision for depreciation has been charged in ths 
accounts. 
The Crop of Tea from the Company'.'s Estates 
was 1,225,614 lbs., compared with 1,458,911 lbs. 
in 1900. The shortfall is attributable partly to 
less favourable weather, and partly to the adoption 
of a system of liner plucking, resulting in enhanced 
cost of production. 
The avei aj.'-e rate of Exchange for the year was 
Is. 4|'l. per Rupee, and th.e cost of the crop, free 
on board steamer, or delivererl to buyers in 
Colombo, was 5'5.3d. per lb. The average nett price 
realized was 8"48d., as against 8'66d. in 1900. 
The following table shows the results of the 
working of the different Instates for the past year : — 
Estate. 
Tea Crop. 
<a =1 
Park 
Portswood 
Naseby 
Pedro 
Concordia, 
Court Lodge 36S 
Hethersett 375 
<! 
Par- 
Pull, tial 
212 
322 
176 
370 
288 
22 
30 
20 
118 
152 
25 
lbs. 
147,852 
186,790 
97,964 
261,i23 
198,395 
155,264 
178,126 
lbs. 
560 
530 
500 
535 
440 
424 
445 
c3 cS 
CD 
d. £ 
8-45 7 
7- 95 4 
9 13 6 10 
8- 44 7 4 
9- 05 6 18 
8'47 5 
816 4 
s. 
16 
6 
19 
7 
2,139 367 1,225,614 485 8 48 £6 2 1 
The yield from Tea in full bearing was 532 lb per 
acre, and that from Tea in partial bearing 262 lb per 
acre, as compared with 644 lb and 371 lb respectively 
in the previous year. 
As on 1st January, 1902, the acreages of the Com- 
pany's properties stand as under ; — ■ 
Tea in full bearing .. 2,132 
do do leased lands . . 98 
do partial bearing .. 350 
do not yet in bearing ... 22 
Total land under cultivation with 
Tea 2,602 
Jungle, Patna and Scrub, and Fuel Trees, &o. 440 
'» 3,042 
The Estates continue in excellent condition as re- 
cultivation, and the Directors are satisfied 
with the general V)'orkiDg of the properties during the 
past year. 
The retiring Directors are Mr. 0 A W Cameron and 
Mr H St. JO Thompson, who, being eligible, offer 
themselves for re-election. 
Messrs. Cooper Brothers & Co., Chartered Account- 
ants, offer themselves for re-election as Auditors of 
the Company. — By order of the Directors, 
Fbith, Sands & Co., Sesretari«s. 
London, 18th April, 1902, 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
THE TENSION AS REGARDS THE BUDGET 
is over, and so far as tea is concerned producers 
have reason to be thankful. Not only has the 
Chancellor of the Exclieqner declined to avail 
himself of Sir Robert Glffen's hint, by abstaining 
from adding to the duty, but he has expressed 
himself in terms of sympathy with tea planters. 
His reference to tea will be very acceptable. He 
said, in the course of his speech on Monday night : 
"Then, Sir, 1 come to tea. Well, I have listened 
to the pitiful cry of our fellow-subjects, the tea- 
producers in India and Ceylon, and, bearing in 
mind that tea, which is almost a necessary of life 
(liear, hear), is already taxed to as much as 75 
per cent of its average value, I confess I thouid 
be sorry to increase that tax." This is all that 
could be desired under the exceptional circum- 
stance?, for no reduction on the duty was to be 
looked lor, and it is sometliing to the good to 
learn that, at a time when so much money has 
to be raised, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
admits that tea is a " necessary of life," and that 
he would be sorry to tax an article of produce 
already bearing an impost equal to 75 per cent 
of its average value. 
TEA-GKOWING OPERATIONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA 
continue to excite a great deal of interest. The 
British Consul at Charleston makes reference ia 
his annual report to the experiments in tea cul- 
ture at the South Carolina Government tea farm. 
While it is probable, he say.s, that these experi- 
ments will be carried on for several years more, 
with different qualities under widely differing con- 
ditions, the most important facts relative to 
American tea culture have already been demon- 
strated. Among other things it has been proved 
that a number of kinds of tea from different 
countries— Japan, China, Siam, and Formosa 
can be grown with profit, and that several other 
varieties have been found unprofitable in a com- 
luereiiil way. Future experiments will probably 
cot}tinue along this line v/ith a view of getting 
the greatest productiveness from the tea pfant im 
the shortest time. Another important point 
ascertained is that the tea bush can suivive very 
cold weather. While it is undoubtedly better 
that it should he grown where the mercury 
does not go below 25 deg. Fahr., yet in the 
frost of two winters ago the tea gardens were 
subjected to a temperature below zero and 
sufiered little injury therefrom, >In the East, 
where tea grows naturally, the rainfall 
is from two to three times as much 
as ^ in Caroliiia during the summer, which 
deficiency has been compensated for in the 
Carolina gardens by a systein of irrigation. Th« 
careful labour needed in picking the delicate leaf 
has been provided by giving special school ad- 
vantages to all the little negroes living in the 
vicinity svho are willing to avail themselves of 
them, and these children are, during school hours, 
nstructed in tea-pickitig, and during the ten' 
