gfiPTEMBER I, 1891.1 TMf? TS^OPfOAL AQRiOULTURSST. 
»93 
OUVAH COFFEE COMPANY, LIMITED. 
Capital £100,000, in 10,000 shares of £10 each. 
DiEECTOKS. 
John Brown, Esq., Manafiing Director. 
H.H, Potts, Esq., L. Pamin, Esq., B'lward Couder, 
Esq. 
Eepoet 
To be preseuted to the Twenty eighth Ordinary Ge- 
neral meetinR of iho Company, to be held at No. 5, 
Dowgftte Hill, London, on Wednesday, the 29'-h day 
of jnly, 1891, at 1 o'clock p. m. 
Ihe followiog Annual Accounts are now prefented to 
Sbareholders, viz. :— Profit and Loss Account fo- crop 
1889-90, Balance Sbeet made up to 31st May, 1891. 
Onop 1889-90. 
In tho Dlreotors' last Report the coffee crop of the 
abcva season was estimated at 1,400 ewt., and it will 
be seep that the Actual weight sold in London amounted 
to 1,4G0 ctvt. 2qrs. 6 lb. 
The lotal proceeds, inclusive of a small quantity sold 
in Ceylon, umounted to £7,719 7s lOd., giving an 
average of 102s 5d per ovft., against an average of 96a 
obtained for the previous crop. 
The crop of tea was estimated at 250,000 lb. and the 
actual weight sold from the Company's own estates 
was 244,244 lb. Besides this 219,812 lb. of tea icanu- 
ficlured from leaf bought from neighbouring; estates 
were solil. 
The tola! value of all tea sold was £20,4% 14s Id, 
or EU av ;raga of lOAd per lb. as compared with lid for 
the previous season. 
Tlio weight of cinchona burk sold was 45,566 lb., aud 
the value £753 14b 9d, or SJd per lb., against the former 
year'a average of 4Jd per lb. 
Coc-'a weit;ii!g 57 cwt. 1 qr. 23 lb , realised £253 12s 
9d, the average selling prico being 88s 3d per cwt. 
agaiusf: 843 for tho former year's crop. 
It vvi 1 thus bo seen that the total valuo of all pro 
duce sola amouiited to £29,223 9s 5rl. 
The total Expenditure for tho jear in Oeylcn and 
London, after allowing for Profit on Exchange, 
amounted to £24,625 4s 4J, and deducting this from 
the valu-) of the Produce, a Profit is shown on the 
season's working of £4,598 5s Id. To this hag to be 
added the balance of £C8 123 8d, brought forward 
from last year, giving a total of £4,606 17s 9d at tho 
credit of Profit, and Loss Account. 
An interim devidend of 1^ per cent, on the capital 
of the Company was paid on 1 2 h January last, which 
absorbed £1,500 of the above named sum, and the 
Directors now recommend that £2,5C0 be applied to 
the p.iymeut cf a further dividend of 2i per cent, 
making 4 per cent, for the year, and that the sum 
of £014 93 ]0J be written oil Machinery Account, 
reducing it to £600. thus leaving £52 7s lid at the 
credit of Profit and Loss to be carried forward to 
next account. 
Ceop 1890-91. 
The Directors are able to report a favourable out- 
look for this season, and if the market prices of tea 
and coffee are fairly maintained, they have every hope 
of paying an increased dividend for the eneuing year, 
Tho posts of green bug and leaf disease, which 
of late years have done so great injury to the Cvftee 
bush, have for tho past seaFon been somewhat in 
abeyance, and have thus allowed a fair crop to 
mature, the coffee crop for the season being now 
estimated at 2,500 cwt. The coifee on the estates is 
reported to be looking well for the next crop, but 
owing to the capricious uaturo of the pests referred 
to, it is impossible to say how t ^ng this csmparativG 
immunity from disease may continue or whether it is 
oiily i!uu to favourable climalin influences. The area 
still under coffte is 967 acres, and it is not intended 
in the raointimo to replace any of this coffee with tea. 
All tho tea on tUj Oomp.iKy'ij estates is growing 
and jieldiug well, ai.d the estimated crop for the cur- 
rent Bcason is 280 0tl01b. which it is thought will bo 
Becurod. At the present time, the prices ruling for 
tea ace not satisfactory. 
25 
By the end of the year the Directors hope to havp 
the Company's three Tea Factories fully equipped with 
machinery, &o. 
The area now under tea is as follows : — 
TEi. 
Planted November/December 
1883 9 acres. 
1884 347 „ 
1885 448 „ 
27 „ 
17 „ 
67 „ 
12 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 258 .. 
Total arra under tea ... 1185 acreg. 
Aa the price of silver ruled high during four months 
of the current sea«on, the profiit on Exchange will 
not be so largo as during season 1889-90. 
Mr. H. H. Pott?, a member of the Board, retires 
on this occasion, and, being eligible, oflEers himself 
for re-election. 
Messrs. Deloitte, Dover, Grifiiths & Oo,, the Audi, 
tora, also offer themselves for re-election. 
By order, J. Alec Eobeets, Seoretarv. 
July 20th, 1891. 
THE EFFECT OF PACKING 
m CHESTS. 
heateb tea 
Acoording to our last London Letter somo mia- 
understanding appears to have arisen as to a 
subject of late dealt with in our columns, nnmely 
the tendency of tea boxes to absorb damp during 
their transit homewards in the sweating holds 
of steamers. 
Probably an icsuffioient distinotion was drawn 
during the discuseion of this question between 
unseasoned woods and thoao uosuitable by their 
grain, or from other causes, for use in the mak- 
ing of tea boxes. It may, however, we think 
be concluded from the arguments formerly pat 
forward that imperfectly seasoned woods are more 
especially liable to absorb damp during tho passage 
homewards, while those completely seasoned v,iould 
be free from such a liability. On the face of it 
it would Beom apparent that the first class of 
these two, that in which dampness was naturally 
present at the time of weighing on the estate 
would be less likely to change weight on the 
journey homewards than the more completely 
dried and seasoned woodi Such would, it would seem, 
have already got its fuU burden of moisture, and 
would therefore be less likely to change in weight 
owing to possible taking up of mora moisture in a 
ship's hold. Per contra it might perhaps be assumed 
that a perfectly dry seasoned chest would he likely 
to readily absorb such dampness as might be 
present in a vessel's hold. But on giving fuller 
consideration to all tho conditions attending the 
packing of tea, and to those which constitute a 
thoroughly seasoned wood, these oonolusiona may, 
wo think, very probably be reversed. 
In the first place, what are the specialities of a 
perfectly seasoned wood, iu the sense that is 
generally understood ? Wo know perfectly well 
that seasoaing cannot be produced by subjecting 
the green wood to artificial heat. By Buoh means 
you may turn out stuff as dry as a ohi]p ; but it 
is not seasoned. Expose it to a damp atmosphere, 
and the cells o£ fibres the wood commence at 
oaoe to absorb dump and the last state ol material 
BO treated is worse than the first. But the essence 
of seiisoning is the gradual method of its aooom- 
plishment. Time is required for the cellular tissue 
of the timber to contract as its sap and absorbed 
damp dry out. This fact ia so well linown to 
