390 TMP TPtDPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1891. 
We aro great believers in cattle manure in Ibis dis- 
trict, nnd when supplementod with, for Coffee, a judi- 
cious admixture of bones, the most satiBfaotory results 
have been obtained. There is hardly a so-cnlled "chemi- 
cal manure " known to planters that has not been tried. 
Phosphates, Kainit, Gusno, Fish, Poonac, &c,, &o., 
have all had a trial, but nothing has ever come up 
to cattle manure and bones. After all, aa they say 
in Norfolk, "There's nothing like muck." 
The North-East Monsoon has fairly set in, during 
the last few days the wind has veered round to the 
N.-E., and besides having occasional sensations of what 
is known as " Laud Wind," we are having heavy 
showers in the afternoons, accompanied by thunder 
and lightning. I hear too that good rain has fallen 
in Pandy, where, from all accounts, it was terribly 
needed, as the distress, which has been very severe 
for some months in the Oumbum Valley, had well nigh 
culminated in famine. There has been quite a rush of 
Pandy carte across the hills, in quest of paddy, as the 
hill harvest on the ghats and neighbouring hills is 
cow in full swing, and prices at this season of the 
year are ordinarily low. I hear, however, that the 
cultivators are disinclined to part with their grain, ar.d 
in consequence of this unusual demand from British 
territory, are combined to raise prices, and are likely 
to realise, on what has been rather a poor crop, larger 
profits than under ordinary cironmstsnces, they would 
have obtained from a 16-anna crop. Verily it is an ill 
wind that blows nobody any good ! — Madras Times. 
[We oan easily understand that no manure can 
excel a aombination of cattle manure and bones, 
where both are plentiful and cheap and where the 
cattle manure is within easy distance of the fields 
to which it is to be applied. The cost of cartage 
and carriage on coolies' heads of this bulky and 
heavy material is, in many oases, prohibitive, — 
Ed. T. a.] 
^ ~ 
INDIA AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
An unusual opportunity for advertising Indian goods 
and manufactures in nn effective manner ie, says the 
London Correspondent of the Pioneer, likely to be 
furnished by the coming World's Fair at Chicago, of 
which 80 much has already been heard. 
It is satisfactory to be able to state that steps have 
already been taken towards arranging for the adequate 
representation of British India at Chicago. Early in 
the present year, Mr. H. Bailantine, Consul for the 
United States at Bombay, was summoned by his 
Government to America, in order that he might give 
his advices as to the best way of securing the co- 
operation of the Indian authorities and of Indian 
manufacturers of every kind. No better selection could 
have been made, for Mr* Bailantine, born in the Land 
of Regrets, has spent his life in acquainting himself 
with native languages, customs, and modes of thought, 
not to mention his large commercial experience. Before 
leaving the States, Mr. Bailantine was instructed to 
visit Chicago as Commissioner for India in connection 
with the exhibition, and in the future capital of the 
West he conferred with the directors ot the show, 
afterwards leaving for Loudon on his way back to the 
E»st, to start his mission. Deeming that some forecast 
of the probabilities of India being placed well in 
evidence at Chicago might not he devoid of interest, 
I paid Mr. Bailantine a visit at his temporary office in 
Queen Victoria-street on the eve ot his departure for 
Bombay. He was evidently in good spirits at the pros- 
pects of the exhibition, and spoke enthusiastically. 
"For what clats of exhibits do you consider there 
will the best opening ? " was my next question. 
" Well, you may say that there will be a capital 
opportunity for the Indian and Ceylon tea-growers to 
make their wares better known," my informant replied. 
" As I have juet been explaining to one of the largest 
tea houses here, is quite free. But one thing should 
bt remembored— the tea must bo quite genuine. Thus 
far the Indian and Ceylon teas, sold in America, have 
been pushed on to the market with a blending of 
Chiiicae tea, whereas I think Indian teas so good that 
they o»u Btand entirely ou tbeir owo meritB. Ceylon Us 
already voted a large sum of money to secure proper 
representation at the fair, and no doubt the Indian tea 
planters, when approached, will do the same." 
"With regard to raw materials," Mr. Bailantine 
pursued, "these, too, are more or less free, and bo far 
frr m the McKinley Bill doing any harm in this direc- 
tion it has actually modified the duties, where existing. 
There is no market in the world, I believe, that will be 
found to pay so well as that ot the United States. 
Oriental fabrics are getting more and more popular on 
the other side of the Atlantic. Instead ot carpets being 
spread down in the houses of the well-to-do, the ten- 
dency now is to go in for Oriental rugs. That has been 
a great feature of the carpet trade, in which India 
justly occupies a very high position. Why, look at her 
capabilities of producing rugs which I claim today are 
the wonder and beauty of that class of goods, as the 
beautiful samples in South Kensington Museum will 
prove ! With regard to art work, I consider the so- 
called pictures of India rather faulty in perspective, but 
the miniature paintings on ivory are very fine. There 
would be a large demand in America for this class of 
goods, if they could be obtained. — Times of India. 
^ . 
NOTES ON PEODUCE AND FINANCE. 
iNDiiN Tea Companies as Investments. — In the 
course of an ariicle oa the position of Indian tea 
companies as shown in Mr. Earnshaw's li-^t to which 
we recently referred, the Fiaaneial Times says : — 
"It would be safe to say that no class of indus- 
trial investments has shown such uuiformly good 
results as the Indian tea companies. We leave out 
of account those with their head-quarters in Cal- 
cutta, although by including them the case would 
be strengthened, * some of them having yielded 
continuous dividends on a generous scale. But, 
taking the list of twenty-seven companies re- 
gistered in London, which are included in a 
comparative table, compiled by Mr. Henry Earn- 
shaw, secretary of the Jokai Tea Company, we 
find there are only three non-dividend paying com- 
panies, of which one is the Lmd Mortgage Bank of 
India, presumably holding tea-gardens which have 
been foreclosed on. Mr. Barnsha-v's list leaves out 
some of the smaller concerns, which are to be found 
in that published by Mr. Greorge Seton, an indefati- 
gable statistician of the Indian tea industry, who is 
doing his utmost to attract public attention to the 
excellent opportunities for investment offered by 
these companies, Mr. Seton gives particulars of thirty- 
three separate properties known in this market, of 
which only two failed to pay dividends in 1890. Taking 
the two sets together, we find details of thirty six 
companies, of which only five, though showing 
credit balances, were unable to declare dividends 
last year. As those declared ranged from 3 to 
20 per cent,, and as the average was not far short 
of 9 per cent., there oan be no denial of the claim that 
no class of industrial investments shows more uniformly 
good results. 
Invbstobs Should Note. — "Objection," saya the 
writer in the Financial Times, "might be taken to the 
use cf the word uniform in connection with three dozen 
companies whose dividends range from three to twenty 
per ceut., but if we restrict ourselves to those com- 
panies which recommend themselves most readily to 
investors as having the advantage of an official quota- 
tion in London, we find an exceedingly satisfactory re- 
gularity in the rate of the dividends paid. Most pro- 
miuent of these is the Jokai (Assam) Tea Company, 
which though it has never approached the twenty per 
cent, paid last year by the Brahmaputra, is entitled in 
every respect to rank as the premier Indian tea com- 
pany known in London. Year after year it pays ten per 
ceut with unvarying regularity on its capital of 
£200,000. The capital value of the estate is only £38 
10s per acre, and the shareholders' profit per mature 
acre last year was £6 16s, or nearly sixteen per cent. 
The Lebong, quoted in London, and paying six per 
cent for some years back, is in the exceptional posi- 
tion of possessing a sum equal to more than a third 
of the capital in reserve, but ^this prgoeedQ^ (ro q 
