882 
THE TROPICAL AGf?!CULTUt^lST. 
[June i, 1892. 
most careful handling — as much eo as tea — in the 
leaves ; and still again the Indian corn o£ Peru 
where was its equal ; or the wool of the country 
and so on ! 
I felt much inclined to get up at the end of 
this, and correct Mr. Mflrkham in respect of oin- 
obonabsrk, by pointing out how the South American 
article came from trees of great age, or at any rata 
of maturity, while in India and Ceylon, the planters 
had to harvest back from comparatively young 
trees, not because if left alone these would not 
have' developed a richer bark, but from necessity — 
in too many oases, it was with Eastern plcnlers : 
My poverty, acd not my will coiist'ntfi. 
But it W8s getting late end there was no time, 
OoL. Church followed in a long and rather prosy 
speech which gradually sent awny a good many 
and tired out the Prepident, who jumped up at 
its conclusion, proposed a vote of thanks to the 
writer of the paper and hastily left. 
One paragraph, arising out. of Mr. Markham's 
speech is given in the Daily QrapMc as follows: — 
On the authority of Mr. Clements Markham, speak- 
ing at the Royal Geographical Society on Monday 
evening, Central Peru has amazing fertility, four 
crops of maize being obtainable from the soil in one 
year! Moreover, the cobs of the corn " are four to 
five times larger than the heads of any other part 
of the world." Now, as we can grow in Essex 
and Norfolk thirty tons of green maize to the acre- 
planted in May, and gathered early in October, with 
tasselled heads fully eight inches long— the marvel 
crop of Peru would produce 120 tons to the acre 
with cobs two feet long. Such a wondrous result 
would read like a " traveller's tale " but, coming 
from Mr. Markham, has to be accepted as authentic 
record. At the present date the maize crop of La 
Plata is on offer in London, May-July shipment, at 
the very low price of 19s 9d per 480 lb. underselling 
the cheapest American maize, 20b 6d, and unsettling 
the English trade, being 2s 6d a hundred weight 
cheaper than oats. 
THE OFTLON AND ORIENTAL ESTATES CO., LD. 
I enclose the prospectus, just out, of this new 
Company aliuded to previously by me. No doubt 
the Ceylon Agents will give the opportunity for 
local investments by advertisement, The Board 
of Directors is a strong one with Mr. Hugh 0. 
Smith, Director of the Bank of England, as Chair 
man, and Messrs. H. A Hancock, Cyril E. John- 
ston, T. J. Lawrance (formerly of Oeylon), C. A. 
jlt-ies — all men of high charaotpr and standing 
in the City — not to mention the Managing Director, 
Mr. Huntley Thring, who is i^wer of strength 
in himseif. Mr. A. J. Denison continues to be 
Inspector ol Estates, and Mr Hugh Chapman, 
Secretary, — both capital appointments,— as the 
Ceylon and Oriental Invesiment Corporation, Ld., 
is absorbed in this new Company, Already £100,000 
of deb ntures have been provided for, so there 
can be I'O doubt of ample financial support, 
and it will bo noted that out of £250,000 nominal 
capital, orly £1!30,000 i? to bo called up. As for 
the rest the prospectus can only be quoted, and 
all good wishes offered for the success lof this 
younge t, but by no means lenst powerful or 
important of Ceylon Planting Companies :— 
PI10S1">X'TUS. 
This Compiuiy has been formed primarily to take 
over as a going concern the BusinesB, Estates, and 
Assets' of the Coylou and Oriental Investment 
Oirpor'ation, Limited, a Company formed in IHOO, 
with a capital of f'i7,()r)(J, subscribed by the Directors 
and their friends, including in such assets the Tea 
EHtates known as INToralioya, and Wilton, I'athra- 
galla, Nartbapanaand Dcicgalla, well secured advances 
on estates ii-nd crojjH, and the benefit of a contract 
which tho corporfttion recently entered into with 
Messrs. Baring Bros. & Co., for the purchase from 
them of the following further important estatesiii 
Ceylon, viz : 
Bogahawattee. Le Vallon. Peacock Hill. 
Peradenia. Keenakelle. Rajatalawa. 
Wiltshire and Denegama (one Oodewelle (one 
Hampshire. half). half). 
The opportunity of acquiring these estates being 
exceptional, the contract has been arranged on terms 
which the Directors of the corporation considered 
to be advantageous, but the constitution of that 
Company appearing inconvenient for the purpose 
of carrying out this contract and others in contem- 
plation, it was decided to reconstitute the corporation 
by the formation of thepresmt Company. 
The Company has also entered into a contract for 
the purchase from Mr. J. Huntley Thring of the 
Ceylon Estate known as Wangle Ova. Mr. Thring, who 
has accepted the appointment of Managing Director 
of the Company, has agreed to take payment of 
one-half at least of the price of the above-mentioned 
Estate in Shares, thus retaining a substantial interest 
in the Company, and he also guarantees the net 
profit from the working of the Estate during the 
next three years to average not less than £2,500 
per annima. 
The price to be paid to the Ceylon and Oriental 
Investment Corporation, Limited, for its goodwill, 
property and assets, as above mentioned, is £37,050 in 
ordinary shares of the Company credited with £3 per 
share paid up thereon, to be issued in substitution, 
Share per Share, for the Ordinary Shares issued by 
the Corporation, and £1,176 in cash, and 392 fully 
paid-up Preference Shares of the Company, to be issued 
in exchange for the Founders' Shares of the Corporation, 
being at the rate of £6 and two fully paid-up Preference 
Shares in exchange for each Founder's Share, which 
will be thereby extinguished. The price to be paid for 
the Estates of Messrs. Baring Bros, and Co. and 
Wangle Oya is £119,000, payable as to £82,000 in cash, 
which will be provided out of the proceeds of the 
issue of the Debentures, as to £9,000 in fully paid- 
up Preference Shares of the Company, and as to the 
balance, partly in cash and partly in Ordinary Shares 
credited with £3 per Share paid up. 
The Estates purchased from Messrs. Baring Bros. 
& Co., and Mr. Thring made a profit of over £10,000 
for the year ending 30th June, 1891, and owing to 
the large acreage of Tea which has since come into 
bearing, the Directors estimate for the present season 
a profit of £13,000 from these properties, equal to 
over 10 per cent, on their purchase price, and they 
confidently anticipate that the other properties which 
they hope to acquire by means of this issue will give 
equally satisfactory returns. 
The Tea on the Estates, which will be taken over 
by the Company as from the 1st January, 1892, is for 
the most part young, and a large proportion of the 
acreage planted has yet to come into full bearing, 
hence the output in the future should steadily increase 
and largly augment the profits. The present deprecia- 
tion of silver is greatly in favour of the industry, 
lessening, as it does, the cost of producton. 
T.ikiuK the Forest and Cheena porti.ju of the Es- 
tates at £2 IDs per acre, the cost of the cultivated 
area which the Company purchases averages under 
£33 per acre, which compares favouial lj with prices 
recently paid for i-imilHr lai d. Tbe average Capital 
value per acre of the Estates of 27 ot tbe larges-t Inrfiaa 
Tea Ci mpanies register- d in Loudon is stated to be 
over 47 per acre end theaveratre profit earned by such 
Companies for the year 1890 is returned at 9"39 
per Cent. 
The business of the Company will kIso oomprife ad- 
vacoing money upon Estates end produce, managing 
estalep, end receiving crops for reolizatiou on com- 
mission, and frum their experience of the business the 
Directors feel confif'ent that favourable opportunities 
will arise for the profitable employment of tho capital 
now ofTt-red for subscription. 
The e' ormnufi increase in the conenraption of Ceylon 
Tea iu the United Kingdom during tlie last few years 
is shown by th" subjaiued figures, supplied by the 
Ceylon Assooiation in Loudon : 
