9o8 
THE TF?OnCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1892. 
proprietary rights Bra offered to only oi e grocer in a 
diBtrict, and can be acfjnired by tbe purchase of one 
or more pr* prittort.' eliarcB of £10 eacb, bearing; a 
prefereDtihl miuinium dividend of 5 per cent,, the hold- 
ing of which confers the foliowing advaijt»te : — " The 
teas from the plantations acquired by the compaty will 
he paciifed in the usual way lu chests, balf-chepts, and 
boxe?, and will be otfeied on arriv»l direct to the pro- 
prietors, thus doing aws.y wi'li the intervention of 
middlemen, and g'ving tt^e proprietors an opp- rtunity 
to boy at prices considerably under thofe usna'.ly 
charged by the London v«holeeaIe dealers. Samples 
will be submitted in reply to enqnir?p, and it v ill be 
quite optional for a proprietor to purchase or ro"-,. By 
this means his method of buying, or his existing stylo 
an-d uniformity of blondf, will not in any w»y be dis- 
turbed. Each proprietor will thus be iu a position to 
state tha*: hf) supplies tea-i direct from his own planta- 
tions, of which views and full particulars can b" ob- 
tained for exhibition ou his premises, as well as forci- 
ble handbills, &e. ; these, with well-directed adveitite- 
ments, as state i hereunder, will form a very powerful 
medium to attract fresh cu^tomer^. The following ar- 
ranfrements,' the prospectus state?, " have been en- 
tered into wi'h the Planters' Stores »nd Agency Oom- 
pftTiy, Limited, of 1, Great Winchester Street. Loi ^di n, 
E.G., who are largely interfsied in tea plaming i — 1. 
The Planters' S'ores and Agenoy Company Limted, 
undertake to pay to the c. mpany, for',1 he benefit; of ibe 
holders of proprietors' shtres, an sgg;res;ate sum equal- 
ling 5 per cent on the amountof suchphares for the time 
bt iog issued, to be distributed amongst the holders as 
remuneta'iou for th. ir services as renident agents for 
the sale of May-Bloom Ten, subject to »ucti payment 
ceasing when the profiis of the cr.mpuny suffice to 
pay the full amount of the preferential dividend. 2. 
To manage the plantations and entire work of the 
company at a moderate remuneration 3. To advertise 
in conjunction with the grocers' names in ihe coun y 
Pres", by board at railway stations, and various other 
ways. 4. To confine the sale of the now well-krsonn 
brancs, 'IMEay-Bloom Tea,' exclusively to the pro- 
prietors in their respective districts. 5. To offer to 
the proprietors at speci'.Uy-reduced rates their we!l- 
seleoted stock of oritinil teas fr )m India, C<yIo''-, &c,, 
standard Hends and other packets held at their '-Mt} - 
Bloom Tea' riepct, at 32, MidJles-x Street Aldgate." 
The Investor Warned off — We notica that an 
evening pnper. The EcJw, refers to the above con- 
cern [Cejlm and Oriental Estates Co., Ld] as 
"A Bariog Relief Company," anl it says: — "How 
is it, for instance, *bat no names of rid Oeylon planters 
are given as appl} ing for chaies ? If the 'opportniity 
of acquiring these estates is bo exceptional,' how is 
it that a large proportion of the capital required has 
njt been suhocribed by rich proprie'ors and retired 
planters, of whom there are sio es in London ? Let 
the directors proclaim that in answer to a pronpec'us 
post'd up in tbe room of tbe 'Ceylon Assoc'ation 
in London' some two or three thousand shares have 
been t»ken by Ceylou men, and wo shall unhesita' iogly 
advise the public even to pay ii good premium for 
the remainder of the sh«res, Less than a month ago Mr. 
FerBusen addressed a ro'>ai.full of Ci ylcn residentp, 
active and retired, at tbe lloyal Colonial Institute ; how 
many of thece arn assisting to relieve the Barings and 
Mr. 'i'hring of their cvylou estates at a va'uatii n based 
upo'i the profits of 1891, when t^a averaged a fair 
higher price 'i VV" venture to say, not mauv. Nor are 
the < stales therubehvs by any means the iiick of Oejlon 
properties. On Poeeock Hill and Bogahaw'ittie the 
wind is dam;igiiig, both orcupjint? exposed ti'ua'ioris. 
The former in situ ite just below tUe Upper Peak estate 
of Mooneragallft MnuntaiTi, and the latter at the Gtn 
( IJ )gahawattie (J'P), between Dimhula and Kotmalie. 
For obvious reasons, it would lie falal to fell any 
additional jungle land, if by so doing it gave access 
to tli6 violent wind prcval tiit duiinr; two m- ntbs of 
the year. IJo all this as it may, ho»*i vor, i he fall in 
th<' p ice of toi, and its entire OTimis'^ion from the 
proBptctus, is quite Hufficient warmiity formtorecm- 
mend prudent people to leave the (!e)lon and Oriental 
Kiititee Company tu those persona wlio are well ac- 
qaaintcd with the estites, and also with the rational fore- 
oai-ts made of the tea market by brokers and dealers." 
The Bi-METALLic Question. — A numerously attended 
meeting of bankers and merchants was held on Tuesday 
night in the Board room of the New Oriental Bank, 
Loudon, to consider the position of the currency 
question, v.vh sptcial reference to the interests of 
the City of London. Mr. J. Howard Gwylher occu- 
pied the chair. After fome discu^sion the following 
re?o'ut;oM was unanimously passed : — •' That a City of 
London Committee of the Bimetallic League be formed 
to urge upon the Briti-h Government the necessity 
of co-operating with other leading nations for the 
establishment by inte rnational agreement of tbe un- 
restricted coinage of gold and tilver, at Boch 
fixed ratio as rrany be agreed upon, and that the 
following gentlemen constitute fuch Crmmittee, with 
lower to add to their ncmter : — H, H. Gibhg, M.P., 
Sir Thomns Sutherianr", M.P., S. Alontagne, M.P., 
A. D. Provand, M.P., &'ampton S. Lloyd, H. B. Grenfell, 
Sir Hector M. Hay, J. Howard Gwytber, Edward 
S'ssoon, Reuben Sassoon, Edward Langlev, J. T. 
Hor'ey, A. Von Andre, H.E. B'.elon, David M'Lean, H 
Schm dt, J. F. Osilvy, Herbet C. Gibbs. Thomas 'i. 
Welton, Henry Coke, K. T. Khcde, A. Z mmern, A. 
Cotterell Tupp, VV. Keswick, and W- Pat«rBOn." It 
was also decided to bold a public meeting at ihe City 
of London Institute s' onaf er Es'^ate, at which Mr. 
S- S. Lloyd bus consented to take the chair, when 
Mr. H. 0. Guibbs will read a p«per on silver ques- 
tion in relation fo the interes'sof the Oily of London 
—H. and C. Mad, April 8th. 
» 
AvEBiGE Product of Fbcit Trees. — To those who 
desire to es'imate the crops of the future, the 
following table will be of some intfrrest. It is based 
upon a fair average production of trees in full bear- 
irg and under proper treatment, planted as usually 
in orcbaid : — 
TONS PER ACRR TONS PER ACBB 
Apples i Walnuts Ij 
Apricots 5 Almonds H 
Prunes 6 boxes per tree. 
Pears 5 Oranges, budded. . 6 
Fit s 8 Oranges, seedling 12 
Peaches 5 Lemen, budded 5 
— Eural Californian. 
Coffee Cultivation in Java. — A report from 
the Bri'ish Minister at the Hague on Netherlands- 
India deFcrihes tbe connexion of tbe Goveri ment 
witti coffee cultivation in these colonies. The greater 
number of the coffi e plantations in the Dutch posses- 
sions are directly under Government management, 
the natives being ccHipel'ed to cultivate coffee in 
place of pajing taxes, while the authorities receive 
tbe whole cf the produce at the fixed price of 15 
florins (£1 5s) for every picnl of 133 l-3rd lb. A cer- 
tain amount is then diKpcsed of in the oolenies them- 
selves, and ilie rema'nder is so'd in Amsterdam and 
Ilotterdam, tbe u'ual practice being not to sell one 
year's crop in Holland until the following year, 
although, as an exception, part of laft vear's crop 
was sold towards the close of the year. The fluctua- 
tions in the returns from coffee hav> of late years 
been crnsiderable, owing mainly lo variations ia the 
}ield. But it also appears that a change has come 
over the conditions of cultivation in conscqnenoe of 
the exh'inftion of tbe soil, which has bad the effect 
of compelling the Government to bandon it in some 
di.'^trids. The labour on the plantations is not now 
the "uly form of tnx';tion to which thi natives in 
Netht-rlnnds-India areliKhlo. Formi rly feudal service, 
in tbe form of so many days' labour, was enacted, not 
only for public work", but for ihe private benefit of 
native officialB. In 1882 these services, so far ns the 
native officials were concerned, were abolished, com- 
peufation being made to them in the shape of an 
increase of salary, while a poll-tax of one florin was 
imposed on the natives Tbe amount of this tax was 
found to bo m >re than was required for the increase 
in salari^'s, so that the authorities have been e abled 
t') abolish "11 compulsory services, tbe surplus yielded 
by the tux defraying the expenfes consequent on the 
abolition.— London Times, April 16th, 
