THP' TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
379 
November i, 
ford’c system {)wt his figures I !) 100 cents give 
selling price in London 
Biohaege Is 2d, Is 2§d, Is 8d, Is 3^d, Is 4d 
Is 4Jd, Is 5d, Is 5|d, Is 6d, Is 6Jd’ 
Is 7d. 
H. K. Rutherford, ..Is 4d, Is 4'50d, Is 5d, Is 5'50d, 
Is 6d, Is 6-50d, Is 7d, Is 7'50d, 
Is 8d, Is 8’50d, Is 9d. 
F. F. Street Is 4'61d, Is .‘i’16d, Is 5 74d, Is 
6-28d, Is f,-83d, Is 7'40d, Is 7‘94d, 
Is 8 504, Is 9 05d, Is 9 63d, Is 
10-174. 
Evidently Mr. Street’s tables are intended for 
buyers of tea in Oolombo, and thus include a good 
FAT commission sufficient to make a tea grower 
ENVIOUS. 
TROPICAL PRODUCTS IN BRITISH NORTH 
BORNEO. 
Kandy, Oct. 3rd. 
Dear Sir, — I send a pamphlet on coffee, cacao 
and other tropical products grown in British North 
Borneo, compiled by Mr. Henry Walker, the 
Commissioner of Lands, an old Ceylon resident. 
Mr. E. G. Callaghan and Mr. P. Christian, whose 
names appear in the pamphlet, are also old residents. 
I have lately received from Mr. Christian 
an estimate of the cost of forming a Libe- 
rian coffee plantation in British North Borneo 
of 200 acres, in which he estimates the 
total cost inclusive of the purchaso of land 
for ttie first 3 years and laying down the 
produce in London at . . . . E50,0C0 
At the end of the 3rd year, he estimates 
a crop from these 200 acres, cwt. 
1,000 at £4 10a=£4,500 at Is 8d 
exchange . . . . . . . . R54,C00 
Net profit . . E4.000 
For the 4th year such an estate would probably 
give from cwts. 6 to owts. 8 per acre, say owts. 
1,400 laid down in London at a cost of BIO, 000. 
The above information I hope will be interest- 
ing to your readers, and I remain, yours faith- 
fully, W. D. GIBBON. 
CEYLON TEA AND ITS NATURAL 
MARKET. 
Sir,— “ Vendor " in your issue of 3rd instant 
concludes his letter by calling upon Mr. Street to 
revise his table “ a little.” I second that suggestion, 
but I would say “ a good deal ” instead of ” a 
little.” 
It is patent to anyone making use of that table 
(F. F. Street’s) that it includes not only the very 
full allowance of 2d for London charges, i.e. freight, 
insurance, landing, rents and selling commissions 
of brokers and agents in London, but also a 
Colombo buying commission of from 4 to G percent 
or it may be more. Having bought .Mr. Street’s 
tables and used them, never thinking that they 
contained any item such as Oolombo buying com- 
mission. I would now ask Mr. Street through 
your columns to state what percentage of Colombo 
commission his figures include. 
We want now tables based on IJd which now-a- 
days covers every charge in London account sales. 
Vendors of green leaf would then deduct (not 19 
cents as allowed by Rutherford, but) 13 cents to 
cover all cost of manufacture, Ac., and the re- 
mainder divided by 4 would give the correct value of 
LEAF. 
P.K.— On the new basis of lAd off only for London 
charges, venders would then expect to sec 100 
ce nts precisely marked in the tables whenever the 
selling price of tea in London was say l^d per lb. 
more than the rates of exchange 
tables, thus : — 
Selling Price. Exchange, 
s. d. B. d. 
1 Hi 1 to 
1 lOj 19 
1 9i 18 
mentioned in th 
Cents. 
100 
100 
100 
Rutherford’s tables (based on 2d London charges) 
do not bear this test— he is often out 1 and 2 cents 
— 100 cents being by him stated sometimes as 101 
and at other times as 99. 
OUBEB CULTIVATION. 
Oolombo, Sept. 16th. 
To the Secretary of the Oeylon Planters’ Association, 
Kandy. 
Dear Sir, — At the request of Mr. H. VanPrehn of 
Plaver, I beg to enclose translation of a letter for your 
perusal and trust it may prove of interest to your 
Association, — I am, sir, yours faithfully, (Signed) 
Richard Rbmmebs, Consul for the Netherlands^ 
Plaver, near Salatiga, Java, Ang. 17th. 
Tbe Consul for the Netherlands, Oolombo. 
Sir, — Having read in one of the Indian papers that 
the planters of Oeylon are trying to secure Cubeb plants 
from here since those planted some years ago by them 
did not grow, I beg to inform you that 1 can supply 
these plants during November next atfi. 0 15 ea. 
delivered on my estate and fl. 0 20 per plant delivered at 
Samarang, and should wish to know whether you will 
be good enough to advertise the sale of them in one or 
more of your local papers at the prices above stated. It 
is my intention in the meantime to advertise the sale of 
these plants in the Java newspapers towards the end of 
next month, and should any of the Oeylon planters re- 
quire them they must send their orders in time. I raay 
mention that tbe plants are placed in bamboo pots so as 
to secure them from damage. 
Thanking you beforehand for the trouble I am giving 
you, I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) II. Van Prehn. 
The Report of the Cinchona plantation and fac- 
tory of the Government of Bengal, under Dr. 
King and Mr. Gammie, shows a falling off in the 
profits as compared with the previous year. The 
loss was partly due to a general depression in the 
cinchona industry, and to the large exportation 
from Ceylon having reduced prices. 'The year 
marks an era in the manufacture of the febrifuge, 
for during it the new fusil oil process for extrac- 
tion entirely superseded the old acid and alkali 
process. The sales of febrifuge and quinine during 
the year were in quantity between 7,000 and 8,000 
pounds at R14 per pound for cinchona and E17 per 
pound for quinine ; and the snm realized was 
Rl,13,000, roundly, as compared with Rl,29,000 the 
year before . — Madras Times, 
Aerated Tea. — It is said we may shortly expect to 
see a company launched for the manufacture and 
sale of the aerated tea respecting which my let- 
ters a short time back gave you some account. 
A specimen of the bottles in which this new com- 
petitor for publio favour is to be sold has this 
week been shown to me, and from the label it 
bore I see the proprietors have chosen as the 
name by which the beverage is to be known 
“ Theafoam.” Not a bad name, we think, for a 
liquor which pours out with a fine, sparkling, 
frothy head. Some of us venture to predict for this 
liquor a very large amount of popularity, and in 
that case, should its consumption ultimately at 
all approved that of some other well-known 
effervescent beverages, its manufacture may have a 
sensible effect upon the consumption of your island 
grown teas. — Cor. 
