38 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[July  i,  1895. 
either  a coat  of  mutton  fat,  or  of  neatsfoot  oil  ami  bees- 
wax melted  together,  which,  when  cold,  should  be  just 
a little  linner  than  ordinarv  dubbin. — From  “ H er/;'’ 
for  May. 
-j-  
RESTORING  COLOUR  OF  RROWN 
ROOTS. 
First  put  the  l)oots  upon  a pair  of  trees,  or  else 
the  lasts  they  vvere  made  on,  and  in  putting  in  the 
latter  cai’C  should  be  taken,  as  the  leather  will  no 
doubt  have  shrunk.  If  you  have  neither  lasts  nor 
trees,  till  the  boot.s  out  to  their  proper  shape,  or  as 
near  us  possible  to  it,  with  pieces  of  thin  soft  paper 
or  paddy  pressing  each  piece  in  so  tightly  that  a 
little  pressure  wdll  not  displace  it ; lace  them,  and 
so  till  them  right  up  to  the  top.  Now,  with  a soft 
clean  brush,  give  them  a coat  of  lukew'arm  water ; 
do  not  be  afraid  to  let  them  get  wet,  and  do  not 
let  them  dry  before  you  are  quite  finished  with  them. 
If  they  are  not  perfectly  free  from  dirt,  give  them 
another  coat,  w'ith  a little  yellow  soap,  and,  when 
clean,  wash  this  off  with  clean  water.  While  they 
are  wet  give  them  a coat  of  very  weak  oxalic  acid 
and  water,  using  the  brush  freely,  but  hard.  If  this 
is  not  effective,  add  a little  acid  to  the  water,  and, 
when  the  colour  is  brought  down  as  light  as  desired 
wash  the  acid  off  with  water  and  let  the  boot  dry  in 
a cool  place.  There  are  several  washes  sold  for 
cleaning  purposes  which  would  no  doubt  be  found 
suitable,  such  as  Clark’s,  iorown’s,  Simpson’s,  etc., 
but  the  acid  is  cheapest,  it  costing  only  a penny. 
After  the  boots  are  dry,  take  them  off  the  trees 
and  work  them  about  a bit  to  soften  the  leather. 
This  will  help  to  lighten  them,  as  it  works  the 
water-stain  out.  Then  give  them  a good  cleaning 
with  wlrito  or  pale  brown  boot  cream.  If  they  are 
calf,  and  not  Russian  leather,  be  a little  more  sparing 
with  the  water. — Ibid. 
MR.  HUGHES  ON  MANURING  TEA. 
Gatling  upon  Mr.  John  Iluglies  tliis  week  in 
tlio  1h)1)C  of  learning  something  from  liim  as  to 
the  iirosireet  of  getting  your  tea  planters  to 
manure  their  lea  laml,  he  favoured  me  with  the 
peinsal  of  an  article  he  .sent  the  Obwrrcr  on  tlie 
subject  by  the  last  mail.  I'lie  )>ractical  character 
of  the  recommendations  made  in  that  article  struck 
me  very  strongly,  and  no  doubt  it  will  be  aj)preci- 
ated  V»y  your  re.aders  when  published.  Especially 
was  I struck  by  the  unanswerable  character  of 
Mr.  Hughes’  argument  upon  the  case  of  tea 
])lants  which  shoot  their  tap  roots  down  to  a depth 
at  which  manuring  woilld  be  useles.s.  “If,”  Mr. 
Hughes  ob.served,  “ a tree  be  vigorous  enough  to 
do  1/his,  surely  it  is  evident  that  the  soil  giving 
that  vigour  does  not  re(piire  the  applieation  of 
manure?’  Rut  a report  comes  to  me  from  Ceylon 
that  a well-known  planting  authority  is  .said  to 
have  abaudoneil  manuring  on  his  estates.  I have 
not  yet  been  able  to  verify  this  statement,  or, 
if  it' is  to  be  verified,  to  learn  the  rc.asons  lead- 
ing to  the  adoption  of  the  course  allegeil.  I'er- 
haps  1 may  succeed  in  obtaining  the  information 
before  next  writing.  This  rei)ort  was  mentioned 
by  me  to  Mr.  Hughes;  but  he  had  heard  nothing 
of  such  a resolution  having  been  taken. — London 
Cor. 
Tim  Skason  in  Maduas. — Yesterday  the  Board  of 
Revenue  telegraphed  to  the  (iovermnent  of  India 
f)i-  the  week  ending  tlie  18th  imst.  as  follows: — 
“ Good  seasonalde  rainfall  in  the  Circars  and  Gen- 
ir.il  Districts,  moderate  elsewhere,  cxce|)t  Hellary, 
Cultivation  is  proceeding  where  there  has  been 
rain.  Standing  crops  are  generally  fair  or  good. 
i’uBture  is  scarce,  but  fodder  is  sufficient,  and  cattle 
is  in  good  condition.  Brices  lue  steady  or  very 
slightly  easier,”— il/.  Mtiy  2.1. 
.SCOTTLSH  GEVLUN  TEA  GUMRANY. 
LIMITED. 
i;kit)i:t  ok  tuk  hoai;d  ok  ihkix'Tok.s, 
To  be  presented  to  the  shai'eholders  at  their  sixth 
annual  ordinary  meeting,  to  be  held  at  the  offices  of 
the  Company  on  Kith  May  1895,  at  12  noon. 
The  Directors  have  now  the  pleasure  to  submit  to 
the  shareholders  the  accounts  and  balance-sheet  for 
the  year  ending  31st  December  1894. 
T s.  d. 
The  net  profits  for  the  yearare  £9,338 
(is  7d,  which,  W'ith  the  balance  of 
£■(>11  4s  2d  brought  forward  previous 
year,  makes  a total  sum  available 
for  distribution  of  . . . . 9,949  10  9 
An  interim  dividend  on  the  ordinary 
sharesof  5per  cent  (free  of  Income 
Tax)  paid  in  September  1894  ab- 
sorbed . . . . £2,050 
Dividends  on  the  7 per  centPreference 
Shares  have  also  been  paid,  amount- 
ing to  . . . . . . 630 
It  is  now  proposed  to  pay  a final 
dividend  of  10  per  cent  (free  of  In- 
come Tax)  on  the  Ordinary  Shares, 
making  15  percent  for  the  year,  ab- 
sorbing . . . . . . 4,100 
To  add  to  Reserve  Fund  (w'hichwill 
then  stand  at  ,£5,000)  . . . 1,000 
And  to  writeoff  for  depreciation  on 
Machinery  and  Buildings  . . 1,500 
9,280  0 0 
Leaving  a balance  to  cany  foward  to  next 
account  of  . . . . . . ,£669  10  9 
The  estimated  out-turn  of  tea  from  the  Com- 
pany's estates  for  1894  was  635,000  lb.,  and  not- 
withstanding a spell  of  unseasonable  weather,  the 
actual  amount  secured  fell  short  of  that  quantity 
by  only  5,845  lb.,  the  total  croi>  amounting  to  629,155  lb., 
which  under  the  circum^ances  the  Directors  consider 
very  satisfactory. 
The  Company's  teas  continue  to  maintain  their  pro- 
minent position  in  the  London  market,  the  gross 
average  price  obtained  for  the  season  being  9'233d, 
against  9'liiyd  per  lb.  for  1893. 
The  average  yield  per  acre  was  407  lb.,  against  391  lb. 
in  1893,  and  336  lb.  in  1892. 
The  Ceylon  Manager  reports  that  all  the  Com- 
pany's properties  are  in  good  heart,  and  the  esti- 
mates lor  1895  give  promise  of  continued  good 
returns. 
There  has  been  no  increase  during  the  year  in 
the  Company’s  acre.age,  which  remains  at  1,963 
acres.  'Tlie  tea  bearing  area  also  remains  unaltered 
at  1,544  acres. 
The  Directors  would  again  take  tliis  opportunity 
of  recoi-ding  their  appreciation  of  the  services  of  both 
the  Ceylon  and  London  staffs. 
— ♦ 
JAVA  GINGHGNA  DIVIDENDS. 
'The  annual  meeting  of  shareholders  in  the  Coffee 
and  Cinchona  Company  Bagilaran,  of  Java,  was  held 
at  Amsterdam  on  April  30th.  From  the  report  then 
submitted  it  appears  that  on  December  31st  last  the 
company's  plantations  contained  2,0i(),0(H)  cinchona 
trees  and  260,000  coffee  trees.  'Tlie  output  last  year 
amounted  to  1,998  bales  of  cinchona  containing 
150,346  kilos,  witli  an  average  of  5'61  per  cent  of 
sulphate  of  quinine.  In  1893  the  out]nit  amounted 
to  1,817  bales  containing  132,446  kilos  of  an  average  of 
5-31  per  cent.  The  coffee  output  is  very  small,  the 
company  practically  depending  upon  cinchona.  'I'ho 
result  of  last  year's  trading  has  been  a loss  of  9,287 
tlorins,  which,  a.dde.d  to  the  loss  of  jirovious  years, 
m.'ikes  a deficiency  of  91,064  llorins.  It  is  pointed 
out  that  a very  small  improvement  in  the  cinchona 
prices,  wliich  last  year  only  realised  an  average  of 
3'47c.  per  unit,  w'ould  have  boon  sufficient  to  convert 
the  loss  into  a profit, — Chemist  and  Dnnj<jist, 
