JULV  r,  1895.] 
THR  TROPIC \L  AGRICULTURhlT. 
53 
Vi'oposecl  by  Mv,  F.  J.  De  Saium  and  seconded  by 
Mr.  W.  Bo^vDF.N•SMlT}^ : — 
"That  a dividend  of  .Iper  cent  on  the  paid  np  shares 
he  declared  payable  forthwith"  Carried  unanimously . 
Proposed  by  Mr.  W.  Eowdex-Smith  and  seconded 
by  Mr.  F.  J.  de  Sakam.  : — 
“That  Messrs.  Campbell,  Cuniberbatcli  and  Figg  the 
provisional  Directors  be  elected  Directors  for  the  cur- 
rent year”  Carried  unanimously. 
A vote  of  thanks  to  the  chair  terminated  the  meet- 
ing. 
Acbeaoe. — The  Acreage  of  the 
Is  as  follows  ; — 
Tea  in  bearing 
Tea  in  partial  bearing 
Tea  1 ot  in  bearing 
Cleared  for  planting  in  April 
Coffee 
Cordamoms 
Forest  and  Timber  - 
Uncultivated  land  - 
Company’s  properties 
321  acres' 
42  do 
91  do 
14  do 
75  do 
65  do 
74  do 
9.54  do 
Grand  Total  1,636  do 
It  having  been  decided  that  the  Estate  year  shall  end 
on  the  31st  March,  your  Directors  have  now  pleasure 
in  presenting  their  first  report  covering  a period  of 
nine  mouths. 
During  the  nine  months  under  review  80,775  lb.  tea 
have  been  secured  and  realised  an  average  of  58^ 
ct.  per  lb. 
Tne  total  cardamoms  picked  amounts  to  1.3,747  lb. 
of  which  say  5,0(X)  lb.  have  sold  at  an  average  of 
Rs  1'64  per  lb.  The  balance  is  estimated  in  the  ac- 
counts to  realise  the  some  price. 
.103  29-.32  Bushels  ( offee  have  been  harvested,  and 
realised  li5,371'96.  or  R17'67  per  bushel. 
'The  total  expenditure  amounts  to  IM2,009'56. 
1 he  balance  available  aftei' paying  all  outstandings 
amount  to  - - Jl26.727'2o.  and  the 
Directors  propose  distributing  it  as 
under 
To  pay  a dividend  of  5 per  cent 
on  the  Ordinary  Shares..  . .R14,OO0'O0 
To  write  off  Preliminary  Expenses  6,446-13 
„ cost  of  Tea  Extensions  5,879'89 
To  carry  forward  to  next  account  40118 
R26,727'20 
The  Factory  has  been  considerably  enlarged,  and 
is  now  capable  of  dealing  with  from  200—225,000  lb. 
made  tea.  Tea  is  being  manufactured  for  an  outside 
estate  on  favorable  terms. 
.4.n  engine  has  been  ordered,  as  it  has  been  thought 
desirable  to  have  alternative  power  in  case  any  un- 
forseen  accident  should  happen  to  the  turbine.  ‘This 
will  cost,  say.  R8,(XX),  and  will  be  charged  iji  current 
year's  expenditure. 
During  1896-96  it  is  proposed  to  plant  81  acres  of 
land  (30  of  which  are  virgin  forest)  with  Tea  and  15 
acres  with  Cardamoms. 
The  prospects  for  next  season  appear  to  be  good. 
The  Tea  is  estimated  to  yield  130,(XX)  lb.:  Coffe'e  3.50 
bushels  Parchment  Cardamoms  17,0001b.  on  an  ex- 
penditure. of  R53,662'.50. 
The  Provisional  Directors  retire,  and,  being  eli- 
gible, offer  them.selves  for  r«-election. 
VARIOUS  PL\NTINO  NOTES. 
Fruit  from  the  Antipodes. — Since  our  last  issue, 
one  of  the  P.  A'  O.  Company’s  fruit  st(‘amers  has 
arrived  from  Hobart,  itlelbourne,  and  Adelaide. 
From  Hobart  there  are  22,393  cases  and  212  half- 
cases  ; from  Melbourne,  894  cases  and  32  haif-cases; 
-Adelaide  sends  121  cases;  or,  altogether,  23,408 cases, and 
244  half-cases  ot  Apples. — (nmieiu-r.i’  ( hmiiicle,  May  II. 
An  .Anonymous  Donor  of  t’80,0(Xl.— The  Parks  and 
Gardens  Committee  of  the  Ihverpool  Corporation  met 
on  Wednesday  last  and  visited  the  recreation  ground 
in  Wavertree,  presented  to  the  city  by  an  anony- 
mous donoi-  at  the  last  council  meeting.  Votes  of 
thanks  were  passed  to  the  generous  donor,  and  it 
was  stated  that  he  had  expended  over  l'8(t,()00  on  the 
purchase  and  laying  out  of  the  land.— Ibid. 
CoFFF.r,.— We  have  received  from  Mr.  W.  S.  Terry, 
of  Hilo,  a sample  of  coffee  raised  l)y  him  in  Hilri 
village,  from  trees  that  have  been  planted  only  three 
years.  These  trees  have  i)orne  quite  young  and 
abundantly.  The  berries  were  large  and  plump,  per- 
haps too  large  for  the  trade,  as  smaller  berries  are 
generally  preferred.  But  the  early  crop  from  trees 
only  three  years  old  is  a good  omen,  and  affords 
encouragement  to  other  coffee-growers.— //«, /■«//«„ 
Plunter.i'  Monthh,. 
Tasmanian  Apples.  Tasmanian  Apples  are  arriving 
in  excellent  condition  this  year,  and  a portion  of  the 
cargo  of  the  ss.  “ Cuzco,”  which  brought  12,tXK)  cases 
was  recently  sold  by  auction  at  Covent  Garden 
Market,  realising  prices  which  are  said  to  be  re. 
munerative  to  the  Colonial  growers,  whilst  they  are 
decidedly  satisfactory  to  the  London  consumers.  The 
excellent  quality  of  the  Tasmanian,  Ribston.  Cox’s 
Orange,  New  York  and  Stunner  Pippins,  and  of  the 
Scarlet  Pearniain,  Alfriston,  and  Prince  Alfred  are 
widely  recognised.  They  fetched  from  9s  to  16s.  per 
case,  coming  into  competition  with  the  last  of  the 
Nova  Scotia  and  Canadian  Apples,  which  are  selling 
at  from  16s  to  20s  per  case. — Journal  of  Horticulture 
A New  Hybrid  Eoo-Pl.\nt.— Mr.  Hart  writes  from 
Trinidad  Among  seedlings  of  Melogena  or  Auber- 
gine (Solanum  melongena),  L,  there  lately  appeared 
in  our  gardens  a plant  with  the  shrubby  habit  of  the 
Aubergine,  or  Egg-Plant,  and  with  similar  flowers 
but  bearing  fruit  having  the  exact  form  of  a deeply 
sectioned  'Tomato,  and  of  a bright  red  colour.  The 
size  of  the  fruit  is  about  2 inches  in  its  widest 
diameter.  The  interior  of  the  fruit  has  more  the 
appearance  of  the  Egg-Plant  than  the  Tomato,  but 
there  is  a likeness  to  both.  It  would  make  a very 
good  decorative  plant,  as  the  fruit  appears  to  be  o'f 
a more  lasting  character  than  either  the  Egg-Plant 
or  the  Tomato.  I should  lie  glad  to  know  if  anyone 
has  seen  a similar  production.  J.  H,  Hart,  .S'lipt 
Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Trinidad,  W.I.  ’— 
Chronicle,  May  11. 
^ Sis.\L  Hemp  (Aoave  Rigida.  Vah.  Sisalana)  at  Vera 
Cruz.  In  a report  on  the  trade  and  commerce  of 
Vera  Cruz,  reference  is  made  to  the  Henegren  or 
Yucatan  hemp,  which  has  become  more  generally 
known  of  late  as  Sisal,  stated  to  be  from  the  fac't 
that  the  fibre  was  first  exported  from  Sisal,  a small 
coast  port  about  27  miles  west  of  Progreso.  ’ In  view 
of  the  low  price  that  has  ruled  for  Sisal  hemp  for 
some  time  past,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  know  that 
the  export  from  Vera  Cruz  varies  from  19,000  to 
45,0(X)  bales  per  mouth,  the  average  weiMit  of 
each  bale  being  about  350  lb.  It  has  been  remarked 
that  this  year  1895  will  have  the  maximum  quantity 
of  land  under  hemp  cultivation  in  Yucatan,  which 
ineans  that  the  production  of  hemp  has  reached  its 
limit.  Under  the  existing  circumstances  of  low  prices 
high  monetary  exchange,  and  scarcity  of  the  Indian 
labour,  ma.ny  of  the  farmers  are  planting  Maize 
instead  of  replanting  hemp.  New  lands,  as  well  as 
old  hemp-growing  areas,  are  now  being  used  for 
growing  Maize  and  other  products.— Ibid 
iHE  importation  of  Eananas  into  Ameuu\— In 
a recent  Consular  report  from  Baltimore,  it  is  stated 
that  of  all  the  tropical  fruit  now  imported  into  the 
United  States,  the  Banana  reaches  there  in  the 
largest  quantities.  Its  cultivation  for  the  foreign 
market  in  .Jamaica  only  dates  back  about  twenty 
years,  and  it  is  from  that  colony  that  fully  e^ditv 
five  per  cent,  of  those  consumed  in  the  Atlantic 
States  are  now  derived.  There  are  at  pre.sent ' four 
steamships  exclusively  employed  in  the  Banana  trade 
with  the  port  of  Baltimore,  and  which  can  land  their 
fruit  from  Port  Antonio  in  a little  over  five  days 
and  almost  as  fresh  and  green  as  when  cut.  A pro" 
portion  of  each  cargo  is  disposed  of  in  the  cicv  of 
Baltimore,  but  the  largest  part  is  transferred  to 
heated  or  refrigerated  cars,  according  to  season  and 
sent  bv  rail  as  far  west  as  Chicago.  In  cmineetion 
with  the  Orange  culture  1 1 Florida,  it  is  stated  that 
the  crop  which  is  the  chief  source  of  supply  for  the 
eastern  States  was  completely  destroyed  by  the  severe 
weather,  ami  tluat  the  growers  are  actually  buyiim 
Oranges  m California  to  meet  their  engagements,— ibid. 
