124 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug,  I 189$. 
that  the  caiiiphov  tiecs  (unlike  the  Poets)  often  flouvish 
unrecognised  for  a century,  without  anyone  to  make 
known  their  essential  worth.  At  last,  however,  then' 
turn  comes,  and  they  are  none  the  worse  for  the  niatur- 
hig — a ripe,  fifty-year  old  tree  yielding  upon  an  average 
as  much  as  a picul  (138)!  lb.)  of  camphor.  The  German 
traders  at  Tanisui  own  some  900  or  1.000  rough  stills, 
which  they  carry  along  vvith  them  on  their  expeditions, 
and  put  up  in  the  first  favourable  location  they  meet 
with.  A charge  of  about  2 cwt.  of  camphor-wood 
chips  yields  from  1^  to  7 lb.  of  camphor,  and  this  is  a 
fair  day’s  work  for  a still.  The  chips  are  boiled  in 
water  over  an  open  fire,  and  the  resulting  steam,  upon 
cooling,  yields  both  essential  oil  of  camplior  and  cam- 
phor. In  Formosa  most  of  the  oil  is  thrown  away  ; 
in  Japan  it  is  employed  in  lacquer-making,  and  for 
other  purposes.  From  Tamsni  the  camphor  is  sent  to 
Hong- Kong  incases,  and  is  thence  brought  into  Euro- 
pean commerce.  The  yearly  value  of  the  trade  has 
lately  been  about  35,000/.  Now  that  the  Japanese  own 
the  island,  we  may  expect  the  enterprising  German  to 
take  a back-seat;  for  if  there  is  anything  the  Jap  caii 
do  w'ell,  it  is  to  make  the  most  of  camphor-wood  and  its 
solid  and  liquid  distillation-products. 
The  Hpcctator  adverts  to  a curious  incident  in  con- 
nection with  the  Formosa  cession.  That  event,  he  states, 
will  directly  affect  every  druggist  and  manufacturer  of 
projectiles  in  Europe  in  consequence  of  camphor 
being  produced  only  in  Japan  and  Formosa,  and  of  the 
use  that  is  made  of  it  in  medical  practice  and  in  the 
composition  of  all  the  new  explosives.  The  Japanese 
have  limited  and  taxed  the  exj^ort  of  camphor,  and  its 
cost  is  therefore  going  up  and  may  reach  a high 
figure ; but  if  the  Japanese  push  their  advantage  too 
far,  the  Spectntor  thinks  that  Science  will  avenge  her- 
self and  provide  a substitute.  The  ISjiecUitor  is  so  inno- 
cent that  we  scruple  to  add  that  Science  is  trying  every 
day  to  make  artificial  camphor,  and  we  doubt  whether 
the  Formosa  affair  will  hasten  the  consummation 
a bit. — Chemist  and  Dmi/yisf,  June  8. 

I N T EKT  RO 1 ' I C A L A I ) V K RT I S I NG. 
A professional  man  writes  : — 
“ I think  the  suggestion  of  ‘Junior  Planter’  is  a 
good  one.  If  you  had  a heading  in  ‘ T.  A.’  ‘ Si- 
tuations Wanted,  Assistants  Wanted  ctre.’  many  men 
would  advertize.  I send  an  advertisement  to  start.’’ 
We  are  ([uite  ready  to  devote  a column  of  the 
Tiv/iiral  Afjrinilfiiri-'if,  to  special  short  .advertise- 
ments of  the  kind  referred  to  .at  a \ ery  tiioderate 
rate,  ami  our  eOrres)iondent's  will  begin  tlie  list. 
SPRING  VALLEY  GOEKEE  GGHPANV, 
U.MITRI). 
Repout. — To  be  presented  to  the  Thirtieth  Ordinary 
general  meeting  of  the  Company  to  be  held  at  No.  5. 
Dowgate  Hill,  London,  on  Wednesday,  the  19th  day 
of  June,  1895,  at  1 o'clock,  p.m. 
The  following  annual  accounts  arc  now  presented 
to  shareholders,  viz. Profit  and  loss  account  for  crop 
1893-1.  Balance  sheet  made  uj)  to  31st  March,  1893. 
CROP  1893-94 . 
In  last  year’s  Report  shareholders  were  informed 
that  the  coffee  crop  of  the  above  season  was  esti- 
mated at  7‘20  cwt.,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  actual 
weight  sold  amounted  to  only  (550  cwt.  1 qr.  13  lb., 
exclusive  of  clean  and  refuse  coffee  sold  in  Ceylon. 
This  crop  realised  £3,345  11s  9d,  the  average  selling 
price  in  London  being  98s  5d,  as  compared  with  99s 
per  cwt.  obtained  for  crop  1892-3. 
The  yield  of  Tea  from  Spring  Valley  amounted  to 
19(i,(>301b.,the  esMmate  in  last  Report  being  200,000  lb., 
and  this,  together  with  62,700  lb.,  bought  from 
neighbouring  estates  and  manufactured  at  Spring 
Valley,  sold  for  £‘9,.307  5s.  6d.,  or  an  average  of  9T5d 
per  lb.,  the  average  selling  price  last  year  being  9Jd 
per  lb. 
Cinchona  Hark  to  the  extent  of  23,(541  lb.  was  also 
sold  for  t‘192  (5s.,  the  avorago  selling  price  being  1 Jd 
per  11). 
'I’he  total  proceeds  fi  oni  tlic  sale  of  produce  amounted 
to  .£13,045  3s.  3d.,  and  deducting  from  this  £11,730 
1&.  5d.,  the  total  expenditure  in  Ceylon  and  London, 
there  remains  a profit  of  £1,314  15s.  lOd.  on  the  j'car  s 
working. 
To  this  has  been  added  the  sum  of  .£1,517  15s  lid 
brought  forward  from  last  year,  making  a total  of 
£2,832  11s  9d  at  the  credit  of  profit  and  loss. 
On  the  10th  .Jairuary  last  an  interim  dividend  of 
li  per  cent  was  paid  oir  the  capital  of  the  Company, 
and  the  Directors  recommend  that  a further  dividend 
of  2 per  cent  be  now  declared,  makiirg  3J  per  cent 
for  the  year,  and  leaving  .£32  11s  9d  to  be  carried 
forward  to  next  account. 
The  result  of  the  above  Crop  is  in  accordance  with 
the  estimate  given  by  the  Directors  in  their  last 
Report,  in  which  they  pointed  out  that  season  1893-94 
could  only  work  to  a small  profit  on  account  of  the 
very  small  Coffee  Crop,  the  large  area  of  Tea  not  in 
bearing  to  be  maintained,  and  the  necessity  of  in- 
curring considerable  expenditure  on  the  further  exten- 
sion of  Tea. 
CROP  1894-95. 
The  Coffee  Crop  for  this  season  has  been  variously 
estimated,  and  at  one  time  it  was  feared  that  it 
woiTld  be  no  larger  than  that  of  last  year.  The 
bushes  are,  however,  reported  to  be  maturing  their 
Crop  much  better  than  was  expected,  and  the  last 
advices  from  the  Estate  point  to  a Crop  of  about 
1,400  cwts.  being  secured. 
The  Crop  of  Tea  from  Spring  Valley  for  1894-95 
is  expected  to  be  about  215,(X)0  lb.,  against  196,660  lb. 
secured  for  1893-94. 
If  the  above  Crops  of  Coffee  and  Tea  are  secured, 
tke  Board  expect  that  a reasonable  profit  will  be 
earned,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Company 
has  a large  area  of  young  unproductive  Tea  to 
be  maintained,  and  that  it  w'ill  a^so  be  necessary 
to  still  further  increase  the  tea  area  daring  1895. 
The  acreage  to  be  planted  up  will,  however,  largely 
depend  on  the  condition  of  the  coffee  after  the  pre- 
sent crop  has  been  gathered. 
From  the  following  statement  it  %vill  be  seen  that 
1(54  acres  of  tea  have  been  planted  up  during  1894, 
bringing  the  total  area  up  to  1,003  acres. 
The  area  under  tea  on  Spring  Valley  is  as  follows: — 
T K A. 
Over  5 years  old 
Planted  Nov. -Dec.  . . 1890 
Do  . . 1893 
Do  . . 1894 
521  acres. 
100  „ 
218  „ 
164  ., 
Total  area  under  tea  . . 1,(X)3  acres. 
Total  area  under  coffee. . 565  ,, 
The  attention  of  shareholders  is  directed  to  the 
notice  calling  an  extraordinary  general  meeting  with 
regard  to  the  acquisition  of  Kottagodde  Estate  by 
the  Company.  .1.  Alec  Roberts,  Secretary. 
10th  June  1895. 
N 0 RT  H ER  N PRO YI NC  E . 
(Extracts  from,  Mr.  Jackson's  Report  on  the 
Mannar  District  Jor  1S94.) 
Area,  432  square  miles  ; Poi^ulation,  23,800. 
The  total  of  the  paddy  crop  reaped  during  the  year 
is  estimated  at  6,371  bushels,  against  an  estimate  of 
5,035  reaped  in  1893 ; while  in  1892,  when  there  was  a 
good  crop  throughout  the  District,  the  amount  reaped 
must  have  reached  150,000  bushels. 
The  tanning  bark  industry  afforded  means  of  sup- 
port tp  a considerable  number  of  people.  The  quan- 
tity of  bark  collected,  however,  has  dwindled  down  to 
a fourth  of  that  collected  during  the  previous  year, 
due  to  the  increasing  scarcity  of  bark  m the  jungle. 
Only  82  tons  were  exported  during  the  year  under 
review,  as  against  328  tons  in  1893 
(Extracts  from  Mr.  Hopkins'  Report  on  the 
Mullnittivu  District  for  IS94.  ) 
Acka,  93(5  Squark  Mii.ks';  Poi’iM,.\  rio\  i.\ 
1891,  7,342. 
FOOD  SDPtU.V. 
Taking  two  bushels  of  paddy  as  yielding  one  bushel 
of  rice,  the  grain  available  for  food  is  ; rice,  23,93‘i^ 
bushels  ; dry  grain,  6,016  bushels  ; total  • 29,948} 
