47^' 
v\.\ 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[J.\N.  I,  1896. 
ri.ANTTNCi  N()Tl-:s 
HAND.” 
UV  AN  “ OTJ) 
Ijandaiawella,  Dec.  17th. 
Lovely  weather  for  the  past  week,  hut  the 
hot  sunshine  is  rough  on  young  plants.  The  seed 
and  idant  market  someway  or  aiiotlier  is  always 
a lively  one,  and  sunny  Uva’s  young  tea  tields 
will  reuuirc  much  suiiplying, 
Crumus  of  comfort  for  cacao  jdanters  are  to 
he  found  in  tlie  following  newspaper  s_ 
graph.  “ There  is  no  check  to  the  revival  ot 
trade  in  America  which  has  heen  such  a feature 
of  the  situation  in  recent  months.  riienomenal 
"rain  croi»s  have  heen  harvested  and  there 
every  sign  that  during  the  year  the  circle  ot 
business"'  activity  will  continue  to  widen  and 
expand.”  The’ M’Kinlay  Hill  ami  depression  in 
America  Avere  the  causes  <»f  our  loosing 
prices  for  our  cacao,  hut  now  that  the  ast  is 
ab.sent,  let  us  hope  that  the  Americans  will  gne 
such  prices  for  our  cacao  that  pros)ieiity  vm 
a"ain  be  our  cacao  planter  s jiortion. 
"’L \BOUn  — This  ditliculty  will  again  be  a new’s- 
paper  topic  in  April  of  ISSHi.  Coolies  have  not 
come  in  from  the  Coast.  The  cultivation  of  tea 
is  extending  and,  as  the  tea  bushes  grow  older, 
the  bearing  increases.  \\  hat  do  you  say  to  t ie 
tidlowinov  “As  a matter  of  tact  labour  creates 
and  employs  capital  and  tiie  labourer  makes  the 
advance  to  the  capitalist.  />o6o(«mii  niiiety-nine 
cases  out  of  a hmidred  /'.?  performed  before  the 
n-(K)es  arc  paal-iuu\  the  wages  are  paid  out  of 
the  product  of  labour,  not  out  of  capital.  \N  e 
!,ave  heen  all  calling  out  for  capital  to  come 
into  the  countiy  and  made  no  itrovision  for  tlie 
labour.  The  Ceylon  Covernment  wi  1 he  very  blind 
to  its  interests  and  to  those  of  its  subjects,  if  they 
don’t  quickly  take  the  initiative  in  getting  coolies 
from  pastures  new. 
Landarawella  Hotel  is  most  excellently  mai  - 
a'm.l.  The  food  is  plentiful  and  weil  c loked. 
’D)iirisls  and  luwcounlry  i.coph*  have  only  ti>  stay 
a (lay  or  two  at  this  comlorlable  Hotel  to  wish 
to  repeat  their  visit  and  reeomimmd  it  tootliers. 
Trains  are  running  well  to  time. 
I’ate's  coach  is  well  horsed. 
CINNAMON  : 
THE  rUlCES  AT  THE  LAST  (iUAKTEKIA 
SALE. 
I'liK  particulars  which  have  come  to  hand  by 
the  last  mail  of  the  (Quarterly  Auction  sale  of 
Cinnamon  held  on  the  2.'>tli  ultimo,  coiilirni  the 
view  we  expressed  on  the  previous  sale  of 
Aiumst  last.  The  ])rices  recorded  at  that  sale, 
we'felt  could  not  be  maintained,  if  indeed  some 
of  thein  were  not  fictitious,  or  represented  bids 
by  siieculators,  who  wcuild  be 
vettliii"  day.  This  lictitious  or  doubtful  advance 
Preference  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  to  common 
sorts  of  spice  and  medium  marks.  Ihe  advance 
in  the  price  of  the  leading  marks,  simli 
'olua  Pokiina  and  Wester  Heaton,  though  sub- 
stantial w'as  not  iihenomenal,  and  indicated  about 
Si  to 'id  per  lb.  Part  of  this  advance  has  been 
be  slhl  'to^havo  been  wholly  iinexpectc.f,  as  the 
iLTbramls  had  shared  to  some,  .though  to  a 
Cmall  extent  the  benelit  of  the  inllation.  As 
M..y  »»>«. 
pronounced  satistactoiy  A.  . . ■ 
P(duina)  and 
ri^aliz'sl  Irom 
1).  S. 
7d 
\\  . H.  (Wester  Heaton)  having 
Id.  according  to  (|uality. 
.).  1).  H.  1!.  (llajaiiakso  Mudaliyar,  we  suppose) 
lo(d<  scarcely  ' second  jdacc,  having  regard  to 
quantity,  with  prices  ranging  from  !Jd  to  Is  3d. 
Indeed,'  it  looks  as  if  his  average  must  be  quite 
equal  to,  if  not  higher  than,  those  of  the  two 
brands  we  have  named  first.  The  drop  in  juices 
has  been  most  marked,  as  was  to  be  exjiected, 
with  the  brands  which  w'ere  run  up  extravagantly 
last  August— as  much  as  100  to  150  jier  cent 
over  jirevioiis  averages,  as  against  the  Id  to  20 
))cr  cent,  of  the  finest  spice.  Thus  O.  K.  in 
diamond  wliose  Heconds  hail  sold  at  Is.  /d.,  or  Id. 
to  2d  ahead  of  the  Firsts  of  the  jtremier  brands, 
and  A.  H.  (whose  F’oiirths  were  knocked  down  at 
Is.  -fd.,  while  its  Thirds  fetched  lOd.  in  Augu.st 
last)  were  nowhere  at  last  month’s  sales.  Then 
(,'.  H.  Do.  H.  Kunnvitte,  an  Estate  belonging  to 
the  De  Hoysa  family,  had  its  spice  run  up  at 
the  sale  before  the  ‘last  to  Is.  7d.  per  lb.  for 
its  Firsts,  or  about  100  jier  cent  ; while  in 
November  it  ran  down  to  lOd.— a jirice  some- 
what higher  than  its  ruling  average  for  years 
jiast.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether 
the  Proprietors  of  the  medium  and  common 
marks  obtained  the  prices  noted  in  the  August 
catalogues  on  settling  day. 
» What  is  satisfactory  is  that,  though  there  was 
a collajise  in  the  inllation  attempted  four  months 
a"o,  and  though  the  jirices  receded  somewdiat  for 
the'  marks  whose  sjiice  had  a bona  fide  sale, 
the  ju-ices  which  ruled  last  month  were  in  every 
way  i-easonable  and  comjtared  fa\ourably  with 
the  averages  which  had  ruled  just  before  the 
fictitious  and  forced  advance,  and  indeed  with 
the  averages  for  some  considerable  time  jtast. 
It  may  be  that  ju'ices  were  kejit  uji  by  the 
sjieculators  of  August  last,  who  stood  to  lose 
heavily  if  there  was  a sudden  and  .serious  droj)  ; 
but  more  jirobably  the  jirices  wdiich  ruled  re- 
present the  actual  value  of  the  spice  at  the 
jiresent  time,  having  regard  to  new  uses  and  a 
conseiiuently  sti^ady  demand.  This  view’  is  .snjt- 
jiorteil  by  tlie  fact  that  more  than  Lw(»-thirds  of 
the  exception, ally  large  iiuantily  catalogued  found 
buyers  at  the  hist  auctions,  or  iimm'diatidy  after, 
while  t he  demand  since,  both  here  and  in  l/ondon, 
has  not  slackened.  Hnt  for  a genuine  imjuiry 
for  the  spice,  the  ellect  of  rushing  a large  quantity 
into  the  market  under  the  influence  of  the 
lictitious  and  speculative  ojierations  (if  August, 
would  have  been  a serious  fall  in  prices.  I’liat 
there  was  no  such  fall  in  the  value  of  the  brands 
which  found  bona  Jide  liuyers  in  .\ugu.st,  is  a 
healthy  sign  and  promises  well  for  Cinnamon 
Proprietors.  The  activity  of  the  loc.al  inquiry 
for  the  sjiice  just  now,  is  confirmatory  of  our 
view,  that  new  uses  are  creating  a steady  de- 
— though  this  inquiry  is  doubtless  stimu- 
lated just  now  by  the  delay  in  harvestiiur 
ojierations.  The  exceptionally  wet  weather  of 
October  caused  almost  a general  suspension  of 
jiecling ; and  .since  then  a heavy  le.if  bud  has 
rendeml  harvesting  operations  next  to  imjaissible. 
As  a conse(iuence,  very  little  Cinnamon  can  be 
"(it  ready  to  be  shipped  in  time  to  reach  London 
for  the  next  sale  on  24th  February.  Peeling  is 
said  to  have  only  just  commenced  in  a few  jilaces, 
but  the  sticks ' do  not  part  with  their  bark 
easily  ; and  if  ojierations  are  not  to  be  susjiended, 
they  w'ill  be  necessarily  slow.  Meanwhile  we 
learn  that  there  are  buyers  for  the  ordinary 
assortment  of  (|uills  .at  from  (iu  to  (i.’i  cents  jier  lb. 
'I'liis  is  what  a leading  bondon  firm  in  the  trade 
rejiorts  of  the  last  sale:  — 
Cinnamon. — The  closing  sales  of  the  year  were 
hold  on  the  'i.'ith  inst.,  2.S17  liales  t'l'ylon  iioing  cata 
Irigiu'd.  against  (''t'T  lialcs  at  the  .Vugnst  auctions,  an 
