AGRICULTURIST. 
Oct,  I,  1896.1  THE  TROPICAL 
10  per  cent,  on  application,  and  the  balance  on 
allotment. 
They  will  be  issued  for  sums  of  £50  or  multiples 
of  £50  each.  The  Interest  upon  the  Debenture  will 
commence  from  the  date  of  Allotment,  and  first 
payment  will  be  due  on  the  1st  of  January,  1897. 
PROSPECTUS. 
Since  the  Burnside  Tea  Company  of  Ceylon  Limi- 
ted, was  registered  the  Directors  have  been  able  to 
secure  the  firm  offer  of  Wattagalla  Estate,  adjoining 
Heeloya,  in  the  district  of  Rangalla,  Ceylon,  from 
Mr.  C.  Tottenham  for  £12,000  cash ; crop  and  ex- 
penditui'e  to  be  taken  over  as  from  1st  April  last. 
The  following  particulars  are  taken  from  the  Report 
of  Mr.  Joseph  Eraser,  dated  10th  March,  1896, 
WATTAGALA  ESTATE. 
Elevation  from  2,000  to  4,000  ft.  above  sea  level. 
The  actual  area  cultivated  in  Tea  is  now  .802  acres 
in  full  bearing,  and  80  acres  of  young  Tea. 
There  are  180  acres  of  abandoned  Tea  that  may 
now  be  looked  upon  as  valueless,  though  portions  might 
be  cleared  up  and  planted  with  Greviilias. 
There  are  10  acres  of  young  Cardamoms,  but  I put 
little  value  on  those,  as  the  area  is  too  small  to  make 
it  worth  while  cultivating.  The  land  is,  however, 
suitable  for  Tea.  Portions  of  the  90  acres  of  patna 
and  scrub  are  suitable  for  planting  up  with  timber 
The  yield  of  the  upper  division  (203  acres)  is  very 
satisfactory,  having  given  an  average  of  536  lb  made 
tea  per  acre  all  round  in  93/94,  while  the  lower 
division,  allowing  for  the  13,000  lb.  made  tea  secured 
from  the  abandoned  area  during  the  season,  gave  an 
average  of  270  lb.  or  an  average  all  round  of  close 
on  450  lb.  per  acre.  Finer  plucking  the  past  two 
seasons  has  reduced  the  yield  to  barely  400  lb. 
The  tea  is  looking  in  excellent  condition,  and  is 
capable  of  giving  550  lb  per  acre  all  round,  with  culti- 
vation in  the  shape  of  manure. 
Though  portions  are  rather  steep  for  cultivation, 
a large  area  of  the  cultivated  fields  are  quite  suitable. 
The  facilities  for  transport  are  greater  than  I 
expected,  as  the  upper  fields  almost  touch  the  Nitre 
Cave  Gar:  Road,  and  would  therefore  make  manuring 
a simple  matter. 
Some  arrangement  could  no  doubt  be  come  to  for 
the  use  of  the  cart  road. 
There  is  a complete  system  of  wire  shoots  to  convey 
leaf  to  the  Factory,  and  manure,  ifpreed  be,  to  lower 
fields. 
The  Sinhalese  have  taken  to  the  transport  of  tea 
chests  from  the  Factory  to  the  cart  road  at  Udas- 
pattu,  so  that  the  Tamil  labour  is  not  affected— an 
important  matter. 
The  Factory  and  Machinery  is  ample  and  com- 
plete for  present  requirements,  no  steam  power 
necessary,  water  being  quite  suHicieut  during  the 
driest  weather. 
The  Bungalow  is  in  good  order  and  the  lines  are 
sufficient  and  permanent,  a good  many  being  iron 
roofed. 
The  following  is  the  acreage  according  to  Mr. 
Eraser’s  renort : — 
'302  acres  old  tea. 
80  „ young  tea. 
180  .,  abandoned  tea. 
10  ,,  cardamoms. 
90  ,,  patna  and  scrub, 
662  acres  total  area. 
The  acquisition  of  this  estate  by  the  Burnside  Tea 
Company  of  Ceylon,  Limited,  will  give  the  Company 
1,126  acres  in  tea,  costing,  exclusive  of  ail  the  other 
lands,  about  £26  per  acre. 
To  provide  funds  for  the  purchasd'  of  the  estate 
and  for  its  proper  cultivation,  it  is  proposed  to  make 
the  above-mentioned  further  issue  of  1,500  shares 
and  £7,500  in  Debentures,  , 
The  terras  of  offer  of  Wattagalla  Estate  are  con- 
tained in  a letter  from  Messrs.  Lyall,  Anderson  A' 
Co.,  to  Mr.  C.  Tottenham,  dated  3lsk  July,  and  his 
reply,  dated  2nd  August,  1896. 
Copies  of  the  above-mentioned  letters,  the  report  of 
Mr.  Fraser,  of  10th  March,  1896,  the  Memorandum 
^55 
and  Articles  of  Association,  and  the  Form  of  Debea* 
ture  may  be  inspected  at  the  office  of  the  Company. 
With  this  circular  is  enclosed  the  original  Prospectus 
of  the  Company,  the  First  Issue  of  Capital  which 
has  been  fully  subscribed,  and  Applications  for  Shares 
and  for  Debentures  of  the  New  Issue  should  be  made 
on  the  accompanying  relative  forms  and  forwarded 
to  the  Baiikers  of  the  Company,  together  with  the 
amount  paj'able  on  application. 
If  no  allotment  is  made  the  deposit  will  be  returned, 
and  where  the  amount  of  Shares,  or  Debentures 
allotted  is  less  than  the  amount  applied  for,  the 
surplus  will  be  credited  in  reduction  of  the  amount 
payable  on  allotment  of  the  Shares,  or  of  the  balance 
of  the  Debentures  as  the  case  may  be, 
10th  August,  1890. 
Here  is  good  new's  for  Ceylon  and  India  in 
regard  to 
CHINA  TEA, 
and  surely  also  in  reference  to  opium  too — for 
the  sooner  we  are  done  witli  it  the  better  ! — ■ 
NEWS  FOR  TEA  PLANTERS  AND  THE  ANTI-OPIUM  SOCIETY, 
The  Anti-Opium  Society  has  directed  its  efforts 
in  recent  years  more  particularly  against  the  export 
of  opium  to  China.  It  looks  as  if  its  occupation  in 
this  respect  will  soon  be  gone.  Chinese  native  opium 
last  year  became  an  article  of  export,  and  Consul 
Gardner  of  Amoy,  in  his  annual  report,  says  he  has 
no  doubt  it  will  ultimately  replace  all  foreign  opium. 
“ The  heavy  import  and  transit  duty  on  foreign 
opium,  which  is  rigorously  collected,  and  the  ease 
w’itli  which  native  opium  evades  the  natives  dues, 
will  and  must  render  the  latter  far  cheaper,  and 
the  Chinese  growers  will  doubtless  continue  year  by 
year,  as  they  have  dooe  hiiherto  to  improve  the 
quality  of  the  drug.”  The  extinction  of  the  import 
of  opium  into  China,  as  of  the  export  of  tea  from 
China,  is  in  Mr.  Gardner’s  opinion  only  a matter  of 
time.  j.  F 
THE  BIG  TEA  COMPANY, 
A fortnight  ago  we  announced  that  a big 
allied  tea  company,  with  a capital  of  £1,000,000, 
would  shortly  make  its  appearance,  and  this  week 
the  prospectus  of  the  Amalgamated  Tea  Estates 
Company,  Limited,  has  been  published.  No  fewer 
than  ten  undertakings  will  be  acquired,  and  these 
include  the  estates  ot  the  Land  Mortgage  Bank  of 
India,  an  estate  in  Darjeeling,  one  in  Cochin, 
three  in  Ceylon,  and  four  in  Assam.  They  com- 
prise in  all  43,302  acres,  of  Avhich  a little  over 
10,000  acres  are  under  tea. 
'Ihe  vendors  state  in  the  prospectus  that  they 
have  ])urclia.sed  the  properties  at  a total  price 
of  £493,093,  exclusive  of  certain  miscellaneousassetf% 
wliicli  will  be  separately  realised  on  behalf  of  the 
Company,  and  they  go  on  to  declare  that  they 
will  transfer  the  whole  of  the  property  to  the 
Company  at  the  actual  price  paid,  plus  5 per 
cent  as  a commis.sion  for  negotiating  the  pur- 
chase, ■which  will  total  up  to  the  very  respect- 
able sum  of  something  o-,  cr  £24,000;  but  out  of 
this  they  Avill  pay  all  c.xpenses  incurred  up  te 
the  date  of  the  agreement  for  the  inspection  and 
])urchasing  of  the  estates. 
We  suppose  that  there  is  not  much  to  find 
fault  with  in  this  rvay  of  doing  things,  but  in* 
asuiuch  as  the  majority  of  the  estates  which  are 
to  be  included  in  the  Amalgamated  Tea  Com* 
pany  are  not  known,  it  might  have  been  better 
to  have  givtm  fuller  pariiculars  as  to  their  past 
doings  and  their  present  value.  It  is  estimated, 
after  an  examination  of  the  accounts  and  figures 
“ supplied  by  the  previous  owners  ” (whiem  is, 
perhaps,  scarcely  such  a satisfactory  state  of 
things  as  might  have  been  hoped  for),  that  there 
will  be  yielded  an  .annual  profit  from  the  present 
bearing  area  of  the  estates  of  £40,000,  and  this 
estim.ate,  if  realised,  would,  after  paying  ther 
interest  on  the  Preference  shares,  leave  a bala,uCC 
