Feb.  I,  1397.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  547 
from  tho  scheme  of  the  committee.  Roughly  speaking, 
tlie  preference  shareholders  got  four-fifths,  while  the 
ordinary  shareholders  got  one-fifth  of  the  unified  stock. 
They  also  got  the  advantage  which  they  would  not  have 
got  under  the  first  scheme,  namely,  scrip  not  bearing 
interest  for  the  unpaid  portion  of  tiieir  interest.  With 
regard  to  the  question  of  strengthening  the  bjard,  the 
directors  had  no  objection  to  welcome  anybody  who  was 
put  forward  by  the  shareholders;  but  it  appeared  to  him 
that;  as  it  was  suggested  that  the  committee  should  be 
kept  alive  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  re- 
commendations in  the  report,  it  would  be  a very  good 
plan  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  committee,  and  the 
board  to  recommend  one  or  tiVo  names  as  meinbsrs 
of  the  board. 
Mr.  Wood  contended  that  the  scheme  was  unfair 
to  the  ordinary  shareholders,  while  other  shareholders 
mdiiltained  that  it  was  unfair  to  the  preference  share- 
holders. 
After  some  discussion  the  following  resolutions  were 
carried: — (1)  “That  all  the  issued  shares  of  the  com- 
pany, being  fully  paid,  they  be  and  are  hereby  con- 
verted into  stock.’’  (2)  “ Tliat  the  capital  of  the 
compiny  be  reduced  from  i!5fi(5,700,  consisting  of — 
stock  resulting  from  the'  conversion  of  40,91)2  pre- 
ferred shares  of  €5  each,  ,£201,ol0;  stock  resulting 
from  the  conversion  of  228,092  ordinary  shares  of  £1 
each,  £228,092 ; 19,028  preferred  shares  of  £.')  each, 
unissued,  £9;j,490;  38,603,  ordinary  shares  of  £1  each, 
unissued,  £38,608— £566,700;  the  stock  of  the  nominal 
amount  of  £2.50,000  and  that  such  reduction  be  effected 
by  cancelling  all  unissued  shares,  and  by  writing  off 
and  cancelling,  as  being  unrepresented  by  available 
assets,  £182,602  of  the  stock  resulting  from  the  con- 
version of  ordinary  shares,  in  such  a manner  that 
the  reduction  of  £182,602  shall  be  borne  as  between 
the  several  holders  of  the  last  mentioned  stock,  rate- 
ably  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  such  stock  held 
by  them  respectively.’’  (3)  “That  the  name  of  the 
Company  be  changed  to  ‘The  Anglo-Ceylon  and 
General  Estates  Company,  Limited.’ ’’  And  a further 
resolution  was  agreed  to  altering  the  articles  ac- 
cordingly. 
Mr.  ll.\DFORD  proposed  that  the  meeting  recom- 
mend the  election  of  Mr.  Macaskie  and  Mr.  Bishop, 
to  whom  they  were  all  greatly  indebted  for  formu- 
lating so  excellent  a scheme. 
The  Chaiuman  stated  that  the  directors  had  not 
the  slightest  objection  to  the  appointment  of  the  two 
gentlemen  nominated,  but  he  suggested  that  it  would 
be  better  to  leave  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the 
committee  and  the  directors. 
Mr.  Radford  assented  to  this  suggestion. 
Meetings  of  the  preference  and  ordinary  share- 
holders then  took  place,  at  which  the  agreement 
modifying  their  rights  and  privileges  to  give  effect 
to  the  resolution  was  agreed  to. 
The  proceedings  terminated  with  a vote  of  thanks 
to  the  Chairman. — & C.  Mail,  Dec.  25th. 
THE  COMIMG  CEYLON  TEA  CROP. 
A correspondent  reports  that  he  hears  tlie 
Planter-s’  Sub-Committee  give  the  Estimate  for 
1897  at  a little  over 
117,200,000  LB. 
We  notice  on  tlie  other  hand  that  Messrs.  Forbes 
&.  Walker,  who  are  generally  very  accurate — 
and  whose  praise  as  compilers  of  tea  statistics 
our  contemporary  has  just  been  singing — estim- 
ate the  present  3^ear’s  tea  crop  or  rather  e.xport  at 
120,000,000  LB. 
And  this  is  just  the  figure  we  considered  likely 
when  a planter  said  we  were  to  lie  122  million  lb. 
Messrs.  Forbes  & Walker  give  the  total  export 
for  1896  at  108,141,412  lb. 
Their  Estimate  for  1897  ...  120,000,000  ,, 
Estimated  increase  ...  11,858,588  lb. 
The  ‘‘Customs”  total  for  the  Export  of  1896  is 
J10,095,.S58  lb. 
TEA  PLANTING  IN  CEYLON  AND  CROPS 
IN  THE  FUTURE. 
Wo  direct  tire  attention  not  only  of  reader.s 
of  our  journal  in  Ceylon,  Imb  of  the  nob  a tew 
planters  wlio  get  our  daily  or  weekly  issues 
(arul  the  still  larger  number  who  read  our  luonihly) 
in  India,  to  the  letter  signed  “Fesbina” 
further  on.  It  comes  to  us  authenticated 
by  a responsible  proprietor  of  estates,  who  has 
had  prolonged  experience  both  as  collee  and  tea 
planter  in  Ceylon  ; and  he  shows  very  clearly 
that  those  who  would  minimize  the  future  tea  crop 
resources  of  Ceydon  or  speak  of  our  getting  near 
the  maximum  export  are  greatly  mistaken.  The 
ditl'erence  between  the  cultivated  and  total  ex- 
tent of  the  tea  plantations  in  private  hands  in 
Ceylon,  must  amount  bo  over  3(iL),0W  acres;  and 
if  wo  strike  oil'  even  tiao-tkirds  of  these  I’eserves 
as  unfit  for  prolitalde  cultivation,  we  must  still 
have  lit  for  cultivation,  an  aggregate  of  100,001) 
acres  spread  over  all  the  tea  districts  already 
taken  up.  Of  cour.se  the  planting  up  of  such 
reserves  will  depend  on  the  encouragement 
oll'ered.  What  our  correspondent  says  about 
manuring  is  also  wmrthy  of  very  serious  con- 
sideration. 
BOTANICAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL 
PICKINGS. 
The  death  of 
BARON  FF.ltDINAND  VON  MUEI.LER 
leaves  a wide  gap  in  the  botanical  world.  His  bio- 
graphy, it  has  been  said,  will  be  a history  of  Aus- 
tralian botany  during  the  last  four  decades.  The 
number  of  publications  of  the  Baron  is  stated  to  be 
something  enormous,  though  many  individual  works 
w'as  sufficient  to  make  the  reputation  of  any  man. 
Referring  to  his  last  hours  his  co-worker  (T.  O.  Mac- 
lennan)  writes: — “The  Baron  had  at  least  his  one 
great  wish  fulfilled,  namely  that  he  should  die  in 
harness.  His  illness  only  lasted  a fortnight,  and  for 
the  first  week  he  would  insist  on  getting  up  and 
going  to  his  office  though  only  for  a short  time. 
His  death  was,  no  doubt,  due  to  an  affection  of  the 
brain  due  to  constant  study,  worry  and  insomnia, 
to  which  might  be  added,  almost  total  want  of  bodily 
exercise.  He  passed  away  (Oct.  10th)  quite  peace- 
fully without  any  apparent  pain.”  This  passion  for 
work,  strong  even  on  the  eve  of  death,  reminds 
us  of  the  last  days  of  our  late  Director  of  the 
Peradeniya  Gardens,  who  like  the  great  Aurtralian 
botanist,  died  in  harness. 
There  has  been  some  plainspeaking  with  reference 
to  the  alleged  purchase  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
£10,090  worth  of 
CARROT  SEED 
for  famine  relief  purposes  in  India — to  sell  to  the 
ryots  at  cost  price.  A native  Indian  paper  pronounces 
this  an  “ atrocious  piece  of  jobbery.”  The  Indian 
Agriculturist  referring  to  the  transaction  says  that 
“ even  if  the  s'ateraent  pnade  in  the  Pioneer  that 
the  local  Government  is  responsible  for  the  purchase, 
is  correct  it  is  clearly  unjust  to  charge  the  India 
Office  authorities  with  an  atrocious  piece  of  job- 
bery. Tomfoolery,  w'e  fear,  it  is;  tomfoolery  in  a 
somewhat  unexpected  place.” 
The  “ Agriculture  Ledger”  series  of  pamphlets  and 
and  leaflets  issued  by  the  Government  of  Bengal  is 
a most  valuable  publication  as  each  fresh  issue  only 
tends  to  prove  more  conclusively.  In  a late  pam- 
phlet on  cattle  disease  reference  is  made  to  local 
native  remedies.  They  are  not  to  be  despised,  says 
the  writer,  aud  though  not  scientificially  explained, 
there  remedial  measures  tried  by  the  experience  of 
ages,  may  not  in  some  cases  be  without  scientific 
foundation,  and  at  any  rate  deserve  to  be  investi- 
gated before  being  discarded.  Speaking  of  native 
medicinal  herbs  and  plants,  the  writer  goes  on  to 
say  that  a systematic  and  patient  investigation  will  not 
fail  to  yield  resirlts  of  some  value, 
