556 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTU  KiST. 
[Feb  I,  iSqy. 
In  the  majority  of  instances  the  frnit  liad  arrived 
in  the  London  Docks  in  a ripe  and  sound  con- 
dition. It  is  considered  certain,  that  willi  a 
regular  fleet  of  steamers  hetween  London  and 
Jamaica,  the  new  method  of  direct  imimrtation 
will  result  in  material  henelit  hotli  to  English 
growers  in  the  island  and  to  ])urchascrs  at  home. 
The  Central  News  says  the  \\liole  of  the  cargo 
of  the  steamer  Elderslie,  consisting  of  about  fl,0U0 
cases  of  oranges,  t!vc.,  was  seized  yesterday  in 
the  South-West  Inilfa  Dock  by  the  medical  otlicer 
of  the  Port  of  London  as  being  unfit  for  food. 
The  steamer  is  about  to  proceed  to  Newcastle, 
and  by  arrangement  witli  the  London  port  autho- 
rities she  will  throw  her  tainted  cargo  overboard 
at  sea  on  her  way  to  the  Tyne.  The  failure  is 
doubtle.ss  due  to  the  fact  that  instead  of  i)icking 
the  fruit  in  a green  state  it  was  allowed  to  attain 
a certain  stage  of  ri[)eness  before  being  packed  ; 
but  no  doubt  is  felt  by  experts  that  the  ex- 
J)erience  will  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  a 
atal  mistake. — Daily  Chrouidc,  Dec.  Iff. 

TEA  MARKET  REPORTS  FOR  1896. 
^lessrs.  Gow,  Wilson  & Stanton  furnish  us 
with  two  very  inlei'esting  Reports  by  this  mail 
— one  with  reference  to  their  business  in  Tea 
Company  shares  and  the  other  their  usual 
annual  Report  on  Indian,  Ceylon  and  Java  teas. 
Both  are  sanguine  in  tone.  Counting  our  Ceylon 
export  for  1890  at  100  million  lb.  (it  was  in 
reality  over  108  million)  and  that  for  India  as  likely 
to  reach  140  million,  they  show  that  the  tea  con- 
sumption for  the  United  Kingdom  last  year  had 
increa.sed  on  that  of  1895  ly  11  million  or  to 
a total  of  201  million  lb.;  while  Foreign  and 
Colonial  markets  took  42,  or  5 million  more 
than  in  1895.  This  grand  total  of  243  million 
lb.  for  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  taken  oil'  in  1890, 
does  not  leave  much  of  a surplus  out  of  the  ex- 
ports and  as  cheap  tea  directly  tends  to  in- 
crease consumption,  there  is  every  reason  to 
anticipate  a steadily  improving  demand  both  from 
the  American  and  European  continental  markets, 
while  Australa.sia  is  not  likely  to  dis.appoint 
us.  The  total  consumption  of  tea  in  the  mother 
country  is  now  220,000,000  lb.  equal  to  5 73  lb. 
per  head  ; but  between  this  and  the  Australa- 
sian ratio  of  over  7 lb.  per  head,  there  is  a 
handsome  margin  still  for  expansion.  All  this 
expansion  botli  in  Europe  and  America  (not 
to  speak  of  minor  countries,)  will  be  re- 
quired to  overtake  an  increased  crop  in 
India  and  our  own  120,  or  even  117.j  million 
lb.  in  1897,  leaving  out  of  view  what  Java, 
and  China  may  do.  The  percentages  of 
the  tea  used  in  the  United  Kingilom  in  1890 
were  as  follows  : — Indian  54  ; Ceylon  35  ; China 
down  to  9,  and  other  kinds  2 j)er  cent. 
PLANTING  NOTES. 
Niloiris. — Crop  ripened  up  in  torrents  of  rain  in 
November  and  December  up  to  Xmas  day.  The  rush 
in  such  inclement  weather  could  not  be  kept  in  hand. 
A good  deal  is  in.  A good  deal  is  on  the  ground  on 
low  lying  estates  and  not  mucli  more  to  couk  i.i.  Out- 
turnvery  disappointing  and  estimatis  not  to  be 
realised.  Leaf  showing  up.  Pruning  begun  on  strip- 
ped fields.  Health  good,  but  cholera  at  the  foot  of 
the  hills  keeps  out  iuliux  of  coolies.  Grain  rates  un- 
justifiably high. 
SiiOLUU. — The  year  closed  with  5.5-6(>  inches  rain, 
3'C5  of  which  fell  in  December.  The  weather  has 
been  unusually  warm  since  last  report,  the  day  tem- 
perature in  shade  between  0 a,m,  varying  from  50° 
and  64°.  Tea  still  continues  to  flush  slightly— and  as 
I write  prospects  of  more  rain — which  will  be  good  for 
pruned  tea  and  an  early  start  next  year  if  happily  it  is 
not  nipped  by  frost.  Labour  plentiful  and  prices  of 
grain  steady. 
CoONOou,  Jan.  8. — Weather  has  now  set  in  clear  and 
cold,  and  there  is  more  than  a suspicion  of  frost  in  the 
air.  The  rainfall  for  December  totalled  18  inches, 
against  an  average  of  past  four  years  of  not  quite  6i 
inches.  Total  for  year  70‘69  in.,  which  is  just  about 
an  inch  above  aveiago.  Fears  of  a wet  spring  may 
thus  be  put  aside.  Lower  elevation  estates  have  got 
in  quite  half  their  crops,  which,  on  revised  estimates, 
IS  coming  about  up  to  the  mark.  Leaf-disease  show- 
ing up  in  a nasty  way.  Generally  speaking  crops  are 
poor  and  much  under  the  average,  as  it  seems  is 
general  all  over  South  India.  Tea  has  stopped  flush- 
ing or  very  nearly  so.  On  the  whole  the  crops  of  tea 
in  the  district  have  been  good  and  above  the  average, 
though  the  first  half  of  the  year  was  so  bad.  Labour 
plentiful,  health  indifferent.  Grain  rates  about  the 
same  but  still  high,  i.e.,  ragi  18  measures  instead  of 
the  old  26  measures  per  rupee. — riantiny  Opinion, Z&n.’d. 
THE  RAGALLA  TEA  ESTATES,  CO. 
LIMITED. 
Proceedings  at  the  second  annual  General  meeting 
of  shareholders,  held  at  the  offices  of  the  company, 
39,  Lime  Street,  London,  on  Tuesday,  29th  December, 
1896,  Mr.  C.  E.  Strachan  presiding. 
After  the  notice  convening  the  meeting  had  been 
read,  the  Chairman,  rising  to  move  the  adoption  of 
the  I'eport  and  accounts,  said  : — 
Gentlemen, — The  report  and  accounts  have  been  in 
your  hands  for  some  days,  and  have  no  doubt  had 
your  careful  consideration.  I now  beg  to  move  their 
adoption,  and,  in  doing  so,  I feel  that  you  will  ex- 
pect to  hear  something  from  me  regarding  the  pro* 
gress  that  has  been  made,  and  our  prospects. 
You  will  see  by  the  Report  that  a considei-able 
expenditure  has  been  incurred  in  what  we  call  per- 
manent irajerovemeuts:  these  are  of  great  extent,  speci- 
fied in  the  Report  and  need  not  be  rej>eated.  Our 
aim  has  been  to  bring  the  Estates  into  a perfect 
state  of  cultivation  as  soon  as  p >ssible,  and  to  do 
so  it  has  been  necessary  to  expend  a good  deal  of 
money.  I may  say  that  we  have  broken  the  back 
of  the  work;  we  have  now  completed  the  planting 
of  all  the  Coffee  land  in  Tea,  have  drained  the  whole 
of  the  Estates,  repaired  buildings  and  erected  new 
ones,  planted  timber  clearings  for  future  fuel  purposes, 
and  carried  ont  a host  of  other  necessary  works,  and  we 
hall,  without  doubt,  benefit  by  this  expenditure  later 
on.  Dealing  with  the  Report  itself  there  has  been 
nothing  of  moment  in  the  conduct  or  result  of 
our  business  for  me  to  comment  upon.  Our  Tea  has 
sold  for  9id.  per  lb.  nett  against  8jd.  per  lb.  last 
year.  The  quality  of  the  Tea  h.is  improved,  owing 
to  the  greater  age  of  the  bushes,  and  also  to 
better  machinery,  and  we  hope,  when  our  new 
Factory  is  finished,  to  see  a further  improvement 
in  quality.  Our  Coffee  Crop  has  tnniod  out 
very  short  of  estimate,  owing  to  a b.id  attack 
of  bug.  I am  glad  to  say  we  arc  less  depen- 
dent on  this  uncertain  crop  i.ow  as  our  Tea 
is  coming  on  so  satisfactorily  and  taking  its  place.  We 
were  unfortunate  in  losing  a gang  of  coolies,  and  this 
reduced  our  yield  of  Tea.  I am  glad  to  say  ihey 
have  been  replaced,  and  we  are  advised  that  the 
Estate  is  full-nanded ngain. 
During  the  year  we  issued  a further  .t“8,000  of  our 
authorised  Capital  for  the  purpose  of  builuing  a new 
Factory  and  providing  for  Capital  expenditure— the 
amount  was  all  subscribed  by  our  Shareholders. 
I am  glad  to  say  the  Factory  is  making  good  pro- 
gress, and  wo  hope  to  have  it  in  vvoi  kin  order  early  in 
April. 
We  also  purchased  the  Kelburne  Estate  for 
.£35,000— laising  the  money  by  an  issue  of  7,(KX)  Pre- 
ference Shares  of  £5  each,  ail  of  which  were  taken 
up.  We  consider  this  a very  good  purchase,  and 
likely,  later  on,  to  add  largely  to  our  income. 
As  to  the  future  of  our  products,  without  wishing 
to  prophesy,  I can  only  say  that  the  prospects  of 
