646 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  i,  1897. 
Lall  and  “ Mounted  fnt’’  d\irinp;  the  l>usy  sea- 
son. You  could  not  tni.st  native  overseers,  as  tea- 
makers  are — nor  your  held  conductors.  Every 
work  must  be  done  as  much  as  ])ossible  under 
your  own  eye,  or  a few  Iwurs  of  ne}>lect  may  cause 
ruin  after  montlis  of  careful  forethought  and  at- 
tention. 
Most  of  the  Ceylon  {/.hough  not  all)  grown  to- 
bacco has  been  too  strong  and  coarse  for  the 
English  market.  More  men  {and  children) 
smoke  than  ever,  and  smokers  consume  more  than 
ever,  and  want  a mild  rveed,  or  they  would 
smoke  tlieir  heads  oft' ! 
Tlie  failure  of  a Ceylon  ])lanter  in  establishing 
a demand  for  Ceylon-made  cigars,  after  prolonged 
perseverance,  deserving  a better  fate,  was  owing  to 
(1),  Tootightrolling.  (2),  Leaf toostrongandcoarse. 
(.3)  liquoring  down  (4)  and  certain  ingredients  to 
improve  flavour,  his  own  taste  being  for  “grip”  with 
flavour.  The  wiiter  has  smoked  thousands  of  hi.s 
cheroots,  but  found  the  muster  uneven,  .sometimea 
ojdy  one  good  box  out  of  four,  but  that  one 
good'.  Ten  or  twelve  years  ago, — made  a 
beautiful  large  “ Nona”  brand,  but  men  grunted 
at  the  price  which  was  most  unfair,  and  beating 
down  the  price  led  inevitably  to  inferior  pio- 
ducts  ! ’Tis  so  with  everything  now  a days.  It 
is  folly  to  talk  of  “ cheai)ness,”  but  fools  are 
plentiful  according  to  Carlyle.  Good  quality 
must  be  suiqjorted  by  good  jirices.  Surely  our 
Tea  history  proves  this.  It’s  waste  of  time  to 
enlarrre  upon  so  jralpable  a fact,  and  yet  it  will 
take  generations  more  to  diive  this  into  men’s 
and  women’s  minds.  Most  of  the  Indian  fancy 
work  of  today  is  inferior  to  that  of  20  years 
ago.  Erass-ware  has  not  half  the  weight  in  it. 
Cotton  goods  are  coarser.  Good  linen  is  a scarce 
article  now.  Tools  and  cutlery  are  vastly  in- 
ferior, and  as  for  note  paper,  it  is  awful.  The 
ink  soaks  through  and  one  can  only  write  on 
one  side  of  a note-paper  costing  Kl-2o  per  5 
quires.  (Tliat  last  gets  over  me,  for  you  can  liny 
capital  note  paper  at  home  at  3|d  per  5 quires  \) 
The  housewife  who  is  always  beating  down  the 
tradesman  docs  more  harm  than  she  imagines  to 
future  generations.  Who  is  to  blame  for  so  much 
of  the  sweating  that  goes  on  in  Europe?  But 
revenons  a nos  moutons.  Good  cigars  need  good 
baccy  grown  from  selected  .seed  in  good  land, 
under  favourable  cirr umstances  as  regards  soil 
(rich  in  potash  and  lime  and  friable)  lay,  eleva- 
tion, rainfall,  shelter  from  wind,  and  suitable 
aspect,  with  an  ample  labour  force  irregularly 
employed. 
In  reply  to  your  ([uery  therefore  I ask  where 
in  Ceylon  can  these  be  got?  And  having  grown 
and  cured  your  tobacco  will  tea  and  baccy  ship 
better  than  tea  and  aj)ples? 
I have  shi])ped  several  thousands  of  Ceylon 
cheroots  and  also  took  home  .some  tliousands  and 
went  to  friends  in  the  wholesale  trade  ; but  utter 
failure  was  the  restilt.  To  compete  with  Indian 
cheroots,  they  wanted  runebi  Nonas  at  B15  per 
1,000  f-o.b.  i’l  Put  that  in  your  pipe  and  smoke 
it  if  you  can  ; it  made  me  turn  worse  than  any 
mal-de-mer  ! T.  Koko. 
"We  shall  now  await  with  interest,  the  comments 
of  our  Indian  tobacco  exiiort  on  the  .'ibove  ex- 
pre.ssions  of  opinion  by  Ceylon  jrlantcis. 
THE  CENTRAL  PROVINCE  CEYLON 
T EA  COM  I’AN  Y,  LI  M I TE D. 
Kegaiding  this  Company  whose  registration  we 
noticed  in  <mr  last  i.ssue  the  prospecttis  states 
that  it  has  been  formed  piincipally  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquiring,  vyorking,  and  developing  the 
Estates  mentioned  in  the  following  Report  by 
Mr.  Mackwood  : — 
November  2nd,  189G. 
Messrs.  Cotesworth  A Powell,  London. 
^ Dear  Sirs, — I engaged  Messrs.  C.  Spearman  Arin- 
Si-rong  and  Thomas  Smith  (of  Dolosbage)  to  go  over 
and  report  to  me  in  detail  upon  the  following 
properties  : — 
Barnagalla  and  Dedugalla  Estates  in  Dolosbagie 
district.  Goonainbil  and  Plriagastenne  and  Raxawa 
in  Pangwella  district.  Wayweltalawa  in  Ainbaga- 
muwa  district,  Berat  in  Dickoya  district.  CasUe- 
milk  (including  an  addition  referred  to  in  the  pros- 
pectus) in  Pusilawa  district. 
I have  carefully  checked  their  figures  of  area,  esti- 
mates of  crops,  expenses  and  profits,  and  am  able 
from  my  intimate  knowledge  of  most  of  the  estates, 
and  general  knowledge  of  tue  others,  to  confirm  their 
estimates. 
The  area  of  the  properties  is  as  follows  : — 
1,545  acres  tea  in  full  be  iring. 
83^ 
no' 
140 
185 
56.^ 
1,620 
3,740 
The  estates 
in  partial  bearing, 
under  2 years’  old. 
now  being  prepared  for  tea. 
cocoa  in  full  bearing. 
,,  in  partial  bearing. 
forest-Cnena  and  other  land,  of 
which  590 acres  are  virgin  jungle 
—80  acres  planted  with  fuel 
trees  ; the  greater  part  of  the 
whole  area  will  grow  good  tea. 
, , 8°°*^  order,  have  substantial 
bungalows,  suflicient  coolie  lines  and  fully  equipped 
factories,  with  the  exception  of  Goonambil,  wliere 
a new  factory  is  in  course  of  erection. 
The  properties  are  easily  accessible,  being  all 
(except  one)  within  a few  miles  of  railway  stations 
and  having  high  roads  passing  through  or  near  them’ 
The  one  estate  excepted  is  within  lour  miles  of  a 
high  road,  and  cost  of  transport  from  it  to  the  sea- 
port, Colombo,  is  as  cheap  as  from  the  other  estates 
The  labour  force  on  the  estates  is  adequate  the 
coast  advances  out  amounting  to  R20,995  as  on  the 
1st  July  last. 
The  crops  for  the  past  season  aggregated  721  8’’6  lb 
but  of  this  amount  18,000  lb.  from  one  small  place 
is  taken  on  the  statement  of  the  native  owner  • there 
were  also  520  cwt,  cocoa.  ’ 
The  crops  for  season  1st  July,  1896  to  30th  June 
1897,  are  estimated  at  707,800  Jb.  tea.  ’ 
this  period  are  estimated  as 
profits  for 
The 
follows 
Tea,  767,800  lb. 
to  nett(6fd.  per  lb.) 
Cocoa,  542  cwt.  to 
nett  (45/11  per  cwt.) 
Less  upkeep 
expenditure, 
tea  and  cocoa 
Minus  profit 
making  out-  R. 
side  tea  . . 14,880  00 
Minus  profit 
making  out- 
side tea  ..  4,80000 
R. 
. . 348,688  00 
. . 20,596-00 
Total.,  369,284-00 
R. 
238,870-50 
19,680-00 
219,190-60 
Nett  Profit..  1.50,093-50 
In  addition  to  the  above  upkeep  expenditure,  the 
outlay  on  capital  account  for  cost  of  factory,  iucreasod 
machinery,  opening  140  acres  new  laud  and  upkeep 
young  tea  is  estimated  at  R56,792  00  ^ 
Messrs.  Armstrong  A Smith,  worked  their  calcu- 
lations  ou  the  basis  of  exchange  of  Is  per 
