782 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTU  KlSP. 
[May  I,  1897. 
with  China.  This  is  however,  a very  much  more  con- 
servative view  than  many  American  dealers  enter- 
tain.— American  Grocer,  March  10. 
SUNNYGAMA  (CEYLON)  TEA  ESTATES 
CO.,  LD. 
The  following  is  from  the  report  to  be  submitted  to 
the  shareholders  at  the  fourth  ordinary  general  meet- 
ing, to  be  held  at  the  company’s  offices,  No.  138, 
Leadenhall  Street,  E.C.,  on  Monday  next  : — 
The  directors  beg  to  submit  the  annual  statement  of 
accounts  for  the  year  ending  December  31st  last. 
Crop. — This  again  shows  a substantial  increase  over 
that  of  last  year,  while  the  price  obtained  also  shows 
some  improvement.  Advices  from  the  estates  are  of  a 
very  satisfactory  nature,  showing  that  every  care  is 
being  paid  to  the  culture  of  the  existing  gardens,  while 
the  extensions  of  the  past  three  years  are  reported  as 
most  successful.  The  cost  of  these  latter  is  being  de- 
frayed from  the  capital  raised  by  the  late  issue  of 
£5  000  in  Preference  shares,  but  as  this  amount  is 
being  rapidly  expended  it  is  proposed  to  issue  a further- 
portion  of  the  £‘20,000  of  these  shares  authorised  to  be 
issued,  to  develop  the  largo  -area  of  freehold  land  still 
cultivated  belonging  to  the  company ; of  this  due 
notice  will  be  given  to  the  shareliolders.  Tlie  higher- 
rate  for  exchange  ruling  during  the  year  has,  it  may  be 
mentioned,  added  about  jd  per  lb.  of  tea  to  the  cost  of 
production,  and  to  this  extent  contracted  the  prolit.s. 
Mr,  R.  B.  Magor,  one  of  your  directors,  retires  by 
rotation,  and,  being  eligible,  offers  himself  for  re- 
election.— if . and  C.  Mail,  March,  26. 
THE  COMING  IfUBBEll  BOOM. 
Nothing  seems  more  certain  than  that  the  great 
rubber  industry  will  be  partially  paralysed  through 
exhaustion  of  present  sources  of  supplies,  and  that 
the  fortunate  owners  of  rubber  plantations,  be  they 
few  or  many,  will  reap  huge  fortunes.  It  is  this 
certainty,  proved  by  the  rubber  statistics,  which  is 
at  the  bottom  of  the  great  afforls  now  being  made 
to  obtain  plantations  in  Mexico  and  elsewhere,  but 
chiefly  in  the  former  country.  Mexico  is  the  homo 
of  the  Castilloa  elastica,  acknowledged  to  be  the 
best  of  the  rubber-yielding  trees  from  the  planter's 
Doint  of  view.  Ilevea  hraailiensis  gives  the  most 
valuable  rubber- Para-now  worth  3s.  Id.  per  lb., 
while  that  from  the  Va.itiUoa  only  realises  2s.  Ad. 
But  the  difference  in  value  is  greatly  owing  to  the 
better  methods  of  preparation  which  obtain  in  Brazil. 
When  the  Castilloa  milk  has  been  taken  in  hand 
bv  a skilful  British  chemist,  as  it  shortly  will  be, 
we  shall  without  doubt,  see  a marked  improve- 
ment, and  the  price  will  be  levelled  up  to  within 
measurable  distance  of  Uiat  of  - fine  Para.  The 
m-osoects  of  the  rubber  planter  in  Mexico,  even  at 
nrese^nt  values,  are  more  rosy  than  those  of  any 
ItLr  arboricultural  industry.  And  this  applies, 
more  or  less,  to  every  country  in  which  the  6'ai.hC 
l^a  elastica  will  thrive.  A profit  of  300  per  cent,  m 
the  eighth  year  is  what  the  experts  are  promising, 
and  the  figures  are  based  in  one  instance  on  a 
o^Tiiina  T.rice  of  Is.  per  pound  for  the  rubber,  and 
i^anotLr  on  2s.,  tL  first  being  less  than  half  the 
market  value  of  Castilloa  rubber  in  London  to-day, 
and  the  second  Ad.  below  it  That  rubber  can  be 
crown  cheaper  than  it  can  be  purchased  from  the 
native  collectors  is  an  absolute  fact,  and  it  ic  obvi- 
ihnt  the  Q-aality  must  be  far  superior  to  any 
wild  product,  except,  perhaps,  Para  the  method  of 
preparing  which  does  not  seem  capable  of  improve- 
ment Por  joint-stock  enterprise  the  cu  tivation  of 
Tuhhet  trees  in  Mexico  offers  a fane  field  as  there 
no  substitute  for  rubber  worthy  of  the  name, 
mobability  of  there  ever  being  one.  At 
Sient  of  the  trade.  Wo  hear  of  powdered  flin  and 
being  used  to  eke  out  the  supply,  and  the 
d^ma^d  for  old  worn-out  rubber  goods  is  very  great. 
The  only  apparent  remedy  far  this  disastrous  state 
f Brines  is  cultivation  on  an  enormous  scale.— 
V^AKIUU.S  PLANTING  NOTES. 
Cooi.Y  Di.stricts  of  NoHTHEK>r  Madras.-U 
i.s  rumoured— ami  we  are  very  pleased  to  tliink 
correctly— that  His  Excellency  the  Governor  has 
decided  to  send  Mr.  Ingraiucotton  on  a visit 
to  Bollary,  Cudappah  and  the  other  cooly  dis- 
tricts in  North-Eastern  Madras  where  distress 
if  not  famine  is  said  to  prevail,  in  order  to 
em^uire  and  rejiort  on  the  feasibleness  of  draw- 
ing a supply  of  cooly  labourers  therefrom  for 
Ceylon  estates. 
Plucking,  Pruning,  and  Preparation  of 
Tea. — The  Indian  Tea  riautcrs  Gazette  devotes 
the  editorial  in  its  issue  of  lUth  April  to  this 
subject  beginning  as  follows  : — “ The  Editor  of  the 
Ceylon  Observer  has,  we  consider,  conferred  an 
undoubted  beneiit  on  the  tea  industry,  not  only 
in  Ceylon,  but  throughout  India  generally,  in 
issuing  the  sets  of  ijiiestions  contained  in  the 
two  circulars  wlii-di  he  distributed  to  the  planters 
throughout  the  island.  The  answers  which  have 
been  received  to  the  second  set  of  iiuestions  are 
so  instructive  to  all  interested  in  tea,  that  we 
decided  to  reproduce  them  in  our  columns,  and 
we  feel  sure  our  tea-planter  friends  will  appreci- 
ate the  results  td’  the  ed'orts  of  our  contemporary. 
The  object  of  the  eminiries  was  to  elicit  informa- 
cion,  which  would  be  helpful  to  planters  in  their 
endeavours,  while  securing  from  their  estates  the 
highest  possible  yield  without  injury  to  the  bush, 
to  maintain  a high  level  of  excellence  for  the  tea 
they  [iroduce — in  other  words,  to  obtain  the  best 
jjossible  prices.”  Our  letteis  in  answer  to  the 
circular  are  by  no  means  all  laiblished,  though 
pressure  througb.  ,an  usual  number  of  meetings 
and  the  holidays  have  recently  delayed  publica- 
tion. 
The  Destruction  of  Gedaiis. — The  news  that  comes 
to  us  from  various  parts  of  the  destruction  of  flue 
cedars  like  those  at  Goodwood  should  more  than 
ever  teach  the  need  of  ye.arly  planting  in  parks. 
At  one  certain  lime  some  tree  lover  on  a large 
estate  plants  a noble  lot  of  cedars,  but,  as  those 
who  follow  fail  to  keep  up  the  stock,  a great  storm 
may  some  day  destroy  what  all  are  so  proud  of. 
This  could  not  happen  to  auyeuiug  like  the  same 
extent  if  people  went  on  planting  young  trees,  not 
necessarily  many  kinds,  but  some  like  the  cedar 
of  Lebanon,  that  happen  to  do  well  in  our  climate, 
and  have  all  the  beauty  and  dignity  that  trees  can 
have.  The  many  catalogues  issued  help  towards  the 
neglect  of  the  really  precious  trees  by  ‘‘  bringing 
out”  novelties  from  all  parts  of  ihe  world — absolutely 
unproved  trees ; whilst  the  planting  of  such  grand 
trees  as  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  and  ihe  ilex  of  Europe 
are  often  forgotten.  A mistake  in  cedar  planting  is 
the  fashion  of  planting  isolated  trees  with  great 
branches  growing  out  on  all  sides.  Just  think  of 
the  enormous  surface  exposed  to  strong  wind  that 
these  great  trees  and  branches  offer  1 In  their  own 
country,  where  cedars  are  naturally  massed  together, 
although  the  gales  are  severe,  the  trees  are  not  de- 
stroyed by  wind  in  anything  like  the  same  degree. 
The  cedar  of  Lebanon  is  certainly  very  beautiful 
by  itself  in  this  “ specimen  ” way,  but  we  think  it 
at  least  equally  beautiful  massed  in  groups  or  even 
in  w'oods.  We  have  seen  excellent  results  from  plant- 
ing cedars  in  mixed  w'oods,  where  they  make  straighter 
boles.  In  their  ow-n  countries,  in  addition  to  being 
massed  and  grouped  together,  the  soil  is  very  often 
stony  and  rocky,  the  grow'th  is  slow-er,  and  the  trees 
take  a firmer  hold,  whereas  in  our  rich  river  valleys, 
where  the  Lebanon  cedar  is  often  planted  in  an 
isolated  w-ay,  the  grew-tfi  is  softer,  and  the  resistance 
to  wind  leas.  Wc  feel  sure  that  a more  artistic 
and  natural  way  of  planting  would  lessen  the  ac- 
cidents to  which  this  noble  tree  is  exposed.— 
Jt'iclH, 
