SXJBSCRXBSRS TO THE 
4 “TROPICAL ❖ AGRICULTURIST" ^ 
are reminded that with the June Number, already received by them, and the Index and 
Title-page now issued, the SEVEN lEENTH VOLUME (1897-98) is closed. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS are due payable in advance for 1897-98, at the following rates: — 
For Ceylon | Yearly 
and India ( Half-yearly 
R12 I 
R7 1 
For Europe, 
„ j Yearly £l 6s. 
( Half-yearly 15s. 
N.B. — Subscribers to the Ceylon Observer or Overland Ceylon Observer E4 (5s.) less per aniuira. 
Single copies, Rl ; back copies, Rl^. 
Per Volume, R16; cash R15; or <£1 Is. and £1. 
Those who have not settled for past subscriptions are requested to do so by 
return of Post, and to send Cheque, Post Office Order, or Bank Draft, in favour of 
A. M. & J. Ferguso;^, Colombo. 
Covers for binding the Seventeenth Volume, July 1897 to Jlinel898 (870 pages) can be 
obtained for RU50. Cost of binding and cover R2'50. 
WHAT IS THOUGHT OF 
THE “TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST.” 
A gentleman resident in the Central Province, who has as good opportunities of knowing what is 
of benefit to Planters as anyone we know, sent us the following explicit testimony to the value of the 
T.A."-.— 
“Since its commencement, I have regularly seen and perused the Tropical Aqriculturisf. There can be 
but one opinion that its scope and object are highly important, and that it supplies a distinct desideratum, which 
it is to the interest of every estate proprietor to have available in the bungalow for the use of his locum teiieus, 
or superintendent. • As a magazine it provides varied aud instructive fresh literature at intervals; deprived, 
as most in Ceyiou are, of easy access to libraries; and as years goby it will growingly become ‘The Ceylon 
Encyclopaedia ’ with reference to agricultural operations. Viewing estate proparty as practically a permanent 
investment to any proprietor, the trifling charge of R12 per annum — a rupee a month — is certainly of no account, 
provided the separate numbers are kept, and bound together yearly as a book of reference, for the benefit of the 
manager and his successors. In that light, as the property of an estate to be handed over j ust as much as its office 
furniture, few proprietors would probably refuse to authorise its being taken and filed regularly (if the periodical 
was brought under their notice), more especially as on looking over the most recent volume one cannot fail to see 
how much valuable information on ‘Tea’ has been collated. In the belief that ‘Tea’ has restored prosperity to 
Ceylon, and that plantation property is a good investment for capitalists, such should not omit the office and 
connected equipment so advisable on all ‘pucka’ estates, a part of which should be the Tropical Apricultunst. 
I find I have gone on writing, but, as I am getting the numbers for the past year ready to be bound, the volume 
is before me.” 
The V.4L.UE or the "T.A." to Ceylon Est.yte Owners. — A planting correspondent wrote some time 
ago : — “ I think proprietors should supply every tea estate with the T.A. The information in it with regard tn 
everything in connection with tea &c. is invaluable : it would pay its value over and over again. Owners of 
estates should not leave it to hard-up superintendents to take it in." 
A Correspondent writes “ I venture to say the volumes of the Tropical Af/ricaUnrist will be at 
a premium a few years hence: it is a book which is bound to rise in value as time rolls on, and 
subscribers will probably, if they so choose, be able to sell at a handsome profit, besides having had 
the benefit of using the information in the meantime.” 
From a Proprietor : — “ I wonder how many planters know what they lose in not subscribing to 
your wonderful publication ? The cost is absolutely nothing, compared to the convenience of having in a 
bound book all that is interesting and necessary in the literature of their calling. Information called from 
a thousand sources, price lists of all produce sold locally, and home advertisements not seen elsew’nere, 
and a hundred other things necessary for them to see and to know. The T.A. is, in fact, a convenient 
file of useful information daily arising and permanently preserved.” 
Mr. W. T. Thistleton Dyer, p.l.s., c.m.g., of Kew Gardens: — “Sir Joseph Hooker and myse.'^ 
always look out for the successive numbers of the T.A. with e.agerness, and I keep a file in my office 
for reference. It is impossible to speak too highly of the utility of such a publication and of the way 
it is managed.” 
Sir George King, late of the Calcutta Government Museum “ I know your Tropical Agriculturist, well,, 
having carefully secured every number since the beginning. You have succeeded in making it.a wonderfully 
useful magazine of information for planters. 
Surgeon-Major Bidie, p.l.s., of the Government Central Museum, Madras: — “I find the I'ropicat 
Agriculturist a most interesting and useful publication. It finds a place on the table of our Public Library 
and is much prized.” 
