THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
MaV 2 , 1898.1 
inenta ; and, if the yield . is satisfactory, it is 
intended to expand the acreage in that product 
at once. 
The directors for the new year are — J. Manley 
Power, Managing Director; E. Scott, E.H. Shelley 
and H. Reynolds. 
REPORT. 
The directors have pleasure in submitting their 
report on the affairs of the Company for the year 
ending 31st December 181)7. 
The following is the detailed acreage of their 
property : — Acres. 
Tea and Coconuts over one year old .. 110 
Tea over one year . . . . 72 
Tea and Coconuts over 2 years old . . 17 ^ 
Tea and Rhea one year old .. ..la 
Cacao In bearing . . . . 52 
Cacao not in bearing with Coconuts . . 79 
Cacao, Coffee and Coconuts in bearing . . 13 
Coconuts four years old . . . . 11 
Liberian Coffee and Coconuts, two years.. 140 
509 i 
Jungle and Chena .. .. 
Total Acreage . . 1,189 
All the products, with the exception of the Libe- 
rian coffee, are coming on well, and the Directors 
propose to plant up the whole of the Liberian coffee 
in tea during 1898, and also 50 acres of the cacao 
“ not in bearing.” The whole of the tea was sup- 
plied in 1897, and the young plants are co-uing on 
satisfactorily. — Local “ Times.” 
♦ 
SALE OF PARA RUBBER SEED. 
Acting under the instructions of Mr. John C. 
Willis, Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens 
of Ceylon, Mr. C. E. Jrl. Symons, put up for 
sale at the Chamber of Commerce recently 
70,009 para rubber seeds in seven lots of 
10,000 each. The sale was poorly attended, there 
being only seven gentlemen present, besides Mr. 
Symons, but the bidding was s.atisfactory if not 
brisk. Mr. Symons opened the sale by reading the 
conditions under which the seeds were to be pur- 
chased, stating bliese to be that purcba.sers would 
be required to enter into a written agreement to the 
effect that the seed shall be culti>'ated in Ceylon 
in suitable districts and that it shall not be re- 
sold. Some desultory informal discu.ssion fol- 
lowed as to the interpretation of the phrase 
“suitable locality,'’ Mr. Symons explaining the 
matter by quoting from a letter. The fir.st lot 
of 10,000 seeds was put up for sale at the up- 
set price of R15, and the first bid was a rupee 
higher. The price briskly rose to R29, at which 
figure the hammer fell to the bid of Mr. M. Bremer 
on behalf of Messrs. Geo. Steuart & Co. The 
second and succeeding lots of 10,000 each w'ere 
put up at the upset price of R25. R27 closed 
the comjietition for the second lot for Messrs. 
Lee, Hedges & Co. Mr. R. J. Booth eapLiued 
the third lot (for Messrs. Cumberbatch & Co.) 
.at R26. The same figure won the fourth lot 
for Mr. R. F. S. Hardie on the bidding of 
Mr. Tullocdi. The fiftb lot fell at the upset 
price R25, to Me.ssrs. Finlay, Muir & Co. The 
same firm secured sixth lot for <a rupee higher (K26) 
ajul with aiiotlier rupee more (at R27) pur- 
chased tlie last lot as well. 
Bolivia has an area of 499,200,000 acres, and a 
population of 2,500,000, or an average of neai ly 200 
acres to eacli inhabitant. Tliis land is extremely 
rich in valuable woods, silver, copper, tin, etc., ?nd 
the soil Ls especially adapted to the cultivation of 
coffee and tobacco. — American Grocer, 
rsS 
SALE OF A VALUABLE DIMBULA TEA 
PROPERTY : 
OVER £102 AN ACRE PAID FOR HOLBROOK. 
We learn that the price paid by tlie Messrs. 
Wyse to Mr. Thos, Mackie, tlie seller of Hol- 
brook, in the Agra-patena division of Dim- 
bula, is £20,000. The estate consists of 188 
acres, of which 160 are in tea of all ages, 
W'ith 28 acres of grass, patna and some 
timber ; while trees are freely planted 
throughout the cultivated lands. There is 
no P’actory — the tea being made at Agra 
Ouvah— but there is a valuable Cattle Estab- 
lishment for Dairy, and Manuring purposes ; .and 
also roadside kaddies paying rent, where 
large lieaps of manure accumulate from 
time to time. The juice paid .shows that 
confidence in high-grown tea in Ceylon has 
by no means abated ; but as a residential 
property, Holbrook has a speci.al value, and 
it is besides a perfect model of a highly, 
cultivated plantation on fine soil, with a de> 
lightful Eastern aspect. The price, we need 
scarcely say, is equal to more than £120 per acre. 
Holbrook was originally opered as a .select 
“ home ” estate— a place to retire to whatever 
happened —by Mr. H. S. Saunders. When the 
bad days in coffee arrived, we believe Mr. Saunders 
more than once cheered his friends by remai king ; 
Well, if the worse comes to the worst, there is 
Holbrook to retire to !’ Alas wdien the big crash 
did occur, Mr. Saunders like so many more had 
to say good-bye to Ceylon; and Holbrook was taken 
over by Sir Alfred Dent’s Firm. E.xactly four years 
ago, Mr. Thomas Mackie purcha.sed this inodel 
little place and at a price that caused some people 
to think that Mr. Mackie was rather rash ; but 
with the result that — apart from .an income which 
has averaged £2,20.) per annum from the pro- 
perty, — Mr. Mackie has now doubled his capital 
plus £500 ! Tills, of course, is one of the ex- 
ceptional experiences — almost romances — connected 
with estate property in Ceylon of which we 
learn at rare intervals. Let in be clearly under- 
stood that Holbrook comprises one of the choicest 
bits of soil in the country, witli a perfect 
climate for tea ami to crown this, that most liberal 
and judicious cultivation h.as been followed by Mr. 
Mackie’s direction, admirably cariied out by his 
Superintendent Mr. Bartlett. Mr. Mackie has him- 
self been a noted cultivator since the old Pitikande 
(Matale) days— his successor thei-e Mr. Joseph 
Fraser, well maiKtaining the tradition. Purchasing 
Holbrook for over £10,000, Mr. Mackie of course 
at once formeit a large Cattle Establishment, having 
special advantages in grass and patena. Moreover 
the estate had a long row of way-side “ kad- 
die.s” for which rent was paid, and through 
which a further supply of manure was obtainable. 
Not only for mannre too, were the cattle valu- 
able : Holbrook Dairy supplied the: distiiet and 
liosi)ital, with tine milk and butter, and this 
made no alight adjunct to profits. Briefly, Dairy 
and Kaddies yielded an average of £550 clear 
profit per annum, reducing the crop return average 
to £1,700 ; but let it be miderstood that this latter 
c.ime almost entirely from 98 acres of tea which 
averaged 867 lb, per acre in crops, one field giving 
con-iderably over 1,000 1b. per acre while the price 
realised has always been nmch above the island's 
avemge. Of cour.se, liberal cultivation told ; but 
uhe soil and climate were so good that the little 
idace only required pruning once in three yeans. 
It will be seen therefore that the Messrs. Wyse 
buy on a ten per cent b.asis as regards the experi- 
ence of the past four years; but it may be asked 
