^88 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
But reductions, as in tbe coffee crisis in the 
early eighties, must be general and the difficulty 
be grappled with in Colombo and London as well 
as on the estates. That there is room for 
cutting down in “ the Colombo and London 
charges” will be admitted from the following 
scal^ of charges elicited by a few planting share- 
holders at a meeting of the “Imperial Ceylon 
Tea Estates, Ltd.” this week : 
Beceiving and shipping tea in Colombo 1 cent per 
lb. plus export duty, and cess, etc. 
Commission on disbursement 1 per cent. 
London Agents’ commission 2 ,, 
When worked out these charges seem out of 
all proportion to the nett profits of 1897, thus : — 
Beceiving and shipg. at let. ex Is 3Jd= roughly £365 
Commission on disbursements at 1 %— „ 141 
Lon. Agents' i:om. engross sales 2 %= ,. 483 
General charges .. .. " 
Pireotors' fees . . . . • ■ 350 
£1,411 
Nett profit for 1897 .. .. .. 3689 
Directors of some Rupee Companies have waived 
their fees for the past year in view of the un- 
favourable results and this examide might be 
followed by others to the exteiB of making a 
reduction in fees in proportion to the decrease 
in the profits. , , ^ , , 
Tea is shipped, as almost everyone knows, at 
half a cent a pound, and London charges for 
selling one per cent. 
With tea prices lower than in 1897 and ex- 
change steady at about Is 4d, shareholders must 
be.stir themselve.s and let their voices be heard 
at the general meetings and retrenchment in 
every possible form be insisted on,— Yours faith- 
fully, 
an unfortunate shareholder. 
SILK CULTIVATION: A NEW INDUSTRY 
FOR CEYLON. 
10th April. 
Dear Sir,— When I wrote you some fifteen months 
aeo on this subject, I had had no opportunity of 
niaking trials with the castor-oil silkworms at any 
high elevations and merely expressed the opinion 
that its cultivation would pay well in all the lower 
districts. Since then trials have been made at 4,0G0 
and 5 000 feet with sati.sf.actory results. In each case, 
though handicapped by a short supply of leaf and 
by want of accommodation for large numbers, the 
worms have been reared without any casualties and 
have produced very good cocoons. 
A brood takes longer, of course, in a cold climate 
than in the lowcountry whore eight ‘crops’ are yielded 
in a vear, hut this would probably after a little while 
be oompeesated for by a finer yield of silk. The 
castor-oil plant grows luxuriantly at all elevations, 
but the leaves are smaller in a cold district. 
Trials have also been made at the elevations abive 
mentioned with tbe Japmese and the Bengal 
mulberry- feeding silkworms with results which show 
that their cultivation will pay better than tea has 
done for a long time past on many estates. The 
object in view hitherto has been to improve the 
stamina c,£ each species by careful selection. As 
regards the cultivation of the mulberry-feeding worms, 
those who contempla e taking it up should begin by 
planting mulberry trees amongst their tea and in 
other suitable places, as the leaf is not fit for feeding 
silkworms until the trees are two or two and a half 
VGfirTB old* 
^ The Colombo School of Agriculture might be of 
use in starting the cultivation of the castor-oil silk- 
worms in the lowcountry.— Yours faithfully, B. 
[May 2, 1898. 
STERLING TEA COMPANIES AND 
TEA PRICES. 
Dimbula Estate, Kotagala, April 15. 
Dear Sir, — Will you allow me to point 
out that your “Editorial Note” headed 
“ Sunnygania Tea Estates Company” is 
not perfectly correct. A.s yon may see from 
Messrs. Wilson, Smitliett & Co.’s Annual Cir- 
cular for 1897, fiueonsberry estate sold in that 
year in London about .301,5001b. tea at an aver- 
age of 8^d per Ih. .against an average ot 
8d per lb. in 1893 for a somewhat smaller 
quantity. In both years the whole produce of 
the estate was sold in London ; tlie estate belongs 
to the Kotiiiale Valley Estates Co. of Ceylon 
(Ltd. ), which has a sterling capital and its offices in 
London. 1 his Company paid last month an interim 
dividend of 4 per cent on its ordiii.ary stock, being 
at the same rate as tor the corresponding period 
of last season. I quite agree with you that at 
present, Colombo prices for certain classes of tea 
are considerably above tlioee ruling in London. 
The question is how long it will last?— Yours, etc 
J. ROYDON HUGHES. 
CANAIGKE-A TANNING PRODUCT-AND 
NOT IN MUCH REQUEST. 
Sir,— your correspondent’s remarks on 
Canaigre, this plant undoubtedly merits well- 
directed trials on upcountiy estates, judging by 
the rate of yield I am told Mr. Nock has obtained 
at Hakgala gardens. Unfortunately, however, it is 
a tanning piodnct, and other sources of tan not 
requiring cultivation are practically nnliniited. 
Probably it is for tins reason that, according to 
the Australian Tropieulturist, Agricultural De- 
partments have failed to force the Canaigre on 
the attention of Australian farmers, some of whom 
regard it as being no better than the common 
dock, which it closely resembles. — Yours, 
ENQUIRER. 
PLANTIG NOTES. 
Timehei 9 The Journal of the Eoyal Agricul- 
tural AND Commercial Society of British Guiana.” 
— Contents for December, 1897 : — Papers — Some Neo- 
tropical Bird.s, by C. A. Lloyd; Abortive Publica- 
tions, by the Editor ; Agriculture in 1829, by 
William Hilhouse ; Our Peasant Population — Their 
Past Condition and Future Prospects, by Seaforth 
M. Bellairs ; The Bo.a Constrictors, by J. J. Quelch ; 
B. Sc. Lend., C.M.Z.S., Among my Books, by J. G. 
Cmickshank ; Occasional Note ; Beports of Society’s 
Meetings, from July to December, 1897. 
Ergot is a Disease of Grasses, which is 
different from smut. It attacks the tiower, and 
assumes the form of large grains, which are in 
this case also the resting stage of the disease, re- 
maining quescent tliiougli the winter months until 
the grasses, corn, &c., are tlowenng when spores 
are formed in the ergot to be carried by the 
wind to attack the flowers. Smut or ergot in 
corn and hemileia in coffee cannot be considered 
analogous. — Mr. Wm. Fawcett, B.Sc., F.L.S., 
Jamaica. 
DEAFNESS, 
An e.ssay describing a really 
genuine Cure for Deafness. 
Ringing in Ears, &c. , no matter how severe or long- 
standing, will he sent post free. — Artificial Ear- 
drums and similar appliances entirely suiierseded. 
Address THOMAS KEMPE, Victoria Cham- 
bers, 19, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, 
London. 
