Apr 



IL I, 



1884. 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



76s 



THE QUININE SYNDICATE AND MR. HOWARD. 



Sir, — We have just read your editorial of Thursday, 

 24th January, on our telegram announcing thg drop 

 in Howard'.-i Quinine and our opinion that it would 

 result in the smash of the Syndicate. 



We feel sure you will oblige us by making public 

 that the interpretation you have put on part of our 

 circular is quite foreign and opposed to the infereuc 

 we wished to be drawn, and which we thought must 

 necessarily have been drawn from it. 



After quoting our words ending : — 



" At the cost of the planter, and to the profit prin- 

 cipally of that manufactory with which is connected the 

 name of the man who is above all others answerable 

 for the present deplorable state of affairs, — " 



You Fay : — 



"This of course refers to Mi-. Howard." 



Now we wish most emphatically to deny that we 

 intended this to apply to Mr-. Howard deceased or to 

 Messrs. Howard. We wish to add to our denial the 

 assertion that we consider that our worde would be 

 applicable to no one less than they would be to either 

 the late Mr. Howard or to Messrs. Howard. 



In fact, our opinion of the manner in which these 

 gentlemen do conduct, and always have conducted, 

 their business is such that we consider that, had all 

 manufacturers worked on the same lines as Messrs. 

 Howard, the Syndicate would never have existed, and 

 that the consumption of quinine would be at least 

 fifty per cent more than it now is. 



Y'ou also draw from our circular that Messrs. Howard 

 would have to forfeit a deposit. Kindly take note 

 that there was, so far as we know, and wc believe 

 we do know, no question of ever asking a deposit from 

 these, gentlemen, and we do not for a moment think 

 they ever entered into any written agreement of any 

 sort, and we should rather describe their connecti.ni 

 with the Syndicate a.s refraining from opposing it fur 

 a time, than as an actual participation in it. 



Why! We asked Messrs. Howard to work with us 

 to effect the dissolution of the Syndicate, only a few 

 days before their quinine drop, and we found from 

 their answer that they were already debating the matter 

 themselves. 



We should have thought that our words could only 

 point to a foreign manufacturer, seeing that it was by 

 continental buying in Ceylon that the planters' prices 

 arc spoiled both for the Colombo and Loudon markets. 



Kindly also allow us to express our surprize that 

 Mr. Howard deceased should have been considered a 

 monopolist by any one. The only thiii,- iu which, in 

 our opinion, he may have been considered to create a 

 monopoly was in hia keen interest in and contriliutions 

 to all that concerned the scientific aspects of the trade, 

 and his willingness to give very valuable information 

 to all who were seeking to improve the quality of 

 bark grown. 



We feel sure we can count on your publishing this 

 explanation without delay, as we exceedingly re»ret 

 that our name ahould even in the most indirect way 

 be coupled with any imputation on the conduct of 

 Messrs. Howard's business. 



Fkancois Le Mair & RivEKs Hicks. 

 London, 16th Feb. 18S4. 

 -Local "Times." 



COFFEE AND SYNDICATES 



are thus noticed by the Rio News : — 



In another column, we print a table communicated 

 to the Jornal do Commercio in reference to the coffee 

 production and consumption of the world. These 

 figures have met with criticism on the part of Messrs. 

 Berla, Cotrim & Co., of this city, who question the 



estimates printed by the Jornal and offer a radically 

 different statement, which, condensed amounts to about 

 the following : — 



Over estimate of pi-oduction iu Brazil... 1. 250. 000 bags 



do do do in other countries... 9S7.050 

 Under estimate of consumption ... 714 000 



Total ...2,951,050 bags 

 Now the Jornal'a figures give as a probable stock 

 on 30th June, 1885, 3,155,000 bags, and if Messrs. 

 Berla, Cotrim & Co.'s deductions be made, this stock 

 would be reduced to 204,000 bags, or a little less 

 than a week's consumption. This may be called a 

 starvation point in the coffee trade. We have no 

 interest in the bean, worse luck, but we have some 

 interest in endeavouring to keep our readers more 

 or less cognizant of the movements and manipulations 

 of the coft'ee market in Rio ; and this seems a fit 

 occasion to call their attention to the formation of 

 syndicates and corners to the manifest detriment of 

 legitimate trade. It is quite Utopian to suppose that 

 speculation can be done away with : nor do we con- 

 sider it at all for the benefit of commerce in general 

 that it should be. But there are speculations and 

 and speculations and it se.ems far from legitimate 

 speculation that combination should be formed with the 

 openly expressed intention of sustaining the price 

 ot any article, without regard to its position statistic- 

 ally, nor to the great law of supply and demand. 

 And still worse does it seem, to endeavour by a 

 shrewd management of figures to bolster up an article 

 in a position which is false and treacherous. The 

 fate of the great coffee operator in the United States 

 (to whom the Brazilian planters should present a 

 golden coffee tree), and of all those who have based 

 their calculations on untrustwortliy reports from tha 

 interior, should suffice to prevent consumers abroad 

 from listening to the syren's song ol' " short crops," 

 and should serve as a lesson tor those who are rapidly 

 following in their footsteps. As we have frequently 

 observed in these columns, crop reports are more or 

 less untrustworthy. However honest the informant 

 may be, his obsirvation is made as to a very small 

 part of the zone of production, and when interest, 

 either p»rsonal or nearly so, is to be served, we may 

 almost defy any man, however desirous he may be, 

 to be perfectly frank and free in bis estim,-)te3. We 

 have seen examples of this everywhere. American 

 cotton planters never make more than a fair crop. 

 Engli.'^h farmers rarely have average' crops. And yet 

 in the United States and England, the Government 

 takes note of these crops, and the planter and farmer 

 know that their estimates will be checked and proved 

 by officials who have no interest in the matter. How 

 different here in Brazil I Rain in one district has 

 played Old Harry with the bloom ; drought in an. 

 other has reduced the crop to " 200 p«- cent less than 

 that oj last season"; and yet the unbelievers see 

 the coffee coming in and each succeeding crop, as 

 shipped, proving the fallacy of estimates. Wecan sug- 

 gest nothing. Every good will has been shown us 

 in our endeavours to keep posted in this matter of coffee 

 crops, and in almost desperation, we can only say : 

 " Believe nothing that you hear and only one half that 

 you see." 



REPORT FROM A LOWCOUNTRY ESTATE 



NEAR HENARATGODA. 



17th March 1884. 

 The di-ought lasted from the 24th December to the llth 

 March: dmmg those ",5 days there were three showers, 

 17th Jan., 7th and 17th Feb., afrgi-egntuig, probably, from 

 U to 2 inches. Thi-ough the whole period, a strong, dry 

 wind for six hom-s daily aided the bright sunshine in 

 dessicating the soil. Since the llth there have been 



