May I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



803 



SOME PERSIjVN FKUITS. 



B Y W. G. 



I have copieil the eucloseJ notice of Persian fruits from 

 a recent work on Persia,* by Mr. 0. J. Wills, an English 

 surgeon who spent some time in that country, and who has 

 given an agreeable ami instructive account of his sojourn. 

 It occurs it me that you may like the extracts for the 

 Gardeners' Monthly. Every one knows thiit many of our 

 best fruits came originally from the East, liut the fruits 

 which Mr. AVills mentions have not tu the best of my 

 knowledge fouud their way to this country. We have a 

 minister at the Persian coxurt, but 1 am at a loss to know 

 what he has to do. Why should he not collect roots, cuttings 

 and seeds anil send them to the Agricultural Bm-eau at 

 AV'ashington tot distribution? 



Page alU: Persia has particularly fine quinces and pome- 

 granates. The latter I have seen of four pounds weight. 

 The Ispahan quinces are sent all over the comitry, packed 

 in cotton as jnesents. They give forth a very strong and 

 agreeable perfume which is much delighted in by the natives ; 

 and they are passed from hand to hand and savored like 

 a sweet-scented flower. The Attar-beg pomegranates have 

 no perceptible seed and their flavor is very delicious. Their 

 variety is great — sweet, sour, or sour-sweet; they vary, too, 

 from white to almost black in the pulp. ■ 



Page 168: These latter (apricots) grow in great perfection 

 in Ispahan; they are seven known kinds, six of which are 

 sweet, and one bitter. The most valued variety is the shukken- 

 para; it is excessively sweet aud cloying. All grow to a 

 great size, and so great is the plenty that the fruit in an 

 ordinary season is sold for two pence-farthing the fourteen 

 puuuds or mauud. The orchai'ds where the apricot is grown 

 are generally sowu with clover; the trees are never thinned, 

 but notwithstanding this, the finest apricots in the world 

 are certainly produced in Ispahan. 



Great quantities of dried ffLUt are exported from Ispahan, 

 ■which is celebrated tor its "keiri," or dried apricots ; these 

 are merely the fallen fruit which is either too much bruised 

 for sale or has not found a market. They are simply placed 

 in the sun, and become in a week dry, hard aud semi- 

 transparent, thus forming a very portable food ; the stones 

 are of course removed and the fruit becomes as hard as 

 bone ; an hour's soaking renders them fit to eat, or when 

 stewed they are delicious, being so very sweet as to require 

 no added sugar. 



Small melons, called "gerwak" and " tellabi" now (Jlay) 

 make their appearance ; these, though far superior to any- 

 thing produced in England, are not much thought of. The 

 big brown melon or •• karbiza " of Gourg-ab which will keep 

 good a year and attains an enormous size, some Ijeing seventy 

 aud eighty pounds in weight, is more highly prized ; the 

 flesh is white and tastes like a Jersey pear. They grow 

 ^>u a soft soil, are heavdly manured with pigeon dung and 

 freely irrign ted until the plant flowers. Many choice varieties 

 of melon abound, as the "Shah passaud" or king's favorite, 

 and others. The "Thridiwana" or water melons are of 

 three kinds, the red fleshed, the yellow fleshed and the white 

 fle.shed; these run from three to twenty-eight pounds in 

 weight as an ordinary size ; there are long aud rovmd de- 

 scriptions. The skin varies from pale green to almost black 

 with green blotches; the latter are the best. — Garh:ncrs' 

 Montldy and Horticulturist. 



are reported to have been made at even lower figures, and 

 it was beUeved m trade circles that the lowest point had 

 not been reached. Interest in the article had begun to 

 subside somewhat, and from an active speculative article 

 there was every appearance that quinine would become 

 oue of the articles dealt in only iu a legitimate manner 

 and neglected entirely by speculative buyers, as was the 

 case with opium after the memorable failure of the syndic- 

 ate to coutrol the markets of the world aud bring about 

 a boom iu that drug. 



This was the condition of affairs a week ago, but it ap- 

 pears the speculative fever was only slumbering, and re- 

 quired only a spark to kindle it into unwonted activity. 

 ■The spark was .supphed by the fire at the works of Powers 

 & AVeightman. No sooner was the announcement made 

 in the papers that a fire was raging in these works, than the 

 price of quinine went up five, ten, fifteen, and then twenty 

 cents per ounce, and the speculative fever was in full pos- 

 session of the operators, who by their exaggerated reports 

 of the destruction of quinine, both finished and in process 

 of manufacture, caused more excitement in the market 

 than has been seen here in two years. Those who had 

 quinine to sell asked exorbitant prices, and others, who 

 were in a position to make contracts for future deUvery 

 of German, took advantage of the situation to realize prices 

 that a week ago they would have thought impossible with- 

 out another combination of manufacturers or a protective 

 duty. But the fever was on, and buyers were more plenti- 

 ful than sellers had been while the market had a down- 

 ward tendency. Sales have been made of German in bulk 

 at Sl'50 aud orders booked for later delivery at Sl'45. All 

 this has been done without either buyers or sellers knowing 

 the exact state of the situation at Philadelphia, or whether 

 the firm suffering by the conflagration would be able to 

 supply quinine or not during the next three months, the 

 operations being apparently on the assumption that they 

 would not. When Power "& Weightman announced that 

 all their contracts were cancelled by reason of the fire, 

 then the speculative fever was at its height, and no one 

 seemed to iuquire into the exact condition of supply and 

 demand, the only object appeared to be to secure or engage 

 a supply. 



The reaction has not yet set in, but it will not be long 

 before the speculative months will find they have singed 

 their wings in this fire. Speculative crazes iu quitnne 

 have heretofore been of frequent occurrence, and as a rule 

 we liave been able to point out their folly and have shown 

 why and how they would result in loss to the operators 

 coiifi<leut of large profits ou their investments, but we 

 have encountered none in our experience for which there 

 was less cause and which will likely show a more speedy 

 reaction than the present. The Philadelphia house announce 

 that not an ounce of their stock of quinine, manufactured 

 or in process of manufacture, and not a pound of their 

 supply of bark, had been destroyed, and the probability 

 is that within a week they will deliver goods as hereto- 

 fore. That their manufacturing facihties have become 

 crip))led is, of course, tn'.e '■-\\\ means will be taken to 

 remedy this misfortune as .speedily as possible. And when 

 they again offer quinine for prompt delivery, what is to 

 become of the foreign quinine so eagerly purchased at tho 

 higher prices? A little more prudence would prove pro- 

 fitable, but jn-udeuce is an unkuown quantity with th» 

 average speculator in quinine. — In'lependent liecord. 



THE SITUATION IN QUININE. 



It is now a little more than a month since we had oc- 

 casion to announce the collapse of the quiuiue syndicate 

 which, though reported aud believed to have been a bar- 

 gain that would continue in force for a long time, we st.ated 

 at the time the first announcement of its formation was 

 made, could not be expected to last very long for rea- 

 sons then given. The breaking up of this combination of 

 mamifacturers very naturally had a very depressing effect 

 tqion vnhies, and the price has since been more or less 

 steadily ou the downward course. The operations in a 

 speculative way have since been comparatively light, as 

 few had sufficient confidence in the article to invest heavily 

 even at the low prices at which supplies were offered. The 

 price of German quinine dropped to SllO and some sales 



CHEMISTRY OF COTTON. 



In November last, Professor Dabney, State Chemist of 

 North Carolina, read an interesting paper in this city, 

 before the Society of Arts, on the chemistry of cotton. 

 We present below an extract from a report made by Mr. 

 Swain the secretary. In future numbers of Science A'eu-s, 

 other portions of the paper will be presented. It will not 

 only interest our patrons in the cotton-growing States; 

 but all intelligent cultivators of the soil will read the state- 

 ments and statistics with pleasure and profit. 



Dr. Dabney prefaced his papi-r with the remark that 

 a number of subjects in regard to the Southern States 

 might he named which would interest the society equally 

 as much as the one he had chosen. Within the last few 

 years the phosphate industry— the rlevelopment of the 



'The Land of the Lion and the Sim," by 0. J. Wills. I high-grade phosphatic deposits near Charleston, S.C, and 



