February i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



SS9 



BREAK-UP OF THE QUININE MANUFACT- 

 UaERS' SYNDICATE AND THE PRO- 

 SPECTS OF THE CINCHONA 

 MARKET. 

 We must wait in order to be able to appreciate 

 the full effects of what, from our special telegram, 

 appears to be the dissolution of the Quinine Manu- 

 facturers' Syndicate by the action of the Howards in 

 reducing the price of their quinine to 6s 3d per ounce. 

 If the other manufactui'ers follow suit, l.iS4 may 

 probably see the great fever medicine down to 5s 

 an ounce, with enormous benefit to suffering humanity, 

 an<l ultimately, we trust, with corrcsponiling benefit 

 to the at present unfortunate planter. Tlie lowering 

 of the price of an article of world-wide use has 

 always the effect of lar-jely increasing consumption, 

 and subsequently the use of the article is continued, 

 even if prices go ujj considerably. But, even if prices 

 are to remain permanently at one- half those which 

 have for many years prevailed, that state of things 

 will be better for the planters' iulerest.s than tile 

 deadlock which recently existed. The manufacture of 

 the feijrifuge will be so largely increased to meet in- 

 creased consumption, that there will be a steady 

 /narket, ins'ead of a fluctua'ing demand, with periods 

 of depression when i)ro(luce nmst be sold at un- 

 renmnerative prices. As fir as Ceylon is concerned, 

 there can be no doubt that supplies of bark will, for 

 several years to come, be on a greatly restricted scale. 

 Twig bark and shavings from immature trees will cease 

 to go forward, in view of the bitter experience of the 

 past, in M hich prices did not pay freight, not to speak 

 of the large numbers of trees uprooted or so coppiced, 

 that those which survive will be years before they 

 yiold marketable bark again. Discouragcnieut has 

 already done its work, and on many estates we have 

 no doubt cinchonas have been removed, either to inake 

 room for the new favourite, tea, cr to give old King 

 Coffee a better chance, for that revival of which many 

 see signs of promise. Meantime, we should like to 

 spe the question cf gradual reduction of alkaloids, in- 

 stead of the increase which some reported, set at rest 

 by a series of well-conducted and trustworthy experi- 

 ments. In .Java the progress in Ledgeriairas has been 

 ever onward. No doubt all in Ceylon who possess 

 suitable soil and climate would do well to devote 

 their attention to this the fine-t kind, witli its thick 

 bark, rich in alkaloid; but people can only cultivate 

 what will gi-ow, ami there is a gi-eat deal of room 

 fi.r druggisis' bark. 'there seems room to hope 

 fc)r an improvement in the demand for cin- 

 chona bark, and there certainly is much room 

 for improvement ; much room also for the use of 

 the febrifuge wliere it is not now used. If we could get 

 correct infurmation we should probably find that not 

 a tenth of the supply which ought t j accompany 

 the French troops to the marshes of Tonquin is on 

 board the French transports. For the French army 

 at home, we know the supply is scanty, while in 

 JIussia, where marsh fever is specially prevalent, we 

 believe no qniniue or allied febrifuge is supplied to 

 the troops. '1 he prices given for quinine and the 

 risks run to obtain supplies of this medicine during 

 the Civil War in America proved how essential it 

 is fcr the southern portions of the United states. In 

 trnlh only a fraction of the human family is. as yet 

 ablj to use what would be of benefit to all, and 



would save millions of lives annually. There is, 

 therefore, we s\ibmit, a good prospect before those 

 who have successful cinehoua plantations of a fair 

 market for their pioduce, especially the better 

 qualities. 



TEA CULTIVATION IX ASSAM. 

 (From the Enyliskmun.) 

 From the report on the state of tea culture in Assam for 

 the year 18S2, we see that there were 1,017 gardens in exist- 

 ence during that period. Of these 743 are situated in the 

 Assam valley, and i'iim the. surma valley. The area under 

 cultivation during' the year was 178,851 acres, divided be- 

 twetn mature and iumiature plants, in the proportion of 

 15t),707 acres luid 2'i,144 acres respectively. The laud taken 

 up by the planters during lb»2, but not yet planted out, 

 was ti04,511 acres, so that the total area actually held by 

 them was 783, 3<i2 acres, or an increase of 76,713 acres over 

 that of ISsl. Within the la>t five years, the area under 

 tea, together with the total area takcu up and held as tea 

 grants, have increased greatly. In 1878 the figures stood at 

 587,409 acres, while in tile year under report, we fiud it to 

 have increased to 783,302 acres, thus ijiviug an increa.se of 

 19.5,1)53 acres in five ycar.s. The yield of t- a in the year 

 under notice amounted to 45,472,(,m 11)., of which 17,383,136 

 lb. were manufactured in the Surma valley, and 2s,( 89,805 

 lb. in the Assam valley. Tlie increase over the out-turn of 

 the preceding year amounts to 7.S)ll,630 lb., or an increase 

 of ;.U percent, iiome part of this iucrea.^e, it is said, is to 

 be accounted lor by the fact that better information has 

 been, obtained this year, but undoubtedly a great portion of 

 the incrca.se shown is a real increase given by a larger acre- 

 age of mature plant, and lielpcd by a more favouiable year, 

 the aveia^'e yield per acre of mature plants has been 230 

 lb., as compared with 282 in the previous year. Of the tea 

 districts, Kachar heads the list with an out-turn of 12,721.327 

 lb, and Sib^a^:lr come ne.xt with 11,347.3371b. The other 

 disiricts come in the following order : — Lakhimpur, 8,125,257 

 lb.; Silhet, 4.(;6O,200 lb,; Darrang, 4,35(f,lD8 Hi.; Nau- 

 gong, 3,253,2159 lb. ; Ivamrup, t)ol,35-l lb. ; and Goalpara, 

 60.278 lb. The following fi^'ures illustrate the growth of 

 tea production in Assam during the last five years, audv.il!, 

 perhaps, be of interest to our readers : — 



1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 



Assam lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. 



Valley 18,823,602 19,650,824 21,493,639 23,725,026 28,089,805 

 Surma 

 Valley 9,68.'5,9l6 11,735,812 12,519,914 13,848,285 17,483,136 



Total... 28,509,548 31.:i-ii.r,..r, 34,013,583 37,571,311 45,472,941 



Average 

 per acre 

 of mature 

 plants 230 278 282 282 290 



In Goalpara the average cost of cultivation is believed to 

 be i; !o to H50 per acre, and the cost of manufacture of a lb. 

 of tea 2J annas. In Kamrup the cost of cultivation ranges 

 from R30 to KITO, and tlie cost of manufacture from 5 to 9 

 aneas per lb. In Naugongthe cost of cultivation is estim- 

 ated at R70 per acre, and the cost of mamifacture, including 

 carriage to Calcutta, at 7 annas per lb. lu Lakhimpur the 

 cost of cultivation is returned from Rl-4 to R240 per acre, 

 and the cost of mamifacture from 5 to 8 annas per lb. In 

 Kachar, the cost of cultivation is between EldO aud 120 

 per .acre, while in Silhet, R5yil is given as the average 

 cost of cultivation, and 5 annas as the cost of mauufactuto 

 per lb. For the other districts no estimate is given. 



Of the fifty-six tea companies holding estates in A.ssam 

 and registered in India, two show no paid-up capital, while 

 the remaining fifty-four represent a paid-np capital of 

 Rl,71,48,607, and ofthe.iiethe following details are given: 

 Eleven have struck their balance-sheets of profit and loss only 

 up to the 31st December. 1881, forty-one have struck their 

 balance-sheets np to the 31st December, 1882, aud two con- 

 cerns, with a capital of K5.17,''39, have struck no balance- 

 sheet of profit and loss. Of the torty-oue companies which 

 show balance-sheets of profit and loss in 1,-82, twenty-four 

 companies show profits amounting to R4, 10,254, aud seven- 

 teen cumpanies show losses amounting altogctln-r to 

 R2,46,0b8. The net earnings upon the capital employed 



