Sni'T. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



177 



MORE ABOUT INSECT POWDEB. 



Stockton, Cal., June -1. 



TO THE EDITOR OIL. PAINT AND DBCG REPOHTEK, 



In your issue of l^Iay 26, you published an article 

 from the l)riu/</Ut's Circular under the caption of 

 •' The Truth About Insect Towder," which we have 

 r.ad witfi interest as it is a fair statement of the 

 (|aalities r.l' dillerent kinds of insivt powder now upon 

 the market. 



The writer of the aforesaid article has however 

 failed to explain how that powder manufactured from 

 llowers similar in appearance and condition, may 

 materially vary in strength and power as an insecticide. 



Having been engaged for several years in culti- 

 vating the plants and manufacturing the powder there- 

 from, we have ascertained that much depends upon 

 the conditions of the atmosphere during the time the 

 plant is maturing and while the flowers are being 

 dried after they are picked. The value of the powder 

 depends upon the quantity of essential oil contained 

 in the flowers of the plant. This oil is partially soluble 

 in water and when rains or heavy dews fall upon 

 the plant, while the flowers are maturing or wbile 

 they are being dried, the effect is particularly injurious 

 to the powder. Consequently the dryer the atmosphere 

 during the time the plant is in blossom and afterward 

 while the flowers are being dried for grinding, the 

 stronger and more effective will be the powder produced 

 therefrom. Powder made from flowers that have been 

 grown and cured under favorable conditions, may be 

 kept in cans hermetically sealed for years without 

 lo.siug its insect destroying properties, and consumers 

 of the powder will always find it cheaper and more 

 satisfactory to purchase in cans rather than in bulk, 

 and if but a limited quantity is used they had better 

 purchase in small cans, and there is no reason why 

 the smaller packages should not be kept by all dealers, 

 I?i!HACH I'RODrciNG AND ManiV; Co. 



COIiLECTING THE ORANGE FLOWER CROP 

 IN FRANCE.* 



BY I. CREUSE. 



The usual time beginning the collection of the crop 

 on the IMediterranean shore is from April 25 to May 1, 

 and the gathering lasts about one month or five weeks. 

 The (juantity gathered, rather small at first, gradually 

 increases, and after May 10 reaches its full proportion. 



The orange tree, indigenous in India, is thought to 

 have reached Arabia towards the end of the ninth cen- 

 tury, but made its appearance in southern France only 

 during thr sixteenth; at least, such is the period at 

 which it bf^gan to be mentioned. At any rate, the orange 

 groves of the vicininy of Hyeres were in l.joii reported to 

 have the appearance' of large forests, and the trees were 

 equally cultivated at St. Chamas, Fiejus, Cannes, Val- 

 lauris, Aix, and in ISIarseilles itself. 



At present Vallauris, whose name ajiparently comes 

 from I'ctUviii airraniii, or its Piovencal equivalent, is the 

 headquarters of the orange flower industry, and has 

 lately aciiuired considerable importance. The climate of 

 the place, being a very temperate one, is quite favourable 

 to the cultivation of the orange trees. As no less than 

 fifteen distilleries for making orange flower water and 

 neroli are located in Vallauris, the town may justly 

 claim to be the centre of this sort of manufacture. 



The picking of the flowers employs no less than two 

 thousand persons. As the crop usually averages one 

 million kilograms, that is, one thousand tons, its impor- 

 tance, notwithstanding the variations of prices, is easily 

 understood as a source of revenue for the localities where 

 the orange tree is grown for its flowers alone. The 

 variety cultivated is the hic/arndicr, or bitter oiange, pro- 

 ducing very fragrant blossoms but bitter fruits. From 

 1880 to 18f<2 orange flowers sold from thirty to sixty 

 francs a hundred kilos. In 1883, frost having destroyed 

 most of the crop, the prices rose to three hundred and 

 sixty francs; but last year it remained between seventy- 

 five ard one hundred francs. The coming crop promises 



* From the Dn'gists' Circular, July. 



to be fair. Some groves have suffered from frosts, but 

 the evil is not general, and there are good prospects of a 

 fine quality of flowers. 



The yield of neroli greatly varies according to the 

 season when the flowers are collected. Those gatherj^d 

 at the beginning barely produce half a gram to the kilo 

 of blooms (one-half of one per thousand), while near the 

 end of May they afford one gram or more. Hence th** 

 average yearly yield of essential oil is seventy-fivo thon- 

 B.ind kilos, or about one himdred and sixty-five thousand 

 pounds. To this may be added from twelve to fifteen 

 hundred tons of orange tlowcr water which is produced 

 at the same time as the essential oil. — Pharmactuticai 

 Jouriial. 



♦ 



CINCHONA BARK PROSPECTS. 

 As a general thing, operators in (juiniue are not 

 disposed to place much faith in bark statistics, but 

 they nevertheless have an influence in directing the 

 market for the alkaloid. The excessive stock of barks 

 in London is said to be a great bearish element, and 

 that the declining tendency of quinine is to be 

 attributed more to that fact than anything else, but 

 the trouble is that figures are accepted as represent- 

 ing the supply and demand without proper invest- 

 igation. A correspondent takes the Ceylon Observer 

 to task for not placing London bark statistics in 

 t their true light, and explains that a large proportion 

 of the stock is composed of old importations of Cupreaii 

 I bark for which there is no demand, presumably on 

 j account of poor quality. The large )iumber of pack- 

 I ages usually reported as the London stock gives out 

 ! an erroneous impression when not accompanied bv an 

 j explanation. The correspondent in question reduces 

 1 the actual stock at least twelve million pounds by 

 1 giving the weights of the packages, many of which 

 j are serons weighing about one hundred and fifty 

 pounds each, and cases of druggists' quills which do 

 not average as a rule more than one hundred pounds 

 each, and bales of Java bark weighing from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds each. The 

 weight of the packages being over-estimated hereto- 

 fore the stock was made to appear much larger 

 than it really was. 



By advices received ' last Saturday, we Icaru that 



operations in the Java field are exciting great interest 



' in Ceylon, and planters in the "atter place are seeking 



information from every channel possible to ascertain 



j the future possibilities of competition. An anxious 



I correspondent writes to the Straits Times for infor- 



I mation on this point, and adds : — 



' As the future of the .Tava field is being watched 



': with interest by quinine manufacturers, as well as 



I planters in Ceylon and elsewhere, we (?ive below an 



extract from a Java paper called the feourabaya Currant, 



which gives a gloomy report from that section. 



Speaking of a disease attacking the roots of cinchona 



trees, in "West Java, it says : 



A letter from a Ceylon planter is published in the 

 Tropical A gricultu/rlit just to hand, in which he .says : — 

 " Having had occasion to travel in several districts 

 in search of a piece of land for cinchona, I was very 

 much struck at the small area in cinchona chiefly 

 in the olden districts— of course, I mean, compared 

 to what it used to be two years ago. Most certainly 

 Ceylon is not likely to export the quantity of bark 

 that has lately overflowed the market, and so on. 

 (!inchona planters in Java are not taking kindly 

 to the Amsterdam market, as they find it more to 

 their interest to ship bark to London, owing to quick 

 settlements, a more businesslike method, and higher 

 prices realized for .Tava bark in the English metropo- 

 lis. Amsterdam will not likely create a stir as a 

 competitive bark market, for the present at least. 

 We have attempted in the above remarks to throw 

 some light on a very dark subject, but the half has 

 not been told. A veil of secresy covers the whole cin- 

 chona and quinine industries, and it cannot be lifted ex- 

 cept by some one in the inner circle. Foreign 

 papers don't seem to realize the importance of thoroughly 



