Sept. I, i866,j 



Tm tkOPlCAL AQktCVtVVtilBr. 



iOf 



tree outright and (so to speak) ages the whole pre- 

 maturely. With plants three to four years oi age 

 that have been cut across and plucked heavily there 

 will be more scope for ingenuity by the careful 

 application of the pruner. 



But tea that has been plucked alter the fasjiion 

 usual here, will require a long letter to itself, which 

 you shall have by and by. In the meantime let 

 me enforce upon my brother planters that there is 

 nothing which plays more havoc with a tea garden 

 than the injudicious use of either the knife or the saw. 



Assam Planter. 

 A good deal of what is denounced as cutting 

 down, has been advisedly resorted to in order to 

 get bushes into good shape, with all possible breadth 

 for plucking, present advantage being deliberately 

 sacrinced tor future benefits. — Eu.j 



CHEAP QUININE. 



Mr. John Hamilton (formerly of Dikoya) has 

 taken a step in the right direction in order to 

 make the cheapness of quinine known and appreciated. 

 He ought to try and get at the peole in the " fen " 

 and other marshy districts (if the oUl country whore 

 its use can be appreciated ; also at the velerinary 

 surgeons who promised to use it freely when cheap. 

 Out here also it is a boon to get really good cheap 

 quinine. — From an American journal wc take the 

 following : — 



Quinine from the Eetait, Standpoint. 



The. daily papors ot New York are taking unusual 

 mtertst in the quinine market. The Reporter has 

 already referred to an article which appeared 

 the other day about adulterations, and we reproduce 

 the following as the work of a reporter on the Trihuiu . 



"It may be some consolation to sufferers from 

 malaria to know that there is little if any impure 

 quinine in the market at present. This desirable 

 state of things is not due to any sudden spasm of 

 virtue on the part of druggists, but arises from causes 

 that are pure)} economical. Quinine is lower in price 

 now than it has ever been ; it is selling wholesale at 

 55 cents an ounce, and is so much cheaper propor- 

 tionatelj' thau its usual adulterants that a loss rather 

 than a profit would result from mixing these with it. 



' People are almost certain to get quinine pure this 

 season, no matter where tliey buy it,' said the pro- 

 prietor of one of the largo drug stores near the Post- 

 OfBce. ' The most unscrupulous druggist has no in- 

 centive to adulterate it now as he did when he used 

 $3 and $-i au ounce for it. Then it paid to mix it 

 with cinchona, which sold for §1 or so an ounce 

 Yes, that is about the only ingredient used and it 

 has the properties though not the strength of quinine. 

 About the only fault found with a compound of this 

 kind was that it lackedpower. Nothing injurious ever 

 resulted from its use nor, in fact, do I know of any 

 substance that would jjrobably be mixed with quinine 

 which might harm the system. The most despicable 

 form of fraud practised with this drug, is the short- 

 weight dodge. This is worked by some of the extreme 

 'cut-rate' stores and unprincipled dealers. They sell 

 a pill that contains but one grain of quinine for a 

 two-grain pill, thereby making just double the usual 

 profit, which one would think large enough at present. 

 An ounce of quinine costs the retail druggist a little 

 over 50 cents. There are 480 grains in an otuice. 

 At a cent a grain this gives a profit of over S-t an 

 ounce, allowing for the cost of the rice flour and gum- 

 arabic which form the body of the pills as well as 

 for the time required to roll them. Some of the high- 

 priced druegists charge two cents again, making a 

 profit of about §!• au ounce, or something like 1,800 

 per cent on their investment. The cheap stores I 

 referred to that give one grain instead of two to their 

 customers, make almost as much as this and few of 

 them are ever found out." 



" How do you account for the cheapness of the drug 

 at this time?" was asked. 



" Qainine, as you are aware, i.^ derived from Peru 

 viau or Jt-suit's bark obtained from Vi rious species of 

 cinchona which grow in the Columbian. Ecuador, Bolivian 

 and Peruvian forests of South America. The Coun- 

 tess de la Cinchona, wite of a Peruvian viceroy, was 

 cured of a fever by its use, and when she returned 

 to Europe introduced the medicine there about the 

 middle of the sc\enteenth century. It derived flie 

 naiiift cinchona from her. This bark used to be gathered 

 by the Cascarillas Indians chiefly, who obtained it by 

 cutting down the trees that produced it. This of 

 course, soon thinnel out the more valuable trees and 

 such was the reckless stupidity of the Peruvian gov- 

 ernment that, though it put every obstacle in the 

 way of the tree being planted elsewhere, it was never 

 attempted by a system of forestry to renew the riches 

 thus improvidently wasted. 'l"he result was that quinine 

 became scarcer and scarcer every year ; the price of it 

 went to an extravagant figure, and at one time it seemed 

 aa if this most important drug was likely to become 

 AinobtaiQable. It was at this time that the East Indian 

 government determined to try to naturalize the cinchona 

 tree in India. To obtain seeds and young plants was 

 a uillicult task, but Professor Clement R. Markham, 

 Dr. Spruce and others accomplished it, and in a 

 short time a nourishing plantation was yielding large 

 (|uantities of quinine on the Ncilgherry Hills of 

 Southern ludia. The tree has since become naturalized 

 in -Java, the niountanous, regions of .lamaica and 

 many other places, so that we arc almost if not en- 

 tirely independent of the Peruvian forests for this 

 great febrifuge. It is this increased production of 

 it all over the world, one might say, which is mak- 

 ing the drug cheaper and cheaper every year as the de- 

 mand for it becomes more widespread in this and 

 all other countries where 



" ' Men shiver and shake. 

 Dose, swear and bake.' " 

 [Such is fame ! No express mention ^ of Ceylon 

 which has simply revolutionized the world's trade 

 in bark and quinine.— Ed.] 



WYNAAD PLANTEES' ASSOCIATION. 



Proceedings of a general meeting, held at Pookote 

 Club, Wednesday, 4th August 188(5. 



Present :— Messrs. Abbott, Achard, Atzeuwiler, 

 Batty, Boosey, Imray, Jones, Towitt, D. Mackenzie, 

 W. R. Mackenzie, Tanqueray, vanReesema, Walker, 

 Winterbotham, and Romilly. Honorary Secretary ; Mr. 

 H. B. Winterbotham in the chair. 



CiiwhoiM. — Read letter from Mr. Batty on the 

 question of the approximate possible loss of weight in 

 bark in transit from the estates to the coast. Prom 

 the discussion which ensued and from actual results 

 stated, it would appear that the loss from all natural 

 causes, except theft, should not exceed three per cent 

 under any circumstances. 



Read an interesting paper forwarded by Mr. G. L. 

 Yonge giving the following statistics re the renewal of 

 Ledgeriana bark. 



" Hybrid. — Bark analysed from the same trees for 

 '1 years. 



Original ,, l'8l Sulphate of Quinine, 



Once renewed, . '6'ii ditto. 



Twice „ . , 4-H4 ditto. 



Thrice „ . , 5-20 ditto. 



Ltihjertt. — Original bark from narrow-leaved Ledgers 

 analysed last year gave 4'09 sulphate with total >")'97, 

 renewed bark, It months later, d'G'i sulphate with 

 total 8"49 hroad-lrured Lcdyais, 



Original last year 2''J0 sulphate with total Blil. 



Renewed 11 mouths 5"19 ,, ,, S'51. 



A broad-leaved Ledger recognised by Professor 

 Lawson as C. Calisaya Hembra, yielded 5'96 of stil- 

 phate of quinine with total of 100b. 



The Honorary Secretary called the attention of the 

 meeting to the Government Order in answer to the 

 representations of the Madras Chamber of Commerce 

 on the subject of their competion in cinchona cultiv- 

 ation, and asked whether the Association was pre- 

 jkjared to take any further actiou ia the matter. After 



