454 



THE TRdPlCAL AGRICtJLTURISt. 



fjAN. I, I 



I i TTrrtin 



five and six years< after which there is no apparent 

 increase. 



19. In the second table of red barks, the same fact 

 is shown that the bark has attained its maximum 

 content of alkaloids when between 5 and 6 years of 

 age. The quinine increases up to 12 years, but, as 

 pointed out before, the renewed bark of the younger 

 trees would much exceed the slightly increased value 

 of these older barks. The trees of 16 and 20 years 

 show a marked deterioration in alkaloids, although 

 the bark is often in large thick fibrous pieces similar 

 to the drug that was originally exported from the 

 South American forests. 



20. Effect of Mould on Bark.— It has been stated 

 that bark loses much of its virtue when allowed to 

 get mouldy or when kept in a damp atmosphere. I 

 ■was asked more than a year ago to analyse some 

 mouldy bark to obtain its value but not knowing the 

 composition of the fresh bark the result would not 

 have been very useful. I have, therefore, made an 

 experiment which shows that little if any effect is 

 produced by prolonged contact with mould. A sample 

 of powdered bark of known composition was taken in 

 December 1884 and kept in an open dish on the 

 floor of a dark damp room, a fungus (Penicillium) 

 Bet in in a fortnight, and spread itself over the sur- 

 face of the powder, and slightly increased its weight. 

 The bark was constantly stirred so that fresh bark 

 from beneath might be influenced by the fungus. It 

 was mixed occasionally for 10 months and as the 

 mycelium had by then penetrated to every particle 

 of the powder it was analysed in October 1885, with 

 the following reeults: — 



Original Mouldy 

 bark. bark. 



Quinine 282 2 80 



Oinchonidine 1'22 1'25 



Quinidine '18 '11 



Cinchonine -90 -87 



Amorphous '31 -45 



Total. 



5-43 



5-48 



21. It is thus manifest that the analyses, being al- 

 most identical, moulded barks of 10 months are not 

 neeessarily deteriorated. 



22. Liquid Extract of Cinchona, — At the suggestion 

 of Dr. Cornish last year, I prepared a sample of li- 

 quid cinchona which was reported upon most favor- 

 ably by several medical officers in the Presidency and 

 called forth an order from Government for the pre- 

 paration of 1,000 lb. (G.O., No. 550, 12th May 1885). 

 In August last, 1,000 lb. of bark were supplied to the 

 Medical Stores in Madras, and resulted in the manu- 

 facture of 595 lb. of liquid extract {vide demi-official 

 letter from Principal B-Iedical Storekeeper, dated 10th 

 September 1885.) As a loss must have taken place 

 in this outturn I received orders to produce another 

 batch immediately under my supervison in Ootaca- 

 mund (G.O., No. 55, 25th January 1886). 5001b. of 

 bark was powdered by the Medical Store Department, 

 the maceration with the necessary chemicals and 

 percolation was conducted in my laboratory, and the 

 evaporation was made in ordinary chatties in an ad- 

 joining out-house ; 340 lb, of liquid cinchona of the 

 prescribed strength, 40 grains to the ounce, were 

 thus made in two months at a cost of R211 as de- 

 tailed below: — 



BS- A. V. 



Grinding 500 lb. of bark 4 



Glycerine 62 



Acid 9 



Fuel 24 



Labor .< 20 



Chatties 3 8 



BOO lb. of branch succirubra bark esti- 

 mated at 3 annas per lb. (taken the 



current value of the unit of quinine) 94 



Eent ,., ... -. ... 5 



Total .. 211 8 

 Allowing for the high cost of buying the chemicia 

 lb Madras iustead of from Uoudou direct, audtaku 



1 



Into account the special expenses of this experiment, 

 t coii-sider that if made on a large scale and con- 

 finously, it should not cost more than R7 or R7-8-0 

 (,or an amount of liquid extract containing 1 lb. of 

 olid ferbrifuge. 



Appendix. 

 Analysis of Cattle manure stored in covered pits 

 on the Government estates. 



Water 7-9 



* Organic matter 61'1 



f Ash soluble in acid ... ... ... 12'7 



Siliceous residue 18-3 



Total... 100 



Analysis of sample of Peat from the Djdabetta 

 Plantation and used for burning at the drying sheds' 



Organic mater 8!d-8 



Siliceous ash 13'2 



Total. 



1000 



Statement showing the Quantity of Seed, &c., sold to 

 the Public during 1885-86. 

 Particulars, Seed. Plants. 



Chickmagalur Coffee Prospects.— The rains have 

 been timely and mother earth very prolific. The 

 berries on coffee plants set well and have developed 

 nicely, in some quarters of the district where the tem- 

 perature rises very high during the day, the berries are 

 ripening and picking will soon commence, and the cry 

 for labour is beginning to rise. There are planters who, 

 owing to one reason and another, are always able to 

 command sufficient labour, but there are other unfor- 

 tunates who can never get sufficient, in consequence 

 of which, fine estates are overgrown with weeds, and 

 useless suckers have to be allowed to drain the plants 

 of their very life-sap, and thus the quantity of berries 

 is injuriously aftected. Those who look for labour only 

 within the district generally meet with disappointment ; 

 others import their labour from South Canara and more 

 distant parts. — D. V.— Madras JVecklt/ Mail. 



How TO Bulk Tea. — A gentleman, some years in the 

 China Tea trade, gives the following method as being the 

 simplest and least expensive : Four square and wooden 

 posts grooved on two of the adjoining sides, and several 

 planks of say, 18 inches in breadth are all that are re- 

 quired. These should be made into a pit or large box, 

 the posts forming the corners and the planks the sides. 

 The pit should be built raised some 4 feet from the 

 ground, the bottom being made of having a sliding 

 trap-door in the centre, so made that the outlet can 

 be enlarged or reduced according to the size of the 

 leaf to be bulked ; when the pit is being filled with 

 tea the trap-door remains closed. The tea to be bulked 

 should be spread out in layers as thin possible, one 

 quality on top of another, until all the tea required to be 

 bulked is inside the pit. Now open the trap-door, and 

 the tea will run out from the top, taking a little from 

 each layer in its downward course, the result being a 

 perfect bulk. The bottom of the box should be made 

 slightly on a slope from the sides to the centre near 

 the aperture, so that the tea may get away equally. 

 By means of a zinc tube the current of tea leaf can 

 be carried direct from the pit into the package standing 

 on a lever scale. A sand-glass will illustrate the above 

 on a small .scale. Tea is bulked in China on the same 

 principle as the above, but there, one side of the pit is 

 drawn away and packages filled from the tea that col- 

 lects at the foot of the pile, — " Ceylon Advertiser," 



♦Containing Ammonia 2-15 



"I- Coutaioiug Tricalcic phosphate Z'bO, 



