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CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN JAVA. 



A report by Mr. N. McNeill, Hor Majesty's Consul 

 at Biit.avia, which has just been published, affords a 

 good deal of important infonnatiou upon the Quiuology 

 of Java, and we extract the foUowiug as including the 

 points likely to be of interest to our readers. The 

 second table shows that the large and continuous fall 

 in prices has been experienced (juite as severely in 

 Holland as elsewhere. The best method of cultivation 

 does not seem to liuve yet been quite decided upon, 

 as Mr. ]\[cNeill deals with it in the following manner : — 

 The cinchona tree is found to flourish best at an altitude 

 of from 4,000 to 7,000 feet above the sea-level. The 

 seeds are planted iu nurseries, well shaded from the 

 Bun, and transplanted when they are about six weeks 

 old, and placed at distances, varying with the species, 

 of from 4 to 9 feet apart, the ground between the plants 

 being well drained by narrow channels. Grafting has 

 lately been practised to a large extent with very satis- 

 factory results, and seed planting has given place 

 greatly to it. The names given to the different species 

 of the genus cinchona, all of which are planted by 



the Government, are ; 



(a) Ledgeriana. (c) 



(6) Succirubra. (/) 



(c) Oalisaya Javauica. (</) 



Oalisaya Anglica. 

 Hasskaliaua. 

 OiScinalis. 

 Lancifolia. 



(rf) Oalisaya Schuhkrafft (h) 

 Several different methods are employed by Government 

 and managers of private estates for harvesting the 

 bark, and it has yet to be decided which method gives 

 the best result with least injury to the tree. Which 

 course is adopted depends greatly upon the hardiness of 

 the tree, this quality varying in different species. The 

 bark obtained from the roots is generally found to 

 contain the greatest percentage of quinine, that from 

 the trunk coming next, whilst the percentage ob- 

 tained from the bark of the branches is so small 

 that it is not worth while collecting and exporting 

 to Europe. The accompanying statistics show, as far 

 as I can ascertain, the extent to which cinchona has 

 been cultivated in the last few years on Government 

 and private estates. The area of land planted in 1883 

 by Government with cinchona was about 1,800 acres. 



CINCHONA STATISTICS. 



AVEBAGE PKICES OBTAINED AT AUCTION IN HOLLAND 

 rOB GOVEENMENT CINCHONA CROPS. 



Sterling Price for lb. English. 

 1882. 1883, 1884. 



A "West Afhican Substitute for Coffee is thus 

 noticed by the Pharmaceutical Journal: — The root of 

 Banta mare {Cassia occidental is) is used as a pre- 

 ventive of fever, a decoction being taken every morn- 

 ing, and the leaves are applied in erysipelas and local 

 inflammation. As much as fifty tons of the seed are 

 said to have been exported from Seuegal as a coffee 

 §ahstiiute,-'Fharmaceutical Joiirml, 



COFFEE : TKOSPECTS OF 

 BEIGHT. POOR CEOPS 



PRICES VEKY 

 IN BRAZIL: 



DISEASE PREVALENT. 



[Here is a very important Circular, Coffee Planters 

 will yet be happy — Co/. 1 

 (I. A. Pucker ib JJciivraft's Price Current, Nov. 11th) 



The statistical position continues as strong as ever. 

 During the first nine mouths of the current year we 

 have delivered in Europe 86;i,000 tons agaiust 360,000 

 tons same period last year, and this notwithstanding 

 the important advance established in value. During 

 October we delivered 34,500 tons, 35,500 tons being 

 the average delivery per month last year, and 42,500 

 tons the actual delivery in October last year. Stocks 

 continue to decrease, and if our information be cor- 

 rect, this feature will be very marked iu the summer. 

 As regards Rio and Santos receipts on the 5th they 

 totalled 2,535,000 bags against 2, .500,000 bags same 

 time last season. In the bulk of the circulars issued 

 the present Rio crop is taken at 3,500,000 bags, Santos 

 crop at 2,.500,000, or together 6,000,000 bagt, and many 

 assert that all their calculations are based on this 

 figure. The probability that these estimates are ex- 

 cessive must not be lost sight of. The reports that 

 the prospects of the blossoming Rio crop are un- 

 favourable are maintained ; as regards the Santos crop, 

 it is still too early to say anything. The Havre 

 market maintains itself on a basis of 65 francs, and 

 this notwithstanding the fact that unusual efforts have 

 been made to get rates down. Current gossip asserts 

 that many are out who would like to be in, and 

 hence a great deal of the wire pulling. 



The key to the problem, however, is not 

 in Havre, but in the Brazils. The imme. 

 diate future depends on the course of re- 

 ceipts in Rio and Santos, November being, per- 

 haps, the most important month in the crop year. 

 Our information continuing unchanged, if anything 

 more favourable, we maintain our opinion that as time 

 goes on the visible supplies of Coffee will get smaller 

 and smaller, and that prices must rise in unison. 

 Extract of a letter from Messrs. Andrew Muir & Co., 

 dated Rio de Janerio, 20th October 1886 :— " 1886-87 

 Crop. — We are now feeliug the weight of the crop, 

 and all the more so at the present time because of 

 the accumulation of Coffee up-country, caused by 

 three mouths of constant rainy weather. We look 

 for a very marked falling off in supplies, however, in 

 a short time. Many districts are already bare of 

 Coffee, having marketed their crops. The Serra 

 Abaixo crop has been a complete failure this season. 

 We expect then to have a very limited supplj' of 

 Coffee to deal with, during the first six months of 

 1887, and as the Americans will require all, or nearly 

 all, of that supply, there should be a lively competi- 

 tion for it. We do not think the export for the cur- 

 rent crop-year will exceed three and a quarter million 

 baf/s. 1887-88 Crop. — We must inform you that the 

 prospects for the next yield are so far anything but 

 bright. During August and September it rained al- 

 most without interruption, and even during the pre- 

 sent month we have had very little fine weather such 

 as would favor the blossoming of the plants. Re- 

 freshing rains, followed by intervals of bright sun- 

 shine, is the kind of weather required to produce a 

 ' bumper' crop, and this season the rainy part of 

 the programme alone has been carried out. The re- 

 sult is that the trees do not seem to have had suffi- 

 cient strength to put forth the usual preliminary 

 flower during the month of August, where any ap- 

 peared it was promptly washed away by the floods. 

 We have been anxiously awaiting the appearance of 

 the second flowering which invariably takes place iu 

 September and October, and forms the basis of the 

 crop, but up to the present, over very extensive and 

 important districts, no blossom whatever has been 

 seen. News has just come to hand that in some 

 parts a blossom is now commencing to be formed, but 

 at so late a period it is extremely unlikely that such 

 a flowering can produce a satisfactory result. The 

 old trees are as a rule entirely bare, and the appear- 

 ance presented by the new plants is very unsatisfac- 

 tory. We Uave uot liad »o poor a prospect for a, crop 



