Feb. I, 1887.] 



The tropical agriculturist. 



555 



which was red. The bulk of the crop was as usual 

 made over to the febrifuge factory. 



The dem in^l for the febrifuge was not as great 

 as in previous years, and this is ascribed to the 

 presence at the three presidency depots of a large 

 quantity (7,000 lb.) of L 'ndon-made febrifuge, sent 

 for sale under instructions from the Secretary of 

 State. Until, therefore, this large supply has been 

 ab'^orbed, the demand for the Bengal febrifuge must 

 necessarily be limited. Why the Secretary of State 

 should send out London-m-ide febrifuge for sale to 

 India,* when it can be as well manufactured here, 

 is not quite clear. It cannot have auy other than 

 a deterring eifect on the ludiau industry, which at 

 present is very largely ia the hanis of the Govern- 

 ment of In lia, not to speak of private enterprise. 

 The out'urn of febrifusre fron the factiry is regulated 

 by the d -mand, which fell from 6,464 lb. in 1834-35 

 to 4.743 lb. during 1885-86. This "demand" was 

 limited owing to the 7000 lb. of febrifuge having 

 been sent out by the Secretary of Srate, and thus 

 the connection between the two is esta'ilished. The 

 Indian revenue from this source has, therefore, suff-red. 

 The cost of manufacture was also more than in pre- 

 ceding years, owing to the introduction of an improved 

 method of working the factory. So that although 

 the cost of manufacture increased by five annas per 

 lb. in the case of ordinary, and eight annas per lb. 

 in the case of crystalline febrifuge, the pprcentage 

 of febrifuge, obtained from the bark was raised by 

 three per cent by the new method. The increase in 

 cost of manufacture is also ascribed to the smaller 

 quantity manufactured. It will thus bo seen thit 

 the Secretary of State's venture has not proved a 

 very paying one. The issues during the year de- 

 creased by 1,653 lb. as compared with the preceding 

 year, having been respectively 5,499 lb. and 7,152 lb. 

 Duriug the past year there was a heavy fall in 

 the market price of quinine ; the ruling price having 

 been only K2-1 per ounce. To this cause is attri- 

 buted the decrease in the sale of the febrifuge to the 

 pub ic. It is, however, anticipated by the Govern- 

 ment that the depression in the price of quinine, 

 which_ is ascribed to special causes, will not last. 

 In this connection it may be as well to state that 

 there has recently been an enquiry into th^ prevailing 

 high leXRil prices of quinine, and that there is every 

 likelihood of the present I'jw prices being maintained. 

 So that unless the Government see their way to 

 reducing the prices charged for their febrifuge very 

 much belou) that prevailiug in the market for quinine 

 prepared by London manufacturers, the falling off in 

 the sales to the public may be expected to continue. 

 The total expen'liture on the Bengal phntations 

 amounted to R79,728, which is E18,077 below the 

 budget allotment. Of this the sum of R12,052 repre- 

 sents the capital expenditure on the young traus- 

 Teesta plantation at Rungjung, which has not yet 

 come into bearing ; and the balance, R67,675, the working 

 expenses of the old plantations at Mungpoo, including 

 Rungbee and Sittong. Thus the capital account is 

 now brouglit up to Rl,096,255. It is, however, ex- 

 p'ained that this has been recouped by the saving 

 effected by the substitution of cinchona febrifuge for 

 quinine in Governmeot medical institutions. The gross 

 revenue derived from the sale of febrifuge, seed, 

 plants ami bark amounte 1 to R93,476, again'^t R124 225 

 in the previous year. The actual profit on the vear's 

 working is stated to have amounted to R30,221 ; 

 but with the expenditure at R79,72S, and the revenue 

 at R93,476, the net profit would amount to R13,648. 

 It is, therefore, not clear how the above figures are 

 arrived at. In addition to the "actual profit." Dr. 

 King points out that 2,054 lb. of febrifuge, supplied to 

 Government medical institutions, and valued at R33,000, 

 should be taken into account. The thanks of the 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal are very properly 

 accorded to Dr. King for his continued eflScient manage- 

 ment of the department, and to Mr. Gammie, who 

 held executive charge of the plantations and factory. — 

 India" y^ffriruHvriat. 



* E.' f^eii; out febrifuge m mufactur d in Louuon 

 from Goverbment bark, as an •xperiment.— Ed, 



ASH OF CINCHONA BARK. 



BY DAVID HOOPEB, GOVERNMENT QUIN0L0GI9T.' 



I have recently been engaged in examining the 

 inorganic constituents of cinchona bark, and the 

 analvsis has been communicated to the Government 

 of Madras for information of the cinchona planters 

 of the Presidency. As the chemistry of this drug 

 will alwavs be of interest to pharmacists, I send 

 S'lme notes relating; to the amount of ash and the 

 quality of the ash occurring in barks cultivated in 

 India. 



In Fliickiger and Hanbury's ' Pharmacographia ' the 

 following statement is nude: — "The cinchona barks 

 yield hut a scanty percentage of ash, not exceedina 3 

 per cent, a fact well accordin? with the small amount 

 thev contain of oxalate and kinate of calcium." 



With r-^gard to the quantity of ash, my experience 

 is that cultivated barks yield over 3 per cent ; the 

 average of three hundrel estimations made on sam- 

 ples from this countrv was calculated at 3'42 per 

 cent. Renewed and old natural barks are the poorer 

 in mineral constituents, but they never fall below 

 2 per cent. On the other hand, young and branch 

 liark gives as much as 4 per cent, and it is interest- 

 ing to notiee that the leaves afford as much as 5, and 

 sometimes 6 per cent. With regard to the specieB 

 of cinchona, there is a marked difference in the 

 amount of ash yielded by each, provided that natural 

 bark is operated upon. The crown bark is richer in ash 

 thin that of the red, and the red richer than 

 that of the Ledger; and knowing that crown bark 

 erows at an elevation of 7000 to 8000 ft. the red at 

 5000 to_ 6000 ft., and the Ledger at 3000 to 5000 ft., 

 the altituie may have something to do with this 

 gr 'dation of ash in the different species. 



When gently incinerated at a low red heat, cinchona 

 bark should ulways leave a greyish-white ash. If 

 it is at all reddish, it points to the presence of dust 

 or dirt adhering mechanically to the sample, if w-ighed, 

 it will be found much in excess of that obtained 

 from clean bark. The two most dirty samples of 

 bark I have met with came from Cey'on, leaving 

 when burnt a reddish residue of 18-8 and 19-5 per 

 cent respectively, but as they were both labelled 

 ''dust," neither the vendor would be blamed for the 

 impurity, nor could the purchaser rave on account 

 of its poverty in alkaloids. 



A complete analysis was made of the ashes of the 

 two species of cinchona grown on the Nilgiris, the C. 

 officinalis growing in the Dodabetta plantation, and 

 the C. succiruhra from the lower elevation at .^aduva- 

 tam. Notwithstanding th'i barks were from different 

 species and localities, the result of the examination 

 shows that there is a great similarity in the compos- 

 ition of the ash. 



100-00 



100-00 



The chief constituent is the lime which forms 

 nearly one third of the whole, and exists in the ash 

 in the form of carbonate. The next element of im- 



