73^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May 2, 1887, 



for catarrhal affections. Prior to that period the 

 1186 of the drug had been chiefly confined to the 

 treatment of gonorrhoea, though cubebs formed a 

 principal ingredient in some proprietary lozenges. 

 Asthma cigarettes soon became extremely fashion- 

 able in America, and a few speculators bought up 

 every parcel of cubebs upon which they could lay 

 hands on the European market, with the result of 

 quickly forcing up the price of the drug to 10/. or 

 thereabouts. The enormous demand then prevailing 

 for cubebs may be illustrated by the fact that in 

 February, 1S80, no less than 737 bags of cubebs 

 arrived at New York in a single shipment. 



Stimulated by the high prices prevailing the pro- 

 duction in Java had extended considerably, but by 

 this time the American speculators had obtained a 

 tight grip of the article, and manipulated it at will, 

 sometimes flooding the European market with large 

 shipments in order to momentarily depress the value 

 of the drug and secure at a low rate any parcels 

 which second-hand holders might offer. At the same 

 time all sorts of tricks were resorted to in order to 

 keep alive the demand for the article in America ; 

 but the asthma cigarette craze has by this time 

 subsided. 



Notwithstanding this the American speculators 

 have continued their game, and as the article is a 

 comparatively small one, they succeed without much 

 difficulty in controlling the bulk of the supply; 

 hence the continued dearness of the drug. 



The consumption of the article cannot now be 

 said to be on the increase, in fact, during the last 

 few years, the imports in America have been fall- 

 ing off. At present our stock has been very much 

 reduced, and at the commencement of the month 

 amounted to only 41 bags in the first hand, while 

 from 21/. to 23?. is quoted for stalky to good genuine 

 berries. In Holland the imports during 1886 amounted 

 to about 200 bags, less than half of which belonged 

 to the acknowledged genuine variety. The 'Dutch 

 market is now said to be very bare, the stock at 

 Amsterdam not exceeding 1,050 lb., (iOO lb. of which 

 are grey berries. The quotations at Amsterdam for 

 genuine berries appear to be slightly in excess of 

 those prevailing here. If recent mail advices from 

 America can be trusted, the stock at New York is 

 also very low, being estimated at less than 7,000 

 lb., or barely sufficient for one month's requirements. 

 All indications, therefore, point to the mainten- 

 ance, for some time at any rate, of the excessive 

 prices now prevailing. It is true that several ship- 

 ments are reported on the way from the East In- 

 dies, but unless these should be of exceptional mag- 

 nitude, they will in all probability be quickly brought 

 up for consumption. 



Arrivals of cubebs take place at regular intervals 

 all through the year, but the bulk of the Java crop 

 leaves that island between the months of May and 

 September, the first arrivals generally reaching 

 Europe in June or July. It is extremely difficult to 

 obtain reliable information concerning the prospects 

 of the crop in Java, but there is an impression 

 that the yield tliis season will not exceed that of 

 1886, when only about 200 bags found their way to 

 Holland. 



A highly objectionable result of the enhanced value 

 of the drug has been the appearance on the Euro- 

 pean market of various species of spurious cubebs. 

 Formerly deliberate sophistication was seldom prac- 

 tised, and although occasionally a few fruits of the 

 riper crassipes occurred among genuine cubebs, the 

 only charge which could be fairly brought against 

 shippers was the frequency with which fruit stalks 

 occurred among the berries, owing to imperfect garb- 

 ling of the drug before shipment. At present, how- 

 ever, we have no hesitation in saying that more 

 than .50 per cent of the berries imported as cubebs 

 are not the genuine article at all. 



Adulteration with common black pepper can be 

 readily detected, but it requires considerable care 

 to distinguish the many varieties of false berries 

 now so frequent. Perfectly genuine cubebs have 

 often been classed as spurious, simply because of 

 their altered appearance when over-ripe ; but Daph- 

 ntdium Cubeha, Piper erassipes, and /'. cauiuimi. are 



now frequently met with, both in conjunction with 

 real cubebs and without any admixture of the true 

 fruit. A few years ago a consignment of nineteen 

 bags of spurious cubebs was stopped by the New 

 York Customs authorities and destroyed. It was 

 then announced that all cubebs imported into the 

 United States would be subjected to a close examin- 

 ation ; but if the parcels which are frequently pur- 

 chased in London for the alleged purpose of exporation 

 to America are in reality shipped to that country, 

 the vigilance of the American Customs officers must 

 have greatly relaxed of late. On the Amsterdam 

 market spuriou.-. cubebs are now very frequently 

 sold at 18/. to Vdl. per cwt., chiefly, it would seem, 

 for export to France. It is only fair to state that 

 the French druggists are said to entertain great 

 objections to the spurious berries, though why they 

 purchase them at all, knowing them to be false, is 

 not explained. 



It is a fact that the administration of spurious 

 cubebs has often caused considerable inconvenience 

 to patients, and, if only for the s5,ke of rendering 

 unprofitable the wholesale adulteration now practised 

 at the shipping ports, it is devoutly to be wished 

 that extended cultivation and increased competition 

 will ere long again bring the price of cubebs within 

 reasonable limits — Chemist ami Druggist 



[" Cubebs is a sore subject "with me," says a 

 Ceylon planter. " Years ago I resolved to go in for 

 them and got a plant form the Eoyal Botanical 

 Gardens, Peradeniya, and they declare it to be cubeba, 

 but I can scarcely believe it, and my time has, I am 

 sure, been wasted. It grows well and fruits, but does 

 not bear Jhe kind of fruit that books say it should."] 



♦ 



Tea Machinery. — The London correspondent 

 of the Indian I'/un'ers' Gazette, writes: — There has been 

 a new tea rolling machiufc on view recently at the 

 offices of the Planters' Stores aud Agency Co. Limited 

 iu the City where it was seen by a good many 

 planters. This specimen was for hand-power. If 

 there is any justice in pattut law, I don't give this 

 machine a long life, so it is almost waste of time 

 describing it, further than by sayiug that it is a 

 Jackson's roller with obsolete motions iu place of his 

 drivin^' gear, and with sundry other retrograde alter- ' 

 atiuus, made in an attempt to do as Jackson does in 

 another way. Apart from these advances iu wrong 

 directions, it has several weak points structurally, but 

 without a diagram these would be difficult to describe. 

 Mr. Jacksou will probably take no notice of so feeble a 

 competitor unless people haviug the ordering of teik 

 machinery should have le.ss tense than they arc credited 

 with, in which case, 'ware ! Mr. Davidson's last 

 improvement in his T Siroccos is a great one, and 

 will increase their popularity vastly. 1 have seeu the 

 one he has over here on show, aud its advautages 

 are patent at a glance. He estimates that thi . type 

 will turn out double the outturn of the first T Sirocco. 

 The original T Siroccos may be converted partially to 

 the new type but not completely ; certaiu great im- 

 provements in the new not being applicable to the 

 original type. The lieat being saved, le»s heat is re- 

 quired, ami the stoves will consequently last for years. 

 Mr. Gibbs' new withering appliance is so cheap and 

 its possibilities are .so great that it is much to be hoped 

 that a few enterprising managers will give it a trial 

 next season. Even should the dri/ing of the air by 

 means of the chloride of lime prove to be the failure 

 anticipated by many, still the heating of the air by 

 this little appliance and the distribution of the heated 

 air from it to the viachaus and c'lalloniea is so pract- 

 ical and efficient that it .should be put to the test on 

 some gardens as soon as possible. It can be wheeled 

 or carried along over the maehans as the leaf on each 

 mac/inii or portion of a /)/ ichun is withered. This will, 

 if the appliance is successful, at all events save haviug 

 to carry the leaf from the worst to the best wither- 

 ing machaus as the leaf is removed ' from the latter 

 to be rolled, aud will thus save considerable labour 

 and haudilug of the leaf, apart from any success in 

 the direction of rapid withering of wet leaf, such as 

 is anticipated by iuTdntor. 



