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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



turn out a gootl investment for him ; at the same time 

 I conniatulate the vendor on the good price he ob- 

 tainecf for his really valuable property. 



To anyone who has not visited this district for the 

 last few"years, it would be a pleasant surprize to see 

 the flourishing fields of cinchona which are cropping 

 up on all directions. We are not here tied to any one 

 variety. Near the foot of the plain we have some of 

 the most valuable ledgers in the island; on the op- 

 posite side of the valley, the calisayas, which it was 

 once Ihe fashion to decry, are slowly but ste.adilj win- 

 ning their way to general favour ; officinalis flourish 

 on sttep slopes at the higlier altitudes; and succirubras 

 grow well everywhere. Talking of ledgers and cali- 

 sayas, it has struck me that these tine varieties dififer 

 somewhat in their habits from the coarser but less 

 delicate Uiuds. I have noticed that thev have a tend- 

 ency to drop their leaves, and assume the appearance 

 of wintering, just as a friend tells methe Ceara rubber 

 do in the lowcountry. In this connection I heard a 

 good story the other day of one of our omniscient 

 visiting agents. He, when reporting on an estate 

 on which there were many rubbers, set them down 

 as Ihree-fouvths dead. A month after, he had again 

 occasion to visit the same part of the country, and, 

 eeeing all the supposed dead trees covered with healthy 

 foliage, he soundly abused the superintendent for try- 

 ing to sell him by sticking, as he said, jungle leaves 

 on the dried Ceara stems ! ! Yet such are the men 

 who undertake to teach us our work. 



Long live the "old rag" to be the friend »nd en- 

 courager of the steady, the industrious, and the honest, 

 but the scourge of the lazy, the bigoted, and the fanatic. 

 The hard times are making us nearly all teetotalers. — 

 Youre &c., • J- S. W. 



COFFEE CKOPS IN DIMBULA, CEYLON. 

 Tillicoultry, Lindula, June 13th, 1882. 

 Dear Sir,— I think it only right that anyone 

 honestly able to say a word of hope and encourage- 

 ment for the unhappy coflee (Arabica) proprietors 

 and their scarcely less unhappy mortgagees, should 

 do so. The hope I have is that the big blossom 

 out in this district from April 10th to 16th has not 

 failed to nearly the extent some gentlemen insisted 

 it had done. For myself I was almost coming to their 

 way of thinking, but within the last few days the 

 not excessive rain and occasional sunshine has 

 started the berries in swelling, and, although these 

 have remained dormant for two months, I think 

 there is every chance of their finding their 

 way down to Colombo. There are I know many 

 est:ites in this district which have blossomed well, and 

 I believe — in fact I know— that such has been the case 

 in other high districts, and the hope is that in all 

 such estates prospects have equally improved as here. 

 The cause of the want of growth in the berries I attrib- 

 ute to the unusually long continuation of the dry 

 winds and great heat after the middle of April. I 

 have had experience of Dirabula since 1867, and hiive 

 never yet heard of a blossom failing from drought. 



The coffee enterprize I fully believe has sufifered as 

 much damage by croakers and wreckers whom we 

 find amongst our fellow colonists as by all the leaf- 

 disease and grub wehave had. These pessimists (the 

 croakers, etc.) have by their groanings and advice 

 done much to discourage the proper cultivation of 

 estates at the very time it was most required, thus 

 immensely aiding our insect and fungoid enemies.— 

 Yours faithfully, PHILIP M. ANSTRUTHER. 



[Tillicoultry is the estate we had in view the 

 other day when referring to the best crop, probably, 

 of the coming season ; and yet the laird of Matta- 

 kelly, less than a score of years ago, dissuaded a 

 Colombo V. A. from investing in the jungle at 



R20 per acre. Coffee was down then, and it is 

 down now : is it not to revive in crops as well as 

 prices ? There is a good deal in what Mr. Anstruther 

 says about the neglect of cultivation in pruning and 

 raiiuuriog especially. — Ed.] 



CINCHONA BARK T'.S'. 



SHAVINGS. 

 14th June 1882. 



De.\r Sib, — I have just read your very interesting 

 article on hybridization and C. rohusta. The analysis 

 given for renewed C. rohusta is said to have been ob- 

 tained from "bark." I conclude therefore " shavings " 

 were not intended, but still, these terms being often 

 applied in rather an indefinite sort of way, I would 

 suggest that, until we get fairly into the Wcay of 

 using them, the designations "bark " and " shavings" 

 be italicized in order that no doubts may exist in 

 the minds of your readers. This is very important. 



ROBUSTA. 



P-S. — Can you give us any figures for renewed 

 shavings of Crohmta'! 



[The Dimbula proprietor concerned will oblige us 

 by saying if he shaved the second tune : at nine 

 months, the renewed bark could not be much more 

 than a shaving. — Ed.] 



HOW CINCHONA BARK IS SOMETIMES THROWN 



AWAY BY LONDON BROKERS : A REMEDY 



WANTED. 



June 14th, 1882. 

 Ue.\r Sir, — A few hints from your able pen would 

 be of immense value to the unfortunate growers of 

 cinchona, who have large clearings of this dying out, 

 and who are in consequence greatly in need of money. 

 Would you, therefore, greatly oblige me, by showing 

 me the most profitable way of selling my bark, as it 

 is heartrending to know that the middlemen sitting 

 in their chairs all day should be reaping all the profits, 

 men who have never risked a farthing in the specul- 

 ation of cinchona cultivation ? 



That the following should have actually happened 

 in the 19th century will hardly be credited :— A parcel 

 of bark was sent to the Loudon market, of whieh GO 

 lb. were taken out and given to a doctor friend to dis- 

 pose of. The parcel was sold for Ss per lb, whereas 

 the doctor got ISs a lb for his, and this was even 

 resold again for 173 a lb. I have read in your paper 

 for many years with considerable interest the various 

 London brokers' reports on the cinchona market, and 

 I have gathered from them that the intending pur- 

 chasers do not have the bark analyzed unless it is a 

 large parcel, and then the wastage in distributing 

 samples is considerable, and probably samples are only 

 given to the favored few. 



A person who was connected with the largest sugar 

 busmess hi London told me that in the sugar trade 

 two samples were taken from each shipment of sugar 

 and sent to the two highest authorities to be analyzed, 

 and the shipment was then sold by the mean aver- 

 age analysis of the two. Now, su-, would it be ad- 

 visable when sending home a parcel of bark to get 

 it analyzed by two of the leading authorities in ana- 

 lyzing bark, and tlien selling it by the mean analysis, 

 and giving a guarantee as well ? By this means the 

 smaller chemists would buy \vith confidence whatever 

 they requh-ed, as one chemist at the time might require 

 a red bark giving a large proportion of ciuchonidine. 

 and another might require one giving a quantity of 

 quinidine. Whereas now they have to pay very liigh 

 prices from the jiurchasers to obtain these, and they 

 were unable to buy at the rate, not kno^^■ing what the 

 bark contamed, never having received any from the 

 broker for analysis, nor been told by them what it con- 



