132 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



to Is 5ja 



to Is 10 d 



to Is 4£(l 

 to Is 4 d 



being small, but the whole 945 half-chests passed 

 the harairer rap.dly amidst very bii-k buldings ; — 

 Assam Pfkots realized from Is 5^il V lb to Is S^.l ^Ib 



„ Pekoe Souchongs „ Is 2^d 

 Cachar Pekoes „ Is 5 d 



,, Peokoe Souchongs „ Is 2;Jd 

 Other Sort.s realized ,, Is IJd 

 No fine teas offered. 



The seasou has uow very nearly closed, 

 700,100 lb. weight of Indian tea has been sold by 

 auction aluno, in Melbourne, at steadily increasing 

 rates. Exclusive of the above and through the same 

 medium, Ceylon gives a total of about 51,000 lb 

 say - total ... ... 751,000 



Sales privately about Indian 175,000 ) jg„ „qq 

 Ceylon 15,000 \ ' 



and over 



941,000 



a very respectable total for the colony of Victoria 

 to take, and uo doubt, if supplies come forward nearly 

 double, they could have been sold, owing to the 

 inferior quality of China teas this seaeon. 



THE CULTIVATION OF CINCHONA IN THE 

 NOETHERN AUSTRALIAN TERPvITOKY. 



The following letter has been addressed to the 

 editor ni the Melbourne Argus : — 



Sir, — Since writing you a few days ago, in re the 

 cultivation of cinchona (not chinchoua) in the Northern 

 Territory of Australia, I have received so many com- 

 munications from gentlemen who are apparently in- 

 teret.ted in the subject of tlie cultivation of tropical 

 plants ill Australia, that I am of sheer necessity 

 obliged to trespass on your indulgence in again seeking 

 for a small i-pace in your paper. The subject is, how- 

 ever, one of no small iiiiportnnoe to your country, 

 an4. if any words of mine appearing in your columns 

 siiould ultimately lend to the introduction and suc- 

 cessful establishment of such industries as the cultiv- 

 ation of codce, cinchona, cocoa, Indiarubber, and a 

 multitude of other plants not indigenous to Australia, 

 you will, I think, agree with me that your space 

 has not been recklessly or unprofitably loaned. 



I now markedly and publicly assert that it is my 

 unqualified opinion that there is an immense area in 

 Northern .\ustralia well suited lo the successful cultiv- 

 ation of a large number of tropical products. I do 

 so without fear of contradiction. I speak after 20 

 years' experience in Ceylon, after several months' of 

 trivel and careful investigation in North Australia 

 and therefore with some authority. 



For the benefit and information of those who have 

 addres-ed me, .ind whom I care not to answer indi- 

 vidually, u-i'l you permit me to reiterate with all 

 possible emphasis that I have no hesitation whatever 

 in asserting that a large number of tropical products 

 would thrive eminently «ell in Northern Australia. 



In the wise selection of suitable varieties, judg- 

 ment and experi' nee will hive to be brought to bear, 

 but the same conditions exist to successful enterprize in 

 this line in any country. 



There are tracts of land there so pre-eminently 

 suited to the growth of cinchona that, if the day 

 ever comes when it shull be your ple?sureable duty 

 to report that Mr. Blank realized off his cinchona 

 property bark sales to the value of A'1,000 per acre, 

 I, for one, shall not be surprized. 



That this will be an imin"nse success I am sur3, 

 the only drawb.ick ot pres<-nt being the want of 

 chsap anc' suitable labour. This is only ." m.itter for 

 Government.",! arrangement. There are thousands of 

 ni«n ready to cmie, if you will only allow them to do si, 

 and I think that matters av n^w in a fair rein t'l 

 eo'l in a spied}' and sat>factory settKmeut of this 

 Tery important question. 



It does not suit my purpose at present to enter 

 publicly into particulars wiih the view of verifying 

 any siateineuts 1 have made or opinions I have volunt- 

 eered, but I make ihem as a practical planter after 

 20 years' ex|ierience, and as one whose utterances in 

 Ceylon on the subject of new products have been 

 publicly made and favourably received. — Yours, &c., 



May 17th. Heniiy Poett. 



THI5 EXTRACTION OF ALKALOIDS PROM 

 CINCHONA BARK. 

 From the Cioverument of Madras we have received 

 a vei'y important and interesting paper, recording 

 the results of experiments made in England in the 

 extraction of the alkaloids from crowai and red barks 

 on account of Government. Two experiments were 

 made, and in both the results obtained from crown 

 bark shewed a considerable profit to Govermnent over 

 the prices at which similar barks sold. But in both 

 experiments the crowri bark was treated after the 

 fashion usual in the laboratories of chemists specially 

 devoted to the extraction of alkaloids from cinchona 

 bark : that is, so as to obtain each alkaloid — quinine, 

 cinchonidine, &o. — in a separate form. The case was 

 different with the red bark. In the first experiment 

 with this description of bark, the process adopted 

 was one for obtaining "quinetnm," or the alkaloids 

 in a mixed form. The result was, in this case, a 

 loss of 10 per cent as compared with the prices 

 which similar bark realized in the market, whether 

 purchased by druggists for use in decoctions or to 

 be worked up by such foreign chemists as lay them- 

 selves out to extract the separate alkaloids from red 

 bark. In the second experiments the process for 

 mixed alkaloids was abandoned, and, although the 

 bark now operated on for the extraction of the se- 

 parate alkaloids was of poorer quality than the pre- 

 vious lot, the result was a profit equal to lOJ per 

 cent instead of a loss of 10 per cent. The differ- 

 ence between a process directed to the precipitation 

 of the mixed alkaloids, therefore, and the usual 

 scientific methods of extracting the alkaloids in a 

 separate form, was no less than 20 per cent. This 

 was in the laboratory of an experienced London 

 chemist. In Java and in India, it is believed that 

 only 50 per cent of the alkaloids present in the 

 bark is obtained by the necessarily less perfect pro- 

 cesses pursued to obtain the alkaloids in a mixed 

 form. It is not wonderful, therefore, that there should 

 be a recommendation to abandon, both in India and 

 Europe, the imperfect method of working for mixed 

 alkaloids, in favour of the strictly scientific process 

 of fully exhausting the bark of what it may contain 

 of each separate alkaloid. The value of the sulph- 

 ate of quinine alone extracted from red bark 

 in the second experiment was more than the 

 pi-ice at which the bark would have sold for, 

 and if Dr. King's calculation is adojited and only 

 the actual cost to the Government taken into .account, 

 instead of the market value of the bark, sulphate 

 of quinine extracted in London will compete in cheap- 

 ness with the mixed alkaloids obtained in the British 

 Sikkim factory. Those mixed alkaloids are chiefly 

 the inferior and much cheaper ones, cinchonidine and 



