August i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



13s 



Of these plantations, the principal is Delissaville, 

 about II miles from Palmerston across the harbour 

 (a grand harbour by the way) and on Douglas's Pen- 

 insula. The area is 10,000 acres, and the block is 

 part of 70,000 acres given away by the South Austr- 

 alian Government under the Sugar Grant Act, to 

 encourage cultivation. By a subsequent legislative 

 blunder, however, the efl'ect of the general legislation 

 on the subject is to encourage land speculation rather 

 than a more legitimate enterprize. At any rate, the 

 cultivation which has resulted is very far below what 

 expectation pictured it. Only two of the blocks have 

 had anything whatever done upon them. An ex 

 penditure of £16,000 has been incurred upon Delissa- 

 ville, which has 200 acres of sugar-cane and about 

 70 of maize, the latter more satisfactory in appear- 

 ance than the former, though this fact is easily ac- 

 counted for by the circumstances apart altogether 

 from conditions of climate or soil. A thoroughly 

 well-appointed mill, costing £10,000 with the enclosing 

 buildings, has a prominent position upon the ground. 

 This is the only sugar-milll in South Australia, and 

 it will be noted hereafter as that whence the first 

 Bugar manufactured in the colony came. 



On the Daly River, sugar and maize planting 

 has been begun by a Melbourne Company, 

 under the name of Messrs. Petersen, Croston 

 & Spence,. on 20,000 acres, the gift of the 

 Government. They have 20 acres of canes in a nurse- 

 ry, thriving much better than those at Delissaville, 

 and a small acreage of maize. They intend to plant 

 a large area from the nursery, and to crush in 

 1884, by which time they expect to have a mill 

 erected. 



By another Melbourne Company, under the name of 

 Poett and Mackinnon, there has been started near 

 Eumjungle, on 3,400 acres of the best soil in the 

 Territory, a coffee plantation, which had not at the 

 time of my visit been applied to its original pur- 

 pose. But this, I should ex|)lain, was not the fault 

 of the proprietary. Awaiting the arrival of seeds 

 from Ceylon, they are trying cinchona, which was 

 just springing vigorously above the ground. They 

 are going to grow maize also. 



This exhausts the list of plantations on which 

 actual vrork has been done, though several new ones 

 are being started in time for the next season. On 

 the Adelaide river alone 70 800 acres are protected by 

 special surv' y applications for sugar-growing; 21,000 

 acres in the Hundred ef Bagot north of Palmerston ; 

 and 2,000 acres on Doufjlas Peninsula, besides the 

 70,000 herein-belore written of. In the Hundred of 

 Ayers, 3,000 acres is held for plantation purposes, 

 and near the coffee plantation at Eumjungle, over 

 a wide radius, to all the land the same remark 

 applies, as it does also to a great deal of that sur- 

 rounding the harbour, particularly near Southport. 

 The purelj experimental work has been already done. 

 The planters now can avail themselves of certain 

 knowledge where two years ago all was uncertainty. 

 The only trial has been thoroughly successful, and 

 the logical conclusion is that the success will be 

 generally as experiments multiply. 



NILGIRI CINCHONA BARK; EXTRACTION 

 OF ALKALOIDS IN ENGLAND. 



Government of Madras ; Revenue Department. Read: 

 the following despatch from the most honorable Mar- 

 quis of Hartingtou, Her Majesty's i"'ecretary of State 

 for India, to His Excellency the Eight Honorable the 

 Governor-in-Council, Fort St. George, dated India 

 Office, Loudon, 30th March 1SS2, No. 16 (Revenue). 



Referring to my Despatch, No. 14. of the ISth May 

 last, I now enclose, for Your Excellency's information, 



a copy of a memorandum, showing the results of the 

 manufacture of cinchona alkaloids from the 250 bales 

 of crown and red barks, which formed part of the 

 consignment received from your Government per steam- 

 ship " Eldorado." 



Enclosure. —Report on the Manufacture of Sulphate of 

 Quinine and other cinchona alkaloids on Government ac- 

 count, dated ISth October ISSl. 



Last year an experiment was made of manufactur- 

 ing sulphate of quinine and other alkaloids, on Govern- 

 ment account, from the bark sent home from the Nil- 

 giri Government plantations. The result of this was 

 ! so far satisfactory that it was determined to repeat 

 the experiment on a larger scale. The manufacture of 

 j the several alkaloids from the crown and renewed 

 I barks yielded finimcially, 14 per cent more in the 

 value of the products than the bark operated upon 

 1 would have realized, if sold in the open market in the 

 ' usual manner. With the red barks it was different, 

 j and the result in the ohso of these was a slight loss. 

 In the former experiment, mixed alkaloids were ex- 

 tracted from the red barks, the value of which was 

 found to be almost exactly 10 per cent less than the 

 bark itself would have fetched, if it had been sold. 



For the purpose of further experimental manufacture, 

 250 bales,* forming part of the consignment received 

 j per steamship " Eldorado " last February, were made 

 over to Mr. Whiflfen, samples having been first taken 

 for analysis on behalf of the Secretary of State by Dr. 

 B. Paul, whose report gave the following results : — 

 I Oinchon- Oinchon- 



Quinine, idine, ine 



Sulphate. Sulphate. (Alkaloid.) 

 Bales, per cent, per cent, per cent. 

 Grown Barks. 

 Natiu-al, NC... ... 22 3-30 1-34 0-27 



„ NO... ... 11 3-87 1-20 0-22 



Renewed, N NO ... 66 5-57 072 0-23 



Bales. Bales. 



*Natural, Crown N ... 33 Red Natural, P ... 20 



Renewed „ N NO ... 100 Red Mossed, P ... 30 



Mossed „ N MO ... 45 — 



Branch „ N PO ... 22 50 



200 



n„;«;„„ Oinchon- Cinchon- 

 (^umine, ... 



<3i,1t^i fa idine, .me 



ouipiiate. Sulphate. (Alkaloid) 



Bales. per cent, per cent, per cent. 

 Croum Ba/rks. — (Contd.) 



Renewed, N NC 34 5-73 0C6 021 



Mossed, NMC 35 4 38 1-46 0-30 



„ N MC 10 506 l-o2 trace 



Branch, N PC 22 2-00 75 trace 



Rfjd Barhs. 



Natural, P .. 20 1-23 2-97 1-24 



Mos.ed, P ... 30 1-74 3-24 2-20 

 The estimated yield, by analysis, is as follows : — 



Qiiiuiue, Cinchonadine, Cinchouiue, 



Sulpliate, Sulphate. Sulphate. 



Ir' -n " '""''■ -t! ^ot^'- "is: Total. 



lb. lb. lb. 



Natural Crown ... 2,164 3-30 7f41 l-3'l 28-99 0-27 5-&4 



Do. do. ... 1,101 3-87 42-60 1-20 13-21 0-22 2-42 



Renewed do. ... 6,-596 6-o7 367-39 0-72 47-49 0-23 15-17 



Do. do. ... 3,46t 5-73 198-43 0-66 22-85 0-21 7-27 



Mossed do. ... 3.612 4-38 158-20 1-46 52-73 0-30 10-83 



Do. do. ... 997 5-06 5044 1-32 1515 trace 



Brauch do. ... 2,218 2-00 44-36 0-75 16-53 trace 



