December i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



519 



much as she imported) ; and Ecuador sixth. The 

 vaerage prices in Britain liave ranged from is Sidin 

 1S70. the lowest, to 23 11 Jd, the highest in 1879 

 With the enormous imports of 9 and 14 millions in 

 the two succeeding years, the figures went down only 

 to 2s 7id and 2s 7d, wliile the mean average for the 

 twelve years was 2s 2^(1. These figures are surely 

 encouraging, even when we find that out of the 14 

 millions of lb. imported in 1881. one-half wsa ex- 

 ported. The actual consumption of bark in Britain 

 has risen from 1,104,000 lb. in 1870, to seven millions 

 last year The United States of North Amerca seem 

 to receive the vast bulk oftheii' supplies of bark from 

 the United States of Colombia — cuprea mainly — 

 although no fewer than 28 sources of supply are 

 enumerated. As our readers are awai-e, the duty on 

 quinine imported into America was recently abolished, 

 much to the anger of the manufacturers, ivho thought 

 theiy industry as much entitled to protection as others. 

 There can be little doubt that, from the date of the 

 abolition of the duty, the larger quantities of quinine 

 imported would react on the figures for bark and so 

 we find that the quantity of the latter, which rose 

 from 1,976,000 lb. in 1877 to 6,388,00(1 in 1879, went 

 down to 4,2' 11,000 in 18S1. The prices iu the five 

 years ranged from Is IJd to Is 9d, the mean average 

 being Is 3|d. It is significant tliat imports from Colombia 

 went down from 5,248,000 lb. m 1870 to 1,738,000 in 

 1881 ; the imports from England rising from 617,000 

 lb. in 1879 to 1,242,000 in 1881. In this case we 

 should like to see the quantity of quinine imported 

 from England and France. The imports of bark into 

 the latter country rose from 2,079,000 lb. in 1877 to 

 7,950,000 in 1881, England contributing 3,046,000. 

 But the chief source of increase was in the rise of 

 Colombian bark from 1,430,000 in 1880 to 3,392,000 

 in 1881, most of the increase being doubtless in 

 cuprea. Of the 7,950,(100 lb. imported, only 3,017,000 

 were consumed, so that France, for decoctions and 

 alkaloids, uses bark only equal to 3-7ths the quantity 

 employed in Britain. Of the unports of bark into 

 France the lai'ger portion is en route to countries in 

 the interior of Europe. The consumption in France 

 rose in 1881 so as to be higher by 2^ millions of lb. 

 than in 1877, and the average value was enhanced 

 from 2s i^d per lb. to 2s 10;|d, tlie mean average for 

 the 5 years being 2s 8:Jd. In Germany the bark un- 

 ported and used had risen from 1,430,000 in 1877 to 

 4,769,000 in 1881, tiie value rising from 2s in 1877 

 to 4s Id in 1880, and 3s 2d in 1881, the mean average 

 for the 5 years being 23 8Ad. exactly as in France. 

 The importations of bark into Italy rose from 990,000 lb. 

 in 1876 to 1,807,000 iu 1880 and then at a bound, 

 to 5,546,000 in 1881. There is an important factory 

 in Milan, and about 4,000,000 lb. of bark was con- 

 verted into quinine in 18S1, besides the quantity used 

 in the rough state by the inhabitants of marshy and 

 feverish places. Aauerican bark is said not to be 

 imported dii-ect into tl'.o Netherlands, but such bark 

 must enter largely into the imports from England, 

 which rose from 1,118,000 lb. in 1877 to 2,910,000 

 in 1881. The bulk received at Amsterdam from Java 

 rose from 4,027 lb. in 1879 to 178,000 in ISSO, the 

 estimate for 1881 being 220,000. This was Govei-nment 

 bark. From private plantations the imports are now 

 larger than we expected — having risen as follows : — 



1879 50,0001b. 



1880 160,000 ,, 



1881 90,000 ,, 



The average value of Government bark ranged from 

 Is 1 lid in 1S70 to 3s 4d in 1877 ; 3s Sjd iu 1880 and 

 down again to 2s in 1581, the mean average 

 being 2s 4d per lb. This is lower than we ex- 

 pected and kno\\-ing that some of the best Ledgeriana 

 bark sold for over £1 sterling per lb., we are sm-prized 

 at the low averages for Ledgeriana alone, even although 



much of it may have been twig bark. The average for 

 8,807 lb. in 1878, yielding from 5 per cent min. to 8 per 

 cent max. quinine, was only 4s 9d ; while the highest 

 price 6s 8d was realized by 4,317 in 1876, \ielding only 

 3-09 to 7-02. In 1881 the quantity was 4,180 lb. yield- 

 ing such high results as 5 to 9 per cent of quiume, but 

 the value realized is not stated. These are some of the 

 interesting facts in Mr. Hamilton's book, and as he tells 

 us he is to send 200 copies to Ceylon for sale, cinchona 

 planters and all interested in the entcrprize will have the 

 opportunity of seeing the full details. 



THE EKMAN FIBRE PROCESS. 



Mr. Thomas Clu-isty, of Fenchurch Street, Loudon 

 writes to us: — 



"I informed you by last mail that Routledge was 

 working up the question of the Ekman process, and 

 he is now so satisfied that nothing can touch it, th.at 

 he is askuig for special terms as to royalties. I thuik 

 this is a pretty good proof of the value of the Ek- 

 man patent, and that it can be relied upon to do 

 the work that it is said to do. 



" The reason Routledge wants some concessions is 

 that he has made certain promises which he is un- 

 able to perform, and, if he adopts the Ekman pro- 

 cess, naturally the people will not pay hun a profit 

 over the usual royalties, but I think the matter 

 has not gone so far in India, but what the 

 royalties can be augmeated all round for the pub- 

 lic so as to squeeze in the small preferential royalty 

 for him. He has worked so indefatigably to try and 

 find a process, that I think the fact of his acoppting 

 the first rule of working the invention with such 

 alacrity speaks highly for this man's character. 



"I must tell 3-011, to guide any remarks you 

 may make, that I think it will be quite likely 

 that he may not feel that he can push bamboo iu pre- 

 sence of many fibre-yielding products that exist iu 

 the East. Take for instance hemp. This when ripe 

 gives 40 per cent of fibre-making material, but the 

 farmer can get his crop of seed from the same stems, 

 60 that in reality, after he has got the crop of seed 

 instead of throwing away the hemp stems, he can allow 

 them to finally dry and then boil them in the 

 cylinders, or sell them to tlie owners of the cylinder." 



We regret to learn that Mr. Routledge has given 

 up the idea of utiliziug bamboo stems. Bamboos 

 grow wild in jungles, while hemp has to be cultiv- 

 ated and is a most exhausting crop. We long ago 

 saw that Mr. Routledge's idea of converting the tender 

 shoots of bamboo into "half stuff" for paper would 

 fail, because to remove the young shoots would mean 

 the extirpation of the plants. But if the stems could 

 be treated chemically and converted into fibre, large 

 .supplies could be cheaply obtained of the various 

 species from the gigantic bamboo of Burmah to the 

 IxUala of Ceylon. 



> 



NEW PRODUCTS IN THE LOW-COUNTRY 



OF CEYLON : 



General Planting Report : September and 



October. 



Weather.— There was hardly one day in the two 

 months without more or less rain ; we have recorded 

 dry weather for a fortnight in September, not because 

 there was no rain, but because the rain fell in the 

 night, and did not interfere with work. Throughout 

 October the wind has been variable, and not much 

 of it, but the rain has been all from south aud 

 west, lots of it day and night, and for hours together. 

 On the last three davs of the mouth there was none, 

 but it opened afresh with November, 



