February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



623 



see that the said samples are bond fide_ ones ; that 

 is, taken from' the bulk as they intend to ship it 

 and not samples made np for the Occasion from 

 picked leaves and made by the most skilled hands, 

 or tliey will defeat their own object. The need for 

 this mutual help must be obvious to all who will 

 think what the effect ou the market would be if 

 two-thirds of I he tea shipped from Ce.Tlon was (I 

 will not say rulibish but) of very inferior quality. 

 Such a thing could only result in a general mistrust 

 of all Ceylon teas. No doubt the cause of the low 

 prices lately obtained for Ceylon teas may be traced 

 in a great measure to a want of sufficient accom- 

 modation {e.ipecially for withering) ou young estates, 

 for the rapirlly increasing yield, but, after miiking 

 full a'lonance for these drawbacks, there can he no 

 doubt we have still much to learn and none should 

 be too proud to receive advice. For my own part 

 I shall be glad to receive as well as give the best 

 advice in my power. To err is human and I have 

 had oceasioD to change my mind on more than one 

 important point, anH that quite lately, aud yet j; 

 have had upwards of 24 years of almost uninter- 

 rupted expeiience, having come out as a tea planter 

 iu 1858.— Yours truly, TEA FLUSH. 



LEDGf:EIANA SEED. 

 (To the Editor ot the Madras Mail.) 



Sir. — As there seems a diversity of opinion as to 

 how many seeds a pound of ' . Ledgeriana contains, 

 varying from 640,000 to 1,400,000, I have today had 

 the seeds contained in \ oz. of Piibescens or Robusta 

 carefully counted, and the outturn is 19,900 ; discard 

 900 aud we have 76,000 seeds to the ounce 

 representing 1,216,000 to the pound, The seed 

 was grown on the Government Cinchona Plant- 

 ation at Naddivattum, heuce may be smaller than 

 seed from trees of the same class grown at a lower 

 altitude, but considerably larger than any Ledgeiiana 

 seed I have had either of Indian or Java growth. 

 Having no Ledgeriana seed on hand at present I 

 eelef'ted the abov»^ \'ariety as a test. 



O.ichterlony Valley. C. M. Grant. 



^'^^^^^^^'^"^'^^^™"^"^™*™*^"^™"^^"^^^"'^*— ^^^—^^^^^ 



Rainfall ix a Ceylon Tea District : Weyota 

 Valiey, Yatiyantota.— Rainfall for 1682 : — 



Longest spell of dry weatlier, 

 January 11th to 23rd. 



Longest spell of wet weather 

 July 27th to Aug. 12lh. 



Heaviest fall in one day, on 

 May 18th, 3-78. 



Total ... 164 do 130-12 



Tfa.— It is said at Calcutta that there will shortly 

 be au unprecedentedly large number of changes in the 

 management of tea estates besides those wiiich have 

 already taken place. Owing to the poor result of last 

 year, the dirtcturs and proprietors of numerous estates 

 are anxious lo try a change of management. And 

 possibly this will be done in many cases with a simi- 

 lar result to that obtained in Ceylon, where some 

 superintendents who knew their estates thoroughly, 

 but could not— and no one could— cure leaf disease 

 aud secure suitable weather, were replaced by men 

 who knew nothing of the estates and probably came 

 from other districts. The last state of such estates 

 was worse tlian the first. — Madras Mail 



"J.FFNA Aloe FrBRE selling in London at £-20 

 lOs per ton" is one unusual piece of news by the 

 present mail : who will give us particulirs of this 

 shipment, of the mode and cost of preparation, ^aro bono 

 yubtico ? 



Hop.s AND THEIR SUBSTITUTES.— The failure in the 

 English hop harvest has given an immense impetus 

 to the values of vegetable drugs used as substitutes. 

 Th se value.-i have in some cases risen 300 to 400 per 

 cent. Colombo root, a tonic bitter of good character, 

 not a deleterious poison, has risen in a month from 

 22s to i'4 ISs per cwt., camomiles from £2 to £6, 

 quassia from £5 to £40 per ton, Guinea grams from 

 £1 123 to £3 per cwt., and a cheap chemical bitter 

 called cheretta from 3d per lb. to Ss 6d. Drinkers 

 of bitter beer may ponder over this rise, and go on 

 drinking. — London Vorrespondtnt of " Aberdeen Free 

 Press." 



Tropical AGBicuLTtmE. — The literature of tropical agri- 

 culture is not so prolific as to make the following two 

 journals de trop. One we had the pleasure of announcing 

 was in prepaiatiou in Nos. 171-2 of our Kecord, viz., " The 

 .Journal ot tli'e Koyal Agricultural and Commercial Society 

 of British Guiana," vol. i, part 1, for June, 1S82, edited 

 by E. F. im. Tliurn, M.A. The other journal comes to 

 hand from a ditterent tropical quarter, Colombo, Oeylou ; 

 it is entitled the " Tropical Agriculturist, a Monthly Re- 

 cord of Information tor Planters," compiled by Jlessrs. A. 

 M. & J. Ferguson, of the Ceylon Observer. Volume I, now 

 just completed, contains 13 numbers, or 1,08a pages of 

 matter, in double columns, small 4t.)., with a good index. 

 To cultivators of coffee, tea, cocoa, cinchona, palms, sugar, 

 rice, tobacco, or other tropical produce, this Journal will 

 be very valuable. — Trubner's Literary Record. 



Analysis oe ISilgri-Grown CiNCHONA Bark. — The 

 Madras Government some time ago forwarded to the 

 Secretary of State consignments of cinchona baik. 

 from their estates at I^addewatum, Dodabetta and 

 Pykara, from which quinine and other alkaloids were 

 to be manufactured ou their behalf. These barks were 

 made over to Mr. Whiffen, the wellknown pharinac-ut- 

 ical chemist in London, and the analysis yielded the 

 following results: — 



Description 

 of bark. 

 Renewed 



crown balk 

 Mossed ,, 

 Natural „ 



Quinine sul- Oinchonidine Cinchona 

 phate per ct. sulphate p.ct. alkaloid p.ct. 



.5-57 to 5-71 



.4 06 to 403 



,3- 6 to 3-42 

 Renewed red b...3 04 

 Mossed bark ...1-71 to 2-09 

 Natural ,, ...1-28 to 1- 2 

 Root ,, ...1- 3 to 2- 9 

 Branch ,, ..0' 8 to 0-66 

 Renewed scraped 

 crown bark ...4-34 

 Natural scraped 



bark ...1-81 



Branch crown bk.0 07 



The total of products obtained by manufacture was as 

 joUows : — 



Quinine sulphate 1,4671b. 



Oinchonidine sulphate 34.t ,, 



Quinidine ,, 40 ,, 



Cinchonine alkaloid 208 „ 



Febrifuge 2,236 ,, 



Total charges on account of the bark sent amounted 

 to £3,.3520.9, distributed as follows ;— 



£. 

 Freight, Ageucy, &c. ... ... ... ... 721 



Manufacturing cliarges ... ... ... ...2,604 



Fire Insurance of bark at factory ... .. 26 



— Madras Mail. 



6. d. 



9 3 



11 







CINCHONA HYBRIDS AND C ONFUSION. 



Hybridity itself being the result of confusion, it 

 seems natural enough that confusion should characterize 

 discussions regarding the origin, nature and nomen- 

 clature of cinchona hybrids : Mr. Cross (ominous 



