November 



1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



36. 



4ie laud should be well opened ; but this is the nature of 

 cultivation required. The young plants are put from the 

 nursery in rows eighteen inches apart, but after the first 

 year they will, if the soil be good, very soon cumber the 

 ground and require thinning. After a cutting out of the 

 matured stalks, they might be relieved by removing every 

 alternate root, which could be utilised for filling up vacancies 

 and lor extensions. If water is available it would be pro- 

 fitably applied during very dry weather, but only sufficient 

 to keep the roots moist, and when the flowering of the 

 plant comes on, no more watering should take place in 

 order that the shoots may ripen and form the fibre pro- 

 perly. They are, when quite brown near the ground, cut 

 down and taken to the retting ground, and there subjected 

 to the same or nearly the same process as jute and hemp, 

 i.e., steeped in water until in a state to part with the 

 outer cuticle of the stem, when the tine fibre is readily 

 separated from the woody matter. But in order to ascert- 

 ain when the proper time for scalching has arrived, a 

 good deal of attention and care is required. For the work 

 of separation the labor of women anil children is more 

 suitable than that of men, as the fibre though strong is 

 extremely tine and delicate. For the process of taking 

 off the fibre a good supply of water is needed, as for 

 jute, and the same may be said of the preparation of the 

 Sanseviera fibre. For extracting both of these fibres, the 

 new machine patented by Death & Ellwood is said to 

 be admirably adapted, doing the work rapidly and at a 

 small cost. — Lilian Agriculturist. [" Doing the work rapidly 

 and at a small cost " ? This is just the question which 

 has to be settled. As yet the complaint is of the small 

 outturn of clean fibre per diem. — Ed.] 



RUBBER GROVES. 



Last year w« bought §8,600,000 worth of rubberfrom Brazil- 

 Next to coffee and sugar, rubber holds third place in Brazil- 

 ian exports, and is in great demand in this country because 

 of its superior quality. It is being usetl now in countless 

 rays, and in late years its consumption has doubled, pass- 

 ing i?i a stride from the rank of a luxury or non-essential 

 to that of a necessity. Since the industry of collecting the 

 sap ami preparing the crude rubber for the market is 

 altogether in the hands of barbarous and nomadic Indians, 

 it is not sin prising to learn that no attention is paid by 

 them to the future. They follow blindly the old methods, 

 and tiie wasteful system of half a century ago is obstinately 

 pursued without any effort towards improvement and 

 economy. These besotted people have no thought beyond 

 immediate profit, and in consequence millions of rubber 

 trees have been destroyed and many others abandoned from 

 premature ami inordinate tapping. Intelligent Brazilians, 

 who have given the matter some thought, are of the opinion 

 thai thi industry lias but a short time to live, unless 

 bhe government interferes and introduces economic measures. 

 When rue is taken the results are highly satisfactory. 

 It is known that if the trees are not tapped in August 

 and September, when they change their leaves, groves have 

 continued to yield abundantly for thirty years, and are 

 still in good condition. Little or nothing, however, lias 

 been done to propagate the trees, and indiscriminate tap- 

 pi m continues as if the supply were inexhaustible. It is 

 painful to rubber dealers to contemplate that then- are 

 nn indications at present that effective precautions will be 

 adopted to save the valuable rubber groves. — Independent 

 Journal. 



ANALYSIS OF THE SO-CALLED AMORPHOUS 

 ALKALUIDS OF PERUVIAN BABK. 



BY VIEGIL COBLENZ. 



The author, after giving an account of the manufacture 

 of a cheap febrifuge by the British government in India, 

 describes three of the most prominent of these so-called 

 amorphous alkaloids in the American market. These are 

 sold ■> ider the names of " Dextro-quinine," '■ Quinquinia," 

 and " Powdered Purified Ohinoidiue." 



In one instance the composition is stated on the label 

 to be 15 per cent each of quinine, quinidine, and cinchon- 

 idine; 25 per cent cinchonine, and the remaining MO per 

 cent amorphous alkaloids or purified chinoidine. They are 

 all recommended as equal to quinine in the same dc^e, 

 11; 



while the price at which they are offered is considerably 

 less. 



A qualitative analysis showed each of the three speci- 

 mens under examination to contain about from two to five 

 i'ii- cent of moisture, being of neutral reaction, free from 

 non-volatile compounds, and containing ail the four alkaloids 

 enumerated above. In our specimen traces foi an 

 and sulphuric acid were found. 



In making a qualitative analysis some difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in obtaining the alkaloids free from resinon and 

 coloring matter, which interfered with their estimi 

 It. was thought that, as these compounds were alkalo 

 some degree of purity, their solutiun in a weak acid, and 

 subsequent neutralization with an alkali would yield tin 

 free alkaloids in a form sufficiently pure for estimation, 

 but such proved not to be the case. 



The method of the T*. S. Pharmacopoeia for assaying cin- 

 chona barks was then, in part, adopted, and gave satis- 

 factory results. This is the familiar process of decomposing 

 the alkaloids, exhausted with dilute hydrochloric acid, with 

 lime, aiid subsequently exhausting the dried and 

 powdered precipitate with boiling alcohol, which leaves the 

 alkaloids in a tolerably pure form upon agitation with 

 chloroform. 



For a quantitative separation of the alkaloids the method 

 id Li.- Vrij was followed. To the total quantity of the 

 mixed alkaloids resulting from each assay was added a 

 small quantity of quite finely-powdered glass, and ten times 

 the weight of the alkaloids of stronger ether. Upon agit- 

 ation with the glass the alkaloids were detached from the 

 Mask, and, being ground up by the glass, those soluble in 

 ether readily dissolved therein." The separation of the two 

 classes of alkaloids was thus effected, and subjected to 

 further examination with the following result: — 



NO. 1. — TWO GRAMS SAMPLE TAKFW 



Quinine 012 



Quinidine '477 



iuchonine -475 



Cinchonidine ... ... ... -155 



Uncrystallizable alkaloid ... '361 



Total alkaloid ; matter sol- 



uble in ether L480 „ 7-100 



Moisture -040 „ 2-00 



Non-alkaloidal matter ... -480 24-00 



per cent. 



2-000 gms. or 100 per cent. 



NO. 3.— TWO GRAMS SAMPLE TAKEN. 



Quinine -014 grams or 70 per cent. 



Ouiiii.line -098 „ „ 4-90 „ 



( 'inch mine -205 ,, „ 1025 „ 



Oinchonidine -401 „ ,,2005 „ 



Uncrystallizable alkaloids ... -902 „ „ 45-10 „ 



Total alkaloid ; matter sol- 

 uble in ether 

 Moisture 

 Non-alkaloidal matter 



— Druggist. 



1-620 



■045 

 ■335 



,,8100 



2-25 



., 16-75 



2000 gms. or loll per cent. 



"ROUGH ON CORNS." 

 Ask for 'Wells' "Rough on Corns.' 1 Quick relief, com- 

 plete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. '\A". E. 

 Smith & Co., Madras, Sole Agents. 



