February 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



589 



was a fair specimen of the crop on a field of 120 acres 

 which has a crop of from to 7 cwt. per acre. " The 

 coffee, he goes on to say, " is ten years old and has had 

 no manure." Now, high cultivation has been the cry of 

 late. " You can't cultivate too liighly," some successful 

 ones have 6aid. I don't say they are not right, but the 

 axiom has been mischievous in its results. The only mean- 

 ing it has conveyed to the bulk of planters is " You can t 

 spend too much money on your estates." The one word 

 "judiciously," which is the main secret, has been lost 

 sight of. Men borrowed and spent in most cases injudi- 

 ciously, and disaster resulted. The paragraph I have quoted 

 proves that it is not necessary that a place is ruined be- 

 cause high cultivation is not carried out. There is hardly 

 a planter who will not point out to you, as you go over 

 his estate, a field with the remark "That.'s a wonderful piece ; 

 I have not given it a bit of manure, or done such and 

 such a work on it, and look how well it is looking " or 

 " look at the crop it has got." What I am trying to prove 

 is this. There are many parts in every estate which, 

 either on account of the sod, or the result of previous 

 works, or some other cause, have got to a state 

 In which they don't want any meddling ; they 

 will do as well without, anyhow for that year. 

 Why waste your money, and bother them with your dig- 

 ging, your clean weedings, your centre pits, and your 

 little handful of manure doled out so as to go so far as 

 possible, impartially to good, bad, or indifferent parts ? 

 Here is an opportunity of saving with positive benefit. 

 There are other parts, poor soil, blown and unshaded, 

 which hardly pay the expensive work required for them. 

 Yet, forsooth you waste money and time over them, lo- 

 calise it would look unsightly to have semi-abandoned 

 pieces in the middle of your estate. Here is another 

 opportunity of saving without loss. Pass over those parts 

 with perhaps the slightest of works. There are, again, other 

 parts which are favourable enough in conditions, but are 

 just out of their turn ; they are resting or have received 

 a check, or something small is wanting. A helping hand 

 to these in good season would make them jump forward 

 again. I say reserve your resources for these parts. Treat 

 them liberally, and you will find at the end ot the season 

 that your place has not received so much damage after 

 all, in spite of the stern withholding of the advance you 

 thought you would require, and you begin to hope that 

 after all you may some day call your estate your own. — 

 Madras Mail. 



TEA IMPORTS AND CONSUMPTION IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



The imports of tea, according to the Government returns 

 during 188.3, amouuted to 74,799,919 pounds against 

 71,409,511 pounds for the previous year, or an increase of 

 4,390,408 pounds. The imports for December were over 

 one million pounds more than the corresponding period of 

 1882. While the imports were so much higher than the 

 previous year, the value was only $15,346,009 against 

 $17,270,404. The imports for January, however, show a 

 remarkable shrinkage, amounting to $6,386,958 against 

 819,629,529 for the same time 1883. 



It will be seen that the consumption of tea per capita 

 rapidly advanced after the duty was removed. While it. was 

 only 94 pound in 18(37 it rose to 1'59 in 1881. Since that 

 date, however, there has been a gradual shrinkage in the 

 consumption, last year it amounting to only 131 pounds. 

 Tho above years are calculated from July 1st to June 30th 

 of each year. — American Grocer. 



CHEAP QUININE. 



To the Editor of the " Pioneer." 



Sir, -There are many planteu a, no doubt, scattered 

 in out-of-the-way corners of the mofussi), who may 

 be interested to hear of (he experience of a friend 

 of mine, who lately purchased, from a box-wallah, 

 a bottle labelled " Produits chimiques — sulphate de 

 quinine. Paris — one ounce." The price paid was R2. 

 As the price seemed rather low, I thought it might 

 be as well to examine it as to its purity, &e. I 



was prepared to find it a mixture of the alkaloids 

 of the bark, but hardly for the result obtained. On 

 analysis it proved to be entirely composed of hydro- 

 chlorate of cinchonia. Its appearance under the micro- 

 scope was quite distinct from that of sulphate of 

 quinine. In the price list of a wholesale druggist of 

 London, when genuine sulphate was ciuoted at ten 

 shillings per ounce, hydrochlorate of cinchonia was 

 quoted one shilling and a penny per ounce. This 

 shows a large profit for the fraudulent dealers. A 

 simple test by which this article can be distinguished 

 from sulphate of quinine may be made as follows : — 

 Take as much as will lie on a two-anna bit, and dis- 

 solve it in 50 or 60 drops of boiling water ; on 

 cooling the sulphate of quinine will settle to an 

 almost solid mass of fine crystals, while the hydro- 

 chlorate of cinchonia will remain clear, or give but a 

 slight deposit. As the value of this substance as a 

 febrifuge is far below that of quinine its substitution 

 might in many cases endanger life. Analyst, 



THE DEATH OF DR. VOELCKER, F.R.S. 



Planters in Ceylon and India, as well as farmers at 

 home, will lave learned with regret of the death of Dr. 

 Augustus Voelcker, Consulting Chemist to the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, which took place at 

 Kensington on the 5th December, in the 63rd year 

 of his age. 



The deceased was the son of Frederick Adolphus 

 Voelcker, and was born at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 

 on the 24th September 1S22. He was educated at 

 a private school and at the University of Gottingen, 

 where he attained his diploma of Master of Arts and 

 Doctor of Philosophy. Thence he removed to the 

 University of Utrecht, where he became Principal 

 Assistant to Professor Mulder and remained for some 

 time under this distinguished Physiological Chemist. 

 In 1849, he accepted the invitation of the la'e Pro- 

 fessor Johnston to come to Edinburgh and superintend 

 the Laboratory of the Agricultural Chemistry Society 

 of Scotland, where his mind was specially directed 

 to that branch of chemistry with which his name 

 afterwards became so well-known. In 1851, he was 

 appointed to the chair- of Professor of Chemistry at 

 the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, and there 

 he instituted those carefully-arranged field experi- 

 ments, the results of which formed the subject of many 

 valuable communications to our agricultural and 

 scientific literature, and which may be truly said to 

 have laid the foundation of his future great reput- 

 ation as a sound chemical adviser on all agricultural 

 matters connected with soils, manures and feeding, 

 stuffs, as well as the various productions of the dairy. 



His private residence was distant about a mile from 

 the College, and in the walks to and fro he had to 

 pass over the principal portion of the model farm, 

 so that he had daily opportunities of noticing the 

 effects of the manures employed in the experiments, 

 and, being a keen observer, he never failed to detect 

 the effect of a change of temperature or a fall of rain. 

 Students, young and old, flocked to Cirencester, not 

 only to obtain valuable instruction in the laboratory 

 and lecture-rooms, but also to see for themselves the 

 practical results in the field. These eleven years 

 ! ,i i iii the bracing Cotswold hills were among the 

 hip; mst of his lift-, and it was a matter of deep 

 regret to his friends as well as a distinct loss to the 

 students when, in consequence of certain differences 

 in relation to the management of the College, Dr. 



