June i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AQRTCTTLTURIST. 



885 



COCAIINE, COMMERCIALLY. 



Cocaine can hardly be said yet to have become a com- 

 mercial article. The medical profession are taking a keen 

 interest in it, but the price at present almost prohibits ex- 

 periments, and naturally prevents it being takeu into stock. 

 The following remarks, collected from a couple 01 inter- 

 views, may be fouud of interest : — 

 Messrs. Allen & Hanbury say :— 



" Demand for this continues brisk, and as there is no ex- 

 pectation of the arrival of new leaves in any considerable 

 quantity till April, and stocks held are very small, the 

 price of the alkaloid is likely to again advance. 



"Moreover, the demand for this article in America is 

 so great that, when- there is any quantity of alkaloid to 

 otter, it will be speedily bought up. . 



" Present trade prices are :— For 1 gramme, original bottle, 

 25s ; for small quantities, Is 9d. per gram. 



" The application of this remedy becomes daily more com- 

 prehensive, and its success in different branches of medicine 

 and surgery more and more mark. d. There can be no 

 doubt of its permanent establishment as one of the most 

 valuable artichs in the materia medica, and especially as 

 regards its physiological action. 



" Our medical journals and those of foreign countries 

 almost in everv issue note some new application of cocaine, 

 and prognosticate an unlimited utility for it. It can be 

 used with such an entire freedom from danger that in many 

 operations it is preferable on all points as an anesthetic 

 to auv other that can be employed. 



" Not its least value, moreover, is in the fact that many 

 operations formerly employing two practitioners can now 

 be completed single-handed. Among the recent notices of 

 its application are a number of supplementary cases in 

 ophthalmics, some in aural surgery, naso-laryngeal surgery, 

 urethral, vaginal, and rectal surgery, while it has been success- 

 fully applied in dentistry and as a remedy for severe neuralgia. 

 "It is still mainly used in solution of the muriate, but 

 solutions of the citrate, salicylate, and alkaloid are also used. 

 A preparation iu ointment form is much used, especially 

 in cases of severe surface pain, where considerable absorp- 

 tion is required. Solutions in oleic acid, oil of cloves, ftc, 

 are also employed in such cases. It may be noted that 

 the aqueous solutions of the salts of the alkaloid (except- 

 ing salicylate) do not keep more than two or three weeks. 

 Mr. Martiudale conversed as follows : — 

 " Makers' price has rapidly risen from as. to 21s. per 

 gramme. Most of that used is made by Merck. Some of 

 Petit's has been sold, and in this country Morsou and 

 Tanner have made a little. The stock of coca leaves in 

 Europe now is very low, and, besides, old loaves do not yield 

 nearly so much alkaloid as new ones. You can taste grow- 

 ing leaves in the Royal Botanic Gardens no v (with the per- 

 mission of the authorities). Fresh leaves leave a little sting, 

 something like aconite ; old leaves more resemble pure tea. 

 " The normal price for coca leaves in Peru has varied from 

 about Is. to 4s. per lb. It will probably be three or four 

 monthsbefrre we get agood stock here, though it is understood 

 that6ome considerable quautity is expected iu aboutsix weeks. 



♦ ■ 



TEA IN CENTRAL ASIA. 

 It is satisfactory to note that the exports of Indian 

 tea by land have very largely increased during the year 

 1883-84. Tea to the value of Rl,62,293 went to Cabul 

 iu the past year, while in 1S82-83 the value amounted 

 only to Rl,30,286. But while this is satisfactory, 

 there are certain elements in the trade with Cabul and 

 Central Asia, which, to Indian traders generally, and 

 specially to the tea traders, are very much the reverse. 

 It is stated that a Russian Company is now being 

 organised at Tashkend, which is demanding a concession 

 for the purpose of supplying green tea to Turkistan 

 at a lower price than that for which it can be 

 imported aid Cabul, and the Company claims that 

 the arrangement will save the people of Khiva and 

 Bokhara from the charges they have at present to sub- 

 mit to at the hands of Afghan and English traders. 

 Apparently in Russia the authorities realise the import- 

 ance of the Central Asian tea trade, and leave no stone 

 unturned to drive out the competition of China and of 

 India. It was noticed some y ars ago that the Khauates 

 and Central Asia generally furnished an ever-increasing 



demand for tea, and that iu a country like Bokhara, 

 where the proverb runs " that a man drinks tea or dies,'* 

 there was a great opening for exploiting Indian teas. 

 But according to the Moscow Gazette of the 8th November 

 lSt>3, Russia was equally alive to the fact, and a 

 regulation passed for the refunding of the duties levied 

 on tea passing through Kiakhta and Siberia to Central 

 Asia, coupled with the Anglo-Afghan war, which put a 

 stop to the passage of Indian teas through Afghanistan, 

 gave an impetus to the Russian trade which is now 

 thorough/y established. The Chinese merchants, too, un- 

 able to Compete with them, have left the trade in Rus- 

 sian hands. In the same paper it is stated that improve- 

 ment in the Russian trade is looked for by putting a 

 ch( ek upon the smuggling of Anglo-Indian teas, and the 

 article concludes with the remark that " the tea trade 

 affords too large an item of profit in the Russian Central 

 Asian trade to allow of any neglect in the application 

 of measures for its retention in Russian hands." So 

 that Indian exporters have to congratulate themselves 

 at present on the fact that the Russian frontier is 

 difficult to protect, and that for some years a trade 

 may linger on promoted by smugglers. But that Russia 

 should reduce her duties on Anglo-Indian teas is scarcely 

 to be expected, for she can at once point to her general 

 customs tariff and show that Indian teas pay no more 

 duty on entering Russian territory iu Central Asia than 

 would be exacted on the same teas entering her frontier 

 in Europe. So far the outlook for the extension of the 

 India tea trade in Central Asia is gloomy, but gloomier 

 still is a report which comes from Russia on the subject 

 of the efforts now being made — with the strong support 

 of the Government — to establish the cultivation ' of tea 

 iu the Trans-Caucasian provinces on such a scale as to 

 enable the growers to compete with the Himalayan 

 planters in Central Asia. It is hard to indicate in what 

 direction counter-efforts should be made by the trade in 

 India. The reduction iu prices is no doubt the cause 

 of the recovery in the trade to Cabul, and there seems 

 no reason why our trade, as far as Cabul is concerned, 

 should for the present decrease. Beyond, the Indian 

 trader must trust to low cost of production, for no 

 diminution in Russian duties can be looked for. — Pioneer. 

 [Utterly impossible. — Ed.] 



TREE PLANTING IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



We have received a Government paper containing two 

 reports from Mr. .T. E. Brown, the Conservator of Forests 

 In South Australia — the first containing suggestions for 

 the planting of olives and mulberries on the mallee lauds, 

 and of dates in the Far North j and the second relating 

 to wattle cultivation in the colony generally. Mr. Brown 

 estimates that the scrub land could be put under olive 

 cultivation for about £6 an acre, and an ordinary fenced 

 land for about 30s. to 40s. The planting of the white 

 mulberry would cost little more. A very good suggestion 

 is made that the Government should plant a hundred trees 

 of both kinds iu every district of the colony, to show 

 the residents of each whether or not the trees would 

 grow iu their locality. Mr. Brown also recommends that 

 an experiment should be made as to the planting of trees 

 in the northern districts. A plan is appended, showing the 

 country up to the dividing line between South Australia pro- 

 per and the Northern Territory, on which are marked the 

 localities possessing fresh-water springs, and the areas of 

 available land in their proximity, more or less in extent, 

 on which it is estimated the date would probably flourish. 

 The climate of the Far North is so like that of the in- 

 digenous habitat of the date tree that it seems to pro- 

 mise well for the maturation of the fruit, which does uot 

 ripen near Adelaide, though the tree grows there fairly 

 well. A sum of £S00, carefully expended, would, in Mr. 

 Brown's opiuion, be sufficient to test the practicability of 

 providing "date oases" in the northern country, which, if 

 successful, as he rightly says, would " secure one more 

 step iu subjecting these semi-desert lands to the amelior- 

 ating influences of civilisatiaon." 



But of more importance than the foregoing are the 

 suggestions as to the cultivation of " wattles." The trees 

 known as wattles iu Australia are indigenous species of 



