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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JOLV I, 1885. 



Sulphate price 



OF p. i kilo 



QUININE, in ceats. 



OfficinaHs original 

 Succirubi-a ? 



Officinalis renewed 



", original 



lb. 



5-8 pCt. 176 



UNIT 



in 

 cents, 



30 



5 

 3 



4 

 13 

 4 

 2 



(50 

 4-5 

 5-9 

 5-6 

 5.1 

 5-4 

 5.2 

 2.3 



170 

 126 

 159 

 170 

 143 

 141 

 154 

 93 



28 



27 



30 



28 



27=. 



29» 



28 



Now, if the unit is taken of the auctions held at 

 about 'the same time at Amsterclam, we find: — 

 London. Amsterdam. 



Feb. 36th. 32^-44 et. Feb. 29th 31-45 ct. 



NB— The barks with more than 4 p. ct. sulphate 

 were ' paid at London with 32»-36ii per unit, at 

 Amsterdam with 36—45. 

 April 9tb. 33^—41 ct. April 18th. 33-43 et. , 



N B -During the month of April the prices remained 



"tly'foth. 2SS ct. July 25th. 31-32 ct 



NB— For Amsterdam I have pm-posely taken only 

 the unit of barks which obtained about 2 p. ct. liUe 

 those of Loudon. 



Dee. 2.ul. 2T-32 ct. Nov, 2Sth. 31-36. ct. 

 NB— The market had a n.smg tendency, so that the 

 date of Dec. 2nd must have been in favour of Loudon 



It is evident,-a. least as far as these tew 

 comparative data go to prove,-that the advantage was 

 not on the side of the London market. I most boweve 

 observe that in London the payments are cash without 

 deduction, while at Amsterdam 1 p.. ct. ,s given lor 

 ready miuey. We shall then do wisely to take for 

 granted that the business takes its natural course and 

 that, at the same periods, the same price is paid at 

 Amsterdam and London for the same manufacturer s baik. 

 The comparLsou of druggist bark is even more 

 difficult. In the reports of sales we only see noted ot 

 Dutch barks : stambasl Ide soort or Iste soo,-t iii lant/e 

 mpen,-oi English barks: loni/ or hold i%'.very dmciytU 

 mill, etc.-but the particulars-fair, sound appearance, 

 the being well covered with lichens, the silvery coating, 

 and other details that determine the high value, are 

 not learnt from such a description It is therefore 

 difficult to say: saccirubra has fetched at London so 

 much, and at Amsterdam so much, and thus compare 

 them, because those succirubra barks may coffer immensely 

 in the eyes of a druggist. . , 



That sometimes very high prices are given for such 

 barks at Amsterdam was evident from the auction ot 

 29th February, when very young succirubra bark in long 

 quills was sold on appearance for 19i a -04 cts au.l 

 the 19th of June, when long quills of Calisaya 

 Schuhkraft fetched 302 cts. per li kilogram. 



As there is not so much wanted of this sort ot 

 barks, it may easily happen, that at one time there is 

 more demand in Loudon, and at another lu Amsterdam, 

 and that the prices in proportion may vary '" J''™"'' 

 of either market. Dealers of flruggist-barks ni Nether- 

 land assure that the prices of this article are better at 

 Amsterdam, but 1 believe that their colleagues in 

 London find the prices better there. 



The costs of sale in Luiidou are not less than those 

 of the auctions at Amsterdam; the contrary is even 

 averred. The planters who have sold in both places, 

 would be able to give information about this point, 

 which would certainly nut be to the detnmeut of the 

 Dutch market. The ch:irges of auction <nc very high 

 in both places, and they weigh heaviest the lower the 

 prices, the less good the bark, and smaller the parcels 

 are If, for example, very young succirubra quills are 

 packed in chests, and it the whole lot must be sold at 

 30 or 40 cts. per half kilogram, then freight and 

 insurance run away with the greater part of the 

 produce, and it may occur that as much as 40 pCt 

 and even more of the gross produce is lost for charges, 

 while the seller in Amsterdam is after all ill-paid for 



his trouble. „ ^ ■ 1 



Direct sale, by eotitract, to manufactories, under 

 control ot the analysis from the side of the sellers, 



has for a couple of years been practised to satisfaction 

 by some planters. The payment is regulated according 

 to the average price of the sulphate of quinine during 

 one half-year. This system of sale entails vcnj small 

 charges. The chance of deriving eventual profit from 

 the inclination for speculation ot some buyer who pays 

 higher prices at the auction than the price of the 

 sulphate of quinine at the moment of the auction 

 would authorize, is then disregarded; but then there is 

 the advantage of being always sure of an immediate sale 

 at the average value sulphate of quinine during one 

 half-year. 



The brokers, both at London and Amsterdam must be 

 directed by analysis of the barks. For the factory-barka 

 especially, these are quite indispensable for valuation. 

 The analyses for this purpose must often be made in 

 great numbers and very expeditiously, and it frequently 

 occurs that an exact determination of quinine sulphate is 

 dequired within two or three days. 



I touud that my method of analysis, which I 

 constantly followed in Java, though it gives exact results, 

 did not answer under these conditions, because it 

 required too much time and labour. I was therefore 

 obliged to adopt another method, and at first this gave 

 some trouble, and I could not be aways satisfied 

 with the results obtained. But at present this 

 dithculty is surmounted, and while using the _ same 

 method of analysis followed in many quinine factories, the 

 figures hi general agree with those of the manufacturers. 



Differences in the analyses constantly occur, and the 

 more so in proportion as the barks are badly mixed, 

 or appear in quiils, which makes it difficult to take a 

 good average sample. If several persons take samples 

 from one and the same parcel of bark in quills, it is 

 very likely that their analyses will diverge more or less 

 considerably, and it often occurs by this reason that 

 the limits of the manufacturers for one and the same 

 parcel of bark greatly differ. Thence follows that units 

 obtained by dividing the amount ot quinine sulphate 

 upon the prices per IJ kilo, diverge sometimes consider- 

 ably from each other, which difft-rence is increased by 

 the unit's being in proportion to the contents, a little 

 higher or lower, because the manufacturers pay more 

 for the best barks of 4 p. ct. sulphate of quinine than 

 for that of lower percentage. 



Hitherto we did not find the London market to excel 

 by any particular advantages. Yet there is one, and 

 that is that in London cinchona sales are held regularly, 

 every fortnight, about 25 per annum ; while at Amsterdam 

 the auctions are not so regular, and last year only 8 

 were held. This may sometimes occasion some delay for 

 small parcels, but, in proportion as greater supplies come 

 from Java, and the planters send their barks less fre- 

 quently to London, this difficulty will diminish. It is 

 probable that in 1885 one sale per month can be held. 

 Besides, the way is always open to dispose quickly of 

 fit parcels by privately selling them to the manu- 

 factories. 



The arrivals m Amsterdam in 18S4 consisted for a 

 great part of manufacturer's barks. We cannot recom- 

 mend the planters too strongly, iu the case of typical 

 Ledgeiiana, not to apply themselves to obtain more or 

 less fair bark quills. As soon as the contents exceed 

 3 a 4 p et. of sulphate of quinine, the bark is not 

 bought as druggist-bark, and so the form gives no 

 advantage; indeed it is a disadvantage, because the bark 

 takes up more room, requires more costs ot package 

 and freight, and the exact valuation is rendered more 

 difficult Such barks should be broken up in small 

 pieces a couple of centimetres long, and be thoroughly 

 mixed. It is no use whatever to do, as is so often 

 done with Ledgeria-ia barks of more than 6 p ct_. 

 sulphate— to separate them in quills ot -6, 4, 5, b 

 decimetres in length, and thus sorting several sma 

 parcels, instead of breaking them all up into small 

 pieces and mixing them up to one good large parcel 



The manufacturers have at present an immense deal of 

 work. In the first two months ot the present year 8,6,2 

 bales of Ceylon cinchona bark were set up for auction m 

 London, bc'sides the S. American barks. It now wo 

 assume that all this consisted on an average of parcels 



