58 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1885. 



The Milan factory must have been in financial difficulties 

 for a considerable time. The liabilities were stated at 

 /S.OOO.UOH, the assets at /:J,2S0,000. The shareholders 

 have entirely lost their capital, while the creditors will 

 receive about 45 p. Ct. The value of the factory is estim- 

 ated at /' 975,000, the stock of sulphate of quiuine, etc. 

 at /■ 1,940,000. The factory possesses also Cinchona planations 

 in'Bolivia, which are valued at / 50,000, bat of which no 

 title deeds have been found. The manufacture is still 

 continued, but as only 25 kilogr. of sulphate of quinine 

 per day are prepared now, it does not cover the expenses. 



The demand for sulphate of quinine remained very 

 trifling up to November, and the stock of barks could 

 only be disposed of by constant lowering of the price. But 

 against the end of that month, and in December, a greater 

 demand for this salt arose, and prices improved somewhat, 

 50 that also the unit, which had fallen in October to a 

 mean of 2.5 cents, improved by ultimo December to 30 cents. 



The range of prices for sulphate of quinine during the 

 year 1884 is given here for every month. 



As is known, Howard's sulphate of quinine commands 

 higher prices than either the French or the German. In 

 general there exist no other reason for this, than that 

 Howard's salt is preferred in Kngland and part of the 

 British Colonies to the exclusion of all other marks. 



The purity and the appearance of the salt do not differ 

 60 much as to authorize the higher price 



The price of the various marks were, per kilogram, in 

 guilders i — 



English. French. German. 



January 150 149 145 



February 120 96—106 91—101 



March Ill lOO— 110 101—106 



April 101 96—101 88— 91 



May 101 96—101 91 



June lOl 101—106 91—96 



July 96—101 101-106 86—96 



August 87 77— 86 82—87 



September 82—87 77— 82 72—77 



October 83-87 72— 82 67-50 



November 82— --7 67—80 66-50-72 



December 87—90 77—86 72—77 



For the Department of Colonies in Netherland, the 

 furnishing of sulphate of quinine was contracted : the 

 5th March for / 10887, 9th April f<)5-in, 13th May 

 /91-40, 5th INovumber /65, 20th December /76-63 per 

 kilogr. These prices ngrce pretty well with the market 

 value, whilst the contract for 5th November only was in 

 fact below the market price. 



The price of bark declined with that of the sulphate 

 of quinine, but the difference is not so great, because 

 the January price of /145 a /150 for quinine was an 

 artificial one. However, on comparing the prices of bark 

 in May 1883 and in September 1884, it will become 

 evident what a great diminution in value has taken 

 place within that period. An excellent instance to cor- 

 roborate this, is the history of a parcel of bark from the 

 Tjiomas plantation, which after being sold in London, in 

 Hiay 1883, was stored by the purchaser, aud offered by 

 him again for sale in September 1884 in the same place. 

 The prices were per English pound ; — 



In 1883. In 1884. 



146 bales stem-bark 40 cents 17 » cents 

 28 „ branch-bark 50 „ 22^ „ 

 8 „ shavings 90 „ 40 „ 



Ths unit for barks containing of 24 p Ct. sulphate of 

 quinine varied from 25 to 45 cents. For barks of very 

 low ])erce«tage, below 1 p Ct., however, this was not the 

 case, and the unit for these descriptions has fallen as 

 low as to 18 cents, Avhile buyers neglected those barks, 

 giving more attention to material of a higher percentage. 



A circumstance, observed during the whole course of 

 the precedmg year, was, that the American barks were 

 ■only sold and supplied in .small quantities. The rate to 

 •which the bark prices had declined, left no margin for j 

 profit for these barks. There were still some supplies, 

 for which n,n«tjy advances had been paid, but the import- 

 er.s. who would have had to lose upon their supplies 

 have generally preferred to withhold their bark, hoping 

 for better times. ,' 



The following statement shows bow much the imports of 

 ^mericau baflte havu decreased, conspared with former J 



years. These figures are the totals of imports from S. 

 America to England, N. America and France in bales: — 



1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 

 91,990. 107.900. 110,530. 157,805. 163,587. 104,690. 37,490. 

 A great part of these supplies of the years from 1881 

 to 1884 consisted of Ouprea-barks ; in 1882 about 80,000 

 bales of this description were imported to England and 

 France together, in 1884, only about 12,000 bales. 



As has been said above, in Slay about 15,000 bales of 

 cuprea bark had been taken by the Slilan factory. But 

 save this larger sale, only about 20,000 bales of S. American 

 bark were sold during the whole first half-year of 1884, 

 which figure tell in the second half-year to 6,000 bales. 

 So only 21,000 bales were sold, out of more than 89,500 

 bales that had been put for auction. 



Among the Cuprea barks sold this year, there were 

 thousands of bales which had lain for to or three years in 

 London, and with which a speculation had been attempted 

 in hopes of engrossing all the bark, and so force up the 

 prices. Fortunately this speculation miscarried, and the 

 figure expressiug the losses iu that speculation must needs 

 be very high. 



Especially the great supplies of cultivated barks from 

 Asia have tended to frustrate the attempts to force up 

 the prices. 



Ceylon bears the palm among the Asiatic possessions, 

 as to quantity of the product. The quantity has increased 

 there with astonishing rapidity, as will appear from the 

 following table. The total imports from C'eylou were in 

 kilograms, during the years : — 



18S1 1882 1883 1884 



544,200 1,405,850 3,174,500 5,215,250 



The other parts of British India, Madras, and Bengal, 

 brought to market iu Loudon diuriiig 1884 only a quantity 

 of a little more than 5,000 bales, 



Iu 1881 Java turni.shed 453,700 kilograms of bark. Of 

 this quantity 323,500 kilograms were sold by auction at 

 Amsterdam, iu Loudon 50,000 kilograms by auction, aud 

 80,200 kilograms were sold direct to quinine fabricauts. 

 The percentage of the Ceylon barks is at present estim- 

 ated at an average of H or 2 p Ct. sulphate of quiuine. 

 That of the Javan barlTs suld by auction amouuted to 

 '2 22 p Ct., while those sold direct to the factories held 

 on an average 35 p Ct. On the whole, all the ciuchoua 

 barks imported from Java in 1884 and sold iu Europe, 

 contained about 10,000 kilograms of sulphate of quinine. 

 The highest percentage was found iu the Ledgeriaua 

 barks of the Government's Cinchona plantations (0-3 p Ct. 

 sulphate of quinine iu the air-dried bark), but also among 

 the private supplies, stem-barks are constantly met with, 

 which, though mostly younger than the Government barks, 

 excel for high contents. 



From auction notes aud direct sales to factories known 

 to me, I here give the highest contents of parcels of 

 barks of some estates in Java, which were sold during 1884. 

 The percentage is: sulphate of quinine in air dry bark: 

 Djoengo (East .Java) Ledgeriaua stem-bark 3 pOt. 

 Pringombo (Pekalougan) ,, ,., 7'5 „ 



Pagilaran „ „ „ 6-7 „ 



Karang Mego ., ,, „ 7-3 „ 



Pamanoekau & Tjiasem Krawang Ledgeriaua 



stem-bark G'4 „ 



Suekanegara (Preanger Keg.) Ledg. stcm-b. 8'0 „ 

 Panjairau „ ,, ,, 6'9 „ 



Tjiseureuh „ „ „ 5-2 „ 



Bajabaug „ „ „ o'l „ 



I'asir Ipics ,, „ ,, 6-2 „ 



■Waspada „ „ „ 5'0 „ 



Tandjoeng laoet ,, „ „ 5-7 „ 



Djajagiri „ ,, „ ^^ » 



Soakawana ,, „ „ 5*7 „ 



Telaga I'ateugan „ „ „ 5-1 „ 



Tjitrap (Buitenzorg) „ „ 5-3 „ 



The officinalis bark, too, often sliowed a high percent- 

 age of sulphate of quiuine. The following Cinchona 

 coucerus, for instance, sold : — 



Pasir Ipies officinalis stem-bark 5'8 p.ct. 



A\'aspada ,, ,. 4-7 „ 



Pamanoekau & Tjiasem officinalis „ 5.1 „ 



Djajagiri „ „ 6-1 „ 



Soekawaua „ „ 61 „ 



Pjoeiigo „ „ i'S „ 



