August i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



113 



SUGAR IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 

 (Translated for the "Straits Times.") 



Batavia, May 2711]. — [From a corrspondent.) Thei'e 

 is not much uews tegarduig industrial ami plantat en 

 euterpriz^. One result of tlie suyar crisis is that iu- 

 vestigatious are 1 eing made as lo how far sugar can 

 be turned to advantage for other purposes thau those 

 for which it has beau hitherto used. The result is 

 that in Britain, Gerinanj-, and Austria, sugar is coming 

 into use as an article of food for fattening stock. 

 As a matter of course, only cheapest kinds are availed 

 of for this purpose. The results gained thereby may 

 really be termed brilliant, so much so even that animals 

 fatteufd on sugar exhibited at the last Berlin Cattle 

 Show surpassed all those on view which had been fattened 

 on other foods. .\Dother item of sugar ne«s is that 

 Mr. Eydman, a Java planter, has been experimenting 

 on the extraction of sugar from megass and molasses 

 with Steffen's diffusion apparatus so satisfactorily that 

 the experiments have proved a thorough success. In 

 Europe sug.ar is rising in value. This year's crop is, 

 howerer, not expected to be large, owing, in all likeli- 

 hood, to the depressed condition of the sugar interest 

 last year. Should, however, prices continue improving, 

 the amhiiion to have heavy crops will no doubtjgain 

 the upper hand once more. 



COFFEE IN AMERICA AND TOBACCO IN THE 



PHILIPPINES. 



(Translated for the "Straits Times.") 



Coffee GROWiyo. — We dcm interesting the follow- 

 ing particulars with respect to the cultivation of ilii» 

 produce article given by a So th .\mirican Journal ; — 

 Statistics bring out the fact that the coffee plant can 

 bear great extiemes of temperature, and that difl'er- 

 ences of i-veu between 20 and 30 degrees do not haim 

 it. The most favourable ground for its cuUitation 

 is hdly tracts lying from 1,500 to 4,500 feet above 

 the sea. level in tin- torrid z^ue, and these betwei^n 

 25° and .30° south of the eciuator. In Biazil IG varieties 

 of this plant are f;rowiDg without any cultivation 

 whatever, but though coffee was not known as an 

 .irticle of commerce in Brazil until 17-2. tlie ex- 

 ports of it from there r.'aihed fouiteen millions of 

 pounds in 1780, those from Cuba during the same 

 year beii g tweuty-six millions. Towards the 

 close of the last century, extensive sugar plant- 

 ations in Brazil were turned into coffee estates. 

 The exports of that product therefrom increased 

 in consequence till they an;ounted to9S,£07tons in 

 IHoO, decline setting in after that date. Coffee from 

 the State of Colima, in Mexico, where it is grown 

 on a large scale, enjnys high repute That fr.>m 

 Cordoba and Or'Ziba in the same country is deemed 

 equal to the Cuban article, but the Colima product 

 is regarded as 8nperi> r to the highly famed Mocha 

 coffee. In Mexico, great impruvements have been 

 mide in the cultivation of tlic berty, and there is 

 every prospect that, in years to come, coffee will 

 become one of the p incipol ariiolfs exported from 

 that country. At present, coff-e growing is in a 

 somewhat depressi d condition in Honduras and 

 Guatemala. Wayi 8 elsewhere have fallen con.sidt rably, 

 and sl'ould the fall prove of long duration, it may 

 be anticipated on good grounds tliat growers in the 

 republic of Colombia, Venezuela. Costa Rica and 

 Nicaragua will be ruined, while the luckier ones in 

 the republics of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras will 

 realize productive yields. 



A correspondeut in the Comercia of the 21st May, 

 takes up the subject of the rii-Rppiiintment to fin. we's 

 and cigar dealers alike resulting from the aliolitiou 

 of the tobscco monopoly, thit measures, so he says, 

 not having met with fair play at the onttet, from 

 the Treasury authorities having then on hand large 

 15 



stocks of Government tobacco which, coming into 

 competition, with the first free crop brought to 

 market, so lowered prices that growers frequently 

 had to dispse of their produce of what it would fetch, 

 which too often meant at heavy los.^es, to their grievous 

 discouragement. The area ui.der cuhivatiou, notwith- 

 standing thi?, increased so greatly in l>83 that there 

 was every prospect of a yield amnimting to twice 

 that of the previous year had not growers, dis- 

 heartened by low prices, left a portion of the crop 

 to rot on the fields, what was gathered in barely pay- 

 ing working expuises. Theoc tidings spread »itli 

 lightniugliku raiudity with the re ult that in all tl:e 

 proviucts, even in those mo>t suitable for toliacoo 

 growing, the cultivation of that article has since fallen 

 off considerably, the area under crop decreasing about 

 one-third. A large number of cgar factories have besides 

 stopped work. The remedies suggested aro State aid 

 in posliing ou the state of Pliilippine tobacco and cigars 

 in loreign m.irkets, and the abolition of the import 

 iluties on these articles in S,>ain, besides opening up 

 the producing districts by roads and readier means of 

 communication. 



AT 



THE MANUFACTURE OF QUININE 



CALICUT, INDIA. 



On the 28th March last Messrs. Arbuthuot and Co. wrote 

 to the Chief Secretary to the Madras Govermnent: — 



■\Ve have the honor to report that Dr. E. L. Cleaver, who 

 has been, since December last, at Calicirt conducting ex- 

 periments as to the practicability of making quinine in 

 India, has arrived at the conclusion that there are no in- 

 superable difficidties to the success of such manufactm'e. 

 We enclose, for the information of Government, copy of 

 his letter dated 13th instant, and we also send the three 

 samples to which he refers. It is to bo home in mind that 

 Dr. Cleaver's experiments have been conducted under some- 

 what adverse circumstances, it being impossible for him 

 to obtain some of the chemicals that he deems essential to 

 the complete success of his process. He is now about to 

 return to England to lay before the gentlemen who have 

 found the £1,500 required for the experiments an account 

 of his mission, and we have every reason to believe that 

 the next step will be the formation of a company to 

 manufacture quinine on a commercial scale. "NVe bespeak 

 the favorable consideration of Government for such a com- 

 pany, and we will be glad to know whether we coidd rely 

 ou obtaining Government bark on terms somewhat similar 

 to those indicated in Dr. Cleaver's letter of l.'ith March, 

 or if, in any other way. Government can see their way to 

 encourage an enterprise which, if as .successful as it pro- 

 mises to be, will be a boon alike to the growers of cinchona 

 bark and to the irsersof tebriiUL'e of all kinds. 



Enclosure. — Letter from E. L. Cleaver, Esquire, to Messrs. 

 Arbutbnot & Co., Calicut, 13th March 1S85. 



I seui-i you by this post samples as follows: — No. 1 Sulphate 

 of (|uinine, No. 2 Febrifuge, No. 3 Crystalline febrifuge. Sam- 

 pie of (juinine is not quite as white or as silky crystals as 

 Howard's, but is quite eqtial to raa'iy commercial sjiceimens ; 

 and considering the vi-ry limited resources I have at my dis- 

 posal, and the small scale in which it is prepared, it is I think 

 a proof that it could be made commercially. It is prepared 

 from red bark, and it is as pure as could be obtained from that 

 kin<l. The febrifuge, although similar in color toOovernineiit 

 prepTration, is different in composition. The whole 

 of the alkaloiil in it is easily crystallisable while 

 it is a most difficult matter to crystallise much 

 from the Government febrifuge. The crystalline febrifuge 

 is prepared by simply crystaUising No. 'J. I have forwarded 

 .samples to London .similar to those sent you. As regards the 

 percentage of alkaloids obtained from working the harks, I 

 am of course not able yet to say ; but the following tacts may 

 be of somt; service* t'l you in your negotiation with the (Jov. 

 ernmeut. The bark sent by tjii^ (5overnraent weighed 2.(100 

 lb. and should yield, according to the analyses sent by them 

 at the same time, about 100 lb. of alkaloids; the.se nnaljses, 

 however, I consider too high, are not similar to analyses as 

 would be given by Dr. Taulof I.ruidon. From the Govern- 

 ment paper is.sued on the subject of the amount of alkal- 



