Feb, I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



561 



THE WORLD'S MANDFACTUBE OF QUININE. 

 We anticipated, in the Weekly Obserrer of 

 November LSth last, the estimate wo had framed 

 for our " Handbook " of the total quantity of 

 quinine prepared in the factories of the world. 

 We based that estimate on the best information 

 at our command, but we were not a little staggered 

 by the quantity claimed for the Italian factories, 

 namely, 123,200 lb. (.5") tons) per annum, of which 

 110,000 lb. were said to be made by the great Milan 

 factory alone. The statement was so explicitly 

 put forward in i)riut that we could only adopt it, 

 and adapt it to the other portions of our estimate, 

 as best we might. The result was a total reckon- 

 ing as follows : — 

 United States . . . . 70.000 lb. per aimum. 



Germany . . . . 40,(X)0 „ „ 



Italy . . . . 120,000 „ 



France . . . . 35,000 ,, 



England . . . . 27.000 „ „ 



India .. .. 10,000 „ „ 



302,000 lb. per annum. 

 Last mail has brought us a letter from a mist 

 reliable quarter in London on the subject from 

 which we quote as follows : — 



The figures given as to the amount of quinine 

 mamifiutniccl, in yoiur paper folio il79, are certainly 

 wrong and known to be so by aU those who are be- 

 hind the scenes. They are evidently derived from 

 those published by the Fabbrica Lombarda before 

 its failure to prop up its decaying reputation. 

 It is of course impossible to give exact figirres, 

 but the annexed would be nearer the present state, 

 of things : it nmst however be taken oim i/rano snlin. 

 Tliis estimate which may be depended on as the 

 most accurate as yet framed, "and which ought to 

 be substituted for our own, is as follows : — 

 Probable make of Quinine in 18.S5 in lb. per annum. 

 United States . . . . . . 70,000 



Germanv .. .. .. 70,000 



England . . . . . . .^o,(XX) 



France . . . . . . 10,000 



Italy . . . . . . m.OOl) 



India (febrifugei . . . . 10,(XXJ 



270,000 lb. 

 For the United States we had the best information 

 collected during our recent Wsit, so that our London 

 correspondents make no change. We are surjirized, 

 however, to see that the maiuifacture in Germany 

 is quite as large, and we are pleased to tind that 

 -Messrs. Howard & Whiffen turn out nearly double 

 the quantity we ventmed to credit them with. Italy 

 only manufactures one-fourth the qugfftity claimed 

 by the gentlemen who evidently wished to "magnify 

 their olhce " or their country ! Our estimate for 

 France was very nearly correct, while for India we 

 have the best possible information. Altogether we 

 were .32.000 lb. above the mark: but this is a 

 fault in the right direction ; for with cinchona bark 

 so cheap and abundantly supplied as at present, 

 the manufacture is sure to increase, and we trust, 

 the consumption to correspondingly improve. With 

 quinine, one-half or one-third even its ordinary 

 price of a few years ago, surely there is room for 

 a great expansion of the consumption not only as 

 a febrifuge for human beings, but in other ways, 

 until not 270,000 lb., but .500,000 lb. of quinine 

 will be required to meet the annual demand. 

 « 



SKINNY MEN. 

 " Wells' Health Renewcr " restores health and vigor, 

 onres Dyspepsia. Impotence, Debility. 



W. E. .Smith & Co., Madras Sole Agontn. 

 71 



TEA ROLLERS, 



(From the Hills.) 

 Ill IV tea rollers and their performances, — vary- 

 ing from completion of roll in six minutes, by 

 means of Thompson's Challenge machine, to 

 twelve minutes in the ca.se of Barber's, and from 

 half-an-hour to fifty minutes with .Jackson's 

 Excelsior, — apart from finishing a large quantity 

 of tea in a Innited period of time, are there 

 any other important advantages, and if so whfit, 

 gained by speedy execution of the rolling process ? 

 I pause for a reply from experts. We might 

 naturally conclude that quick rolling must mean 

 more or less of heating, such as proved a strong 

 objection to Kinraond's roller, but for the testi- 

 mony of good authorities to the contrary, 

 — at least in the case of the Blackstone roller. 

 I have heard it said that the superiority of teas 

 prepared on a certain well-known estate is due 

 to rolling so liard that the distinction between tips 

 and leaves is lost, all being of a uniform blackness. 

 By some, again, the intense black colour is said to 

 be due to iron with which the tea brought in 

 contact in the process of being rolled. If hard 

 rolling IS the cause of the black colour and the 

 superior quality, it would be desirable to know 

 how long hard rolling is continued, and how 

 heatmg, which I suppose I may assume to be 



i injurious, is avoided. Then ought not moderate 

 rolling, long-continued, to be equivalent to hard 



I rolling for a shorter period ? It must be largely 



I a question of chemical effect on " the roll.".. 

 Our period here, with a Jackson Excelsior, is so 

 prolonged as fifty minutes, and I might have 



! feared that this slow rolling process was in- 

 jurious in some way to the tea, probably by 

 permitting of a certain degree of " fermentation " 

 taking place during rolling, but for the fact tliat 

 in one of the leading factories of the country, 

 from which high quality teas are turned out and 

 where abundance of power to secure quick rolling 

 is available, the time taken for the process is fully 

 forty-five minutes : only five short of ours. Weather 

 and withering, no doubt, influcence the period of 

 rolling; but I refer to leaf in average condition. 

 Which is better for it and its outturn, a speedy 

 roll or a prolonged; hard pressure or moderate? 

 Of 73,000 lb. of tea made on this estate in 1S85, 

 about 0,000 lb., it may be worth while to mention 

 were sold locally. Apart from the inconvenience, 

 of sales more or less of a retail nature, the chief 

 reason for stopping local sales is the fact that the 

 vast majority of orders were for our best quality 

 — broken pokoe. The result has been seriously to 

 reduce the average prices of Abbotsford teas sold 

 in the London Market, and while we have no 

 wish to acquire for our teas a better reputation 

 than they deserve, by over fine plucking or similar 

 expedients, we are, on, the other hand, naturally 

 anxious not to do ourselves and the reputation of our 

 teas injustice. Hence the resolution to cease selling 

 locally, save in a few exceptional cases, and to a 

 very small extent, which has been arrived at and 

 will be adhered to. 



Since writing about the tap-root of tea, I have 

 been lold of a case where a-tap root was followed 

 down to 10 feet. 



Fragrant Fr.0WEBS. — The perfume manufacturers 

 of Nice and Cannes crush l.lf.OOOlb. of Oiange bloB- 

 6om», 13,200 lb. of Acacia flowers, 154,000 lb. of Roso 

 petals, 3.5,2IX) lb. of .Jasmine blossoms, 22,ri0f) lb. of 

 Violets, 8,8li0 lb. of Tubero.ses, aud a relatively large 

 amount of .Spanish Lilacs, Ho.sem.iry, Mint, Liino 

 and Lemon blossoms -every year. — Journal of llmti- 

 culture. 



