June;, 1912.] 



501 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants- 



per ton, thus leaving a totally inade- 

 quate margin for other working ex- 

 penses and profit. 



The conclusion arrived at is therefore 

 that, while the sisal plant can be success- 

 fully grown here, without some cheap 



mechanical means of extracting the fibre, 

 its cultivation for this purpose will not 

 be profitable. 



(Sgd.) G. R, HILSON, 



Dy. Director of A griculture, 

 Northern Division, Bellary. 



DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



CINCHONA IN BENGAL. 



(From the Chemist and Druggist, No. 

 1670, Vol. LXXX., January 27, 1912.) 



The forty-ninth annual report of the 

 Superintendent of Cinchona Cultivation 

 in Bengal (Major A. T. Gage, m.b., i.m.s.) 

 for the year 1910-11, which has recently 

 been issued, contains much that is in- 

 teresting, chiefly from a planter's point 

 of view. The report, which gives full 

 details of the working of the undertak- 

 ings, divides itself into three heads— 

 the progress of the plantations, the har- 

 vesting of the crop, and the work at the 

 factory. As regards the first, the year 

 was a favourable one for the production 

 of cinchona, there being on March 31, 

 1911, 2,544,817 trees, the bulk of which 

 was Ledgeriana. The harvest of dry 

 bark yielded 500,9001b., or an increase 

 of 174,340 lb. in the corresponding year, 

 This was supplemented by purchases of 

 338,266 lb. of Java-grown C. Ledgeriana 

 and 32,882 lb. of Java grown hybrid bark. 

 Altogether the total quantity of bark 

 worked up in the factory was 911,725 lb. 

 This yielded 39,980 lb., or 638,880 oz. of 

 quinine and 150 lb. of residual alkaloid, 

 the yield of quinine exceeding that of 

 the previous year by 16,883 lb., or 270,128 

 oz. The percentage of quinine obtain- 

 able from the home-grown bark was 

 rather less, however— 3 28, against 3'67 

 per cent, in the preceding year. This the 

 Director ascribes to the rather large but 

 unavoidable mixture of immature bark 

 resulting from the "thinning" oper- 

 ations on the Munsong plantation that 

 were rendered nece9sary by the luxuriant 

 growth of certain blocks on that plant- 

 ation ; on the other hand, the Java bark 

 showed a yield of practically 6 per cent., 



22,238 lb. of quinine being produced, from 

 the 371,148 lb. purchased. Reference is 

 next made to technical work in the 

 factory, and the methods being adopted to 

 bring about a more economic working. 

 It is also of interest that continued ex- 

 periments in the line of working out a 

 method of quinine extraction cheaper 

 than the present one have been under- 

 taken by Messrs. Shaw and Richardson 

 throughout the year, but conditions, 

 although promising, are scarcely ripe 

 enough yet for presenting definite pro- 

 posals. 



Under the heading of " factory char- 

 ges " we find that the cost of quinine 

 made from Java bark (reckoning the 

 rupee at Is. 4d.) was equal to 8d. per oz., 

 and that from the home-grown bark 6d. 

 per oz. This is arrived at in the follow- 

 ing manner :— 



After deducting the amount spent on 

 purchase of bark, on the improvement 

 of the factory and other items not 

 directly concerned with actual manu- 

 facture, the cost of manufacture and 

 packing of the quinine-sulphate works 

 out to R. 1-15 (2s. 7d.) per lb. If the cost 

 of the proportion used up in the factory 

 during the year of the total quantity of 

 Java-grown bark purchased be estim- 

 ated in proportion to the sum spent on 

 the total quantity of bark purchased, 

 the cost of the quinine sulphate yielded 

 by the Java-grown bark works out at 

 Rs, 5-4 (7s.) per lb. so that the total cost 

 of quinine sulphate in the Java-grown 

 bark was Rs. 7-3 (9s. 7d.) per lb. The 

 average unit rate for bark at the Amster- 

 dam auctions during 1910-11 was 315 

 Dutch cents. The quinine percentage in 

 plantation bark being 3-28 this comes 

 out— on the Dutch unit rate being coa« 



