228 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1889. 
LOW PBIOES FOE PBOBUCE. 
Four or five sales by auction, " without reserve," 
have recently been made in Mincing Lane which 
afford an illustration of the manner in which, during 
the last decade, the value of many important raw pro- 
ducts has declined. A fortnight ago we announced the 
sale of 1,605 bales Oupreabark at the cinchona auctions 
fcr a sum which was insufficient even to cover the usual 
warehouse rent from the time of the importation of the 
goods until their sale. On Tuesday a second and still 
larger parcel of the same kind of bark was offered under 
similar conditions. Both lots are understood to have 
been held by the same owners (a banking corpora- 
tion) , to whom they were pawned several years ago, 
and who in the near future will probably be able to de- 
rive, among all the disappointments of the transaction, 
some slight consolation trom the fact that further de- 
lay would only have made matters worse. The quan- 
tity sold on July 2nd amounted to 182,000 lb., which 
realised an aggregate of about 1,9002., while at Tues- 
day's auctions 237,000 lb. were disposed of, the total 
realising about 2,250/. With some slight exception all 
this bark was imported during the year 1882, when the 
imports of Ouprea reached by far the highest figure 
ever known. In that year a syndicate of speculators, 
supposed to be in the possession of exclusive informa- 
tion respecting the future supply of this bark from 
Central America, were tryiog to "corner" the quinine 
manufacturers, and, the market being generally un- 
settled, nearly all the arrivals of Ouprea went in stock. 
In January, 1882, the best brands of the bark still real- 
ised from 2s 9d to 3s 3d per lb., but towards the end of 
the year the price had fallen to about 2s per lb. If in 
1882 the owners of the parcels whieh have been sold 
this month, after seven years' warehousing, had decided 
upon the opposite policy to that which they actually 
did adopt, and met the buyers at the auctions half way, 
they would almost certainly have been able to dispose 
of the entire 420,000 lb at an average price of 2s to 2s 
3d per lb and have thus realised at least 45.000Z for 
■what they let go for 4,1502 in July, 1889, It is to be 
hoped, for the sake of the owners, that they have suc- 
ceeded in making some arrangement with the dock 
company regarding the payment of rent-charges on the 
bark, for if they should have to pay the full regulation 
rent, that item alone will more than swallow up the 
■whole of the proceeds of the sale. From the prices 
now realised we may assume that the average equiva- 
lent or quinine sulphate in the Cuprea in question is at 
least 2 per cent, a rather low estimate, though this 
variety of bark, on account of the cupreine which it 
contains, is more difficult to treat than cinchona. Tak- 
ing it at that percentage, however, the aggregate equals 
about 135,000 oz. quinine, which are now worth, at 
the most, as many shillings, nearly the whole of the 
Bupply having been bought by Continental manufac- 
turers. In 1882 German bulk quinine was quoted at 
8s. to 9s. peroz., and we thus see that, whereas quinine- 
makers can now buy certain classes of bark eleven 
times as cheaply as in 1882, the product which they 
obtain from the material has been reduced to one 
eighth of its price then, a circumstance which assists 
in explaining why even at the present low quotations 
they do not cease to manufacture. It would be in- 
teresting to know exactly how much of this old Cuprea 
bark there is still in stock in London. The total 
quantity of South American bark in the warehouses at 
the beginning of this month is returned at 36,147 
packages, of which 483 are cases. Of the residue, 
probably not less than 26,000 bales are Cuprea bark, 
imported for the greater part between 1880 and 1883 
and held, we should think, in a very few hands. 
It would not bp a matter of surprise, therefore, if 
these few holiU rs should have decided to liquidate 
the 'whole of this supply in batches such as those 
offered at the last two sales if they should be able to do 
so without at the same time still further disarranging 
the market, or bringing about an accumulation of other 
American and of Eastern barks. Our stock at the end of 
the year may be worked down to a moderate figure, 
ahd there is then a chance that the position of quinine 
may become rather better, a heavy stock of 
bark being always a powerful, though illogical, argu 
ment in support of the " bear " view of the quinine 
situation. We say illogical, because, whether in the 
shape of alkaloid in the bark or of sulphate in the 
tin, the over-supply of quinine itself remains in ex- 
istence, the only difference being that the bark supply 
is publicly recorded every month to all the 
world, whereas the available quantity of quinine is kept 
more or less secret, and is therefore liable to be disre- 
garded as a factor. 
Not unlike the sale of the old Ouprea bark is the 
disposal, also by auction and " without reserve," of 
large quantities of cassia lignea, still more Rip-vau- 
Wiukleized than the American drug: although in this 
instance the sacrifice to the holders is not by any means 
so heavy. On July 3rd a parcel of 1,000 boxes, and on 
July 17th one of 2,190 boxes, both imported from 
Hongkong in 1878 and 188C, were knocked down to 
the highest bidder at from 20b 6d to 21s 6d per 
cwt., the average price being about 20s 9d per 
cwt., and the aggregate amount realised for the 
whole lot near 4,0002. At the time of its importa- 
tion this cassia lignea would probably have re- 
alised 47s per cwt., or over 9,000?, and if the full 
usual charge for warehousing should be made for these 
two parcels that bill — the tariff for cassia lignea being 
lOd per ton per week — will figure up to something like 
4,5002. But here also the holders may have made terms 
with the warehouse companies, and decided to make a 
clean Bweep of their stock of such unprofitable drugs. 
It would be well if owners of other similarly situated 
goods would adopt a like course. To accumulate stock 
and hold it d outmnce may have been successful policy 
in the ante-Suez Oanal days, and even much later, 
when London was still the one central market for drugs 
and most kinds of colonial produce, but it is absolute 
folly now that nearly every manufacturing country of 
any importance has established direct communication 
with the Orient and the West. As foreign nations 
grow commercially so they will have their share of the 
world's trade, and all we have to do is to adapt ourselves 
to the altered circumstances in the best possible spirit. 
— Chemist and Druggist. 
+. — 
A HOT WEATHER TRIP IN SOUTHERN 
INDIA : 
Cinchona Cultivation. 
Under the first heading a writer in the Pioneer gives 
a notice of extensive cinchona cultivation on the 
Pulney Hills, no doubt embracing the estates Baron 
von Rosenberg referred to. We quote a portion : — 
As we mount the air gradually gets cooler, and 
about dusk we pass the ridge and reach a cluster of 
grass huts. This is a frontier station of Travancore 
for now we have left British territory behind. Here 
ive stop for the night, finding quarters in a grass hut 
on a not uncomfortable bed of dried straw. We 
have still ten miles before we can reach our desti- 
nation, Devikulam, and an ascent of about 1,500 feet; 
so we start early in the morning. Before us is a long 
velley shut in on both sides by hills, about 3,500 feet 
above the sea. Those on the right are very high, 
from 7,000 to 8,000 feet and from splendid bold cliffs. 
The whole valley looks beautifully green, with here 
and there a shola, and at the bottom a small river. 
At first we descend for about 1,000 feet and then 
we have again a steep rise, up narrow zig-zags and 
through thick forest, until at last we go through a 
pass in the high hills on the right and before us 
is the station of Devikulam. The view here is as 
pretty a one as can be imagined. It is of a small 
circular valley, in the middle a low grassy hill, and 
all round high hills clothed with thick fort. 't half-way 
up to the tops. A remarkable feature of the view 
is the park-like appearance of the grass. The bound- 
ary of the forest is everywhere sharply dtfiued, and 
it looks as if the trees had been regularly planted 
out so as to produce this appearance. At the foot of 
the grassy hill, on which some cattle are feeding, is 
a small lake, and on its bank a bungalow. This is 
Devikulam, and was the pioneer settlement of the hills - 
