March r, 1890] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
643 
A TEEMENDOUS SHIPMENT OF TEA. 
The " Dacca," which sailed last Tuesday for 
London, took over 590,0001b. tea. 
This caps, we believe, any previous shipment of 
Ceylon tea in one bottom by over 100,000 lb. tea. 
Tea in India. — It is reported that several firms 
in Caloutta have had under consideration the ex- 
periment of mors largely employing natives in the 
management of tea gardens. The idea appears to be 
that men in the position of overseers or managers 
acquainted with the language and habits of the 
coolies would be able to manage them more easily 
than men whose knowledge of the language is very 
imperfeot, and whose patience is not equal to the 
requirements of the position. It is thought that 
if the ooolies are assured, of good treatment, and 
that they will be taken care of, and their safety 
assured, they would readily take service in the 
gardens, and the labour difficulty would thereby 
be solved.— Madras Mail, Feb. 11th. 
The Price of Quinine. — It is very annoying 
to learn from Mr. Byers that after trying quite a 
large number of ohemists, both in London and 
elsewhere, his experience of the prices at which 
the invaluable prophylaotic and tonio is still re- 
tailed, runs from 4s to 16s per ounce 1 This is 
monstrous, even though the " influenza " had 
created a speoial demand. How can we ever ex- 
peot the consumption to increase in Europe at 
such prohibitory rates for an article that can well 
be sold with a handsome profit, even in grains, at 
less than 2s an ounce. What is Mr. Eivers Hicks 
about with his penny boxes of quinine pills ? Can 
he not get the grocers and other retailers to take 
up the sale in the United Kingdom ? We have had 
several inquiries lately from England as to where 
cheap quinine can be got. 
Timber Growing. — A Western Dolosbage 
planter sends us the following useful note : — 
" The timber question is an interesting and im- 
portant one, and I wish to add my mite of informa- 
tion. I have just been measuring one of my 
lunumidella trees, planted in July 1873 at an 
elevation of 1,700 feet, with this result : — Length 
of clean stem to where the tree branches 29 feet ; 
oircumference at the bottom 9i, middle 7£, and 
top 6 feet. To appearance the tree has not grown 
much the last year or two, but no doubt the wood 
is aoquiring value in maturing. Two years ago I 
sawed planks out of similar trees for ceiling my 
bungalow, and they answered first-rate. I should 
say it would do well for tea boxes. For firewood, 
it would not be of the lasting nature of hard- 
wood trees. I would not recommend its being 
planted amongst tea, as I think it a surface feeder ; 
but for boundaries and waste places at a medium 
elevation it deserves attention. It is well to keep 
in mind the advioe, ' Aye keep stioking in a tree, 
they will be growing, Jock, whilst ye are sleeping.' " 
We well remember seeing and admiring the trees 
referred to when on a visit to Dolosbage a few 
years ago. The tree is allied to the toon (" red 
cedar "), and like the timber of that tree is too 
valuable for ceilings and other indoor work to be 
used for tea boxes. It is said not to stand ex- 
posure to weather, and yet, strange to say the 
outriggers of canoes are we may say invariably 
formed of the light timber of lunumidella. A 
diameter of over 3 feet in 17 years is certainly 
encouraging. While the trunks would supply valuable 
timber, the branches could be used as firewood, hard 
wood not being always available for fuelpurposes. 
Gold and Gems. — Now that the time has 
come for the application of capital and enterprise 
to the development of our mining industries, it 
behoves the Government to do its share in a rather 
more practical way than the mere concoction of a 
restrictive and impracticable ordinance. The time 
has come for the Oeylon Government to indent on 
Australia for the use of a diamond drill with the 
services of a mining expert to search for gold, 
gem and also new plumbago deposits. It is quite 
likely that attention to the deep mining of our 
auriferous quartz as well as of gem deposits would 
be richly rewarded. 
Sarawak — A very interesting report of a visit to 
Sarawak by Lieutenant Hamilton, the Acting- 
Governor of Labuan, and Consul -General in 
Borneo, has just been issued by the Foreign Office. 
Of late great progress has been made in the culti- 
vation of pepper, and the total export for last year 
is estimated at about 1,000 tons. The pepper 
gardens are owned by Chinese. A large experi- 
mental tobacco plantation has been established 
by the Government with a view to ascertaining 
whether the plant will pay in Sarawak. Coal 
mines are bairg worked on the Sadong Eiver. The 
daily output at present is 30 tons ; the expense 
is small, and this quantity is sufficient for the 
requirements of the Government while the surplus 
meets with a ready sale at Singapore. The Ee- 
jang Eiver, the largest in Sarawak, is navigable 
for vessels of a moderate sizj for upwards of 160 
miles. The population along the river is steadily 
increasing. The revenue derived from the river 
trade last year exceeded the expenditure by $13,000. 
Besides the local trade, which is carried on in 
small schooners, timber is shipped direct to Hong- 
kong. One of the great staples of Sarawak trade 
is sago, the great depot for which is Nurka, a 
coast town of about 8,000 inhabitants, all of whom 
are concerned in the preparation of sago. In 1888 
over 11,000 tons, valued at #121,260 were exported 
The total revenue of Sarawak for 1888 was $361,615 
and the expenditure $341,482, leaving a surplus of 
#20,133. — London Times. 
Cinchona Bark in 1889. — The annual report 
of Messrs. Lewis & Peat whioh will be found 
on page 646, contains some interesting facts ; 
but we are rather surprised to see that while the 
imports for last year are in excess by 1,100 packages 
of those in 1888, in respeot of deliveries there is 
a falling-off by a similar quantity. However, it 
is evident that the stocks of quinine have been 
considerably reduced, chiefly through the large * 
demand for the United States of America where 
consumption is steadily on the inorease, while the 
influenza epidemic in England has also drawn 
attention to the good qualities of quinine. In the 
past seven years we see that while 480,645 packages 
were imported, the deliveries amounted to 498,199. 
It is a striking fact that in no instance did the bark 
analysis of 1889 average higher in quinine than in 
previous years : in the oase of Ceylon, there is a 
falling-off from 2£ to 2| per cent ; Java oontinues at 
4 ; India is described as very poor at 2 against 2\ ; 
while the highest Bolivian average is 4|. It is very 
striking to note in these tables how in eleven years, 
the price of bark (Yellow Calisaya) had fallen from 
8a per lb. (in 1878) to eightpenoe (1889) while 
Sulphate of Quinine (Howard's) is now Is 6d per 
ounoe against 13s in 1878 and German Is 3d against 
12s. If quinine were only appreciated and utilised 
throughout Europe as it is in Anwica and if the 
peoples of India and China came to use it, there 
would be a profitable market for all the bark that 
could possibly be raised in both Eastern and 
Western countries, 
