Julv i, 1887,] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
was not only to bring the price of quinine as low 
as was consistent with fair profits, but also to 
secure it in the handiest and readiest form ad- 
mitting of meeting adequately the demands of 
consumers. The managers of a quinine manu- 
factory in Brunswick came to terms with the com- 
mittee. They made arrangements tor supplying Java 
consumers first of all with quinine in bottles con- 
taining 80 gelatine capsuled pills, at rates 70 per 
cent cheaper than those generally charged by 
apothecaries. Powdered quinine they undertake to 
supply at one-third the prevailing quotations. 
When once business enterprise on these lines has 
fairly come into play, prices may be expected to 
fall still more, to the material advantage of all 
classes especially the psorer ones. As mentioned 
above, the committee when a fair start has been 
given to the undertaking, intend to extend the 
sphere of their operations to neighbouring countries 
and colonies. It has already made enquiries on 
the subject, with the result of showing that matters 
therein this respect are as bad as in Java. In Brit- 
ish India, forinstance, the Government has long been 
fully alive to the fact, that in the interest both of the 
common people and of cinchona cultivation, there 
was urgent need of lessening as much as possible 
the retail price of quinine. For establishing branches 
of the committee in neighbouring colonies, there is 
every encouragement. Facilities maj be counted 
upon and taken advantage of. The measures to 
be taken are said to admit of the wants of con- 
sumers being satisfactorily met. When other quinine 
manufacturers take the hint and do likewise, com- 
petition will arise. The committee have not over- 
looked this contingency. Arrangements have been 
made to t st new brands of quinine coming into 
the market. The late Dr. Moens, an eminent quino- 
logist, certified favourably as to the quinine of the 
Brunswick manufactory aforesaid, after testing it at 
the request of the committee. The latter have 
secured capital sufficient for present requirements 
by means of donations and subscriptions. The 
managers are however fully aware that efficient 
working and abiding advantage demand more 
systcmatised organisation on a permanent footing. 
To extend its sphere of operations and to further 
the good work of cheapening quinine in Java as 
well as in the adjoining European colonial poss- 
essions, they have set to work floating a company 
in shares to conduct a trade in that article. The 
profit aimed at, will be moderate but sufficient to en- 
sure the shareholders a good investment for their cap- 
ital. The committee set no store by large profits, 
but intend merely to act as intermediary between 
the manufacturers and consumers of quinine. The 
primary object in fact is to further the consump- 
tion of quinine, and thereby to give as great an 
impetus as possible to the cultivation of cinchona. 
They will be quite content willi a "> per cent rel urn 
on the capital required for the purpose. The 
committee certainly are entitled to the coun- 
tenance and assistance of all philanthropic and 
right-thinking persons. Strenuous effort to gener- 
alise and push on the use of quinine in tropical 
lands by lowering its price, deserves every success. 
TrA.— Tho IIi'/> 10 says that since the 23rd ult., nearly 
100 pioula ol ten have arrived at Foochow from Pei-ling. 
and the price, per picul, averaged from l(i,0llH-17,0ll(l 
cish t'> •-'•2,000-23,11111) cash, being cheaper than last 
year, by five or six thousand cash per pioul. The value 
of copper cash is, however, higher than last year and 
the prices vary accordingly. On account of 'frequent 
Win during the picking of thu leaven, the taste and 
ci lour of the teas arc not yood ; experienced tea deal- 
ers predict that, the tea business this viui is ool likely 
to bo profitable. J 
TOBACCO, CINCHONA AND COFFEE IN 
NETHERLANDS INDIA. 
(Translated for the Straits Times.) 
Attention continues to be drawn in Java to 
British North Borneo, as a field for tobacco plant- 
ing. Dealers at Kotterdam have not failed to 
sound a note of alarm in this respect. They 
have the acuteness to perceive that the compet- 
ition arising in North Borneo, bids fair to prove 
dangerous to planters in Java and Deli. One 
Netherlands trade journal admits that the good 
quality of the article grown in that land of pro- 
mise, shows that experienced planters will find 
there a profitable field for the exercise of energy 
and industry. It deems, however, that planters in 
the neighbouring Dutch Colonies need not make 
themselves uneasy at present, owing to the plant- 
ing community in > orth Borneo being sparse, and 
from uncertainty as to the actual extent of suit- 
able land. It advises them, should the country be 
really fertile, to lose no time in taking advant- 
age of the new opening, and settling down them- 
selves there. 
During the first quarter of the present year, the 
Government cinchona plantations in Java have 
suffered severely from hurricanes which wrought 
great havoc in many localities. On one estate, no 
less than 1,500 cinchona trees were uprooted. The 
bark crop last year reached 525,098 half kilo- 
grammes, a heavy increase over 1885. There is 
every prospect of this year's crop far exceeding 
expectation. 
The Surabaya Courant, on the authority of a corre- 
spondent in Mid Java, says that coffee leaf-disease, 
prevalent enough there in certain places, does not 
seem to spread apace. The signs of its presence are 
manifest enough, readily to catch the eye. Few 
of the diseased trees ever ripen the berries they 
happen to bear. The crop looks dismally small 
as it is. Blossoms, however promising at 
bearing time, very seldom come to anything. Leaf 
disease sometimes relaxes its hold for a while 
only to return with fatal results to trees over 
wide areas. It has made such destructive progress 
in that part of the island, that coffee cultivation 
seems ruined past recovery. Even with high prices 
it has no chance of becoming sufficiently remuner- 
ative to admit of adequate business enterprise in 
that particular line. Continuous short crops and 
the death of whilom productive and vigorous trees 
prove a sore discouragement. Hopes arising from 
disease apparently losing ground, have also invari- 
ably come to nought, by its recurrence with increased 
virulence and strength. Meanwhile, at Surabaya, 
the price of coffee has been rising rather wildly. At 
one time it shot up amazingly high only to fall 
shortly to 50 guilder cents per catty. A' further 
rise to .60 cents was confidently expected. The 
available quantity of coffee in the market happens, 
unfortunately, to be small there. Sugar on the con- 
trary continues to decline in price after a fitful 
rise. At present, a waiting policy suits Java grow- 
ers best. By last advices, crushing operations had 
not yet set in. The canes are deficient in juice of 
the required strength, owing to rainy weather. The 
sun must reassert itself before matters mend. In 
that part of Java, the cane in the fields looks splendid 
and unusually tall with no signs of disease. In 
East Cheribon and Tegal, diseaso amonj^ cane has 
done much mischief. Plant cane from other dis- 
triots cannot stand against it. During the rainy 
season the disease in question in spite of every sale- 
guard, has made considerable progress. U has 
gained in virulence, and has spread over still wider 
areas. The roots of tho plant aro first attacked. The 
cane soon withers, and the juice wholly dries up or 
becomes deteriorated. 
