436 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. | January g, mf. 
and it is hoped tliat the present considerable ex- 
ports of the antidote will be vastly increased by the 
action of the Society to whom Mr. Ferguson has 
addressed himself. 
Probably the doctors may dispute the value 
attributed to quinine in the case of opium victims ; 
but there can be no question of its importance 
in reference to the general condition of the people 
in China, India and the Fen and other marshy 
districts in England, where malaria prevails and 
where the popular belief continues to be that 
quinine is a tonic far too expensive to be thought 
of in connection with ordinary everyday require- 
ments. This belief, country dispensers do little or 
nothing to dispel, but rather encourage it by the 
high rate— usually Id a grain, or 40s an ounce — 
charged for quinine. Far more intelligence of 
course is displayed in London in regard to the 
bearing the very low price ought to have on the 
distribution and use of the article. One wellknown 
doctor has been heard to say :— " No one in Eng- 
land ought to have a cold this season with quinine 
so cheap as it is." This points to the need of 
a wide distribution, say by the sale of 6d and 
even 3d packets, of the tonic by grocers, or at 
bookstalls. This was suggested some time ago in 
your columns by Mr. Thomas Wright (whom, by 
the way, I was glad to meet in the City the 
other day looking exceedingly well). The idea 
of doing something to promote a wide popular 
sale in this way has been seriously discussed in lead- 
ing City offices connected with the cinohona bark trade, 
and no wonder when one hears of the ruinous 
losses holders of the manufactured article are 
bound to make if a better demand do not spring 
up. One gentleman invested in 10,000 ounces at 
3s. some time ago, thinking the very lowest point 
had been touched; and now a Philadelphia firm, 
interested in lowering prices, speak coolly of quinine 
coming to a shilling an ounce as an established rate, 
which, they say, will leave from 100 to 200 per cent 
profit to planters of Ledgeriana 1 In the City this week 
I got some interesting information from the head of 
a house largely concerned in the bark trade, Messrs. 
C. E. Meier & Co. This firm, I believe, aoted for 
the Syndicate which held a very large quantity of 
bark at the time that Ceylon was thought to have 
reached its maximum export with 8 to 10 million 
lb. But the unexpected development of our Colony's 
trade in this article— unexpected as much in 
Colombo as in London— played " ducks and drakes" 
with the position of the Syndicate, profits being sub- 
stituted by heavy losses I fear— and all through the 
extraordinary operations of "the Sinhalese planters," 
as some Londoners speak of our bark cultivators and 
exporters. In 1881, Mr. Meier and his colleagues 
contracted with the German Government for the 
supply of £220,000 worth of bark (I think at lid 
the unit of quinine— now the price is ljd to 2d) and 
£90,000 worth of quinine ! No such heavy transac- 
tion in the trade has taken place 6ince. In fact 
the whole value of the annual trade in London, 
in consequence of the fa 1 in price, is now scarcely 
worth so much as this one contract — at any rate 
the sales of this year do not aggregate as much. 
Mr. Meier recommended a friend who holds quinine 
for over 3s, to sell at 2s lately, but no, the other — 
a mail of capital— is determined to see his invest- 
ment through for some time yet, whatever tho 
result may be.* 
I was, however, assured in this office that, on 
the whole, the consumption [of quinine— especially 
in the Southern Slates of America— had very 
largely increased of late years. The total rise 
* A Ceylon holder of bark in London is said to bave 
entered in bin will in case of accidents that hisstcck 
ig not to be gold until the market tig* risen ! 
has been from 40,000 kilos (88,000 lb.) to 200,000 
(or 440,000 lb,).— that is for the world's con- 
sumption at present ; nor are the stocks con- 
sidered unduly high in view of this demand, 
although the manufacturers have a great deal on 
hand. Still, the latter cannot afford to keep their 
staff idle, and bark will be bought, at least all 
bark of 2 per cent and upwards. Mr. Meier tells 
me that there is sometimes as much as 1 per cent 
difference in the London analyses of the same bark, 
through the great difficulty attending the drawing 
of fair samples, and this accounts for the very 
different values by different brokers of the same 
stuff at times. It is not thought that low prices 
affect the leading manufacturers too much : they 
generally calculate on 6d an ounce, and two 
chief houses at least — Howard's and Pelletier's — 
manage to keep up their price, though many 
people do not consider their quinine (at 2s 4d) 
much more valuable intrinsically than that sold 
in " the Lane " lately for Is 4d. 
The question asked now is "Has the limit of 
profitable harvesting and export been reached for 
Ceylon bark, with the price at from l§d to 
the unit of quinine ? " In the case of South 
America, London authorities are very decided that 
nothing can be done in respect of forest bark, and 
even in Bolivia and on the cultivated plantations, 
the cost of land carriage is a very serious item, 
nearly as much as first cost of the bark. The 
quantity of cuprea bark available was accurately 
estimated in London soon after it came into use, 
through what was known of the forests; but no 
one feared such an influx of stuff from Ceylon. 
The average, too, of bark this year has been much 
better than last, and it would seem that year by 
year our barks on the whole are improving, although 
we cannot equal the Java barks rising to 10 per 
cent, which have been already seen and more of 
which are expected in the market. 
It is, however, quite a mistake to suppose, as Mr. 
Hody Cox and others do, that if the commoner 
qualities — the kinds of bark below 2 per cent — were 
not exported from Ceylon, the prices would rise in 
proportion to the quantity less exported. The big 
buyers in London study the percentages quite as 
muoh as the quantity exported. A million lb. twigs 
kept back might not have so much effect on the 
market as one -fourth that weight of root or 
renewed bark. Of course, it is not expected that 
it will now pay Ceylon planters to harvest, pack 
and ship the very common qualities. But the in- 
formation got by a well-known planter as to the 
quantity of bark received by the Ceylon railway 
from the older and northern districts shows in a 
very interesting way how apt we are to be de» 
cieved as to the quantity and location of the bark 
left in Ceylon. 
♦ 
TEA CULTIVATION: SPECIAL PAPER. 
By Mr. C. S. Armstrong. 
PRUNING — PLUCKING— YIELD — AND HOW TO OBTAIN IT. 
(Written at the request of the Dimbula Planters' 
Association.) 
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, — I regret that a 
short notice and many pressing engagements pre- 
vent my dilating as fully as I could wish on the 
subjects you have asked me to express my opinion 
on today. I trust, however, I have touched suffici- 
ently on each, to show those who require it the 
way to obtain 400 lb. an acre, and more, if this will 
not content them. It is necessary to say my re- 
marks apply to tea at 3,500 feet elevation up, and 
as in duty bound to your district, Dimbula, especi- 
ally. Before entering on my subject you will ex- 
cuse I am sure my giving you a few words of advice. 
Think well before sacrificing good coffee to. tea, Lu 
