January z, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST; 
467 
AVERAGE PRICES FOR CEYLON TEA IN 
THE LONDON MARKET. 
The superintendent of an estate, the whole crop 
of which, from finest broken pekoe down to pekoe 
souchong, broken leaf and dust, is practically sent 
to the London market for sale, the average realized 
being calculated on the several quantities and 
prices of the several kinds, points out the dis- 
advantage at which this and other estates so act- 
ing are placed by tho practice of quite a number 
of estate owners and agents who sell all their 
inferior teas and dust locally, and so get the 
credit of high averagos in London. In a recent 
case an "average" of Is (>£d was placed opposite 
an estate, that being simply the price of the only 
sort of tea sold, viz., broken pekoe. In another 
case, the average was deduced from the prices 
of broken pekoe and pekoe. Tho averages so ob- 
tained were, of course, higher than the Is 3d of 
tho ostate which sent not only its broken pekoe 
and pekoe but its souchong, broken leaf and 
dust for salo ; but the so-called averages in the 
oases where no low quality tea was included were 
not, it is contended, fair and honest " averages." 
The process adopted is shown, our correspondent 
points out, in several cases of estates, whose in- 
ferior teas and those only were submitted at the 
latest local sale. One well-known estate was re- 
presented neither by broken pekoe nor pekoe, which 
will, of course, show a high average in London, 
in consequence of the sale locally of 
Pekoe souchong 2,000 lb. 
Dust .. .. 770,, 
Red leaf . . . . 300 „ 
In the case of another estate, the local sale con- 
sisted of 
Pekoo souchong 1,350 lb. 
Dust .. .. 1,100 ,, 
Our correspondent submits that a " respectable 
average " of Is 2d or Is 3d is better and more 
honest whero all kinds are sold, than Is 6Jd or 
even more where only broken pekoe, or that and 
pekoe, are sold in London. — The right of parties 
to dispose of their teas as they deem best is not 
disputed, but it is proper that practices which vitiate 
averages and give certain estates undue reputation 
should be known and taken into account. 
THE ALKALOIDAL VALUE OF 
IPECACUANHA CULTIVATED IN INDIA. * 
11V FRANCIS HANSOM. 
The success tbut has attended tbe introduction of 
tho cinchona into India and Ceylon has naturally 
suggested the possibility of the piofitablo cultivation 
of other South Anicrii -an plants. Ipecacuanha, being 
a drug for winch there is a large and steady demand, 
has received considerable attention for this purpose. 
It appears to havo been first introduced into India 
in ISM, but for several years no encouraging results 
aro recorded. During 1H77 plants were distributed 
throughout the central aud southern parts of the 
Peninsula, and tho cultivation was also attempted 
in Burmah, Singapore, aii'l ('• vlon. 
In tho same year Dr. King, the Superintendent of 
tho Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, reports that the profit- 
able cultivation of ipecacuanha as a crop at the cin- 
chona plantations hcciiis hopeless, owing to tho cold 
of the winter season, even in tho warmest valleys, 
being too great for a species so thoroughly tropical. 
In spite of discouragement, continued attempts havo 
been made, ami an important fact relative to the 
ciiltivati .ii was cominunicati d by the Director of the 
Kew Ci anions to Xnture in tho beginning of the present 
■ Hold t ofore tho Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain at an Keening Meeting in London, Wednes- 
day, November 0. 
year. From a report on experiments carried out at 
the Government Cinchona Plantation at Darjeeling. 
it appears that two varieties of ipecacuanha, sent 
respectively from the Botanic Gardens at Kew and 
Edinburgh, havo been introduced into India. Whilst 
those from Edinburgh have entirely disappeared, tho 
plants from Kew, cultivated under exactly .similar 
conditions, continue to live. 
The latest information on the subject appears in the 
Pharmaceutical Record (Oct. 1, 1887), where it is stated 
that the experiments have proved that the plant 
nourishes best at Nilainbur. 
The value of the cultivated rool emptied with that 
obtained from the wild plants of Brazilian growth is 
a subject of interest and importance. Dr. Iving re- 
ported in 1877 that the Indian cultivate 1 ipecacuanha 
had been used in the Medical College Hospital jn 
Calcutta, and had been found to be quite as efficient as 
tho best South American drug. 
Mr. Holmes has recently placed in my hands a 
sample of the Indian root, which I have examined 
with the object of ascertaining its alkaloidal value. 
In appearance it closely resembles the drug imported 
from Brazil. 
The method adopted for the assay was that proposed 
by myself at the recent meeting of the British Pharma- 
ceutical Conference at Manchester (Pharm. Journ., 
Sept. 17, 1887). It consists in percolating tbe finely 
powdered roet with chloroform previously rendered 
alkaline by agitation with strong solution of ammonia, 
completing the exhaustion in an extraction apparatus 
with boiling chloroform, extracting the alkaloid from 
tbe percolate with very dilute sulphuric acid, and 
estimating the acid solution volumctrically with Mayer's 
reagent. 
By this method I found 1-7 per cent of emetine 
present in the root. 
In my previous examination of the Brazilian drug 
I found that ten samples varied in value from 13 to 
2'3 per cent of alkaloid, the average strength being 
l o'O per cent. As these were all, iu appearance, fair 
commercial specimens, we may conclude that the 
Indian cultivated ipecacuanha is quite equal to the 
average Brazilian root. 
It is to be hoped that before long it may become 
a frequent article in the London market, and that 
well-merited success may reward the enterprise and 
perseverance of those who have bestowed s » much 
care upon its cultivation. 
Discussion. 
Professor Thiselton Dyer said this communication! 
although very brief, was one of the most interesting 
which had been made in connection with pharmaceutical 
researcli for some time. The story of the attempts 
made to introduce the ipecacuanha plant into India 
was a very long one, the first effort, as was stated in 
the paper being in 18CG, when Dr. King, then Assistant 
Surgeon in tho Bengal army, successfully conveyed 
to India by the overland route tbe first plant of this 
iuvaluable species. That plant came from Ke«-, and 
as far as he could make out, for he had not hi en able 
to investigate the question thoroughly, it was the only 
survivor of a case of ipecacuanha plants which some 
timo previously had been obtaiued from Brazil. The 
Government of India attached enormous importance 
to the introduction of ipecacuanha into that coun- 
try, and looking at the almost specific character of 
this drug in the cure of dysentery, their desire to 
see it acclimatized was amply justified. The history 
of the plant was carefully recorded till it died in 
1808. During that interval, however, nine plauts 
had been obtaiued from it by propagation at the 
Calcutta Botanic Gardens, and five others which 
were cultivated at Darjeeling, so that in lsoS tberu 
was a total stock of fourteen plants iu India. Iu 
1871 the five plauts at Sikkim has beeu increased 
to -100. Dr. Anderson, to whose intelligence and enter- 
prise the cultivation of ipecaoaanha was largely due, 
and who pressed tho subject very vigorously on tho 
Government of India, being then superintcu l t nl of 
the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, came to this country 
iu 1870, aud used every effort to acquire every 
