THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1888. 
Tea Gultube in the Caucasus. — A wealthy firm of 
tea merchants, one of the largest in Kussia, has ac- 
quired extensive tracts in the neighbourhood of Kou- 
khoum Kaleb, and along the Circassian coast, on which 
they are about to raise tea plantations. These will 
shortly be placed under the care and direction of 
Russian experts, who have been sent to China to study 
the tea culture, and are now about to return. — H. § C. 
Mail. 
Wtnaad Planters' Association. — 14tb Decem- 
ber. — Cinchona. — Mr. Lamb at the Honorary Secret- 
ary's request gave the following figures with re- 
gard to the Ledger trees, from which the barks of 
which the analyses were given in the September Pro- 
ceedings, were taken. 36 trees, 6 years old gave an 
average of \ lb. original dry stem bark shavings per 
tree; six months after they gave 3 1/3 oz. renewed bark 
per tree from uncovered stems, and 4 2/3 oz. per tree 
from covered stems. The trees suffered considerably 
from shaving, and 10 to 15 o/o died down as far as they 
had been shaved. 161 five years old double stemmed 
Ledger trees of which one stem was coppiced gave 425 
lb. dry shavings of stem branch and twig bark. 
Pruning for a Crop. — Pruning is one of the 
most important factors in hardy fruit culture, and 
where the knife is used with judgment, other condi- 
tions being equal, the results are invariably saticfac- 
tory, but when used indiscriminately, without regard 
to the nature or character of the tree, the reverse 
is more often the case. The following remarks of 
our correspondent, Mr. Watson, of Englehurst, on 
this subject are well worthy of attention : — Take bush 
or pyramid Apple trees, for instance ; we frequently 
see the trees cut hard in every season to the old 
stems, with scarcely a fruit spur on them, the branches 
disposed regularly all round, and of uniform shape 
and height — pretty to look at when in growth, but 
when fruit tiipe comes the crop is small or none : 
the few fruits they do bear no doubt being of good 
size and quality. This close pruning may answer 
with some varieties but not with the greater num- 
ber of the varieties of Apples. Young trees by 
careful root-pruning may be brought iDto bearing 
without much use of the knife, but too frequent prun- 
ing of the roots has a tendency to stunt the trees, 
and fruit of best quality cannot then be expected. 
A moderate healthy growth is necessary to produce a 
full crop of fine fruit, and this should be the object 
in all pruning. Trees having made healthy shoots 
from 1 to 3 feet in length, and having few or no 
fruit spurs among the older branches, should have 
the terminal shoots on all the main branches left 
their entire length, while all the' inner growths 
should be cut back to an eye or two. The shoots 
left will, during the following season, form fruit- 
buds at almost every eye, and these buds invariably 
grow into fruit-spurs, and bring the tree into a fer- 
tile condition. The tree having got well furnished 
with bearing wood, the annual growths may then 
be cut back to an eye or two, leaving the leading 
shoots a little longer. Some varieties form their 
lower-buds towards the ends of their shoots ; such 
should only have the branches thinned out when 
they are too thickly placed, and those branches that 
are getting extended too far should be chosen for 
removal. There are some varieties, amoDgst which 
may be named Northern Greening, that form fruit- 
buds and spurs, no matter how hard the trees are 
praned ; but where satisfactory results are expected, 
fruit trees must be allowed a fair amount of natu- 
ral development. The same principles of pruning 
Apples apply also to Pears and Cherries. Plums 
may be pruned in closely, and still bear fair crop?, 
but where fruit of high quality is required, a con- 
siderable amount of annual growth must perforce 
be left Gooseberries and Currants were_ formerly 
spurred in haid, but now we simply thin out the 
branches, and get better crops and finer fruit. 
These remarks apply, of course, to fruit trees grown 
in the open, but the principle applies with equal 
force to trees on walls. Pear trees on walls which 
only bear a few fruits at the extreme ond of their 
branches (and that is mainly where the young wood 
is left) are often got to bear all over by leaving 
at intervals on the branches a few strong shoots, 
which can be fastened in neatly in a line with the 
main branches, afterwards cutting away the old bar 
ren spurs to let in sunlight ; such shoots will form 
fruit-buds during the following season, and will carry 
fiuit the next. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Quinine Production. — I very recently gave you the 
substance of a foreign opinion upon the cost of quinine 
production in England : since that date I have met with 
further remarks on the same subject from a totally 
different quarter, viz., New York, a trade journal of 
which centre contains the followi»g statement which 
may be of some interest to your planting and com- 
mercial readers: — A controversy over the cost of pro- 
ducing quinine has been started within a few days, 
through the issuing of the circular, the tendency of 
which was to create the impression that this cost is a 
very small item, scarcely worth consideration as a factor 
in establishing a market value for the alkaloid. This 
has brought forth statements regarding what are con- 
sidered the actual facts from at least two houses in 
the trade here, and further literature on the subject 
may be expected. One of these statements, issued by 
the agents of a German band of quinine, referring 
to the wrong impression which is gaining ground 
regarding the cost price of the article, says that the 
principal error in all of the calculations regarding 
the cost of making quinine is based on the supposi- 
tion that cinchona barks coming in auction contain 
11 to 12 per cent of quinine. The writer of the 
circular expresses doubt if ever a single package 
was found to test as high as that. It is true, he 
says, that the Java barks are running much higher 
in their percentage of alkaloids than those of Ceylon, 
but the Java barks sold for manufacturing purposes 
run also far below 11 and 12 per cent. At the last 
auction in Amsterdam the 119,500 kilos, of bark 
contained 8,947 kilos, of quinine, or about only 414 
per cent. Furtner, the consumption of quinine can- 
not depend on the Java product alone. Not a tenth 
of the actual demand could be supplied by it. The 
writer then submits statistics of the quinine strength 
of the bark sold at the London auctions since 
May 26th, which show an average of 1*85 per cent, 
of quinine. The actual cost price of barks, regard- 
ing which erroneous impressions also prevail, is then 
discussed, and statistics are given to prove that the 
bark as it comes into London, to the auction, is 
charged with actual expenses of 2 02d per pound, 
and this does not include the cost of cultivation, 
nor any benefit due the planter. Therefore, if th« 
barks do not bring more than 2d per lb., the planter 
loses not only his bark but does not even realize 
the actual cost of getting his product to market. 
At the auction of October 29th, the price was be- 
low 2d per pound. From this the conclusion is to 
be drawn that there is certainly no justification 
for basing calculations for a staple market price 
of quinine on such a state of affairs as now ex- 
ists, at least not so long as fundamental changes 
occur in the condition of bark supplies. The other 
circular to which reference has been made, coming 
from a leading firm of jobbers, comments upon the 
same false impressions, which it endeavors to set 
straight by producing convincing evidence as to the 
actual state of affairs. The circular covers the ground 
fully, but we regret that we have only space for a 
few extracts. Regarding the cost of producing 
quinine, the writer says that, in Germany, it was for- 
merly estimated at 20 marks per kilo, or about 14c 
per ounce, but improvements of late have reduced 
this. If this cost is calculated at 10c per oz. in- 
cluding commission for bying bark, shipping chnrges, 
and freights to factory, actual cost of manufacturing, 
packing, and commission for selling the product, in- 
terest on plant, wear and te;rr, etc., and calculating 
cost of the bark at ISfc. the actual cost of production 
is found to be 28|c. These calculations are based on 
the lowest cost bark, the prices paitl for the bark 
during the past few months being such as to r<ise 
the result to 35c as the actual cost of production.— 
London Cor. Local " Times." 
