tauARY t, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
543 
know the Fir-apple, or Asparagus-Potato, will re- 
cognise the similarity between that variety and the 
new-comer. These tubers are produced in great pro- 
fusion, though at present of small size, are doubt- 
less capable of enlargement at tlie hands of the 
gardener, especially if seedling varieties can be 
obtained. Unlike the Potato, these tubers have a bud 
at the end of the tuber (terminal), and this curves 
upward to form the hew shoot ; hence the propaga- 
tion of the plant is easily effected, and as each tuber 
consists of several internodes— that is, has several buds 
or eyes— we have no doubt whatever that they 
may be propagated by sets or cut tubers, as in the 
Potato. 
Tho plant is allegod to be perfectly hardy and of 
the easiest possible culture. It will grow anywhere, 
on any ordinary soil, but like other plants it will no 
doubt repay a little attention in the way of trench- 
ing and manuring. Its defects at present are its 
small size, and tbo fact that the tubers do not keep 
well when lifted ; but both these defects can be 
overcome or evaded. In point of flavour we have 
heard it compared to Salsafy, Jerusalem Artichokes, 
and to boiled Chestnuts. Our own taste would lead 
us to consider it as most nearly allied in point of 
flavour to the latter. M. Carrie-re. publishes the fol- 
lowing analysis, which shows that he plaut is a valu- 
able food agout : — 
Starch 17-80 
Albumen : I 4-31 
(including 069 N.) J 
Patty matters 0'55 
Woody matters aud cellulose 1"34 
Mineral mal ters : I 
(including 0'28 phosphoric acid) J 
"Water 7419 
10000 
M. Garriire, while admitting that the difficulty 
of preserving tho tubers militates against them as a 
market-garden crop, points out that it is well suited 
for the domestic kitchen garden, where! the tubers can 
be lifted in late autumn or winter and eaten in fresh 
state, either boiled, fried like Salsafy, made into sauce, 
or cooked iu a dozen other ways that any cook — especial- 
ly a French one — will devise. 
Tho microscopic examination that we' have been able 
to make, does not reveal so large a proportion of solid 
starch as the chemical analysis would lead us to expect. 
Probably tho amylaceous element exists in some other 
form than starch, as is tho case in the Jerusalem 
Artichoke. Tbo mass of the tuber consists of polygonal 
(Mil, with thickened corners, minute granules perhaps 
of itiulin, a few oil globules, large granular nuclei, and 
very bright nucleoli. Pitted vessels, sieve-tubes, and 
other elements of a modified stem-structure, are 
dearly apparent. 
Wo believe that this new vegetable will make its 
way. not perhaps as a staple articlo of food — 
its tubers nro too small for that — but as a very 
acceptable change on the tables of the connois- 
seur. 
Its cpmplute hardiness ami easy cultivation will, we 
should also expect, cause it to bo considered a 
luxury by the poor. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
4. 1 
THE EXPORT PROSPECTS OF JAVA 
CINCHONA IS ARK : 
AMSTERDAM AS A CINCHONA MAItKKT. 
Sir,- Your issue of December 1 7th contained an ar- 
ticle about Java c in bona bai k. It was shown therein 
tlmt Java will probably come forward with consider- 
able quantities nf bark after ls8!>, ami it may there- 
fore, perhaps, he of some interest to _\our readers lo 
judge whether tbo Dutch market is equal to find an out- 
let for these qualities or not. 
t »n examining th* catalogues of the public sales hero 
Mine I 1 fun I that the imports of bark Iroui pri- 
vate plantations iu Java uuiouutud to 1 — 
382 packages of about 150 lb. each in 1882 
844 „ „ 1883 
1.746 ,, „ 1884 
4,215 ., „ 1885 
5,652 „ „ 1886 
8,000 „ „ 1887 
On January 19th, 1883, COS packages Government, 
and 1.434 packages private bark will be sold, whilst the 
following nine auctions next year will doubtless offer 
as much, or rather more. The total importation of 
private bark for 1888 may therefore be estimated at 
15,000 packages, that of i889 at 25,000 packages, to 
which must be added the Government crop of 5,000 to 
0,000 packages a year. 
Pef ore the beginning of this year (1887) our market 
could not be said to have been equal, in every respect, 
to the requirements of a large importation of bark. 
The chief importers, the Netherlands Trading Company, 
acting as the Government's agent, followed their own 
way, selling their 2,000 to 3,000 packages a year iu one 
or two auctions here, whilst the private parcels were 
sold, as occasion arose, at auctions too small to attract 
the attention of many buyers. 
The Netherlands Trading Company disposed of ex- 
cellent warehouses, and the greatest care was taken in 
bringing the bark under the buyers' eyes ; they also in- 
troduced the custom (siuce followed by all private im- 
porters) of publishing the analysis of every parcel before 
the auction, and permitting buyers to take samples 
themselves. The private importers, on the other hand, 
were in anything but an enviable position. With no ware- 
houses of their own, they wholly depended upon tho 
goodwill of the " Vcemen " (warehouse corporations), 
who, in many cases, sot apart rooms for the storage of 
Bark quite unfit for tbo proper exhibition and sampling 
of cinchona bark, and insufficiently lighted — rooms,Jin 
fact, which they could not use lor auy other purposes. 
This, however, was not surprising, as the cases and 
bales containing cinchona bark had to be put down 
opened, arranged side by side with gangways between, 
and to remain in this state for weeks, thus yielding less 
profitable warehouse charges than other articles, such as 
coffee, rice, spices, &<>., which, being piled up, completely 
filled a room, the floor of which would scarcely be cov- 
ered if stored with cinchona bark. Another incon- 
venience for buyers was that, every importer employing 
bis own " Veom," the different parcels were stored iu 
different places, oftou far distant freni eachotber. 
Such was the state of things until April 1886. Sinco 
then all has been changed for the better, and Amster- 
dam may now boast of a well-organised market, second 
to nonoiu the world. 
In April 1886 the " Kiua-Establishmeut " opened its 
warehouses to importers of cinchona bark, under tho 
direction of a warehouseman who had handled the arti- 
cle from tho very beginning of its appearance iu this 
market. Their show-rooms, just as those of the Nether- 
lands Trading Company, are splendidly lighted through 
skylights, and spacious enough to allow 8,000 packages 
and more to staud open, side by side, with passages for 
the samplers, during some weeks before every auction. 
Tho " Kiua-Kstablishment " not being established 
with a view to make money out of it, but merely for 
the benefit of the market, the tarid for storing, iic., 
could be fixed at very low rates, whilst, on the other 
hand, everything is done with the utmost care to pro- 
moto tho importers', and consequently planters' inter- 
est, and to make buyers feel comfortable. 
The " Kina-Kstablishment " and ourcinchoua mar- 
ket are greatly iudebteel for their quick and porfect suc- 
cess and development to the director of the bonded 
docks, who put at its disposal tho finest warehouses iu 
the docks ; and to tho Netherlands Trading Compauy, 
who energetically supported a proposal addressed to tho 
Government and readily accepted by them, tooell their 
barks in eight (next year in ten) periodical auctions, 
thus olferiug to private importers a centre for tho saIo of 
their bark, and securing 1,1 the mictions n greater inter- 
est by the inclusion of the splendid old " druggists' 
bark," which none but the old Government plantations 
can oiler.— I am, sir, jours truly, GlarAV KiUEOLKU. 
Amsterdam, D. c. 2Mb. 
—Clumnttvid brvjjut, Doc. 31st. 
