578 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1888. 
ing community, were not given up for all that- 
By last advices the prospects of success have be- 
come somewhat brighter, owing to the higher 
Chinese authorities no longer raising any difficulties 
on the subject. To the planters, these particulars 
will prove tidings of great joy indeed. Deliverance 
from the extortion and exaction of the Straits cooly 
brokers, comes now within measurable distance. 
In London, a Sumatra land syndicate has been 
floated to take over a concession of land in Siak, 
granted to Mr. Dates by the Sultan of that State. 
On the Ludwigsburg estate a riot arising the 
other day out of tobacco sorting, resulted in twenty 
coolies rinding their way to jail. 
Coolies for Deli are medically inspected before- 
hand at Penang to find out whether they are fit 
for estate work. The brokers, at present, owing 
to the high price of these felloes, try to pass 
unsuitable labourers. Their efforts have been 
too often crowned with success, notwithstanding 
every care. 
4 
THE PBOFITS ON' CINCHONA. 
In a recent issue of the India Mercury, Mr. Van Gor- 
kom, formerly director of the cinchona plantations of the 
Dutch Indian Government, further discusses the profits to 
be made in cinchona growing. The conclusion he arrives 
at is that the law of the survival of the fittest is about 
to be put into operation in the 'Java cinchona industry. 
The weaker and least scientifically conducted plan- 
tations, he opines, will go to the wall within measur- 
able time ; the stronger wi!l contrive to tide over 
the difficulty. This theory is neither original nor start- 
ling, and the essential part of Mr. Van Gorkom's 
article lies less in the promulgation of this view than 
in the figures cited by him in its support. In 1884 
the total expenditure on the G >verument cinchona 
gardens, including freight of the bark and all sale 
expenses, was 148,384f (12,305?). During that year 
207,170 kilos. (459,017 lb.) Government bark were sold 
by auction at Amsterdam. Assuming this bark to have 
averaged 5 per cent quinine sulphate and to have 
realized an average unit of 7 cents per half kilo., 
the proceeds would have been 145,0 19f. (12,085?) and 
have given a small balance on the wrong side. But, 
as a matter of fact the net amount realised was 
378,572f. (31,548?), leaving a profit of about 155 
per cent. This satisfactory result was caused partly 
by the fact that the unit value averaged very much 
above 7 cents per \ kilo., but principally by the 
circumstance that the Gsvernment plantations have 
hitherto been able to harvest the bulk of their pro- 
duce from old trees, yielding heavy bark of splendid 
appearance, such as is not yet obtainable from any 
private concerns. The latter is a factor which should 
not be lost sight of, since it is easier and cheaper 
to take 10 lb. of bark from one full-grown tree than 
1 lb. each from ten young trees. During the year 1884 
the average cost to the Dutch Indian Govern- 
ment of cinchona from their plantations, delivered at 
Batavia, was 55 8 cents per kilo. (=5d per lb.) In 
1885 the cost was 52-4 cents (4~-10d per lb.), and 
in 188G it fell to 46'3 cents (=4£d per lb.) Add to 
this an average of 18 cents (3-5d per lb.) for freight 
and sale expenses, the total co^t for 1880 rhay he 
placed at 04 cents, or 5Jd per lb. During 188(5 the 
Government bark, if sold at an average of 14 cents 
per kilo., on an average of 5 per cent, sulphate of 
quinine, returned 70 cents per kilo., on which the profit 
was (J cents per kilo., or say Ad per lb. To a private 
planter this gain would have been more than balanced 
by his outlay on interest of capital, taxes, &c, items 
which do not weigh on the Government produce. — 
Qhttiifst and Driu/gixt. 
DOES CINCHONA-GROWING PAY ? 
A well-known Berlin wholesale druggist, Mr. J. D. 
Ki'''lr4, in a recent number of tho I'liarmncevtixche 
y.i>ln,"j, oftpra his view of tho question at what lowest 
ale -price of bark ciuehona-growing can be made to 
pay. Mr. Biedel asserts that from 1880 to 1882 cin- 
chona exporters in Columbia did not find it profitable 
to ship any bark for which less than 5d per lb. was 
paid at the London auctions. It should be noted, 
however, that at that time the London charges and 
allowances on cinchona were very much heavier than 
they are at present, deductions for difference in weight 
alone amounting to about 10 per cent. During the 
same period the cost of production of a carga (equal 
to 250 lb.) dry cuprea bark in the forests of Santander, 
where that variety had just then been discovered in 
immense quantities, was 2Jd per lb., taking into 
accouut the loss on the Spanish exchange and the fact 
that nearly G lb. of green bark were required to yield 
1 lb. of the dry article. Carriage of the bark through 
the woods and by the Magdaleua Piiver to Savanilla, 
the port of shipment, amounted, in 1880, to about 2d 
per lb., but afterwards, when the rates were increased, 
to as much as 6d per lb. As soon as the London price 
for this variety averaged below Gd per lb. the export 
of cuprea bark must, therefore, have ceased to be 
profitable. With the decline in the value of cinchona the 
exportation of bark from South America to New 
York and Paris receded to a minimum, and the 
shipments to London were mostly limited to old 
stock on hand. The increase of Bast Indian bark 
supplies, collaterally with the diminution in the South 
American shipments, is, in Mr. Riedel's opinion, evi- 
dence that cinchona can be produced much more eco- 
nomically in the British and Dutch colonies than in its 
original habitat. Labour being cheaper in Ceylon than 
in South America, the cost of collecting bark in the 
former country may be estimated at Id per lb. of dry 
bark, or per 100 lb. 8s 4d ; carriage to railway station, 
per 100 lb. Gd ; railway freight and cartage to the 
mills in Colombo, Is; repacking, pressing, export 
duty, and other charges at Colombo, and freight to 
London, 3s Gd ; cartage, sampling storeage, and sale ex- 
penses in London, ls9d; insurance (on 40s per cwt.), 
broker's commission, interests on money advanced, &c, 
5 to per cent, of 40s, 2s 5d ; total costs and charges 
per 100 lb. 17s 5d or 2 l-10d per lb. It follows that 
if the average price at the London auctions is less than 
2 l-10d per lb. the planter loses money absolutely, 
and it will pay him better to leave his trees alone or to 
burn them down, as the cheapest way of destroying 
them, than to harvest the bark. The cost of turning 
cinchona bark into sulphate of quinine, Mr. Itiedel 
estimates (for London) at 1J:1 to 1 9-10 d per lb. of bark 
and the average proportion of quinine in the bark at 
1| to lj per cent. Calculating on this basis, he arrives 
at the conclusion that if thj planter is to receive back 
the mere cost of collecing and shipping bark, not allow- 
ing for any profit, the produciug price per oz. of quinine 
is Is 3£d. — Chemist and Drugyist. 
A SANGUINE VIEW OF QUININE. 
The total sales and resales of quinine on the three 
last days of the year just brought to a close amount 
to about a quarter of a million ounces, a turnover 
which required probably a larger amount of capital 
than has been engaged in quinine in any three con- 
secutive days during the year, though the quantity of 
the product represented falls perhaps a little short of 
what was sold in the first three days of the revival 
that occurred in November. There is little doubt that 
nearly half of these transactions were made on behalf 
of firms who were compelled to deliver quinine pre- 
viously sold by them, and the operations must have 
cost them between 2.000? and 3,000?. Such an opera- 
tion could probably not have been carried through 
successfully but for the strategic movement of depres- 
sing tho last bark sales, thereby creating an artificial 
weakness and causing certain holders to realise with- 
out further delay. Of course such an operation will 
scarcely be attempted in the same way again, nor will 
there probably be an'y occasion for it until the lots 
sold for January-February delivery fall due. 
Now, although Is lid to 2s OJd are the only figures 
publicly reported, three seems little doubt that more 
than 2s OJd was paid for large lots. It is rumoured 
that some weeks ago speculators have been trying 
to invest 20,000? to 30,000? in quinine, and would 
