TH* TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September ir, 1888. 
diameter becomes 5 feet in diameter. The branches, 
which themselves are about as thick as a man's leg, be- 
come so large with the mass of vines and mosses by 
which they are covered that a person could very easily 
make his bed upon one of them, and sleep without 
danger of falling. 
" The stripping of the bark in South America is done 
by contract, the price paid being from 15c. to 35c. per 
100 lb. of green bai k. Arriving at the drying-sheds the 
bark is spread upon loug narrow stretchers and exposed 
to the sun. In a week or ten days it is dry, and is tied 
withstripsof raw hide into uales of from 60 lb. to 651b. 
each. This is the shape in which they are transported. 
Sixty-five pounds is a load for a man, and two of these 
bales is a load for a mule. Men, however, usually carry 
them over the worst stages, because mules are not able 
to endure the journey. At the repacking centre it is 
closely packed to go over the summit of tbe mountains, 
the transit of which requires eight cr ten days, aud 
covers an actual distance of 225 miles, costing from 15c. 
to 20c. per pound Bolivian currency. 
" From the other side of the Andes the bark has to 
travel another 300 miles to the port of shipment, and 
Dr. Rusby states that " the entire cost of collecting, 
drying, and transporting to London, under the most 
favourable circumstances, is estimated at about Is 
per lb." 
" I can say too," continued Dr. Rusby, " that from 
my own estimate I do not see how people can buy bark 
from Bolivia, bring it to this country, and get from it 
an amount of quiuine which would not pay for the ac- 
tual cost of the bark laid down in New York, Raving 
out of account the entire cost of manufacture. I do 
not see how they can get enough alkaloid from it to 
pay the cost of the bark itself. It has led me often to 
wonder whether it is not true that quinine is gradually 
being manufactured synthetically. I know nothing 
about it (which we fully believe), but otherwise 1 am un- 
able to explain the cheapness of quinine utthu present 
time. The appearance of a cinchona plantation is al- 
ways handsome, owing to the peculiar satiny lustre of 
the leaves on many of the trees of a rich purple red. 
When in flower, its appearance is perfectly enchanting. 
At such times these groves are the resort of myriads 
of humming-birds. I collected eight species of these 
birds from a single tree in an hour's time. Besides the 
bark the natives use the leaves and flowers. Tbe leaves 
are said to be nearly inert, but infusions of the flowers 
produce excellent results. They also use the buds, 
from which they make a gelatinous mass and apply it 
to fresh wounds, which heal up by first intentiou." — 
Chemist and Druggist, July 21st. 
— ♦ 
TEA LIKIN : CHINA SILK. 
In the Peking Gazette of the 5th instant, a trans- 
lation of which appears in this number, there is a 
most excellent, practical, and liberal memorial from 
the Nanking Viceroy, who, as a first step, has re- 
duoed the levy of taxation upon Anhui tea from 
F.2.08 to F.1.88 peiyin. 
The reduction, though not considerable, shows that 
the high authorities are becoming alarmed about the 
future existence of the Chinese tea export trade, now 
struggling against odds, and threatened by the large 
and annual increase of the yields of India and Ceylon. 
But to enable Chinese teas to compete with any 
chance of success, a reduction of 2 mace per yin 
will be of little use, as all the likin and all the ex- 
port duty will have to be given up ultimately. 
In India and Ceylon there are no levies of looal taxes, 
no octroi upon wood for packages or lead for their 
lining, and the tea pays no export duty. There 
are also very considerable economies afforded 
by railways, river steamers, aud — as a rule — 
freight from India to Europe is cheaper than 
from China. T'i ^ teas of Iudia and Ceylon also, 
are of more vigorous and prolific growths ; the 
trees are carefully selected so as to be suitable for 
the soil of the plantations ; the fields are carefully 
nourished by proper manure ; and, in a given num- 
ber of yoars varying in different localities and also 
dependent on the classification of Wi shrub, old plan- 
tations are periodically uprooted, destroyed, and re- 
placed by new trees.* The picking ami curing, too, 
are conducted on sound scientific principles, and the 
preparation of the leaf for export is not left to the 
manipulation of coolies but effected entirely by 
mechanical means. All these new aud most 
successful appliances, costly as they are at the 
outset, are regarded as investment of capital, and 
enable the Indian and Ceylon tea growers to 
cultivate their fields profitably and economically. Thus 
the weight of leaf per acre in these two countries 
vastly exceeds the yield of the best Chinese fields, 
and the various processes, from picking to curing, 
and from packing to ultimate delivery in the consum- 
ing maikc:t, the British tea grower has to bear out- 
lays very much smaller than the burdens laid upon 
Chinese tea from first to last. 
This year, owing to abnormal circumstances, which 
may not recur, the prices given by exporters at 
Hankow and Foochow for Chinese new teas of the 
first crops have been higher than were expected. But 
if the second and succeeding crops are thrown on 
the markets in »verage quantity and in average con- 
dition, judging by the lowered standards of recent 
years, the prices are scarely likely to be profitable to 
the Chinese producer and middlemen who, also, 
are now beginning to encounter opposition in places 
that were formerly monopolized by China. In Russia 
Oeylou teas now meet with increasing favour, and even 
the strong and astringent leaves from Assam and the 
Neilgherries already begin to be agreeable to the sensi- 
tive and fastidious Russian palate. In the United 
States as well, which uoiv take so much tea from Japan, 
the full aroma and strength of the Indian and Oin. 
galesj growths are now appreciated. The displace- 
ment of Ohina teas b.y young aud vigorous rivals, 
possessing many natural, artificial, aud fiscal advan- 
tages, is spreading fast. 
Whether by the establishment of botanical gardens, 
in which experiments may be made by specially quali- 
fled botanists and experts, the consequent endeavour 
to ascertain the true principles of botanical selections 
for various soils, altitudes, conditions of climate, etc. 
and the intelligent employment of scientific and mecha- 
nical methods of preparation for shipment, the teas of 
China can be enable I if not to regain their former 
superiority, or, at any rate, to maintain some sort of 
equality, is uncertain, and, under present conditions 
before us, we fear unlikely. No doubt if the Imperial 
Government, and the provincial Governments concerned 
went to the expense of founding model plantations, and 
for the sake of a valuable and important industry 
favoured the improved methods in vogue in India, some 
good might be done, and as the experiment will not cost 
much the outlays would not be wasted . But the stolidity 
of the Chinese growers the opposition of the coolies and 
tea firing hongs, and the hostility of the middlemen 
who would see with reluctance the employment of 
foreigners which would, at first certainly, become ne- 
cessary are obstacle hard to overcome. 
That the attention of high Chinese officials is being 
given to the matter, a matter in which foreign resi- 
dents in China are deeply concerned, is satisfactory as 
far as it goes, and we may hope, as an early result 
therefrom, there will be some measure of amelioration 
in conditions, however partial and small. 
We trust the Nanking Viceroy will now give his at- 
tention to the silk industry, a matter of great impor- 
tance in his vast government. In the United States, 
where a large manufacture of silk stuffs has very 
quickly grown up, and promises ere many years to 
rival the famous fabrications of Lyons and Italy, Japan 
silk has almost entirely excluded Chinese silk from the 
American looms. This need not have been the case, 
were it not that the shortsighted aud over-greedy 
officials of Soochow and Haugchow, by their oppres- 
sive levies of toll, forced the filatures of Shanghai 
which made the finest silk from cocoons, to close their 
works, after the native and foreign proprietors had 
borne much annoyance and loss. 
* We are not aware that this has been done even 
on the oldest estates in India. In Ceylon certainly not : 
the plants uprooted have been coffee not tea. — Ed. 
