October i. tl 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
241 
THE CINCHONA BARK TRADE OF BRITAIN 
is this subject of an interesting article with statistics 
from the Chemist and Druggist given below. It 
is shown that the averago annual value of the Ceylon 
bark imported into Britain tor live years* has been 
£511,000 out of an average value for the whole 
of the imports of only £733,000. Low as the price 
of bark has fallen, we should have thought these 
figures below the mark. Interesting information 
is given respecting the exports of bark from 
London to tho Continent of Europe, but these 
do not afford a proper idea of tho actual manufacture 
of bark and consumption of quinine in each coun- 
try. This has been summed up in our " Planting 
Review*' (in the "Ceylon Handbook and Direc- 
tory ") with the aid of every authority within 
reach, and we commend to the notice of our London 
contemporary the following results arrived at by 
us after prolonged examination uf all statistics 
within our reach : — 
Impoiits and Consumption ok Cinchona Bark. 
United Kingdom (iiud British Colonies) Bark, 
import about 17 millions lb., but manufac- 
ture or consume only ... ... 
India (manufactures from local growth 
npart from 250,000 oz. of quinine &c, im- 
ported) ... ... ... 
Europe, Continent of (imported through 
Franbe, Holland an 1 Italy) — Italy :i millions; 
Germany 7 millions; France I millions; Hol- 
land and Belgium lj million; Kussia .'.mil- 
lion; other countries .'. million... " ... 16,500,000 
United States (besides 'J[ million ounces 
of quinine) ... ... ... ... 5,000,000 
Other countries (Brazil, Africa and rest 
oi Asia) ... ... ... ... 050,000 
lb. 
6,000,000 
350,000 
Total Bark :— 28,500,000 
Quinine Manufactured iiv 
United States, 4 Manufactories 
Germany, 6 „ 
Italy, 2 
France, 3. „ 
Holland, 1 „ 
England, 2 „ 
India, 1 ,, 
Quinine, Consumption op : 
United States... 
Qermany, Austria, Holland and Belgium... 
Italy 
France, 
Kuasia, Turkey & Greece 
Spain, ... ... ... ... ... 
India, 
Other countries, Japan, Chinn, Brazil and 
Africa ... 
I'nited Kingdom Si Colonies 
lb. 
80,000 
ISO.OOO 
70,000 
80,000 
10,000 
40,000 
8,000 
■108,000 
lb. 
200,000 
51,000 
35,000 
:;n,oi 11 1 
mi ,o<io 
15,000 
25,001 
15,000 
15.000 
lb. 166,000 
Probably in 12 months, 1888-0, the manufacture 
ind <-nufiuinption of quinine will not bo much under 
470,001 lb. (7,520,imki mince*) per annum, apart from 
a limited quantity of inferior alkaloids and bark 
used up by druggist*, brewers, iVc 
What our London contemporary says about the 
virtual abandonment of bark harvesting in many 
di tricts o( Ecuador and Columbia, and the diffi- 
culties attending export from Bolivia, i<< full of 
interest. Wo havo yet to see what effect tho abolition 
of the export duty in Bolivia will produeo. 
* Tho total value of Ceylon bark for the 5 years 
import..! iuto London i» given at i.2,7o3,MO. 
3 1 
THE BRITISH TRADE IN CINCHONA BARK. 
(From the chemist and Druggist, Aug. 18th.) 
lu our market report we publish this week an inter- 
esting table giving tho weight and value of cinchona 
1-ark imported into and rcshipped from the United 
Kingdom during the last five years, from and to tho 
principal countries with which we deal in that com- 
modity. These statistics show that from 1883 to 1887 
inclusive wo havo imported into the United Kingdom 
630,360 cwts. of ciucbona, and re-exported 534,127 
cwts., leaving for our own consumptionJ105,233 cwts. 
in fivo years' time, or, say, about one-sixth of our entire 
imports. If wo take iuto account the fact that we 
entered upon the year 1883 with the stock of 3,500 
acses and casks and 67,176 serons cinchona, or, say, 
an aggregate of 71,176 cwts., and were left at the end 
of 1887 with a supply, iu the first hand, of 11,333 
cases and casks and 48,286 serons, or about 70,952 cwt. 
altogether, we find that we must add about 3,224 cwt. 
for the decrease in our stock to the balance of 105,233 
cwts. excess of imports over re-exports to arrive at the 
nearest possible estimate of our actual consumption 
of cinchona lor all purposes. This, upon the above- 
named basis, has averaged about 21,691 cwts. per annum 
since 1883, less, of course, than we export to Germany 
alone, directly and via Holland, but still a respectable 
enough quantity. Looking at our cinchona imports, we 
find that their aggregate value bus been steadily de- 
clining siuce 1883, though in weight thoy show an 
almost equally uninterrupted growth. The cinchona 
imports from British India are expanding considerably, 
although even yet they weigh scarcely one-tenth part as 
heavy as tho supplies from Ceylon. France (Holland 
not being specially named in the returns) is the only 
Europeau country from which we receive any cinchona 
supplies of importance, and evou she does not furnish 
us with much more than 1 per cent of our entire imports. 
We receive from France principally South American 
barks of the cuprea and Maracaibo varieties, which 
are brought to Havre by the steamers running from 
that port to Venezuela, Colombia, and Central 
America. Of South American countries, Ecuador has 
almost ceased to send us any bark at all, notwith- 
standing that the Guayaquil, Huauoco, and Luxa 
cinchonas, which are usually imported from that 
country, have suffered proportionately less depreci- 
ation than most other varieties, liut Ecuador iu 1886 
and 1887 passed through some political squalls of 
more than usual severity, and this may, partly at 
least, account for the hiatus in the supply from that 
quarter, while, moreover, the forests easiest to reach 
nave been qnite denuded of bark, and the present 
prices do not make it profitable to collect it in out- 
of-the-way places. The imports from Colombia are 
also dwindling, but most of the bark shipped from the 
ports in that country, Oorthageua, ami Maracaibo, 
is sent to the United States. The forests in the 
State of Santnuder, however, where the bark 
called, from its copper-like colour, '' Cupreu " was 
discovered about thirty years ago, are now partly 
exhausted, and the depreciation of this bark, which 
was worth up to 2s 6d per lb. in 1880 and now fetches 
only about 34d per lb., does not encourage the bark- 
hnnters to take any very great pains iu procuring 
fresh supplies. Bolivia is not specially mentioned iu 
the returns which wo have compiled. The country 
is competely cut oh from the sea siuco (he Chilian 
war, and therefore, although no doubt the largest 
producer of cinchona in America, the Bolivian barks 
tigurc, without exception, in tho returns from lior 
neighbours, Chili, Columbia, and the Argeutiue Bo- 
public. The Bolivian plantations, which now furnish 
such excellent yellow bark, »ro situated iu the neigh- 
bourhood of Cochabamba, 011 tho eastern slope of tho 
Andes, and the cultivators find it cheaper to ship 
their goods by the comparatively easy, though loug, 
water-way along tho Pilcomayo and Parana riven 10 
Buenoi Ayres or Montevideo on the River Plate, than 
to seud the bark by a much shorter route across tbu 
difficult mountain passes, lu a like manner the Out 
Cali»ft)a bark, procured from the wild trets found iu 
out-ol-the-way forests, are mostly despatched b> river 
through Brawl or tho Argeutiue Republic. But if, 
