February i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
543 
DRUG TRADE REPORT. 
London, Jan. 3rd. 
Oocaine-makino in Ceylon. — It would seem that 
there is some idea of commencing the manufacture of 
cocaine in Colombo, Ceylon. At present the matter 
seems quite in embryo, bllt Ceylon planters who are in 
a position to supply leaves are asked to oommunicato 
with a gentleman in Colombo, whoso object it is to 
extract the alkaloid. A sample of the parcel of Java 
leaves of fino appearanco, to which wo referred somo 
time ago, yielded, when analysed by us, only Q'4 per 
cent, of the alkaloid. 
Cardamoms. — From the beginning of the season up 
to Dec. (ith only 28,970 lb had been shipped from 
Ceylon, against 52,410 lb in 1887, and 38,757 lb in 1886 
during tho corresponding periods. 
Cinchona. — The shipmeuts from Ceylon in the period 
between October 1st and December Gth have been: — 
In 1888, 2,377,239 lb ; in 18S7, 1,506,608 lb ; in 1886, 
2,750,858 lbs. The lirst London public sales to bo held 
on Jan. 15th aro likely to ho very heavy, though at 
present only 972 packages Ceylon, 319 Java, 50 East 
Indian, and 8 Fiji hark havo been declared. 
Quinine. — Last week the market closed very weak 
and without business, Is 3Jd to Is 3;|d per oz. nomi- 
nally for German bulk in second hands. This week 
some holders havo been pressing for salo rathor 
anxiously, and yesterday the agents for the Brunswick 
factory are said to havo sold 10,000 oz., Feb.- March 
delivery, at Is 3rd per oz. Today there are sellers, 
but no buyers, at Is 3rd per oz. spot. The other ma- 
kers are holding aloof. 
Vanilla. — There are at prosent 120 tins advertised 
for sale next Thursday. Advices from Madagascar 
state that in the Mahanoro district the plants have 
commenced llowering very early this year, and that to 
all appearanco the crop this season will be twice as 
largo as last year. Mauritius letters speak of a good 
domaud for the new crop in that island. The estimate 
for the present crop ranges from 31,000 lb to 30,000 lb- 
— Chemist and Qruggist. 
PRODUCE AS SECURITY l'OR BANKERS' 
ADVANCES. 
A paper on this subject was road on Wednesday 
evening, before the Institute of Bankers, by Mr. 
G. R. Gallaher. Speaking as one who had a con- 
siderable and very satisfactory experience of the 
practical working of this class of business, Mr. 
Gallaher described the precautionary Hteps which 
should always be taken, in order that a loan on 
produce might bo as safe as if made upon any 
other class of security. In the torm "produce" 
he would include tea, coffee, spices, indigo, silk, 
metals (excepting gold and silver), turpentine, 
mineral aud seed oils, sugar, galls, shellac, foreign 
corn, AO. A banker must have a general idea of 
the " normal " value of merchandise, or ho might 
be incurring groat risk in making an advance, even 
with a large margin. It was not sufficient in 
making an advance on metals, for example that 
tho banker oould turn to a price current, and fix 
tho quotations of certain dosoriptions, but he 
must have followed the market for some consi- 
derable time. Ho would adviso them not to grant 
loans upon any commodity which they wore not 
sure would always be in demand at some price, and 
mstanoed lac-dye as a case in which an article, 
at ono timo largoly dealt in, was completely super- 
seded by new discoveries. Besides the speoial 
knowlodgo required byabankor if ho made advances 
to any largo extent upon merchandise, ono great 
objection whn.li might bo urged against this class 
of Hrciirity wa«. that produce was not a "liquid 
assot " ; thut it was not readily convertible into 
money j that in times of uneasiness th« money 
no advanced was loekod up, and, in tho event of 
a commercial crisis, could only bo roaliaod at u 
considerable sacrifice. Was not this true of hundreds 
of dilferent kinds of securities, which were now 
readily taken, while produce was refused ? Where, 
in a commercial crisis, would they obtain cash for 
tho large bundles of foreign stocks which were to bo 
found in tho safes of even the most wisely-con- 
ducted banking establishment? He did not deny 
that produce was of the two the more difficult 
security to realise in ordinary times, but he would 
ask, whether ono thousand pounds worth of tea 
would not be more easily convertible into money 
in a time of panic than some Stocks he could 
mention that might be worth one thousand 
pounds a few weeks previous to the panic. In 
his opinion, if a trustworthy customer were to say 
to his banker, " I have a thousand pounds worth 
of goods lying in the docks which I can hypothe- 
cate to you for an advance," no security could be 
safer ; and no dishonoured bill would ever yield 
so large a dividend in the pound, provided ordinary 
care were taken. They could test the actual value 
of such goods by asking the applicant to exhibit 
invoices or contracts, by requiring him to obtain 
a broker's valuation, or by actually sampling the 
goods themselves, and obtaining an independent 
valuation by a broker or dealer in the article. In 
making advanoes upon produce the greatest danger 
the banker had to guard himself against was the 
wilful dishonesty of a customer. English law as- 
sumed a man to be innocent until he was proved 
guilty : but the converse rule should be the guido 
in making advances. They should assume that the 
applicant was dishonest, unless they were perfectly 
satisfied that he was honest ; they would, conse- 
quently, look into the security so thoroughly that, 
whether he was honest or not, the repayment of 
the loss would bo almost without doubt, and, if a loss 
wero made, it would be the banker's misfortune, 
and not his fault. — //. & C. Mail, Jan. 4th. 
PLANTING NOTES FROM SOUTHERN INDIA. 
(From the South of India Observer, Jan. 3rd.) 
Tho question of manure to planters is always ono 
of primary importance. We are informed that on 
somo of the estates on the Nilgiris there has been 
tried for tho last year or two a manure called Mock- 
ford'8 Black Guano, with satisfactory results. Plan- 
ters are often at their wits' end to obtain a suitable 
manure, and the one now under notice appears to 
deserve a trial, being specially adapted to the cul- 
tivation of coffee. Upon one estate we know of, tho 
best coffee is cultivated with a manure skilfully 
adapted to its peculiar wants, aud tho .Nilgiri and 
Wynaad planter cannot do better than try any and 
evory kind of stuff until he linds the right means to 
get tho heaviest crops off his land. 
The Nilgiri tea planters are inconvenionced for 
want of coolies, and thoy complain that Government 
officials often tako thoir labourers away. We can 
hardly believe this. It may bo that officious subor- 
dinates and peons impress coolies unkuown to their 
masters ; but that any official would uso coercion to 
obtain labor is wo think improbable. However we 
givo tho complaint below as furnished us. 
Our correspondent writos: — "I boliove a 'sugges- 
tion' which some plautors havo made to Government 
is tho very reasonable ouo that Government officials 
should not press tho labour of workers in the tea 
plantations, which, as a rule, with all tho 
maisetrios they can got, are scarcely more 
than hnlf mannttl, which of itself account* iu a 
groat measure for tbo low yiold of tea per aero 
on tho Nilgiris compared witii other hill districts. 
Tho other day tho Mauager of ono of tho leading tea 
Mi vt 'H iuforuiod mo that he had ju-t had fourtocu 
of his cooliea withdrawn from his tun bushes tocxriy 
the goods and chattels of a Dritou who, baviug litt o 
to do at home, was Ukiug a tour through tho duj- 
