6?8 THE TROPICAL 
The deficiency of Ceylon bark was almost balanced, 
as will be seen by the exceptionally large supply of 
Indian-grown cinchona, including a large portion of 
suocirubra bark, mostly renewed from the Nilgiri Hill 
plantations. The offerings of Amerioan bark were again 
confined to Bolivian calisaya quills, which are firmly 
held by the owners, though the manufacturers seemed 
prepared to pay a slight advance on the last auotion 
rates. The auctions commenced with a steady tone, 
and when the principal catalogue waa reached the 
bidding became occasionally lively, but towards the 
finish competition again flagged a little. There was 
no decided improvement in the prices paid, but a better 
feeling prevailed throughout the sales, and the unit 
may be placed at an average of If d per lb. for good 
parcels. The following are the approximate quantities 
purchased by the principal buyers : — 
Lb. 
Agents for the Mannheim & Amsterdam works 126,080 
Agents for the Brunswick works ... 105,754 
Agents for the American, French, &o., works 90,103 
Agents for the Auerbach works ... 55,870 
Agents for the Frankfort o/Mand Stuttgartworks48,717 
Messrs. Howards & Sons ... ... 34,301 
Mr. Thomas Whiffen ... ... 24,750 
Sundry druggists... ... ... 46,859 
Total sold ... ... 532,434 
Bought in or withdrawn ... 83,616 
Total quantity catalogued ... 616,050 
It is understood that the mere weight of bark pur- 
chased affords no guide whatever to the quinine yield 
represented by it, firms who buy a small quantity of 
bark by weight frequently taking the richest lots, and 
vice versa. The auctions included a somewhat un- 
usual quantity druggists' barks, which accounts for 
the- rather large quantity purchased by various buyers 
other than 1 manufacturers. An analysis of the cata- 
logues shows that the following prices were paid for 
sound bark: — 
Cbtlon Baek : Original : Yellow varieties : Chips, 
poor thin to fair branchy Id to ljd; fair to good bright 
mixed with shavings 2d to 4§d ; shavings mixed with 
branoh 3d to 3Jd; fine bold chips and quill 10d;good 
but rather papery brown druggists' quill 7d : bold 
silvery ditto 7£ ; root 6Jd per lb. Bed varieties, weak 
chips lid to lfd ; weak to good branchy chips 2Jd to 
4d ; weak to good bright spoke shavings 2d to 4Jd 
per lb ; grey root 2§d to 6§d per lb. Renewed : Yel- 
low varieties fair to good bright strong chips 4|d to 
7£d ; shavings dull weak 2Jd ; good 5|d to 7§d ; one 
parcel 10£d per lb. R«d varieties chps 2Jd to 6d ; 
dusty small to good spoke shavings 2§d to 6|d per lb. 
Grey chips and shavings 2§d to 5d per lb. 
Bast Indian Baek : Original .- Yellow varieties, thin 
twigs and chips 2§d to 4d ; fair to fine quilly mossy 
chips to 8$d ; shavings fair to fine rich 3d to 8§d ; 
druggists' quill, good brown to fine bold rich mossy 7d 
to Is 4d per lb. Ked varieties, thin to good bright chips 
2d to 4d ; spoke shavings 3d to 4|d ; long mossy quill 
8id to lO^d per lb. Grey chips 4£d per lb. Renewed: 
Yellow varieties, spoke shavings 4Jd ; fine bold chips 
and quill Is per lb. Grey chips 7d per lb. Red chips, 
fair quilly to good bold stem chips 3Jd to 7d ; shavings 
5d to 7 Ad ; broken to good bold mossy druggists' quill 
7<l to lOd per lb. 
Java Bark. — Gray chips mixed with branch quill 5d 
per lb. 
South American Bark. — For brown papery to fine 
heavy silvery Calisaya quill from 7d to Is ljd 
per lb. was offered and refused. About 3,972 lb. of 
rather irregular quill sold at 7d to 9£d per lb. Nine 
seroDH very bold flat orange, rather dark on the reverse 
were bought in at Is Od per lb. One bale bold Cuprea 
bought 2Jd per lb. 
K-.sKNTiAi. Oil. — Oitrouella, neglected at gd to 
lij-lfltliH d. per oz. 
QUININE has been almost a dead letter this week. 
A limited business has been done in German bulk 
»t Jn :Jd per oz first hand, and wo hoar that the 
K & S agents have refused to submit an offer of 
is 2!jd per Oi. 
AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1889. 
THE DUTCH MARKET. 
Amsterdam, February 12th. 
Cinchona Bark. — The second periodical auction will 
be held on February 21st, and will include 3,215 bales 
and 177 cases, or about 280 tons weight, of which 389 
bales and 17 cases are Government crop. Of 
the lot 228 tons are manufacturers' bark and 52 
tons druggists' bark. The analysis of the for- 
mer is as folio w8: — About 16 tons contain 1 to 2 
per cent quinine sulphate ; 48, 2 to 3 ; 68, 3 to 4 ; 
44, 4to5d; 30, 5 to 6d ; .11, 6 to 7 ; 6, 7 to 8 ; 5, 
8 to 9 — or on the average 3-& per cent; 228 tons, 
containing 9,097 kilos, (nearly 9 tons) sulphate of 
quinine. The bark is divided as follows : — Succirubra 
quills 109 cases; broken 228 bales, 10 cases; root 
176 bales C. Schuhkroft quills 18 cases ; broken 90 
bales, 11 cases ; root 1 bale, 2 cases, O. Officinalis 
quills, broken 73 bales ; root 24 bales. O. Ledgeriana 
quills 20 cases: broken 2,043 bales, 7 cases ; root 530 
bales. Hybrids broken quills 27 bales ; root 17 bales — 
3,215 bales, 177 cases. — Chemist and Druggist. 
PLANTING IN JAVA. 
Amsterdam, Jan. 9. 
According to a statement published lately, the ex- 
ports from Java from July 1, 1887, till June 30, 1888, 
compared with the three former years, were as 
follows : — 
Coffee. Govt. Sugar. Tobacco. Rice. 
Private. 
Piculs. Piculs. Piculs. Picul«. Piruls. 
1887-88 228,368 286,639 6,641,568 207,361 1,174,494 
1886-87 676,893 486,478 5,993,923 160,300 992,972 
1885-86 399,929 305,936 6,027,474 154,018 ' 461,685 
1884-85 924,216 384,264 6,166,197 1S2.006 158,809 
Indigo. Amsterdam. 
Tea. Kilos. 
1887-88 
1,750,393 
3,427,781 
1886-87 
1,666,598 
3,329,004 
1885-86 
' 1,5100,957 
2,607,613 
1884-85 
1,780,002 
2,998,967 
Cinchona Bark. Government 
Private. 
Bales. 
Bales. 
1887-88 
575,986 
2,916,927 
1886-87 
660,433 
1,569,842 
1885-86 
457,267 
1,673,889 
1884-85 
419,460 
776.510 
This 
statement shows an increase of almost 
article except coffee, of which the crop has suffered 
much from the disease of the leaves, and it is to be 
hoped that the measures taken to check it may lead to 
satisfactory results towards the maintenance and ex- 
tension of this cultivation, which is a principal source 
of revenue for the Java population. Regarding Java 
sugar, the president of the Java bank, Mr. Van deu 
Berg, has written an interesting article, in which he 
arrives at the conclusion that the average price of 
production for the 1885 crop could be estimated at 
f .8 per picul, and for the 18S6 crop at f .7| per picul, 
a difference too small to enable to express an opiuion 
about the further existence of the cultivation. How- 
ever, it may be observed that the general expectation 
waa that the difference in the cost price between the 
1886 and 1887 crop would be much larger, and this 
opinion has now been fully confirmed. According to 
the reports received there is scarcely any manufactory 
whiesh has not worked more economicslly in 1887 than 
in the too preceding years, and, calculating the cost 
price without adding interest on working capital and 
debts, f.6.63 per picul may be taken as the price for 
1867. This favourable result has been obtained by the 
abolition of the excise duty of fl. 25 per bouw for the 
manufactories working under Government contracts in 
December, 1886 ; but there is alno another reason, 
which is to be found in the energetic endeavours made 
by the manufacturers to introduce a more economical 
system of working. These results evidently show 
that the existence of the Java sugar industry may 
be considered as secured; but a great danger threatens 
the cultivation in the sereh disease, which has caused 
already a decrease of 181,413 piculs in the province of 
