68z 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1889. 
THE SUPPLY OF TEA ON THE LONDON 
MARKET. 
TO THE EDITOR 07 THE HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL. 
Sir, — Some few weeks ago you published a letter signed 
" Q. S.," con tailing a suggestion that importers should 
arrange among themselves to regulate the supplies 
put on the market, with a view to preventing the 
oollapse in prices which ooours whenever there is 
undue pressure to sell. 
It wag dear, from the manner in which " G. S*" 
handled the subject, that he is a practical man, and 
alive to the great difficulty of arriving at such a 
general agreement among sellers as would be necessary 
to effeot what he advocated. The hindrances to such 
a polioy are ; (1) that some of the larger agency 
firms do not feel at liberty to hold back the consign- 
ments of one set of clients while realising the shipments 
of other olients ; (2) that some of the principal pro- 
ducers elect, as they have a right to do, to choose 
their own time for selling, and to keep their hands 
free : (8) that the bulk of the trade in tea — i.e., 
the operations of the retailers — being transacted during 
the eight months between August . and March, it is 
not a wise policy to keep out of the market during 
those months. While, if these objections were over- 
ruled, the fact would remain that the value of the 
crop in the main is regulated by the amount of 
total supply in relation to the probable requirements 
of the year. 
But allowing for all these arguments, in theory 
adverse to the polioy suggested, there remains the 
certain faot that whenever sellers have regulated the 
supply a solid benefit has resulted; not always im- 
mediately perceptible in prices realised, but, without 
question, eventually strengthening the hands of sellers, 
and imparting a iittle of the confidence so much 
needed to the buyers. 
I have ohosen this opportunity for supporting " G. 
S.," because it is tolerably plain to all who have an 
inside view of the position of the market, that 
sellers (for the next six months at least) hold the 
key to the position. During tha last few weeks 
there has been a general recognition of the 
absence of any reason for forcing sales. Supplies 
have consequently been reduoed, and now the 
effeot is beginning to be felt. It is known within 
10,000 ohests what the total available for the market is 
to the end of July ; and it is found that this is not 
muoh more than half the quantity which, in the ordin- 
ary course, the trade will take delivery of. Still, with 
the reduced supplies, importers are now quitting their 
stocks at the rate af the aotual delivery ; surely an un- 
necessary proceeding. 
With a little patienoe, and a better understanding 
between the six or eight large firms in whose hands 
■tooks are mainly concentrated, a substantial gain to 
the whole body of the trade could be secured. 
I am not aiming at a corner — far from it ; but I 
know that the dealers like nothing so well as a strong 
market with an upward tendency ; and it goes without 
saying that this is to the advantage of sellers, rathor 
than an irregular market depressed at one time, unduly 
inflated at another. 
I pen these observations in the hope that as time 
goes on the aubjeot of co-operation amongst producers 
may receive more attention than it has done in the 
past. — Yours, faithfully, A Seller. 
Feb. 20th, 1889. 
REPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT CINCHONA 
ENTERPRISE IN THE PREANGER 
REGENCIES, JAVA, FOR THE 
YEAR 1887. 
Bt R. van Romunde, Director of the Govern- 
ment Cinchona Enterprise. 
[Translated for the "Tropical Agriculturist.") 
1. Weather. — TLe year 1887 was distinguished by 
much and continuous rai >> Of a real caist monsoon 
there was scarcely any to speak of. From the middle 
of June to about tho middle of August the weather 
continued pretty dry, though even during these two 
months some rainy days were also recorded. From 
the beginning to about the middle of the month of 
February severe storms were experienced, which caused 
considerable damage to buildings and nurseries as well 
as to plants, especially at Nagrak on the Tangkoeban- 
Prahoe mountains. About the middle of October a 
severe storm from the south-east, which lasted only a 
single day, caused considerable damage to the planta- 
tions on the Malabar mountains, especially to the graft 
plantation at Tirtasari. Some night-frosts were 
experienced during the month of July, which how- 
ever did no harm, as they took place on flat and cup- 
shaped portions of land, which in former years also 
had been exposed to the influence of night-frosts 
and had not been replanted. On the whole the weather 
was favorable for the nurseries and the young plants, 
but the great and continuous rains after the pretty 
wet year 1886 were not favorable for the growth of old 
plants, and did not exercise a favorable influence 
on the harvest of 1887. 
2. Increase.— The number of plants standing in the 
open at the end of the year amounted to 1,665,500. 
In spite of the considerable additional planting through 
the extension of the Tirtasari establishment and the 
replanting of uprooted portions of the other establish- 
ments, the abovementioned figure shows a slight 
decrease as compared with the figure at the end of 
1886, a decrease that cannot be the result solely of the 
thinning out of close plantations and the uprooting of 
some bouws of inferior varieties of cinchona, but 
must be attributed to the counting of the number of 
plants standing in the open which has since been 
ordered. A much smaller figure was found in the 
case of the Nagrak establishment, where the number 
of plants standing in the open was ascertained by 
counting. It is to be expected that on other establish- 
ments also, in spite of the writings-off durintj reoent 
years, a smaller number of plants in the open will 
be found than is shown by the figures recently givea. 
There are in the nurseries under shade 1,596,500 
ledgeriana and 680,000 succirubra plants. These figures 
are very general, as among them are included the 
still very small plants in beds, the number of which 
cannot be given even approximately. Among the 
ledgerianas are included 45,500 graft plants, for the 
most part intended for the extension of the Tirtasari 
establishment, of which number about half will be 
transplanted into the open during the first quarter of 
1888. Among the number of plants in the nurseries 
are not included the recently formed grafts in various 
stages of development, the number of which amounts 
to about 25,000. For graft slips use was ohiefly made 
of twigs of the rich ledgeriana, a descendant of the 
mother tree No. 38, known as No. 38/, whioh contains 
some 12-5 p. c. of quinine. Graft slips were also obtain- 
ed from the finest specimens of the grafts whioh have 
been placed in the open during the last three years, 
from descendants of the mother trees Nos. 23 and 38, 
which on analysis showed about 11 p. o. in the bark 
of 6 to 7 year old plants. There were also used for 
graft slips twigs of a nine year old descendant of 
the mother tree No. 23, which was analysed during 
the year under notice and appeared to contain 13 p. o. 
of quinine. The grafts thus obtained will be treated 
with special care in order that graft slips may be got 
from them speedily. The grafts obtained from a pair 
of rich hybrid of C. ledgeriana and C succirubra, whioh 
were referred to in the previous report, were planted 
out in uprooted portions of land at Tjinjiroean. The 
experiments of grafting C. ledgeriana upon C. succirubra 
in the open air, which had been abandoned for some 
years on account of the unfavorable result, were 
renewed during the year under notice. At first these 
experiments again gave no favorable results. On being 
repeated however and performed with greater care the 
results were pretty satisfactory. Very great care 
continued to be paid to the raising of ledgeriana and 
succirubra seedlings. The rich crop of seed especially 
from the graft plantations at Tirtasari at the end of 
1886 enabled us to raise a large number of plants of 
typical appearance, which however for the most part 
will not be utilized before the end of 1888 for putting 
out in tbo open. A commencement was made at th e 
