April i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
699 
general use are decidedly good. When tea was 
selling at 6s a lb. on the Continent and coffee 
could be bought at 2s, hotel-keepers and others 
were willing enough to take the extra trouble 
to prepare the coffee ; but now, the heavy fall in 
tea and the rise in coffee having altered the 
old conditions, we may hopefully look forward 
to a considerable expansion in the tea trade of 
the Continent of Europe. 
The hunt for land for tobacco cultivation goes 
on. I hear that the local company has decided 
not to take up any below the big tank, but to 
try elsewhere. 
Peppercorn. 
DRUG TRADE REPORT. 
London, February 21st. 
Annatto. — Fair Brazilian Roll annatto is selling 
privately, we hear, at 9d per lb, Ceylon Seeds of good 
appearance bought 2|d per lb in sale today . 
Areca Nuts. — An offer of 14s per cwt, was refused for 
a lot in sale today. 
Cardamoms. — A rather heavy supply of 263 packages 
was offered at today's auctions. The finer qualities were 
well represented, but a large quantity of the highly 
esteemed Mangalore variety did not reacn the hammer 
at all, the whole being withdrawn. A pretty good 
competition prevailed, but most of the brokers were 
not at all eager to sell, and altogether only 101 pack- 
ages were disposed of at very full rates to an occasional 
slight advance for the better grades. The prices real- 
ized ran as follows : — Mysore, fine bold long well 
bleached 3s 4d to 3s 5d ; good heavy pale 3s 3d, ris- 
ing to 3s 6d ; bold heavy yellow 3s 3d ; medium- 
sized pale round 2s 9d to 2s lOd ; small 2s 8d ; me- 
dium long yellow 2s 6d ; small ditto Is 9d to 2s ; 
small pale round Is 9d ; medium to bold brown mixed 
and Bplit Is 9d per lb. Ceylon-Malabar, good rouud 
medium grey 2s 4d ; fair small to medium pale 2s; 
good heavy brown 2s 3d; round small to me hum 
yellow Is 4d to Is lOd. Wild Ceylon, good heavy bold 
Is lOd. Aleppy, brown, shelly, and badly clipped 10d, 
seeds Is 8dtols lOd per lb. The following quantities 
were exported from Ceylon in the periods between 
October 1st and January 24th :— 1888-9, 91,810 lb ; 
1887-8, 123,662 lb ; 1886-7, 103,0561b. 
Cinchona. — Very high prices were paid today for 
some of the better grades of South American druggists' 
barks : — Loxa, good bright silvery to thin brown quill 
2s 2d to Is 7d ; broken and damaged lOjd to Is 6d. 
Huanoco, brown to fair 9d to Is 4d per lb. Guayaquil 
7d to Is 4d per lb. Fifty bales good bright Lima were 
bought in at 4d per lb. Of Soft Columbian and Pitayo 
barks a parcel of 51 serons, mostly imported in 1873 
sold at id to |d per lb., the whole lot (about 7,600 
lb) realising less than 161. Calisaya, good bold flat 
orange, sold at Is 4d ; damages at Is to Is 2d per 
lb ; spurious Calisaya quill 2^d to 4d per lb- For 
next Tuesday's auctions 2,149 packages are at present 
declared, composed of 700 Ceylon, 711 East Indian, 
475 Java, and 263 South American bark. The arrivals 
this week have been rather heavy, both from British 
India and from Ceylon. The shipments of bark from 
Java during the second half of the year have been: — 
1888 1887 1886 1885 
lb. lb. lb. lb. 
Private plant 1,854,888 1,635,739 282,105 429,879 
Government ulant 335,433 381,477 359,591 253,062 
Total 2,190,321 2,017,206 641,696 682,941 
The shipments from Oeyion between October Ut and 
Jinuary24th have been :— 1888-9, 3,846,843 lb; 1887-8, 
2,990,041 lb; 1886-7, 4,999,055 lb. 
Croton Seed. — Five robbins rather dark seed from 
Bombay sold at lis 6d per cwt. 
CuTTLEnsH. — Ten cases good bold and fairly white 
bone sold cheaply at 5id per lb. Sixteen cases very 
common damaged bone" from Oeyion are held at l.Vd 
per lb., and it is said that that price is beiug privately 
paid for the quality. 
Plumbago. — Prices have been advanced. 
Vanilla.— Of 114 tins offered today nearly the whole 
was sold at an advance of Is 6d to 2s per lb on fine 
lots, of which a good proportion existed : Fair un- 
crystallised chocolate to 7 J inch, 13s 6d to 17s; 
7^ to 8*, 18s 6d to 19s 6d; fair rather brownish 5J 
to 8, lis 6d to 14s 6d ; common 5 to 7, 8s to 8s 
9d ; low foxy 2s 6d ; and fine crystallised 7i to 8, 
23s to 24s 6d per lb. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA AUCTIONS. 
Telegram from our Correspondent. 
Amsterdam, February 21st. 
At the public auctions of cinchona bark held here 
today 2,982 packages, out of a total of 3,392 cata- 
logued, were disposed of at lower rates, the unit not 
averaging over 8o per J kilo, or say, ljd to l£d per 
lb. For manufacturers' barks, in shavings, chips, and 
quills 11c to 107c per J kilo (equal to 2d to Is 7d per 
lb) was paid ; ditto root brought from 12c to 29o 
(equal to 2|d to 5J per lb); druggists' barks, ohips 
and quills, broken and long, from 4c to 75c (equal to 
fd to Is ljd per lb) ; and druggists' root bark from 
35c to 56o, or 6Jd to lOd per lb. The principal pur- 
chasers were the Brunswick Quinine Works, the Am- 
sterdam Factory, and Messrs. C. L. Schepp & Zonen, 
of Rotterdam. The manufacturing bark which was sold 
alone contained an equivalent of 285,000 oz. of sulphate 
of quinine. — Chemist and Druggist. 
TRAVANCORE PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
Minutes of proceedings of the annual general meet- 
ing, held at the Club, Trivandrum, on Wednesday 
20th Feb. 1889. 
Present: — Messrs. D. G. Cameron, J. Fraser, Win- 
Marshall, R. T. Miller, J. P. Mackay, B. Nelson, J. S. 
Valentine, and E. C. Chisholm, Honorary Secretary. 
The resignation of Mr. John Cox as Chairman haviDg 
been laid on the table, Mr. James Fraser was asked 
to occupy the chair till the new office-bearers were 
elected. The Hon. Scretary then read the report for 
last year, whioh showed that the members who had 
paid their subscriptions were 19, as against 18 in 1887. 
Finances were also in a satisfactory state, there being 
a large balance in the hands of the Secretary. Very 
liberal grants had been given by H. H. Government 
to construct new roads and for maintenance of th« 
district roads, and in this respect the Government 
has not been unmindful of the interests of the planters' 
The application for a further grant of land where 
desired, to the extent of 10 per cent on present hold- 
ings, is still before Gvernment ; as is also the 
question of timber on private property, the planters 
considering themselves hardly treated in this matter. 
At the request of the Dewan a paper on the culti- 
vation of tea was drawn up by Mr. Clarke, and for- 
warded to Government, who, in reply, requested the 
Seoretary to communicate the thanks of Government 
to the members of the Association, who so readily 
complied with the request. 
The subject of destruction of insectivorous birds had 
been brought to the notice of the Association by the 
Board of Revenue, and the Secretary replied that, 
" As far as can be found out, there is not a very 
great slaughter of inseotivorous birds in Travanoore 
either by gun-men or trappers, yet from the know- 
ledge of the immense evil oarried on in other 
countries by the destruction of these birds, the As- 
sociation consider that it would be very desirable 
to take further steps to protect these useful 
creatures." 
The Secretary then having resigned, the follow- 
ing office-bearers were elected for the comiug year, viz.; 
Messrs. D. G. Camerou, Chairman, and J.S. Valentine, 
Honorary Secretary. 
The following resolutions were then put before the 
meeting and carried : — 
I. — "That the attention of H. H. Government be 
called to resolution III. passed at last general meet- 
ing, asking for grant to the holders of land nmier 
