712 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1889. 
not come into prominence, and have been subjects 
of experiment only. Success in planting there 
depends upon prudence and foresight carried 
out with sound judgment and on intelligent prin- 
ciples. — Hongkong Telegraph, Deo. 18th, 1888. 
DRUG TRADE REPORT. 
London, 28th February 1889. 
Cinchona.— The auctions held ou Tuesday included 
a rather large aggregate of bark, although the supplies 
from Oeylon were smaller than usual. This deficiency 
was made good, however, by a large number of packages 
from India, nearly all Sucoirubra bark, and by a good 
assortment of Java cinchona. The following is the 
number of packages offered : — 
Packages Packages 
Oeylon bark ... 1,522 of which 1,068 were sold 
East Indian bark ... 1,072 „ 819 „ 
Java bark ... 475 „ 475 „ 
South American bark 315 ,, 217 „ 
West African bark 22 „ 22 „ 
Sundry odd lots ... 132 „ 132 „ 
Total ... 3,538 „ 2,733 
A very quiet tone prevailed at the auctions, and 
there was a marked absence of competition, while a 
good many parcels had to be bought in because the 
limits placed upon them were unobtainable. The unit 
value may be placed at lid per lb for good bark, with 
an occasional lapse to ljd for inferior grades. This 
shows an all round decline upon the previous London 
auctions, but certainly i»o decline upon the prices ob- 
tained at Dutch sales last week. 
The followingare the approximate quantities purchased 
by the principal buyers:—. 
Lb. 
Agents for the Mannheim & Amsterdam works 133,588 
Agents for the Brunswick works ... 116,399 
Agents for the Auerbach works ... 81,676 
Agents for the American, French, &c, works 67,145 
Agents for ttie Frankfort o/JVIand Stuttgart works 61,262 
Messrs. Howards & Sons ... ... 42,688 
Mr. Thomas Whitfen ... ... 26,770 
Sundry druggists... ... ... 30,847 
Total sold 
Bought in or withdrawn 
560,375 
197,612 
Total quantity catalogued ... 757,987 
It should be well understood that the mere weight 
of bark purchased 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. An analysis of the catalogues 
gives the following prices for sound bark : — 
Ceylon Cinchona.— Original : Yellow varieties : 
Chips, weak and dull, lid to 2|d ; fair to good 3d 
to 5d ; fine branchy mixed stem chips 5|d to 6d ; 
shavings, ordinary dusty to fair 3d to 4d ; fine rich 
spoke shavings 8d ; broken papery and dull druggist's 
quill 4d per lb. Red varieties : weak dull twigs id 
per lb refused, the price being Id ; ordinary weak 
to lino bold spoke shavings 2d to 5gd ; ordinary chips 
mixed with branch 2^d to 4d, one lot ljd ; fair to 
good bold stem chips 2d to 5£d ; root 2£d to |4d ; 
per lb. Grey and hybrid varieties : root 3id ; ordi- 
nary thiu twigs l£d ; chips 4d per lb. Renewed : 
Yellow varieties, fair chips to good branchy stem chips 
2Jd to 5Jd ; fine bold chips 7. id to 8d ; shavings 5|d 
so 6d per lb. Red varieties, dusty weak (to fine bole? 
branchy chips 2>d to 5£d ; good to fine shavings 5Jd 
to 7i I per lb. Grey and hybrid vanities, chips 
7Jdperlb. 
Bast Indian Cinchona. — Original: Yellow varieties, 
root Ml spoke sb ivings 5d ; branchy chips 2£d to 
;;.',d. Red varieties, twigs and twifrs mixed with chips 
Lm to l.[d ordinary to fair chips 2£d to 3Jd ; bold 
ditto mixed with branch 5d ; shavings I'd to 3£d ; 
root lh 1 lid. Grey anil hybrid varietiei, root 2d to 
,y,|; ittVingl 2d to 2.^d; chips 2>d to 3&d per lb. 
Renewed : Yellow varieties, shavings 3£d to 4d; chips 
5d. Red varieties, ordinary weak to fair spoke shav- 
ings 2gd to 4|d; good ditto 5d to 6d; dull small 
chips ljd to 2Jd ; medium to good 4d to 63d. Grey 
and hybrid varieties, chips 3d to 7£d, shavings 3Jd to 
4|d per lb. 
Java Cinchona — Yellow varieties, fine broken chips 
9d to lOd ; damaged ditto 8£d ; branchy chips 4d to 
7gd ; good bold root 4§d to 7gd ; ordinary chips 2d 
to 3Jd ; thin twigs l|d ; broken and damaged but 
fairly good silvery druggists' quill 3d to 5d ; bold 
and long heavy druggists' quill, partly rather brown 
and thiu, and all damaged 5|d to 7d ; red chips 3d 
per lb. 
South Amebican Cinchona. — Tho whole quantity of 
cultivated Bolivian Calisaya quills offered, viz. 116 
packages, about, 11,920 lb. was disposed of at 7£d to 
8d for rather thin to fair sound quill. Eight bales 
newly-imported Ouprea sold at 2Jd per lb; while 
parcels of Soft Columbian and Pitayo bark were bought 
in. Three serons spurious and damaged Calisaya quill 
sold at 3|d ; and one bale common colourless flat Red 
bark at Is 7d per lb. Fifteen bales fair Carthagena 
realised 4d per lb. 
West African Cinchona. — Twenty-two bales o 
Succirubra from the island of San Thome, ordinary 
brown papery broken quills, partly damaged, sold at 
2d to od per lb. 
A quantity of different varieties of cinchona, partly 
mixed and of old import, said to be the stock of a 
firm whose experience has led them to relinquish the 
cinchona trade, was sold without reserve at very low 
prices from £d to Is 2d per lb. The exports from Ceylon 
between the periods from October 1st to January 24th 
have been : 1888-9, 4,377,188 lb ; 1887-8, 3,176,093 lb 
1886-7, 5,354,1901b. 
Cinnamon. — A fairly heavy quantity, viz. 2,105 bales, 
Oeylon cinnamon was offered for sale on February 
Nearly the whole of this was sold at a trifling decline 
on medium grades, of which the bulk consisted, while 
low-class quills brought steady rates, and a few parcels 
of very fine brands sold with good competition at 2d to 
4d per lb. advance. Chips were lower. Prices now 
range as follows: Superior Is 4d to Is 7d ; firsts 8d 
to Is 3d ; seconds 7d to Is 4d ; thirds 6d to Is 3d ; 
fourths 5|d to lid ; broken 5d to 6^d ; chips 2gd to 
6|d per lb. 
Essential Oil. — Oitronella, very dull at |d to 
15-16ths d. per oz. for native brands. 
Quinine. — A rather large speculative business is re- 
ported in Brunswick and B & S bulk quinine at Is 2*d 
from the agents for forward delivery up to October. 
On the spot Is 2d per oz. would probably buy. 
Vanilla — According to the latest mail advices from 
Mauritius (January 23rd) the crop of vanilla for the 
season is only estimated at about 27,500 lb. The ship- 
ments from Reunion also are very small this season, 
having been, from its opening until Januarv 10th, 
25,600 lb., against 90,000 lb. in 1888, and 48,000 lb. in 
1887. — Chemist and Druggist. 
Coca and Cocaine. — The Hospital Gazette has 
the following : — " When the discovery of the 
aosesthetic properties of cocaine first created an 
enormous demand for the leaves, it was fondly 
hoped that the cultivation of the plant might 
prove a souroe of revenue to our subtropical 
colonies. As a matter of fact, however, the nor- 
mal production of the leaves in South America- 
alone is so enormous that an eightieth part of the 
yield would "swamp the coca markets of the world. 
The leaves are now no longer exported, it having 
been found much more economical to extract the 
crude alkaloids in situ, the purification only being 
carried on in this country. Apart from the cost 
of freight when loaves were imported, a notable 
loss in the total quantity of alkaloids was remarked 
as taking place iutra i .it." This is not good news 
for planters who have been trying to cultivate 
coca in Ceylon, 
