8io 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June x, 1889. 
BARK AND DRUG TRADE REPORT. 
London, April 4th. 
A Shellac Circular. — A number of firms interested 
in the shellac trade received this morning a circular, 
marked "Private and confidential," and reading as 
follows : — 
" Mincing Lane, London, April 3rd. 
" The rash speculation that is now taking place in 
this article causes me to address a few lines of warning 
to many of my old clients. " When I see a ' ring' 
formed each afternoon, mostly composed of inexperi- 
enced young brokers and weak speculators, and thou- 
sands of cases during the week bought and sold, with- 
out any going to the consumer, experience tells me it 
must end in disaster. " The stock of shellac in the 
last four years, and the prices of ' ordinary orange' and 
garnet is as follows : — 
— April, 1889 April, 1893 April, 1887 April, 1886 
Stock 66,911 78,927 62,104 64,100 
Fair 
Orange 70s 45s 46s 50s 
Garnet 57s 37s 6d 43s 47s 
" The advance is great : what is there to justify this ? 
The usual (false) report that the ' sticklac .crop had 
failed,' whereas in the three months of this year the 
landings are 8,941 cases, and 17,130owt. arrived and on 
the water, having been shipped in February and March, 
not included in above figures, and a good quantity is 
being shipped to America. These are facts which speak 
for themselves, and plainly prove that buyers are being 
again deceived. " Even allowing that Dot so much 
sticklac has been collected — which I disbelieve — the 
makers in Indiaare sending enough for trade require- 
ments, leaving a large stock on hand, for it is plain 
from the falling off in the March deliveries that con- 
sumers will not stock at nearly double the price ; and in 
six months hence a ' new crop will be collected,' which 
is nearly sure to be large at present enhanced prices. 
" If a ' ring' to advance the price of copper ends in dis- 
aster when supported by wealthy institutions, what 
must be the end of ' the shellac ring' speculators, who 
buy thousands of cases for months ahead and pay no de- 
posit nor give any security to ensure fulfilment of the 
contracts they enter into ? " To save many of my 
friends from ruin is why these remarks are addressed. 
" For obvious reasons I beg to subscribe myself, " An 
Old Bhokeb." 
Annatto. — Four packages fair to good bright seed, 
from Jamaica, sold at 2§d to 3Jd today, and 13 packages 
good bright Oeylon seed at 3d per lb. 
Cinchona.— Only a small assortment of South Ameri- 
can barks was offered today, and for these there was no 
demand. Guayaquil bark all bought in. Eighteen 
serons flat yellow Calisaya were also bought in at Is 8d 
to Is lOd per lb. For some old Oarthagena bark an 
offer of §d per lb. was solicited without success. Forty- 
four packages hard Pitayo bought in, f d per lb. being 
unobtainable. For a paroel of 80 packages good bold 
Maracaibo 9d per lb. is asked. Two cases good bold 
East Indian druggists' quill natural succirubra sold at 
Is per lb. and 4 packages thin ditto from Java at 8d 
per lb. The exports of cinchona bark from Java during 
the last three seasons in the periods between July 1st 
and January 31st have been as follows : — 
1888-9 1887-8 1886-7 
lb. lb. lb. 
Govt, plantations Amst. 442,096 467,511 399,391 
Private „ „ 2,213,960 1,808,880 1,063,221 
Total ... ,. 2,656,056 2,276,391 1,462,612 
Coca Leaves. — For 26 bales goed fresh green but 
broken leaves lid per lb. was said to be refused. Twelve 
bales good fresh Huanoco bought in at is per lb. Large 
havesupplies come to hand in Hamburg. 
Ipecacuanha — Only 22 packages were offered for 
sale, but the whole quantity was promptly withdrawn 
when it was found that the trade would not be willing 
to pay the enhanced price of 8s per lb for fairly good 
partly thin root. An offer of 7s per lb for such quality 
was refused, and the owners hold firmly at 8s nominally 
an advance on the last auction rates of Is per lb. 
Jalap.— Prices still keep up, and at today's auction a 
bid of 6Jd per lb for good Vera Cruz was got. 
Kola Nuts. — Although several parcels were shown 
at today's auctions, none of them were sold. An offer 
of 2d per lb was made for a v»ry common lot, but 
declined. A well-known importer of this drug writes 
to us with reference to the parcel above mentioned ; 
" As one very much interested in the kolanut trade, 
and in the introduction of this food, I regret extremely 
that brokers, who ought at least to know whether a 
drug is simply rotten or not, should allow their rooms 
to be used to show such perfectly rotten aDd worm- 
eaten material as this. There are some nuts out 
of which the maggots are actually crawling over the 
boards." — Chemist <i Druggist, 
TEA PRICES, EXPORTS AND ESTIMATES. 
The telegraphic report from London this morning 
is reassuring . " teas firm and dearer." It is 
possible that the news that the Indian crop was to 
be a late one, and possibly less in quantity than was 
anticipated, has something to do with this result, 
although additional briskness might ordinarily be 
expected after the Easter holidays. 
It is of interest to remark that there is probably no 
article grown on the earth's surface, the total 
production of which is more accurately estimated 
than tea. This is mainly due to the fact, that 
the growth at present is practically confined to four 
countries :— China, India, Ceylon and Java. In 
the case of India, the statistics of the acreage 
under tea have always been carefully recorded and 
the work of estimating year by year under the 
auspices o( the Calcutta Tea Association has been 
very carefully attended to, with less and less risk 
of error as increased knowledge and experience have 
been gained. In respect of Ceylon, our reputation for 
accurate planting statistics is established through- 
out the world. But neither for India or Ceylon, 
do the estimates seem to work out more closely 
than for Java and even China ! In the case of the 
former, no doubt, with the limited cultivation hitherto 
London brokers have been able to get from their 
agents reliable information ; but the marvel is 
that under the conditions affecting tea production 
in China, the estimates even though confined to 
actual exports, should be so near the mark year 
by year. For instance the estimate a year ago of 
the total tea exports from China and Japan to the 
United Kingdom for 1888-9 was given at 100,000,000 
lb. and the result as we know now, is just one million 
lb. in excess, or 101,000,000 lb ! This, it will be 
remembered, is 21 million lb. less than was sent 
in the previous year to the United Kingdom— 1877-88 
giving 122,000,000 lb. As regards the future, a 
great deal turns on the information which will 
be made available on the opening and start of 
the China market. We have made arrangements 
for Special Telegrams both from China and Calcutta 
during the busy season lasting over the next 
five or six months, and Ceylon planters will, in 
this way, be in a position to judge of the prob- 
able course of the tea market as affected by ship- 
ments from the great shipping ports at the earliest 
possible moment. 
In publishing yesterday, the comparison drawn 
between highclass Indian and Ceylon teas through the 
prices which surprised a Colombo resident, we forgot 
to offer the all-sufficient explanation. It has been 
always acknowledged that there are estates in 
India, more particularly in Darjiling (and as Mr. 
Stanes showed not long ago, on the Nilgiris also) 
which produce teas equal to, or finer even than, 
the very best "Ceylons." "The finest Darji- 
lings " have always been exceptional teas in the 
home market for delicacy and flavour ; and although 
our own higher districts ought to compete, and 
in some cases do, yet the prestige of "Darjilings" 
