tULY I, 1881.] 
Mir, TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
93 
SALE OF JAVA CINCHONA BARK. 
In publishing the following Sales-return, it is necess- 
ary to remind our readers, that the prices realized 
ure given in cents of a florin, which coin is equal to 
about Is 8d sterling and therefore, practically, to our 
rupee. It must also be noted that the " half-kilo " 
is 1 110th lb. avoirdupois. It will thus be seen that 
no very wonderful prices were realized at the latest 
sale of Java bark, the very best being 398 cents for 
1st quality officinalis stem bark, the equivalent of 
about 6s Id per lb. Calisaya Schuhkraft sold for ;i 
better price than Ledgerian'i ; but of course none of 
VIr. Moens' carefully selected produce can hive been 
offered on this occasion : 
On 11th March 1881 the following lots of .lava cin- 
;hona bark were sold at Amsterdam : — 
86 bales and 29 chests Jama cinchona ba/rlt. 
Sold at cent- 
per 
kilo. 
6 
b. (.'. (,'alisaya. S.-huhkrall slom bark I qual. 
216 to — 
M 
do 
do do 
do 2 „ 
118 
" 
n 
do 
do do 
root bark 
323 
>; «24 
do 
do do 
broken quill 
246 
4 
do 
do do 
twig bark 
1 It 
1 
do 
do. do 
dust 
231 
" 233 
s 
do 
do Java idea 
stem bark 1 qual. 
250 
do 
do do 
root ,, 
117 

1 
do 
do do 
twig 
101 
" t _ 
7 
do 
do do 
dust- 
195 
i, 201 
1 
do 
do Hasskarliana stem bark 1 qual 
250 
4 
do C. 
Suocirubra 
do do 
251 
do 
do 
root, bark- 
147 
» '" 
9 
do 
do 
dust 
200 
1 
do C. 
)fficiualis 
Stem bark 1 qual. 
398 
", — 
1 
do 
do 
root „ 
190 
2 
do 
do 
dust 
251 
X 
do C. Calisaya Ledgenuuu stem bark broken 
thin quill 
204 
c. 
do Schuhkraft ste m bk. long quill 114 
I 
do 
do do 
root bark 
111 
3 
do 
do do 
do 
181 
■5 
(10 
do do 
twig bark broken 
quill and dust 
108 
18 
do 
do 
do do 
do do 
twig bark dust 
do broken 
quill and dust 
98 
» 118 
do 
do do 
4 chests and 
twig bark dust 
40 bales Tjomas. 
89 
1 
c. Calisaya Ledgoriana short quill No. 1 
251 
22 
b. 
do do 
dust 
200 
1 
a. 
do Schuhkraft short, quill No. 1 
140 
^ # 
I 
do 
do do 
broken „ „ 
1 Hi 
1 
do 
do do 
stem hark ,, 9 
153 
b. 
do do 
18 It 
dust 
lies Java. 
91 
4 
b. chip 
s and dust 
50 
4 
do quill, dust and broken quill 
w 
do chi 
is and dust 
45 
do qui 
Those niarke 1 
115 
1 < 
PFEB-PL ANTI NG IN SOUTHERN INDIA 
AND 
CEYLON. 
The following letter recently addressed to the editor 
• 1 he lilprfras Mail is worth reproducing :— 
OoKKKK Cl'LTUHE IN INDIA. 
>ik, As I am about to invest in Coffee, 1 should 
be much obliged if any practical Coffee Planter 
would kindly give me, through the medium of your 
ciMnmns, the results of his experience on the following 
HttJe points. 
Oft'-n, in walking over estate-, of two hundred acres 
and upwards, you will observe single trees and little 
pat dies of coffee hero and there, bearing at Ihe rate 
24 
of ten cwt per acre, and in the case of the single 
trees often as high as at the rate of four tons per 
acre On enquiry you will find that the average crop 
of the whole estate is under thirty tons. The ex- 
penditure you will be told is about two thousand 
pounds per annum, and with a shrewd guess you will 
know that your friend is receiving some five hundred 
pounds a year as interest on the money sunk in his 
estate, and considers himself rather a lucky man and 
worth (by his own valuation) some ten thousand 
pounds — the value of his two hundred acres of 
coffee. He will blandly tell you that coffee pro- 
perty is cheap at fifty pounds per acre. I am told 
that this would be a good estate. On the other 
hand you will often sec gardens, of an acre or so 
in extent, about bungalows iu .owns where manure 
is easily got, bearing annually at the rate of on* ton 
per acre. Now, what I want to know is whether I 
should buy a large estate, or whether I should buy- 
fifty or sixty acres of the best jungle procurable, rtflfl 
having opened it out, begin with heavy maifttfmjj 
from say the second year of its growth. By heavy 
manuring, I mean sufficient to force it to give at least 
ten cwts per acre. As single trees on a large estate, 
without manuie, will give ten cwts. per acre, I pre- 
sume that by manuring sixty acres sufficiently It avily, 
at least thirty tons could be produced annually, and 
at a much cheaper price than it could be on an 
estate of two hundred acres, and of course with a 
great deal more profit. About manure not being pro- 
curable in sufficient quantity for the above system of 
cultivation, I am told that any quantity of bone dust 
and poonac meal can always be got on the Western 
Coast, aud furthermore that these manures, if only 
on account of their easiness of application, are cheapet 
in the end than cattle manure is. Caractacus. 
It has, of late years, been aa admitted fact that it 
would be far better for coffee planters to have 100 or 
even 60 acres of really good laud under coffee than 200 
or 300 acres of indifferent quality. In the same way. 
certainly, better to cultivate the former area highly 
than to divide attention over twice or four times the 
area without capital or labour to do it justice. Sixty- 
acres of coffee yielding 10, or let us say 8, cwt. per 
acre would be equal to a gross return of about 
R2O,000 from the plantation, against which expendi 
ture at the rate of R150 per acre would amount to 
R9,000, leaving a satisfactory annual profit. We have 
made a liberal allowance for expenditure, provided 
the plantation is not very badly off for labour and 
means of transport. In Ceylon, in many cases, ex- 
penditure has been reduced to 1150 per acre without 
manuring, and R120 per acre is now considered here 
a liberal allowance even with high cultivation. Where 
labour is abundant aud land freely available, the 
tempt itie.n is, of course, to go on felling and extend 
ing, one argument being that a European p anter can 
look after 200 acres of coffee as easily as 60 acres; 
and another that iu only most exceptional c .ses (in 
Ceylon) are the trees and soil uow-a-days equal to 
yielding 8 cwt. per acre : 4 cwts. being more like the 
return even from liberal cultivation ; and, the efore, 
a greater area must be counted on to make the invest- 
mmt worth the whiL of European planters We feel 
sure, however, that the belief is becoming increaa; 
ingly prevalent, that it would have been Far bettei 
for most of the Ceylon planters had th ir motto beou 
Fcstina ienle in the extension of their plantations. Had 
the average area under coffee in the young districts 
been 100 instead of 200 acres per plantation, while 
the reserve forest was gradually planted with new- 
products (tea and cinchona more especially), the posi- 
tion of the planters would Ik- much stronger and 
