THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1881. 
Gas-works, an establishment founded by the late 
Maharajah of Jeypore, is quoted in the Journal of Gas 
Lighting. From the memorandum on the working of 
the establishment prepared by the present manager 
(Mr. S. J. Tellery), whose administration is highly 
•commenced by Major Jacob, it appears that the gas 
is principally produced from castor oil, with the ad- 
dition, when the castor seed is not available, of poppy, 
til, or rape seed. According to Mr. Tellery's own 
record?, he produces from one mauud of castor oil 
(82 lb) about 750 cubic feet of 26|-candle gas ; or 
1,000 cubic feet of lSJcandle gas ; or 1,250 cubic 
feet of 9 candle gas. With other oils the same quan- 
tity of material worked to make gas of equal quan- 
tities will produce 610 cubic feet, 762 cubic feet, and 
914 cubic feet of the respective grades of illuminat- 
ing power. According to these results, taking the 
Gnrrent prices of oils delivered into the works — 
castor oil being Ull 12a (22s 4d), and the other oils 
R10 (19s lOd) per maund -the castor oil gas is R0 10a 
4p (Is 3d) per 1,000 cubic feet cheaper than other oil 
gas. The works was double in all respects, duplicate sets 
of retorts, purifiers, &c, and gasholders being erected, 
for which arrangement no reason is given. At pre- 
sent two horizontal retorts are used, which are kept 
at work during about 218 hours per month, and pro- 
duce something like 98,720 feet of gas in this time, 
Worked in this way, the cost of manufacture (ex- 
clusive of the cost of oil) is as follows :— 
Wear and tear 1 3 2| 
Fuel ... < 2 11 7 
Labour 0 5 3| 
Purification ... 0 0 4£ 
R. a. p. 
Total cost per 1,000 cubic feet =R4 4 4|, or 8s 6d. 
This high charge for manufacturing expenses is said to 
be due to the fact of so little gas being required ; 
if the consumption should increase to about 260,000 
«ubio feet per month, which could be supplied with- 
out increised cost for establishment charges, the work- 
ing expenses per 1.000 cubic feet would be reduced 
to B2 9a 5|p (5s Id). Another peculiarity of the 
Jeypore undertaking is the necessity that exists for 
the manager to unite the attributes of a farmer to 
his other acquirement- 1 , for the purpose of securing 
a constant and cheap supply of raw material for gas- 
making. Lust year Mr. Tellery personally super- 
intended the sowing of 300 acres with the castor plant 
(Ric'mus vu'garis),', and the establishment includes a 
hydraulic oil-pressing apparatus. The process of ex- 
tracting the oil for carbonising is as follows : — First, 
the castor seed is passed through the crusher, when 
the shells only are broken off. The shells are then 
picked out by hand, and the seed is again introduced 
into the crusher, where it is ground to a paste. It 
is then passed into the heating pan, and, after be- 
ing well heated it is packed into horsehair bags and 
filled up hot into the press immediately. After about 
20 minutes pressing, the exuding oil being meanwhile 
collected, the cake is removed and ground over again, 
ft is subsequently heated and pressed a second time, 
until about 33 or 40 per cent of oil is obtained from 
the seed. The labour of preparing and pressing tlie 
castor eeed co-ts Rl la 8p (2s) per maund of oil. The 
cost of extracting other seed oil is about the same, with 
the exception of the cost of removing the shells. For 
generating gas, the oil is used as it comes from the presf. 
ANALYSES OF N EI LGHEERY CINCHONA 
BARK. 
Mr. J. E. Howard, f. r. s,, has reported for the 
information of the Secretary of State and of the Go- 
vernment of Madras, on 30 samples of cinchona bark 
sent home from the Government Nilgiri plantations 
by Mr. Robert Cross, who collected them in .Novem- 
ber and December last. He congratulates the local 
Government on the value thus shown of the planta- 
tions, the average yield of the best alfcaloids beiDg 
second only to that of the most useful sort of 
cinchona (the Ledgeriana) in the island of Java. \t 
is, therefore, he says, of great importance that the 
trees, whose superior qualiiy is thus ascertained, 
should be reserved for seed. " The first object men- 
tioned by Mr. Cross in obtaining these specimens is 
to test ' the relative excellence of each species in the 
production of quinine.' It is, therefore, unfortun- 
ate tbat he includes more than two-thirds of 
his samples under the head of ' Crown Condaminea.' 
1 conclude that he saw no difference of species 
amongst these, and if so, I must conclude from pre- 
vious knowledge tbat the whole must belong to the 
true ' Cinchona officinalis,' as defined by Sir Joseph D. 
Hooker in the Uritusinga form. This latter was the 
name conferred by the first Spanish Botanists employed 
in the study of its characteristic and retained by 
Mr. Mclvor and myself. I have reason to plead for 
the retention of the original name, as a large portion 
of the trees of the above plantation are the descendants 
of one raised from seed sent me 'from the mountain 
of Uritnsinga' in the year 1859, which I gave to the 
Indian Government. Mr. Mclvor wrote me in 1875 
as follows: — ' The extent planted with C. Uritnsinga, 
the plant you sent out by Mr. Lyall, is over 70 acres 
and originally 65,000 plants were planted, but of 
course the failures thereof should be deducted, and 
this will leave in round numbers, 60,000 plants, the 
progeny of the one you gave to the Indian Government, 
Mr. Mclvor sent me samples from the branches of 
these trees, from which I obtained an extraordinary 
result in quinine. This is now confirmed by these 
samples of trunk bark obtained by Mr. Cross, and the 
examination proves that the Uritusinga is as much 
superior to the more commonly cultivated varieties of 
C. officinalis as the Ledgeriana is to the common C. 
Calisaya. It is to be regretted that more atten- 
tion has not been paid to the selection of the best 
seed. I have frequently pointed out the superior 
quality of the importations from the Doddabetta 
Plantation especially, from which a quantity tbat 
seems disproportionate and exhaustive has been 
sent home in recent years. I am glad to speak in 
almost equally favorable terms of the Pitayo bark, 
No. 15. I have before urged special attention to the 
cultivation of this species, because it is the quinidine- 
producing sort, thus yielding, in addition to a fair 
quantity of quinine another valuable medicine, which 
tells easily at more than half the price of quinine, 
and can, no doubt, be passed off os such by those 
who regard more the cheapness than the exact chemical 
composition of their medicines ; but, if sold as quini- 
dine, it is of service to the community, and involves 
mo breach of commercial morality. The value of this 
specimen of bark would be 'at this moment 9s per lb." 
Mr. Howard forwards the following analyses of the 
samples referred to, which were made by his nephew, 
Mr. David Howard, f. c. s. : — 
Crown Condaminea. 
Original Bark taken from stump of a cut down tree 
planted in 1863, which was found over-grown with 
grass in an old fence of the Government Garden Ooty. 
Cincho- Cincho- Quini- Amorphous 
Quinine. nidine. nine. dine. Alkaloid. 
% % % % % 
4'58 0'30 1-08 0-C7 0-49 
Original Bark taken from the root of the Btump 
from wbich bark No. 1 was collected. 
4-60 0-76 L39 2-20 0 91 
From Government Plantations, Dodabetta. Original 
Bark taken from tree of very robust healthy aspect, 
growing in bottom of ravine, planted in 1869. 
2-01 035 4 04 1-65 L32 
