THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March i, 1882. 
The Tea Trade. — The custom house returns show 
that large supplies of tea continue to be shipped to 
London and Melbourne from Madras and the Coast 
ports. In November last the shipments of tea from 
Beyoore aggregated 16,6821b; from Calicut 1,7051b 
and 'from Madras in December 6,005 lb. Of the latter 
quantity, 5,0001b were sent to Great Britain, 9751b 
to Bombay and 30 lb to Melbourne. — Madras Standard. 
Cufrea Bark.— In Gomptes Rendus, p. 593, Oct. 
17, M. Arnaud describes a new alkaloid which he has 
obtained from a dark red-brown bark with a resinous 
fracture, imported from Santander, and which may be 
presumed to form part of the recently imported China 
Ouprea. He finds the bark to contain 0'8 per cent 
of cinchonine and 0"2 per cent of the new alkaloid. 
He obtoins it by treating the bark with milk of lime, 
drying the mixture, exhausting with boiling alcohol, 
treating the resulting extract with hydrochloric acid 
in excess and crystallizing. The hydrochiorate of the 
new alkaloid is less soluble and crystallizes out first, 
the hydrochiorate of cinchonine remaining in solution. 
This alkaloid he has named cinchonanime. It appears 
to occupy an intermediate position between quinanime 
and cinchonine, in having two atoms less hydrogen 
than the former and two more than cinchonine. — 
Pliarmaceutical Journal. 
Gold in Ceylon. — We have within the last few days 
had a second visit from Mr. Harvey of Australian gold- 
mining repute, who called here on his way from Mel- 
bourne to Southern India with a party of miners from 
Victoria, whose cervices he has secured for one of the 
Wynaad Gold Companies, with which he is connected. 
His visit to the gold fields of India will be brief, prob- 
ably for not more than two months, as he has other 
work in view elsewhere. Mr. Harvey has not changed 
his opinion of the value of the auriferous deposits in 
South India. He continues to speak of them as formerly, 
as being of a varied character — a portion exceedingly 
rich, a portion of indifferent quality, and another 
portion as likely to prove worthless. The great dif- 
ficulty in the Wynaad is the absence of good roads, 
and Mr. Harvey is decidedly of opinion that a much 
smaller percentage of the precious metal will pay in 
Ceylon than in India, in consequence of our having 
such excellent roads in all directions thereby lessening 
the cost of transport, and facilitating access to any 
gold reefs that may be discovered. During his recent 
stay iu Colombo this gentleman examined a large 
number of quartz samples submitted to him, the pro- 
duce of different districts, and although the greater 
portion of these were pronounced by him as cold and 
valueless, there were others which immediately struck 
him as giving promise of some practical results. These 
samples bore a strong resemblance to the gold-yielding 
quartz of Southern India, having that peculiar colour 
about them which betokens the presence of ore of 
some kind, in many cases sulphur with appearances of 
copi er. But of course an examination with the eye is 
not sufficient to pronounce upon the probable value of 
a small sample, and when Mr. Harvey was requested 
by one Colombo firm to pay a visit, to a district from 
winch a very promising sample had been taken, he 
pointed out the necessity first of a further exploration 
of the locality, so as to expose a certain depth of the reef, 
to enable him to come to something like a conclusion 
on ihe subject. Mr. Harvey left by the Bombay 
steamer for Tuticorin whence he will proceed to the 
Tambracberry estate, for which property he is chiefly 
acting, and for which he is taking the miners engaged 
iu Australia. During his absence of six weeks or two 
monthe, explorations will be made in several localities 
with a view of enabling him, on his return in February, 
to give something like a practicul opinion on the value 
of the eampleB raised ; and we may add that Mr. Harvey 
tli'uks it extremely probable that gold may be found in 
( 1 . Ion w hich, with our advantages, may be worked to 
a profitable account,—" C. Times," J 
Coffee. — We find that the consumption of coffee 
has been fairly maintained, and on the continent 
demand has steadily increased in a most healthy 
manner to such an extent that if the heavy supplies 
could but be arrested, no doubt stocks would in 
time assume reasonable proportions. But in the faca 
of continued large imports, and of the almost total 
disappearance of the large class of middlemen or 
dealers who were formerly of great use in acting as 
intermediaries between the importer aud the retailer, and 
so helping to steady the market, there is no escape 
from present depression. An impression naturally 
arises, that some " bear " influence is at work helping 
to intensify what otherwise would be an ordinary fall 
in the coffee market ; and should this be the case, the 
ultimate result may be a rebound in prices as sharp as 
the present fall. — " C. Times." 
The Bengal Government's Profits on Cinchona. — 
The Calcutta Englishman says that the Bengal 
Government, like the private trader, find cinchona a 
paying speculation. The last official year the Go- 
vernment turned out 9,2961b. of its well-known 
febrifuge, at an average cost of R9-3T0 625 a pound, 
and a total cost of R85,921-6-3. They had also 
in hand from the former year 3,7261b. By sales 
to the public of the febrifuge, seeds, and plants, a re- 
turn of B56,436 odd annas and pies was obtained, and 
a further sum of B32, 340 from the sale of yellow bark 
in London. Thus public sales of the produce of the 
cinchona establishments more tban paid for the ex- 
penses incurred. In addition, however, to the produce 
sold, febrifuge valued at B90,880 was disposed of to the 
Medical depots of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. Had 
quinine, for which this febrifuge was substituted, been 
procured in the open market, the quantity needed would 
have cost the public purse, it is estimated, Ro, 50, 000. 
The sum saved the Government in a similar way since 
thefebrifuge was first substituted for the more expensive 
drug, is further calculated to have amounted to 16 lakhs. 
Success of Mr. Schrottky's Patent Process of 
Indigo Manufacture.— From the Calcutta Englishman 
just received, we take the following, and,we commend 
the facts of the leading Bengal journal to the critics of 
Mr. Schrottky's work here, who, writing from Cal- 
cutta, endeavoured to prejudice local authorities :— 
The experiments that have been earned out in Tir- 
hut during the past indigo season with a view of test- 
ing the value of Mr. Schrottky's patent process of ind- 
igo manufacture, seem to have been thoroughly con- 
clusive as to its success. 
A t Harsingpur Factoiy the result of a seiies of trials 
was an average excess of dry produce of from 17£ to 
39£_ per cent, from the patent, as compared with the 
ordinary, process. At Dhoolie Factory the result was an 
increase, in favour of the patent process, of 21 per cent. 
''At other factories," to quote the patentee's account 
of the results obtained, "the Patent Process was chiefly 
tried with the view of ascertaining whether it would 
improve the colour, but in the majority of cases, an 
increase in quantity, where quality ot plant was the 
same, could he shown, which, however, did not always 
appear as an increase in the number of presses ; the 
gain lying chiefly in a much thicker paste, and hence 
larger sized cakes. At Barowlie Factory, for instance, 
the produce was, before the use of the Patent Process, 
10 presses from 12 vats, The "Mai" or paste being 
very thin and difficult to press, cakes averaging 2?/ to 
2f" thickness. The first day of the Patent Process the 
"Mai" changed entirely its character ; it became very 
thick and pressed easily. The number of presses were 
the' same, but the cakes ranged from 3 J" to 3J" thicknesd 
It also appears to be beyond doubt that the use of 
the new process leads to a decided improvement in the 
quality of the indigo manufactured, the difference hi 
the valuations being in many cases twenty rupees per 
maund in its favour. 
